Hippity, Hoppitty, Easter is Over . . .

Love the clean, fresh look of these shelves!

Ok, C-A-N-N-O-T believe it is already April. Seriously, where has the time gone??

So here's a quick recap of our Easter celebrations. Normally, we head to Gainesville to spend Easter with the family. However this year, we were still experiencing jet lag and opted to stay home for some rest and relaxation! We went to Good Friday services and then came home and my girls had a meltdown. Complaining about everything, tears, we can't do anything right, you name it! My husband, fed up with the whining, sent them both to bed and we did our own "wining" - popped a bottle of wine and watched 50/50 (which was incredibly fantastic and gave me a little crush on Joseph Gordon Levitt - yes, the kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun! I know, weird!!). After some truly needed sleep, everyone woke up in a better mood and we had a great, relaxing weekend - an Easter miracle! My oldest daughter is currently going through Confirmation and trying to earn "points" and raise money for the Mission Trip she is going on in June. She spent Saturday volunteering at the church and getting caught up on homework. Youngest daughter worked on her Earth Day project and I spent the day cooking (after attending Weight Watchers - I maintained which was my goal after being in Paris/Belgium/Amsterdam for 10 days!).  Once everything was done, we dyed our eggs.

This was oldest daughter's creation - it's simple beautiful and a labor of love!

Our menu for the weekend was absolutely delish -

Lunch Saturday - Paula Deen's Lady and Sons Grilled Cheese and Asparagus sandwiches. Everyone loved them (again another Easter miracle!!)

Dinner - Pesto Chicken Salad - We have made this as a sandwich before but tonight, we just served on a bed of lettuce with other salad veggies.

Easter Day - Opening our Easter baskets!

Youngest daughter - Olivia.

Oldest daughter - Caitlin.

Heading off to Easter Church Services.

Time to look for eggs.

Brunch is served.

The girls set a beautiful table.

Brunch - Lemon, Strawberry Ricotta Muffins  - Not sweet at all. My husband like them, I thought ok and neither daughter liked them. They have a very dense quality to them. Not sure if I will make again.

             - Eggs Benedict Casserole - fantastic! You have to make it the night before and it's worth it. This was a hit with all the meat-eaters in the family.

            - Fresh Cut Fruit - thank you Publix!

            - Mimosas! I had one with OJ but the next one (or two) were with Cranberry juice. I love those!

Easter Day was the best! We played Kinect on Playstation. It actually brought tears, we were laughing so hard. Then we headed outside for some reading and relaxing. Later, my husband and I poured some wine and planned our next vacation (nothing decided on yet!). 

Time to eat again  -

Dinner - Beef Tenderloin with Blue Cheese Sauce (I know right, what about WW??)

            - Gruyere Potatoes

            - Roasted Broccoli

            - Carrot Cake - this was THE BEST CARROT CAKE EVER!! It's a sheet cake, then you pour a glaze on top, and then cream cheese icing! Moist, delicious and not nearly big enough!!

We had a great, relaxing weekend. Just what the Doctor ordered! Since March was a blur and I am too lazy to take down our Easter decorations we really didn't get to enjoy our Easter decorations, we decided to keep them up until after my daughter's confirmation on April 22. It still is the month of Easter, right??

I think he was a gift from my mom (is this right, mom?) and I like that he is super shiny and looks like chocolate!.

My mantle - I just kept it as it normally is and added the bunny I found at Tuesday Morning and took a glass jar with a metal handle (found at a local boutique) and filled with shiny eggs from the $2.50 section of Target. In fact, I liked the eggs so much, I went back and bought 4 more sets of them but then never had time to find a home for them!

This is my Pottery Barn coffee table. For the love of God, I rotated this picture in iPhoto but can't get that version to load here. Not sure why so just tilt your laptops! Please ignore the Christmas snow still in the table and the tacky chargers in the background!

My favorite little chalkboard. It had the menu on it but it was splattered with water so I just wiped it clean!

I hope all of you had a happy holiday weekend. While we missed being with our family, especially the cousins, we had a great weekend and even better downtime! We will get to see the family this weekend when we all participate in Gaineville's Relay for Life - celebrating my sister Becky's, and daughter Caitlin's, cancer survivorship, but that is for another post!

PS - I was trying to share all the recipes with you but the Pinterest server went down. If you want them, go to my Pinterest page once it is back up and running.