Easter With The Fasons

Michelle invited us to come over to Carrollton on Saturday for some of John T's famous grilled chicken and Easter egg hunting.  Dave was at work on Saturday so I took the boys by myself after the church egg hunt over to Carrollton.  We got there around 3:15 which was amazing considering I had made cupcakes and brownies to bring for dessert . . . and I didn't start making them until 12 noon!

I thought they turned out pretty cute considering how fast I made them.  The picture is not that great . . . but the bunny cupcake was really good!

I used marshmallows for the ears . . . I cut them and sprinkled pink sugar on them. . . . used chocolate chips for the eyes and skittles for the nose. . .  I meant to add whiskers but I got in a hurry to leave and forgot. :)  These cupcakes are kind of pathetic looking now because I had them sitting above the oven tonight and they got a little melted.  Ha!  I should have taken a picture on Saturday after I made them.  They looked cute then!

Michelle has a huge hill in her backyard that the boys love to climb.  Here's Zach and Shane climbing her monster hill.  Shane is hard to see but he's by the tree stump.

Alex and Zach would climb to the top of the hill and then roll down it.

Over and over again . . .

Shane would climb up the hill and just sit down among the tall grass . . . almost disappearing into the scenery.

over and over again . . .

The get-together had a duel purpose . . . Easter and my daddy's birthday!  My daddy turned 76 on April 7th!  And this is the only picture I got of him!  He wouldn't look at me!  Too busy eating that delicious grilled chicken! 

After eating the delicious meal that John cooked, we set up a card table outside for the children to dye eggs.

I had kind of a bittersweet moment this year because Zach didn't want to dye eggs . . . he wanted to help hide the eggs.  My baby is growing up . . .  Here he is with Phillip and Brad helping them hide the eggs.

All the children enjoyed dyeing eggs.  We had several different kits for them to use.

Shane dyed all his eggs -- green!  His favorite color!  So funny!

 We have lots of green eggs!

Even with a different color cup . . . it's still green dye!

See momma . . . It's green!

It was so funny to me because when the kids started dyeing eggs, everyone got out their cameras and started taking pictures . . . me, Michelle, Vicky, Phillip . . .   I love this picture of Michelle!  Wonder what was on that egg for her to make such a face! 

Cheryl had her hands full with her three children dyeing eggs at the same time.

These are Michelle's three grandchildren:

I was pretty lucky because Alex is a very experienced egg-dyer . . . I didn't have to supervise him at all.

He had several eggs going at the same time!

Alex wasn't the only experienced egg-dyer . . . Michelle's granddaughter, Taylor, created some super special eggs herself!

Her name on an egg . . .

Fancy glitter egg . . .

Payton dyed his hand orange . . . coincidentally matching his shorts!

Zach finally came back and dyed one egg . . . He's at that difficult age where he wants to do stuff with Alex and Shane, but thinks he's too old to do that "baby stuff".

After dyeing eggs, the children got ready to hunt for the eggs hidden in the front yard.
Some of the children were acting silly . . . wonder who they were . . .

They raced to the front yard . . .

It was so much fun . . . Five children racing around trying to find all the eggs . . .

Alex scored big time!

Payton was very happy with his full basket . . .

Ford was happy too . . . underneath that serious expression . . .

Taylor Grace all smiles . . .

And Shane found a shiny egg . . .

It was a lot of fun!  This may have to be a new family tradition . . . spending Easter eve at Aunt Michelle's house!  Ha!  It was a little hard getting up on Sunday cause we got back home around 8:30!  We were wore out! 

When Dave got off work at 5:30, he drove over to Michelle's house so I wouldn't be driving home at night "unchaperoned"!  He's so sweet!  I was glad he came even though he missed most of the fun.  He got there as we were dyeing the eggs.  At least he got to eat some of that delicious chicken!  I wish I had gotten a picture of him cause he looked so cute when he got there.   I love to see him when he's all dressed in his work clothes and boots.  So cute!

A great way to start the Easter holiday off  . . . Fason family fun with . . .

                       the Ferrell boys and me!

