Easter is in two days. I want to give the kids some type of near normal Easter. This will be Maci first one. She is 10 months old now so she can eat some foods. I never have tried dying eggs with foods but I will this year. I am going to use the juice from a jar of canned beets and the juice from a jar of canned blueberries. Hopefully it will work.
I have the stuff to make them some egg shaped mounds candy and chocolate peanut butter cups. I have plenty of plastic easter eggs to hide the candy in. Of course I still have my easter cookie cutters so I will make them some cut out cookies and frost them. Since I have always been a basket collector because they have so many uses I can find basket for the kids.
We have been using my digital camera to record events with since the power went out so I can use my camera to take pictures of Maci on her first Easter. Everything we record is downloaded to my laptop and then put on to discs for future use. It things ever get back to normal I will be able to print out pictures of Maci for my granddaughter. Nikki deserves to have her memories of Maci growing up preserved in pictures just like I have of my children and her mother had of her and Kyle. Tammy had to leave most of her pictures behind because they did not have room in the car for them.
All of us women are going to make the candy tonight after the kids go to bed for the night. We have gotten use to doing things by the light of candles and oil lamps. Of course since most guys are like little kids when it comes to candy and cookies we will have to fight the men to keep them out of the candy when we make it. Little do they know we are making them some to. I just wish I had a rabbit mold to make chocolate rabbits but I don't.
I remembered the tub of Easter Decorations I had up in the attic so I had Steve pull them out. I was pretty sure there was some bags of easter grass in there and I was right. I had 3 new bags. Just enough to place in the 3 baskets we were going to be making for the kids.
This afternoon I had Tammy, Nikki and Jen decorate the inside of the house with the decorations while I planned an Easter dinner menu. I don't know about the rest of them but I am getting tired of one pot meals. I plan on cooking Easter dinner out in the garage so I can use the rocket oven that Mike and I made. We still have one smoked ham left from the last pig the guys got so I slice the meat off the bone and heat it up the on grill. I will use the bone later in a pot of beans. Mike has gotten really good at smoking meats.
I see that I still have 3 quarts of canned sweet potatoes left. I can use them to make some candied yams. I am going to miss not having any more sweet potatoes but oh well. I will serve some store bought canned peas and home made dinner rolls with the meal. Of course John and my kids are going to expect a coconut cake on Easter so I will see if I can make one in the rocket stove. I have everything I need to make one. It's just a matter of making a cake in the rocket stove. I think I can make it work. Coconut cake on Easter has been a family tradition for over 30 years for us. I don't want to disappoint them this year. I know they would understand if I could not make one but they would be disappointed and it's important that we have some sense of the old normal at least once in awhile.
After the kids were asleep tonight we started on the candy. Sure enough we had to smack a few hands to keep them out of the candy while we were making it but we managed to keep them out of most of it. We made enough coconut eggs and peanut butter cups for everyone to have two of each. There was still some melted chocolate left so I went and got a box of raisins and we made chocolate raisin clusters. Once the candy was set up enough to pack it up we packed it in candy tins and I hid it in the storage room. It's cold enough in there that the candy won't melt.
Tomorrow Tammy, Nikki, Jen and I are going to make the cookies and cake and bake them in the rocket stove. We will decorate the cookies after the kids are in bed for the night. I will decorate the cake as soon as its cool. I have one last bag of hard candy in the storage room. I am going to get some of it out and put them in plastic eggs so Kyle and Amy can have a egg hunt. Maci it to young to hunt eggs and to young to eat hard candy so she won't be in on the egg hunt.
Julie has been doing homeschooling with the kids so I asked her to teach the kids about the true reason of Easter. She has been doing a good job on it because Kyle was telling us about it at dinner last night. Dave drew some crosses and rabbits on paper. He is a pretty good artist. The kids used markers and stickers to decorate the coloring pages then we hung them up in the dinning room. They are proud of their artwork and all the adults oohed and awed over them at dinner making the kids very happy. I am glad I thought to stock plenty of all types of art supplies. They have been a big help in keeping the kids from getting to bored.
