Cookie Contest Recipe #7 & 8

These cookies got a 7. 

Believe it or not 2 of you sent in the same recipe which means this contest is 2 recipes closer 

to being finished.  Stay tuned...

Easter Dinner Favors

We hosted Easter dinner at our house this year. I was elated because that gave me an 

excuse to do festive things. I didn't have the means to do a full-blown egg hunt,

so instead, I made these little favors and hid them.

Each guest had to search to find them. 

I got this stamp in the 4th grade from the Easter Bunny. Still works great!

Peep Wars

The Easter Bunny may have left Peeps in your basket.

If you are like me and don't love peeps,

I've got an idea for you. 

Have a peeps war!

Directions: 

Get 2 peeps. Put a toothpick in each one.

Face them about 2 inches apart in the microwave.

Microwave for 30 seconds and whichever peep stabs the other one first, wins.

Repeat until your peeps are gone. Stale peeps work great for this. 

(Thanks Nate and Leslie for the original idea.)

Easter Weekend

It's Good Friday and that means Easter weekend is just around the corner. We are looking forward to our Easter Picnic, decorating eggs, finding baskets left by the Easter Bunny and having a festive and fancy dinner on Sunday.

Happy Easter Weekend!

The Easter Bunny

In my husband’s family, it’s tradition for his dad to dress up with a bunny hat and hand out baskets.

In my family, the Easter bunny visited in the night and hid our baskets somewhere in the house for us to find. The baskets usually contained some Easter candy like Cadbury mini eggs, Reese’s eggs, m&m’s, Peeps, and then some kind of small surprise.

This year, I think the Easter bunny may show up on Saturday so we can focus on the spiritual side on Sunday. But we'll just have to wait and see...


How do you do it?

Jello eggs

I've always loved jello eggs for Easter dinner.

Follow the knox-blox recipe and pour them into these molds. 

Easter Egg Cake Pops

Bakerella gave my friend and I the inspiration to make Easter Egg Cake Pops. I took them to a family event and I think they were a  big hit (even though they weren't perfect by any  means).
All of them were snatched up so that must be a good sign, right?

12 Days of Easter

I came across a festive idea here of how to incorporate the spiritual side of Easter into celebrating. Check out the details posts there, but I've compiled a quick list in case you want to do your own 12 days of Easter. (Even though we are already a few days into it, it's not too late!)

What you'll need: 12 plastic eggs, 12 objects listed below and a basket.

Day 1 -The Sacrament Symbolizes Christ's Sacrifice

• object in egg:small cracker representing Last Supper
• scripture references: Matthew 26:26-28, 3 Nephi 20:3-4, 6-8, 3 Nephi 26:13

Day 2- Betrayed for 30 pieces of silver

• object in egg: 30 cents representing Judas' betrayal
• scripture references: Matthew 26:14-16

Day3- Christ Willingly Suffered for Our Sins

• object in egg: mini cup representing Christ drinking the bitter cup as he performed Atonement
• scripture references: Matthew 26: 36, 39 , Alma 21:9

Day 4- Christ Heals the Soldier Who Comes to Arrest Him

• object in egg: plastic soldier
• scripture references: Matthew 26:47-50

Day 5- Even His Closest Friend Denied Him

• object in egg: feather symbolizing cock crowed twice
• scripture references: Mark 14: 66-72

Day 6- A Crown of Thorns

• object in egg: thorn representing crown of thorns
• scripture reference: Mark 15:17-20

Day 7- Upon My Vesture They Did Cast Lots

• object in egg: dice representing soldiers casting lots for Christ's clothing
• scripture reference: Matthew 27: 35-37

Day 8-The Cross

• object in egg: nail
• scripture references: John 19:19, 3 Nephi 27:14, John 10:17

Day 9- Three Hours of Darkness

• object in egg: piece of black cloth-symbolizes the darkness that covered the earth
• scripture references: Matthew 27:39-45; 3 Nephi 8:19-23

Day 10-Christ's Burial

• object in egg: piece of white cloth- symbolizes the clean cloth that Christ was buried in
• scripture references: Matthew 27:50-60

Day 11-The Stone Was Rolled Away

• object in egg: stone representing the stone was rolled away
• scripture references: Matthew 28:1-4

Day 12- He is Risen

• object in egg: nothing representing empty tomb 
• scripture references: Matthew 28:5-7, Luke 24: 36-51, John 10:14-16, 3 Nephi 11:10-15

Easter Bunny S'mores

Are you a s'mores lover? Remember the heart s'mores we did? 

