Easter

 

 The day before Easter, we went to an egg hunt at a friend's house. This was Connor's first time so we had to teach him how to do it.

This is the only picture that proves my mom was actually here for Easter weekend. And the only picture of me (in the background, without a head).

 

He eventually figured it out and slowly wandered the yard looking for eggs.

 The problem was there were several kids who were older and faster than him. As soon as he had his eyes set on an egg, another child would reach it before he could.

 

So he started gathering rocks and chunks of dirt.

 

And somehow at the end he still didn't have much in his basket. I wonder how that happened?

Maybe if he could keep his basket upright.

 

 Dallin found lots of eggs and collected a basketful of candy he won't eat.

But he enjoyed the social aspect of opening his eggs and admiring the candy with the other kids anyway.

 

Easter Sunday is always very busy for us. Our ward at church always does a big musical Easter program and we are part of the choir (Mckay sings, I play the piano) and I'm one of the only people in our ward who will play the piano. (Notice I said WILL play. A few people

do play a little, but don't feel comfortable playing in front of others. Like I'm this outgoing extrovert that loves performing in front of others?! ...but this is a topic for another day...) So we had to get to church early Sunday morning to practice with the choir before performing.

 

AND there was a stake musical Easter program that night that I was also involved in. (Maybe I should start saying no the people.) Between the 2 musical programs, I learned and semi-perfected 9 new songs in a matter of weeks. (Not to mention the wedding I played for one week before Easter with a few new songs to learn for that.) AND did I mention I played a piano solo as part of the Easter program? I spent A LOT of time at the piano the weeks before Easter, practicing and marking notes on the music; so much time that Connor began to mimic me and make marks of his own on my music.

 

So, after morning church and a delicious ham dinner, we did a small egg hunt of our own. It was a rainy day, so we hid the eggs inside in our living room.

The boys, waiting at the starting line, thought their baskets should go on their heads.

 

 Having already hunted for eggs the day before, the boys were warmed up and ready to go! We did have to help them find a few of the harder eggs.

This picture makes me laugh. We told Dallin there was one by the window. He kept looking outside the window and couldn't see the two eggs 6 inches from his head.

 

 Several times he pointed to the decorative Easter tree and said "Egg!"

Mom and I just nodded. "Yes we know there are eggs on the tree." We didn't see the plastic egg that Mckay hid in the branches. Dallin is a pretty good egg finder.

Homemade Ham and Swiss Cheese Hot Pocket

I know I'm not the only person with lots of leftover ham from Easter. I always have trouble coming up with ways to use up the extra ham. I've actually done pretty well this year. So far, I've already made a ham and white bean soup, ham and asparagus Risotto, and homemade ham stock. But there is still more ham!!! I was feeling a little creative last night and came up with another way to use up my ham: 

I made homemade Ham and Cheese Sandwich Pockets.

These tasted way better than microwavable hot pockets and were pretty easy to make. All you need is:

Sliced Ham

Sliced Swiss Cheese ( I also did some with cheddar)

Honey mustard sauce (This is totally optional, but a little mustard or something does help to moisten the filling.)

Dough -- I used my basic pizza dough/breadstick recipe, but you could use your favorite easy bread/pie/biscuit dough. My recipe is below:

Dough:
1/2 Tbsp. yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 Tbsp. oil
1 1/4 cup flour

Mix yeast, water and sugar. Allow to sit for a few minutes until yeast begins to bubble. Add salt, oil and flour. Mix until dough comes together, and knead the dough for a minute. You may need to add a little more flour so the dough isn't too sticky. Let the dough sit for 30 minutes while you assemble the rest of the ingredients. You can use right away, but the dough will be a little dense.

Divide the dough into 4 balls. Flatten each ball into a circle of dough (about 6 or 7 inches in diameter). Spread a thin layer of honey mustard (or sauce of choice) on the dough. Leave space around the edge for exposed dough to seal it later.

Place ham and cheese on half of the circle. Try not to overfill the pocket. Fold the dough over so the circle is now folded in half. Press and seal the edges of the now semi-circle with your fingers to seal in the toppings. The shape will look a little something like this:

If you really wanted, you could try to make a more rectangular shape like a real "Hot Pocket," but this is much easier.

