SHE: Recaps her holiday

Hey Y'all,

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday weekend.  Ours was great.  As holidays and celebrations go, we tend to celebrate in much the same way each year.  Easter has always included church, big lunch with our family, Easter baskets / treats and of course fun Easter egg dying and lots and lots of hiding eggs.  Brittney's Easter basket generally had less candy treats and more "summer" treats like sidewalk chalk, swimsuit, pool toys.. fun things she could use.  This year we didn't hide or find any eggs but Brittney may have gotten an Easter basket.

Our Easter dinner (of which no photographs were taken) was delish! We had ham with pineapple and brown sugar glaze, corn, potato salad, green beans- slow cooked with bits of ham, mac & cheese, Sister Schubert's rolls, deviled eggs and carrots. As long as my baby girl has been in the world, we have had a "bunny" cake each Easter.  This year I decided to mix it up a little with our desserts, we had a yummy Millionaire pie and a "sheep" cake.  While my sheep was cute and tasted identical to the "bunny" cake, I could tell she was disappointed.  I love how "little details" make the best memories. 

I love cooking for my family, but it's a little time consuming. While making our potato salad yesterday I had a lot of eggs to chop. I peeled them and cut in half and put them in a mixing

bowl.  Trying to hurry the process along, I used my pastry blender to chop them. Have you ever done that? It was awesome! So quick and they were all uniform sized. Will definitely do that again.  (Side note~ It did not work for pickles).   Love it when I learn something new.  So how did you celebrate? What was on your menu?  I linked up some recipes for you to try.  And yes, next year... Mr. Bunny will reappear.

Have a great week friends!! Make memories with your babies ~ you never know which one will be their favorite. 

xoxo,

Amy

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SHE Thinks Easter (Last Minute)

Hey y'all! So as I'm sure you know, Easter is Sunday. AKA three days away! 

In true slacker form, I've not done a thing as far as decoration, crafts, or baking! Oops! 

I quickly scanned Pinterest for "quick easy Easter" - below are some cute ideas I found that I thought I'd share with you!

So how cute is this bunny garland? I love the little cotton ball tails. 

Image via Pinterest

These eggs are a great way to add a little extra decoration without having plastic eggs laying around. This would also be fun for the kids to help with if they were a little older!

Image via Pinterest

I think this button egg is my favorite! So cute, so easy, and so many possibilities!! 

Image via Pinterest

I love this snack because it's festive, sweet (peeps), and healthy (fruit). A win-win for everyone!

Image via Pinterest

Finally - you can't go wrong with Rice Krispy's! Add some food coloring to the melted marshmallows before you add the cereal and shape like eggs for these cute and yummy treats!

Image via Pinterest

Hope this helped get the creative juices flowing if you're like me and haven't done a thing. 

Happy Easter!

xo Courtney

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter Friends,

Hope you had a lovely time celebrating with family and friends.  For empty nesters, ours was jam packed.  Incredible church service and then yummy dinner with our family.  Due to family schedules, sharing our newlyweds and family traveling home from an out of town visit, I prepared dinner for us all.  I really enjoy cooking for everyone & it was pretty yummy~ but I was a little tired at the end of the day.

Easter has always been a very traditional holiday for us: church, big dinner, Easter baskets and what seems like at least 25 Easter egg hunts.  We have also always made a "bunny" cake for dessert. But this year I ended up making a white cake with a yummy marshmallow buttercream frosting I had never made this recipe before and it was very good. I am not a coconut fan, my family is.. so 1/2 was topped with coconut and 1/2 was plain.  Sorry~ no picture of the finished product but I promise there were a few slices remaining.

What are your Easter traditions?  We never focused too much on the Bunny ~ I tried to make sure Brittney knew that Easter was about God sending his son to die on the cross for our sins. But... she did always get an Easter basket, typically with "spring/summer" things- a new swimsuit, sidewalk chalk, jump rope and a little candy.  (Babies with parents in the dental field don't usually get too much candy for any holiday!)

How ever you celebrated this special holiday I hope it was special to you and the ones you love. 