I came across this festive idea last year at Sister's Stuff

that is just too cute to not share. 

Meet...the Easter Bunny S'more!

Directions here.

Now we have another use for peeps! 

Recipe for Easter Egg Dye

Try making your own dye for Easter eggs this year.

All you need is for each color is: 

• 10 drops food coloring
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1/2 cup boiling water

Mix all together and dye away.

Some-bunny Loves You Treat

What you'll need for "Some-bunny loves you" treats:

• cinnamon bunnies
• chocolate chips or melting chocolate
• wax paper or tin foil
• cellophane or easter bags

 Directions: 

Melt chocolate in microwave until soft. Be careful not to over cook it or it will burn. 

Then dip the cinnamon bunnies in the chocolate and place on wax paper or tin foil.

Let them  set up and cool completely.

Then put them in a cellophane bag or Easter treat bag

with a tag that says, "Some-bunny loves you!"

My Easter Decor

I'm still building up my Easter decoration collection, 

but here are a few snapshots of what I'm using this year as Easter decor. 

the mantle

bookshelf bunnies

vintage Easter cross-stitch

spring carrot wreath

Dollar Store Easter Decor

I found just what I was looking for at the dollar store-- a bag of plastic Easter eggs. 

Usually I would pass over these since I seem to have a bunch already. 

However, these eggs were a little different than normal. 

The eggs had holes in the top and they were just the kind I was looking for. 

Why? Let me tell you what I did with them.

First, I dumped them out and arranged them in the order I wanted.

Look how pretty! 

Then, I took some embroidery floss (because that is what I had) and tied alternating 

long and short pieces onto the eggs. 

You could also use fish line, white thread or string.

See how the holes come in handy for this decoration?

Then I taped them to my mantle for a fun and cheap way to decorate for Easter.

I'm also envisioning how festive it would be to have a whole bunch

of these eggs hanging over the dining table for Easter dinner. 

The possibilities are endless!

Strawberry Goodness [recipe]

My friend Mandy introduced me to Strawberry Goodness last spring. I am pretty sure she didn't call it that, but that is what we like to call it because it is so yummy. It is our favorite summertime drink. We couldn't wait for summer to come and since it's been nice weather lately, we made it for our first picnic of the year.

Strawberry Goodness
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
1 cup lemon juice
3/4-1 1/2 cups sugar (we use 3/4 cup so it isn't too sugary)

Mix those ingredients in a blender until smooth. Then add 4 cups of water and that's it!

Enjoy our favorite refreshing drink.

Giveaway Update

Thanks for sharing your favorite things about spring! It is a nice spring day today and I hope it stays that way through the weekend at least. Around these parts lately, weather is never the same day after day.

Well, you guessed it.  I shamefully admit that the "Gift Card Giveaway" was an April Fool's Joke. Since this is a festive blog after all, I could not miss the opportunity to play a little joke. I hope you won't hate me too much. I'm hoping that the lovely thoughts about Spring that you have conjured up will override any ill feelings you have towards me. It was all in good fun, I promise.

To end on a happy note, let me share two things with you.

1. For the record, I really wish I could just hand out $25 gift cards. Maybe someday if this blog gets big enough, that will be the case. I love giving festive things away!

2. I promise you a real giveaway soon.

Now, you still have plenty of time to play a joke on someone else, so go do it! If you need a few ideas, read this post.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Gift Card Giveaway!!

The first 20 readers to leave a comment will receive a $25 gift card to a place of their choice.
In the comment section, tell us what your favorite thing about Spring is.

Mine is Tulips.


                                      (image here)