Cookies, Eggs, Candy, Ham...

Sunday was just as hectic, although I did find a total of 45 minutes to sit down.  As soon as I woke up, I started in the kitchen.  I wanted to make decorated cookies from scratch, but the dough is supposed to be refrigerated for at least two hours before using.  So the first thing I did was get that going and get the rolls out to start rising.  Then I baked an apple crisp for that afternoon.  After that was done, Aiden and I used Easter cookie cutters to cut out the dough.  I learned it is very important to follow the recommended 1/8" thickness.  Any thicker than that and the cookie looses it's precut shape.  We had an incident and had to throw away half of them.  Thankfully they were the blob ones.

By the time Aiden went down for his nap, the cookies were cool enough to decorate.  I did all but a few of them, which I left for Aiden to decorate after he woke up.  I got the ham in by 12:30 and worked on tidying up the house a bit and getting table settings out.  Travis spent the morning doing the yard and running to the convenience store.  I think Ariel and Robert showed up around 2:30 and they brought appetizers.  Soon after they arrived, our friend Mike got to our house.  We snacked for a bit and I got the casseroles in the oven.

After Aiden woke, he decorated those cookies and then went outside to play with a Crayola Color Explosion kit Ariel and Robert brought for him. 

When I was done in the kitchen, I came out with the kit for dying eggs.

The guys enjoyed some whiskey.  My dad got Travis on this kick when he was here last month.  Thanks DAD for that expensive venture.

Right before dinner at 5 another friend showed up.  As we were sitting down for the meal, I was worried there wouldn't be enough food.  I feel like there are usually way more platters set out.  I think I made just the right amount though.  There were leftovers, but not so much that I will be throwing anything out at the end of the week.  There was a lot of ham leftover, but I made my dad's ham and bean soup out of that last night.

After dinner we ate a few of the Easter cookies (which I didn't get a picture of), then went back out to the patio for Aiden's Easter egg hunt.  He was so cute.  Every time he saw a new egg he would gasp and say, "Another one!"  Every time.  He even found another one Monday night when I was out watering the plants.



Spiderman eggs, courtesy of Gpa



After the egg hunt, we sat for a bit while Aiden went through his goodies.  Then Travis brought out the Spiderman pinata that Ariel and Robert got him for Christmas this past year.  Aiden has had a good time beating the crap out of that thing over the months, but I was ready for it to go.  It's bigger than Aiden, which means it was a little daunting standing in our living room all this time. 



That pinata was so hardcore that it took 15 good hits from Travis to break open a hole.  We were hoping Aiden would hit the rest out, but the second a toy hit the ground he was focused only on collecting the goodies.  He now has two Easter baskets full of candy and toys.  There is no way he will ever be able to eat all that before it goes bad.  I guess I better help him out with that dilemma.

Aiden spent a good portion of the day high on candy.  Even though we withheld candy after the egg hunt, he still had trouble falling asleep.  Not a surprise since he has trouble on a normal day.  After the sun went down and Aiden was in bed, we enjoyed the apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.  At this point, I had to call the quits on the patio because the mosquitoes were out full blast.  It was just as well because I had a kitchen to clean and was ready to pass out by that point.  Overall, I think it was a good day.  But next year I need to split up the fun over two days!!

Homemade Pies

One night while my dad was here we baked homemade pizzas.  Ariel and I used to do that all the time as a kid, so it brought back some fantastic memories.  Aiden and my dad shared a pizza.  I think it worked out good because Aiden wanted every topping my dad wanted, so they had lots of goodies on top. 

I think Aiden enjoyed himself.

I used dough that came in a pouch for the first time - I just had to add water.  It wasn't too bad!

He watched his pizza bake in the oven and then scarfed down his slices like we hadn't fed him days.  Gpa was impressed. 

A Week Off

I've been out of commission for a few days since my family has been in town. I found a couple minutes to get out some stuff out.

First off, Travis still has his hernia. The surgeon is yet to call him. Apparently a rush "order" on a hernioplasty isn't that big of a deal. Travis tried calling himself. They took his information but said that the doctor has to call him to make the appointment. So weird.

My dad and brother got into town Saturday night. They were supposed to come on Friday, but the roads were too icy for travel. My mom got in Saturday night, also, but she went to my sister's house. Sunday I baked cookies and then we did some shopping. Travis had to work Sunday night, so he stayed home and attempted to nap.

We went to Toys R Us for the first time with Aiden and he LOVED IT. I never doubted that he would like that place. It has just never crossed my mind to go there with him before. My dad wanted to get an idea of which Elmo toys Aiden likes best. We set him down in front of the Elmo display and let him go at it. He ran up to the first box and screamed "Melmo!" Then he'd pull it off the shelf, notice the box behind it and do it all over again. Needless to say, we left with a few Elmo in tow.

That night we went to the softball game, since I had help from both of my parents. Their team needed another player, so Alex got out on the field for the first time in three years.

Monday I baked cookies and we did some more shopping. I made chicken noodle soup in the crock pot for the first time. I thought it was really good, except I didn't realize I had forgotten salt until the end. Easy to fix.

Tuesday, the temperature soared to 80 degrees, so we got outside as much as we could. Aiden played in the yard all morning. My dad came up with a plan to lengthen Aiden's tree swing. I had absolutely no idea how to go about doing it so it would be safe and Travis has been working too much to have time to do it lately.

After Aiden's nap, we drove up to the Kemah Boardwalk. We met Alexa, Blair and Skylar for coffee and a walk in the great weather. The boys had a great time running around together. Blair showed Aiden the ropes. We saw boats and ducks and lots of people. Aiden seemed to be a little wary of the loud rides, but we got around them. We even took a ride on the train. Aiden seemed to enjoy it, although I think it went a little fast for him at times. He likes to stand and observe things, so a moving train moves a bit quick. He didn't freak out about it at all which was nice to see.

That night we went with the whole family to the Dickinson Festival of Lights. It's free and it is HUGE. Aiden did seem a little overwhelmed occasionally, but for the most part he enjoyed walking through the park himself. The only hiccup was on the ride in when a cop that was "directing traffic" yelled at Travis to learn how to drive. Travis yelled back at the cop about something, that including calling the officer a "dick". Not nice.

We finished the night off by eating Christmas cookies and watching Scrooged. I haven't seen that movie in forever. I had forgotten about much of the show. Plus, I'm sure it was different since I was watching the movie for the first time as an adult. HA!

I think this morning my dad and I are going to work on the tree swing. Travis is working all week and my brother stayed at Ariel's last night, so it's just us and Aiden. We've had the windows open for a few days now. It is very nice, but I keep having to remind myself it's almost Christmas!