Our First Easter 'ALONE'-the rundown

Happy Easter from the Newman Four!


It feels good to start the new week refreshed. It has been a while! :-)

Well, I imagine most of the blogs out there today are going to be talking about, showing off pictures of, and sharing about their Easter weekend, and I am afraid, I won't be the exception. Though mainly, my pictures are of food! hehehe

I got a few pictures of the children's egg hunt which took place on FRIDAY and INSIDE (due to SNOW!!!) but frankly, it is just NO FUN having an egg hunt inside (for the photographer, anyhow!) The lighting is bad (and my camera doesn't like that) and the background is....well, ordinary. So, I only got a few. But Corynn got her fair share of candy in exchange for the eggs.




Corynn found 12 and Andrew, believe it or not, without knowing he was supposed to and without help, found two eggs. In fact, he found the FIRST one! Pretty impressive-but I believe next year the candy scale might be a bit more balanced! :-)



I apologize sincerely to your eyes-that are undoubtedly wincing right now in pain. This shot is BAD-but I HAD to post it here because that is the look she had on her face the WHOLE time. That "hmmmm...where are they" look perfectly sums it up. Now, if she hadn't been moving like a rocket, it might have been bearable to look at!



Because Matt had to work on Easter Sunday, I decided we should feast when we could ENJOY the feast, so Saturday was an extension of our Easter Sunday-only adding more time to contemplate and rejoice in the great sacrifice and gift of our Lord. I set the table with care and explained the symbolism to Corynn. A pure white tablecloth to symbolize the washing away of sin from our hearts, making them white as snow; the red candles to signify the blood shed on the cross for our sins, and I folded cloth napkins with the king's crown fold-obviously, representing King Jesus!

On a side note: when we had FINALLY sat down to eat, Matt began quizzing Corynn on the symbolism and WHY we celebrate Easter and then began to reiterate the true meaning and symbolism at the table when she suddenly burst into giggles. We both looked at each other and I said, "WHAT is so funny?" to which Corynn replied, "Papa, your a little sounding like Pastor Handsome!" (Pastor Handson, his name is to anyone OVER three years old.) We both cracked up at that.


I pretty much worked all day in the kitchen-with a short break at lunch time to look through a book, and even had a few catastrophes to fix! I was in the middle of adding the ingredients to my bread machine to make honey wheat bread dough when I realized (by the belly growls) that is was past lunchtime. I quickly made the sandwiches for the kids, then made egg salad for Matt, at the same time making another batch of homemade tea, so I was more than a bit distracted. But I HAD to hurry up with the dough so I would have ample time to get the dough risen and baked before the ham had to go in the oven.

Lunch is eaten and I allow myself an itty bit of sit time, where I perused a kiddie craft book and ate MY lunch. Matt was asleep, chin to chest in front of me and the bread machine clunks had abruptly stopped. Aha! The dough was ready! I rolled it, braided it, and then set it to rise...but an hour later, rise it never did! Then it dawned on me...I FORGOT THE YEAST! Too many sandwiches being made I suppose-but that BRICK was certainly not edible. So...at 3:00 I had to start a FRESH batch of dough! It ran a bit into my ham time, but all worked out well in the end and I have to say, I think it turned out the be the most beautiful bread I've ever made!



Baked onto each golden ridge of the bread were poppy seeds, celery seeds and sesame seeds. Beautiful presentation! Hey! That looks good enough to EAT! ;-)

This shot is blurry but it was the only one I got of the food BEFORE it was eaten. I had to include it for posterity's sake.

The meal included:
Maple brown sugar cured ham
Mashed Potatoes
Deviled egg with a kick
Strawberry Orange cream mold
Red cinnamon cuke pickles
Maple glazed carrots and
Three seed bread round



Check this out! I used the icing tip I bought for Panda's cake, to fill the deviled eggs! Ooh La La!

Oh yes! And we mustn't forget dessert! This was a toughy because I did NOT want cake and I was too busy to make pie, cheesecake couldn't be cheesecake because I had to no crumbs for a crust-and so many ideas were eliminated for various reasons and I was RUNNING OUT OF TIME. I had NO time left when a the proverbial light bulb lit above my head. I quickly made white chocolate shells and threw them in the freezer to harden and whipped up some chocolate mint mousse. Voila! Chocolate Mint Mousse in a white chocolate cup, garnished with mini chocolate chips. QUICK and SIMPLE-just what I needed as I was nearing the end of my preparations!


Finally, here we are heading to church on Easter morning without our main man. He did get out of work early enough to attend evening worship-which we are very thankful for!