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SHE Crafts: DIY Easter Topiary

Hey Ya'll! Easter is almost here, so it's time to decorate! Today I want to share with you a DIY Easter topiary. It's so cute and super easy to make. With one quick trip to Hobby Lobby and Target (for jelly beans only!) you should be ready to get started.

I started by taking a wooden dowel and putting it in the center of my styrofoam ball. It should look like a giant lollypop.

Next, I wrapped white ribbon around the dowel, but you could also paint it if you prefer. I used my hot glue gun and glued the first end of string at the top of the the dowel right beneath the styrofoam ball and then wrapped until I got about an inch from the bottom of the dowel. I then glued the end of the string with hot glue to the wood.

At this point I wanted to let the ribbon set before I started making the actual topiary, so I painted the clay pot white. You can do this whenever, but doing it earlier allows it time to dry completely before you need it.

Now I was ready to glue the jelly beans to the styrofoam. I placed my styrofoam on a paper plate and held the dowel at the top and began hot gluing jelly beans from the bottom and worked my way up.

Sitting it on the plate allows you to turn the topiary like a lazy-Susan and makes it easier to work with! About halfway through the process I stuck the end of the dowel into some floral foam, and stuck it in the pot. I still sat it on the plate for "spinning" purposes but it made it easier to work on the top section.

I added some green Easter straw to cover the foam, and kept gluing!

I tried my best to alternate between colors so there isn't a section of mostly blue, green, etc. But feel free to decorate however you prefer! I opted for the pastel jelly beans but you could definitely use the brighter colors. It's all up to you!

Once every part of the styrofoam ball was covered, I let it dry for an hour to set and moved it to my kitchen table.

Materials

1 Styrofoam Ball

1 Wooden Dowel

Ribbon (Optional)

Hot Glue Gun

1 Clay Pot

Paint & Sponge Paint Brush

Jelly Beans (2 Bags for Medium Ball)

Floral Foam

Easter Grass

It was super easy and looks so cute! I hope you give it a try!

xo ~ Brittney

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SHE COOKS: Ham for Easter

Hi Friends,

image via google

How is this Daylight Savings time working for you today?  I have it admit, while I love the extra daylight in the evenings I can’t get over “losing” an hour.  It will take me a few to adjust.  But it does promise spring is on the way and that means Easter is too. Does your family do a big Easter dinner spread?  We almost always have ham for Easter dinner.  It’s yummy, feeds a lot of people and can be used for left overs.  A ham makes your dinner look extra special too. But do you know how easy a ham is to make? Learn to make one and you    can really impress your guests. If you have been following our blog long, one thing you might have noticed is I am a pretty routine kinda girl, especially with my food. So baking a ham is really no different.

My traditional recipe:  line pan with foil, place the ham in the pan, score the top of the ham- this means you cut crisscross slices in the top of the ham about ¼”deep, sprinkle with ¼ cup brown sugar and then pour 2 cups of liquid over ham, cover tightly with foil and bake @ 350 degrees for about 2 ½ hours.  The baking time depends on weight of the ham, but they are “smoked” so you are really just heating the ham- not cooking it. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. It comes out juicy and tasty every time.  A lovely addition to your dinner table.

image via google

To make it your own, learn to experiment with different toppings/ flavors.  For my liquid, I generally use water or a coke. But honey, apple or pineapple juice would be great choices.  Add bits of apples or pineapple slices to the top of the ham, mixed with the brown sugar and pineapple juice that is a yummy combo.   I am sure some of you are great at trying new things so for you I have been perusing some of my favorite blogs to see what other options I might be able to find. 

This one sounds so very good; similar to mine but maybe even easier J .  Mandy @ South In Your Mouth offers this smart option of using a turkey baking bag for your ham.  How gorgeous is that?  Yummy!

image via google

This is another version you might like, it comes from Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.  She has tasty recipes that can generally be made pretty simply with ingredients I normally have on hand.

What other combinations can you come up with?  Please share your comments and suggestions below ~ we are always looking for new and creative recipes.  Now get out and enjoy your extra hour of sunshine!




image via google

                                                                                                          



                                                                                                                         

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