Cut a slit or two in the top of the dough with a sharp knife so the steam can escape. Otherwise, you'll have a pocket blowout.

Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until the top of the bread is golden brown.

Devour.

I use the same dough to make easy pizza calzones for dinner. In fact, when I made these last night, half were ham and cheese and half were pizza topping filled for my young boys. They were gobbled up.

Makes 4 pockets. A hungry man could eat two of these for dinner. I had one pocket with a small salad for dinner and that filled me up.

How do you use leftover ham? I'd love to hear more ideas.

Easter

The day before Easter, we went to some friends' house for an egg hunt.  There were quite a few kids and hundreds of eggs.

 We didn't practice first, but Dallin caught on pretty quickly.

And he loved it!

 Easter egg hunts are perfect for Dallin. Collecting small things and putting them in baskets are his favorite activities!

We were in a big backyard with chickens running around and baby chicks too, so the kids had a lot of fun.

 On Easter Sunday, we had to be at church early to practice with the choir for our big Easter performance, so we didn't do any Easter festivities until the afternoon, 

and after Mckay and Connor took a nap.

I hid Dallin's Easter basket in the backyard. He had to follow a trail of eggs to find it.

 He kind of liked it.

He picked up each egg

 and then put it in a bag.

 He found his basket hiding under a blanket.

 He didn't get any candy in his basket (The Cookie Crisp is mostly for me since I doubt he'll eat it) but he got socks! I put some inside plastic eggs to make them more exciting.

And he got a little wind up toy and a puzzle.

 The puzzle makes a track for the wind up car to drive on.

Connor got socks as well. He enjoys pulling them off his feet, putting them in his mouth and rubbing them on his gums to make way for tooth number 1.

Easter

Our apartment complex had an Easter egg hunt for the kids at the clubhouse. Apparently, the eggs are all found within 2 minutes, so if you are 10 minutes late, there are no eggs left to hunt. But there were some extra not-hidden eggs that Dallin got to have. I think he was so thrilled about having his own basket full of eggs, he didn't even know he missed out on the hunt.

He didn't really care about the jelly beans inside the eggs, but he knew they made a cool noise when he shook them!

Inspecting each egg.

For Easter breakfast, I made a cinnamon "monkey bread"-like creation. It was gooey and delicious!

For dinner we had a traditional Easter dinner: Ham, cheesy potato casserole, homemade rolls, and asparagus.

Dallin liked eating the potatoes and the rolls.

And Dallin learned a trick for Easter. Back in my days of teaching school, I got a whistle so I could help out with P.E. and recess. This whistle now sits mostly unused next to my drum and sock puppet (tools every teacher should have). Dallin found the whistle and figured out how to blow into it all by himself. He couldn't blow out his birthday candles, but a whistle is no problem for him...

Easter and more Birthday fun!

Much like Dallin's birthday a week ago, Easter is a concept that is too hard for a 1 year old to understand. However, Dallin did really enjoy his Easter. He enjoyed playing with this ball he got in his Easter basket.

Ok, so the only thing in this basket for Dallin was the ball because I know he won't eat any of the candy, but a basket with just a ball looks boring. So this is more of a mom and dad easter basket.

After enjoying the morning and afternoon watching conference and relaxing at home, we went to my Grandparents house for an Easter extravaganza.

There was an egg hunt for all the younger kids. Dalllin found the perfect spot to hunt eggs.

But he seemed a little more interested in the dirt and wood pieces on the stump than the eggs. Such a boy!

We enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner with the traditional fixings, and then it was time for birthday celebrations. It was my Grandma's birthday, but she graciously shared a little bit of the celebration with Dallin.

We tried once again to let him play with and eat his cupcake.

We got the same reaction as last time. He loved squishing the cupcake with his hands, but did not try to bring it anywhere near his mouth.

His daddy helped him to put some frosting on his face, but I really don't think he liked it.

He did enjoy eating the plate the cupcake came on though.

Last of all he opened some presents from his great aunt.

He got some cute summer clothes, little baby sandals, and a mosquito repellent wristband.

And of course, his favorite present was the one he could put in his mouth.