I have the stuff to make them some egg shaped mounds candy and chocolate peanut butter cups. I have plenty of plastic easter eggs to hide the candy in. Of course I still have my easter cookie cutters so I will make them some cut out cookies and frost them. Since I have always been a basket collector because they have so many uses I can find basket for the kids.
We have been using my digital camera to record events with since the power went out so I can use my camera to take pictures of Maci on her first Easter. Everything we record is downloaded to my laptop and then put on to discs for future use. It things ever get back to normal I will be able to print out pictures of Maci for my granddaughter. Nikki deserves to have her memories of Maci growing up preserved in pictures just like I have of my children and her mother had of her and Kyle. Tammy had to leave most of her pictures behind because they did not have room in the car for them.
All of us women are going to make the candy tonight after the kids go to bed for the night. We have gotten use to doing things by the light of candles and oil lamps. Of course since most guys are like little kids when it comes to candy and cookies we will have to fight the men to keep them out of the candy when we make it. Little do they know we are making them some to. I just wish I had a rabbit mold to make chocolate rabbits but I don't.
I remembered the tub of Easter Decorations I had up in the attic so I had Steve pull them out. I was pretty sure there was some bags of easter grass in there and I was right. I had 3 new bags. Just enough to place in the 3 baskets we were going to be making for the kids.
This afternoon I had Tammy, Nikki and Jen decorate the inside of the house with the decorations while I planned an Easter dinner menu. I don't know about the rest of them but I am getting tired of one pot meals. I plan on cooking Easter dinner out in the garage so I can use the rocket oven that Mike and I made. We still have one smoked ham left from the last pig the guys got so I slice the meat off the bone and heat it up the on grill. I will use the bone later in a pot of beans. Mike has gotten really good at smoking meats.
I see that I still have 3 quarts of canned sweet potatoes left. I can use them to make some candied yams. I am going to miss not having any more sweet potatoes but oh well. I will serve some store bought canned peas and home made dinner rolls with the meal. Of course John and my kids are going to expect a coconut cake on Easter so I will see if I can make one in the rocket stove. I have everything I need to make one. It's just a matter of making a cake in the rocket stove. I think I can make it work. Coconut cake on Easter has been a family tradition for over 30 years for us. I don't want to disappoint them this year. I know they would understand if I could not make one but they would be disappointed and it's important that we have some sense of the old normal at least once in awhile.
After the kids were asleep tonight we started on the candy. Sure enough we had to smack a few hands to keep them out of the candy while we were making it but we managed to keep them out of most of it. We made enough coconut eggs and peanut butter cups for everyone to have two of each. There was still some melted chocolate left so I went and got a box of raisins and we made chocolate raisin clusters. Once the candy was set up enough to pack it up we packed it in candy tins and I hid it in the storage room. It's cold enough in there that the candy won't melt.
Tomorrow Tammy, Nikki, Jen and I are going to make the cookies and cake and bake them in the rocket stove. We will decorate the cookies after the kids are in bed for the night. I will decorate the cake as soon as its cool. I have one last bag of hard candy in the storage room. I am going to get some of it out and put them in plastic eggs so Kyle and Amy can have a egg hunt. Maci it to young to hunt eggs and to young to eat hard candy so she won't be in on the egg hunt.
Julie has been doing homeschooling with the kids so I asked her to teach the kids about the true reason of Easter. She has been doing a good job on it because Kyle was telling us about it at dinner last night. Dave drew some crosses and rabbits on paper. He is a pretty good artist. The kids used markers and stickers to decorate the coloring pages then we hung them up in the dinning room. They are proud of their artwork and all the adults oohed and awed over them at dinner making the kids very happy. I am glad I thought to stock plenty of all types of art supplies. They have been a big help in keeping the kids from getting to bored.