Easter 2010

Even though we were on a long vacation a few weeks ago, we were looking forward to the long Easter weekend, which is a 4 day weekend in Germany. Of course, we were looking forward to the time off, but we were also hoping for some good weather: so that we could work in the yard, play ball outside, and hide some eggs...
In kindergarten, the kids made Easter baskets. I love Quinn's smile (which is sort of a squint...).

Of course, we also colored eggs on Good Friday. Quinn's hands were red for the next two days.

The weather forecast said that it would be cold and rainy the whole weekend. While it wasn't exactly warm, it was mostly sunny and only rained in the evenings. We got to spend some time working in the yard - which was very much needed.

Similar to Christmas morning, Quinn is allowed to eat breakfast in his PJ's. Notice his Easter Morning breakfast of a chocolate rabbit. Eva and I paid for this later in the day. Quinn really loves chocolate, but we don't usually have it in the house. His sugar high lasted for hours...

Emily didn't know what chocolate is...but it seemed like she didn't want to miss out on Quinn's fun.

Quinn loves to hold Emily...and her head / neck are almost strong enough to not freak us out when he does hold her...

Since it rained Easter morning, we hid the eggs in the house...

Quinn finally found everything...at least we hope it is everything and don't start getting some odd odors in a few months.

Emily sticking her chocolate bunny in her mouth...Papa will have to take care of this rabbit in the middle of the night soon...

Emily 'found' her rabbit in one of the plants. It might be tough to convince Quinn next year that Emily can find her own stuff (Quinn loved uncovering Emily's stuff).

I was in the mood for a full-on Easter Sunday feast. We picked up a fresh, smoked ham from the butcher and a bunch of fresh veggies at the farmer's market (Gemüsefrau). For our Easter sunday meal, I made a smoked ham with a honey, molasses, bourbon topping with garlic, Bärlauch (sorry, no English translation of Bärlauch...it is just a plant that is 'in season' now that tastes like a refined garlic) mashed potatoes with stuffed, baked zucchini. I started cooking after church, so we were able to have a 3pm meal and not have to hurry with the meal with two tired, hungry kids.

With the leftovers and the bones, I made a pea soup today (with fresh broth, of course...even though my mother in law says you don't need broth in pea soup ;-)

Despite less than perfect weather, we had a great family weekend. We got to do some stuff that we wanted to do (gardening, cooking) and the kids got to play to their heart's content (Quinn and I played tons of soccer).

Quinn even played with the neighbor's kids, who are much older than he is, for a while. They ran, and ran, and ran. Even though the kids were at least 4-6 years older, they did a good job taking care of Quinn and making sure he was having fun. It was a bit of sad for Eva and I to see our little baby boy be able to play without us...but it was also very fun to be able to go back in the house, knowing that the neighbors kids were taking good care of him, and being able to hear him close by.