Since this is the first Easter Sunday away from our parents so we made sure to include family traditions. On Saturday we made a cute bunny cake (white cake made with two rounds), since our tastes are a bit different our white cake was accented with cream cheese frosting (Mark) and coconut ears (Laura) with chocolate mint chips (Everyone :) ). We melted some semi-sweet chocolate and a bunny left over from last year (the year I learned that Mark likes chocolate in moderation, and dark chocolate at that) and made a whole batch of chocolate covered strawberries- well actually Mark made the treats, I just got everything ready. Then we made strawberry-kiwi jello with some extra strawberry kick. After Mark's special secret shopping trip, we died some eggs and decorated them with sponges while watching The Whole Nine Yards on TV.
On easter day we got our surprises from each other first :) I got Mark the third edition of the "Winning Way" which he read as often as possible all day long ;), a pack of sour candy in an egg (it is Easter), and a card that folds in many ways, each with a different message knowing his love of origami. Mark got me the most amazing gift- he hid a dozen eggs around our apartment with my favorite- gummy bears and M&M's inside each. I had forgotten what fun it is to find eggs- and to have Mark help when I couldn't find the last two. Mark also bought me a new set of gardening tools, something we'll be putting to good use this summer. We also opened the double wrapped gifts from my parents and I got the most adorable rubber ducky with a bright green hat- it will be our new hand soap holder for the bathroom :), some little chocolate bunnies (perfect in my striving to eat less chocolate), egg full of skittles, and a friendly blue bunny ball to put by my computer. Mark got a western egg with the full ensemble of a cowboy hat, mustache and holsters, little chocolate bunnies, and a friendly yellow chick ball to comfort his computer :) It was such a nice treat to get the surprises!
Then we went to church at the First United Methodist Church by the capitol. It is always so lovely to see everyone dressed in their spring best and to sing along with a large group of people. Then we returned home to cook "the meal." I was surprised that everything went so smoothly. I remember holidays when we didn't eat until 2pm and Mom was up at dawn cooking. But perhaps because there were only two of us, and we cooked what we knew we would eat, but we had everything ready by noon.
For the meal we had pan fried smoked ham, steamed asparagus, deviled eggs (decorated like stained glass with dies from the previous day), fruit jello, steamed artichokes (with their side of butter), some ginger ale and fruit juice to drink and bunny cake for desert. (My mom said that we also usually have mashed potatoes, but those were done in time for dinner, not lunch :) )
For dinner, Mark had a craving for turkey burgers and a quick walk to Sentry satisfied the need. We had burgers to be proud of with tomatoes, pickles, kaiser rolls, ketchup, mustard, and the burgers themselves had Mark's special mix of bread crumbs, A1 sauce, garlic, chipotle, salt and pepper - with a side of mashed potatoes :) Over all an excellent meal, and our first family Easter.