Week of April 9th - Menu Planning Monday

I'm back planning my menus again.  I was so busy during the month of March with Shane's party and with the Circuit Court term that I didn't "plan" my menus every week like I had been doing . . . And boy did we miss that!  I can't tell you how many times we were hungry and scrounging around for something to eat only to find nothing but corndogs, frozen pizza, and chicken tenders! 

Now that I've gotten March behind me . . . and Easter activities behind me . . . I'm getting back into my regular routine.  Menu planning is a part of that routine!  So here is next week's menu for anyone who's interested!

Monday:

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham (Left-over Easter ham)
Green Bean Bundles
Mac & Cheese
Deviled Eggs (Wonder why?)
Rolls

Tuesday:

Ham & Cheese Sub Sandwiches
Potato Chips
Brownies

Wednesday:

Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili  (Weight Watcher Recipe)
Rice
Shredded Cheese & Sour Cream for fixins

Thursday:

Crockpot Roast and Gravy (Ferrell Recipe)
Carrots
Mashed Potatoes
Left-over Rice (for Zach)
Rolls

Friday:

Mike's Pizza  (Take-out)
Salad

I don't plan the weekend menu because I like to be flexible on the weekends.  I usually decide our weekend menu on Friday.  When I plan my menus, I typically go to the grocery on Mondays and Fridays . . . which is so much better than every day!

Gotta go!  The Potato and Ham Casserole is in the oven right now, so I've got to get "cracking" some eggs!  And fyi . . . Dave says it's smelling so good right now in the house!  That Potato and Ham Casserole is a recipe from Ree Drummond a/k/a The Pioneer Woman!  Y'all know how I love her recipes!

Until later from

                        the Ferrell boys and me!

I'm linking up to Menu Plan Monday at

Our Church Easter Egg Hunt

This is my 100th post!  Woo Hoo!  I feel like I should do something special to commemorate this event . . . but I have no idea what that would be so I'll just do what I do . . . blog about stuff that we do . . . for the 100th time!

We have had the church Easter egg hunt at the church for the past couple of years.  This year I suggested that we have the egg hunt at someone's house and offered my house . . . And the children's committee coordinator agreed!  Yea! 

I love having events and parties at my house because it motivates me to keep the house clean and . . . in this case, it motivated me to work on the patio!  I went to a local nursery and purchased some gerbera daisies, begonias, and sun ferns for the patio.  I even bought a new door mat.  That is especially impressive because I have had the same Christmas door mat at the back door for the past two years!  Ha!

The children made cute Easter foam crafts while the eggs were being hidden in the front yard.

We even had some cowboys and cowgirls come to the egg hunt.

Some of the girls were very intent while making their crosses.

It was hard to get them to stop for a picture, but Shenaye's mom insisted that she stop so I could get a picture.  Pretty girl.  :)

It was such a pretty day for the Easter egg hunt . . . so pleasant and cool . . .

The boys weren't as interested in doing the crafts as the girls . . . they were busy playing the shark game.

You know the one . . . where you have to climb on something high . . . very fast . . . or the sharks will get you!

Boys are bizarre!  Ha!  Or at least the ones at my house!  But I love 'em that's for sure!

Speaking of bizarre . . .Shane was anti-social again!  He wouldn't come outside and do any of the crafts, and he wouldn't get his basket when it was time to go hunt eggs!

When the egg hunt was almost over . . . every child had found their allotted 12 eggs . . . here comes Shane with his basket ready to hunt eggs!  Everyone was so sweet and helped us find his eggs . . . because we were so late getting started, all the easy-to-find eggs had already been found!

After the egg hunt, the children had snacks and drinks out on the patio.  See the boys' resurrection gardens on the table.



Marshall and Miller

Shenaye and Anna Morgan

But Shane was only interested in his eggs!  Look at that hair!  He wouldn't let me comb his hair.  He's such a joy! Ha! 

They had those cute Jesus necklaces in some of the eggs.  My boys loved that!

Some of the eggs had rubber bugs in them.  Shane wasn't too happy with those!

But the candy . . . he loved that! 

The egg hunt was a lot of fun and so convenient having it at my house!  For once, I was on time!  Ha!

And when the egg hunt was over . . . and everyone had left . . . I had to get busy making cupcakes and brownies for Michelle's family get-together that evening!

Such is life with
                           the Ferrell boys and me!