Working Backwards

So many pictures that I'm having trouble deciding where to start.  So I'll start at the end then work my way to the beginning.  Or something like that.

Grandma and Papa Charlie with the grandkids.

The whole crew.  We were even 30 minutes early to church.  Go ahead, be impressed.  That's hard to do in  my little family of 4.  Imagine how hard it was in a house full of 10.  (Their church meets in a high school in case you were wondering about the background.  This high school had much better landscaping than my alma mater.)  By the way, in other random news, this is the first time in about three years that I've bought a new dress.  I happened to catch the new shipment at Marshalls and ended up buying three dresses.  A good dress, like a good man, is hard to find these days.  That's why you snatch them up when given an opportunity.  "Them" being dresses, not men because that would be weird. 

Aunt Stacie (Kevin's sister), Uncle Gavin, Graham  (13)  and Anna (11).  After 12 years of complaining, Graham has finally realized that picture-taking goes much faster if he just smiles and says nothing. 

 This was the Saturday before Easter at Grandma and Papa Charlie's neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.  Snowcones.  Fletcher loved them.  Luke?  Not so much.  He thought the ice was too cold.  He did like the syrup. 

Brothers.  (I originally typed "bothers" and while they do bother each other sometimes, this was a rare moment in which they were showing some brotherly love.)

Pony rides.  At this point Fletcher and Anna went off to play so I don't have any more pictures of them. 

Luke said the ride was "weally bumpy."

I thought he might be freaked out by the Easter Bunny, but he ran right up and gave him a hug and waited to take his picture with him. 

Getting a "tiggy back ride."

Ready for the egg hunt.

 He did great.  Got lots of eggs.  I would post the video but there was this overly excited high pitched nasally sounding mother's voice drowning out all other audio.  I hate it when that happens.  She needs to learn to video in silence. 

Whirlwind

We just got back late Sunday night from a whirlwind beach trip and a quick trip down to St. Augustine for Easter with Kevin's side of the family.  I took lots of pictures and videos so hopefully I'll get those uploaded this week and do a little bit better job of blogging. 

Happy Easter! 

There's a great song called "In Christ Alone".  These verses are what Easter is all about. 

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

Easter 2009 Recap

Kevin and I both served in the preschool and children's area at our church on Easter Sunday. Kevin had to be there really early on Sunday so the Easter Bunny paid a visit on Saturday afternoon instead while Fletcher & Luke were outside playing. Fletcher said, "He must have used the back door."

Can you tell he doesn't get gum very often?

Move Over Martha! Part 2

I'm not sure what got into me over the Easter holidays. I saw another article online about how to make tie dyed cupcakes. Our neighbors had invited us over on Good Friday for a little egg hunt so I thought these might be fun to make.

They really are pretty simple.

Get a white cake mix like Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines and prepare the batter according to package directions. After the batter is prepared, divide it evenly into 4 or 5 bowls depending on how many colors you want in your cupcakes. Put different food coloring in each bowl to make different colors. I used regular food coloring and made purple, pink, blue, green and yellow. I did read that Betty Crocker makes something called gels that will make more intense colors. Pastel colors were great for me since it was Easter.

Line muffin pan with cupcake liners then drop spoonfuls of each batter color in each liner. I did use a skewer to sort of swirl the batter on one batch but it really didn't make a difference. Bake according to package directions.

This is what the top looked like without swirling the batter.

This is what the inside looked like.

I colored white frosting with some pastel colors and frosted them and decorated with jellybeans but I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. The kids thought they were cool.