Easter in our neck of the woods...

Our Easter was very pleasant and fun-packed. The day before Easter the kids and I made homemade cupcakes for the neighbors. They had so much fun choosing different colors of food-coloring to add to the ingredients.

As you can see, they chose pink and green. (Good choice!) We made the cupcake batter "two-toned"...they thought I was "magic."
I found these absolutely adorable baking cups to enhance our luscious cupcakes.

And of course coconut is the perfect topping! I simply added a few drops of blue food-coloring to "make it blue."

And...a tasty homemade cream cheese frosting to go on top! They tasted as good as they looked!

Total, I made 20 cupcakes...Tyler ate 8 of them...

One of my hobbies is cooking. I love cooking anything and everything, and I will always try something at least once. I made dinner roles...

Hot - Cross - Buns...These are our new favorite...they also make a good breakfast!

To heck with a little cream cheese frosting...we frosted our buns..lol.

A delicious ham, with a Mustard-Maple glaze...mmmmmmm...WOW, that was tasty!

...Deviled Eggs

Banana Cream Pie...(A request from Kris)

Green-Bean-Casserole, and mashed potatoes. WE HAD A FEAST!

Easter isn't Easter without dying eggs. Dominique makes everything fun...She was so excited when she removed her egg from the dye.

Tyler did so well and was very careful dying his eggs! I put the kids in their PJ's to avoid getting dye on their "good" clothes. I figured that a few new added colors to their PJ's wouldn't hurt a thing!
Of course Kris and I got in on the action...Just cause were adults doesn't mean we can't have fun too...lol.

This is Dominique's friend, Austin. He is such a nice boy and is very pleasant to have around; we invited him over to dye Easter eggs with us.

This is truly amazing...I would have to say that most three year old kiddos don't have this much discipline. Tyler ended up with the "prettiest" egg of all!!!

The greenish-blue egg is Tyler's...We were all out done by a three year old...WAY TO GO BUDDY, YOU HAVE SOME SERIOUS SKILL!

Dominique also made an array of beautiful eggs!

Kris made "Humpty-Dumpty," how creative...and he says that he isn't artistic?

Tyler inevitably dyed his fingers...I think we all got a little on our hands...surprisingly enough, not a single cup of dye was spilt and none got on the floor! Wooohooo!
Tyler told me to take a picture of his fingers...what a cutie. I told him that he was turning into the Incredible Hulk...lol.

He was so proud!

Austin dyed an egg for each of the kids, he is a very thoughtful friend!

Smiling is contagious when you're around Dominique.

Kris hard at work!

... still working

Tyler's "Golden Egg."

Who is that girl?
I am known for buying and making practical things. McDonald's Happy Meal Toys are my worst enemy. I cannot stand clutter or buying "cheap" toys just for the sake of buying something. So...I made these neat Easter Baskets. I ordered Dominique a garden tool set which came in an adorable little bag. I then stuffed it will eggs filled with different kinds of chocolate only. (Kris calls me the "Candy Nazi." I do not really allow my kids to eat a lot of candy and I never buy the candy that sticks to their teeth...such as gummy bears, hard candy, etc. Not only is candy bad for you, it truly rots your teeth. In the past year we have spent 1,500.00 on Dominique's teeth...need I say more. Also, I am very picky when it comes to a nice smile...so I don't buy all that junk. My kids seem to not mind having ice-cream, cookies, pie, cake, and chocolate as an alternative, so why open a can of worms?) Anyway, I also put in Peeps...garden gloves, velvet coloring poster, a watering can, and PEZ Bunny...I gave in slightly.
The kids really liked their "Easter Baskets!"

I purchased Tyler's Garden Kit at Target. He was ecstatic...he calls it his purse...lol. You can tell he has an older sister.

And of course they had to find the Easter Eggs that the Easter Bunny hid.

This was the last one found...sitting in plain sight on the microwave. It was funny to watch them over look it, over and over.

Dominique is a good "finder."

All in all we had a wonderful Easter. We got to spend the day as a family and it was well diserved. Tax Season spreads Kris so thin; we were so thankful to have him home for the holiday. This was officially our first holiday by ourselves...it was fun, but I have to admit that we miss our families. Thanks to blogging I feel a little more connected!

At the request of my sister Misty, here are some of the recipies of the goodies I made. . .

Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients

3/4 c. white flour

1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 salt

2 c. milk

3 egg yolks beaten

2 table spoon butter

2 tsps. vanilla extract

1 graham cracker crust pie shell

4-5 bananas

Directions

1. In a sausepan, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Add milk in gradually while stirring gently. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly. Keep stirring and cook for about 5 minutes, and then remove from the burner.

2. Stir in egg yolks and cook for another five minutes over medium heat; don't forget to stir constantly! Remove mixture from stove, add butter and vanilla extract. Stir until the whole thing has a smooth consistency.

3. Slice bananas into the bottom of the pie crust, then top it with pudding mixture.

4. Bake @ 350'F for 12 mintutes, then chill for 4 hours.

5. Top with Whipped Cream ( I used a vanilla mousse, it's just as good!)

Mustard-Maple-Glaze (Wonderful for glazzing ham!)

1/3 c. mustard

1/3 c. maple syrup

3 TB. brown sugar

2 tsp. onion powder