Easter

I haven't written in a week and a half because I have been busy. Which is awesome! Through recent weeks, life had been so monotonous and dull. It's a huge relief to finally have something to do!

On Thursday, playgroup had a little egg hunt at the church. Natalie was being very shy that morning, but I managed to get her to pick up a few eggs.

 

Once she realized that there were treats inside the eggs, she was a little more enthusiastic and went hunting for eggs in the other children's baskets.

 

Unrelated side note: this is how we wake up in the morning. Surrounded by little creatures.

 

Friday and Saturday, my Dadio and LeAnn came down to hang out.

We walked along a trail at the Chatahoochee River. I thought we would see a big waterfall, but I think we needed to go on a dirt path to see it. We followed a paved trail that was pretty cool. Enjoyed the spring air and let Natalie wade a little bit.

Saturday was the egg hunt at the park. It was great! Natalie got several eggs and put them in her basket. Then, she started taking the eggs out of her basket and putting them back on the ground. She also tried to put her eggs in another kid's basket, so we decided she was done.

 

 

 

We decorated eggs and Natalie got a coloring book with bunnies and stickers from Grandma.

Just thought this was too funny not to capture. Definitely the ideal reading position.

 

Here is Natalie in her Sunday outfit. The hat didn't last too long, but better than I expected!

 

We enjoyed Easter dinner with Micah's parents, who came down and brought more eggs and Easter candy. Natalie has been pretty thrilled about all of the candy.

 

Since then, I have have done a few things this week. I babysat two days for a friend from church with a daughter Natalie's age. Cha-Ching! I finished my first ceramic piece from my weekly class- it is waiting to be fired then glazed. I am reading Gone Girl and then The Femenine Mystique for my book club. I am rearranging some things at home to try to make our closet space upstairs work better. I bought and assembled a shelf that goes over the toilet, but Micah thinks its too wabbly and insists on reassembling it. I think I did it just fine, it's just supposed to be mounted to the wall and we can't do that because we have a mirror across that whole wall.

 

I've been learning a few new recipes, heavy on vegetables. A dill carrot side, a fabulous roasted cauliflower that my sister-in-law put on their blog.

One dish I made up for Easter dinner and Marty wanted the recipe, so here goes:

 

Cabbage Carrot Casserole

Thinly chop a head of cabbage and shred 2-4 carrots. Put in pot then fill half way with water. Bring water to a boil, then cover and lower heat to a simmer. Once tender (20 mins or so?), drain and dump in a cake pan. Mix with a jar of alfredo sauce (or make our own. My favorite alfredo sauce recipe is this one) and sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Bake at 350* for 20-30 mins. Viola!

Not the healthiest dish, what with that fattening sauce, but it's low carb and makes a ton and is very filling!

In other news, Natalie has spent the past week waking up between 4 and 6 and crying/screaming hysterically. I think the solution is to stop letting her get out of her bed before 7. Micah thinks the solution is to not let her come into our bed for snuggles when she does get up, because she is getting up earlier and earlier, wanting to come in with us. It continues to be a struggle to get her to sleep enough, with the early waking and her spending more time screaming than sleeping during naptime lately. Micah is sure she will be traumatized with all the crying I let her do. I agree. But I would rather her be traumatized that her mother let her cry for a couple of hour a day than grow up to be an insomniac adult with no coping skills and no resillience who can't deal with it when things don't go her way.