April 25: Easter Surprise Cupcakes

In my hunt for Easter projects and recipes I came across a recipe for cupcakes with chocolate Easter eggs hidden inside.  After the Easter egg hunt I had plenty of eggs to use, but I couldn't find the recipe back.  I found this one instead:  Easter Surprise Cupcakes.  The boys think it's great that an egg is hidden inside the cupcake!  Brielle really enjoys them, too, but as always, her favorite part is the frosting.  I have to agree with her that the frosting is the best part...almond flavoring...yum! 

Easter Surprise Cupcakes

• 2/3 cup softened butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 & 3/4 cups flour
• 2 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 & 1/4 cup milk
• 24 small chocolate eggs, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place muffin liners in muffin tins.  Mix butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until blended.  Mix on high for 5 minutes.  On low speed, beat in flour, baking powder, and salt alternately with milk until well blended.  Fill muffin liners 1/3 full and place a chocolate egg in each.  Top with remaining batter so each liner is 2/3 full.  Bake 18-20 minutes or until done.  Cool and frost as desired.

Our frosting choice:

 Betty Crocker's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. vanilla (***I used almond extract instead = delicious!!!)
• 1-2 Tbs. milk

Mix powdered sugar and butter in medium bowl with a spoon or electric mixer on low speed.  Stir in extract and 1 Tbs. of milk.  Gradually beat in just enough of the remaining milk to make the frosting smooth and spreadable.  If it's too thick, beat in more milk a few drops at a time.  If it becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar.  (Makes more than enough for the cupcakes)

April 22: Resurrection Set

The risen Christ!



Part of the finished set.

 Our Good Friday project was making a Resurrection Set.  I'd never heard of a Resurrection Set, but it makes sense...we put out our Nativity Scenes at Christmas, why not a Resurrection Set for Easter?  I stumbled upon the idea while searching for Easter crafts to do with the boys...you can find the details and the templates at http://catholicicing.blogspot.com. 

Ty only had interest in coloring the tomb and one of the soldiers, so I colored the rest since Koen was in school.  I used cardstock to print the templates just to make it a bit more sturdy.  We used up our supply of saved toilet paper rolls, but it was worth it!  The boys love playing with this set!  We read the Easter story while moving the characters around, and it helped the boys remember the story just a bit better.  In their reenactments, they were more excited about the angels arriving and the soldiers falling down. :)  I doubt this set will last a lifetime, so I did save the idea in hopes of using it again in the future.



Ty's soldier.



Hard at work.







Apparently we often use toilet

 paper tubes as trumpets...

poor Mary Magdelene!





Playing with the finished set.



We used rubber bands to hold the
paper in place while the glue dried.



March 16: Easter Eggstravaganza!

The Easter bunny!

Swimming lessons were cancelled this week due to a big swim meet taking place at the pool, so it worked out perfectly that St. Mark's Lutheran School was holding an Easter Eggstravaganza event.  St. Mark's is the school/church across the street from our home where Koen attended preschool.  When I told the kids where we were going, Koen asked, "Do you think they'll remember me?" :)  Miss Stacie, his preschool teacher, was there and most certainly did remember him which thrilled Koen! 



Balloon puppies!



The hour-and-a-half long event was packed with opportunities -- we participated in only a third of what they offered!  There were crafts, games, balloon animals, the Easter bunny, and egg hunts.  We waited in line for 20 minutes so each boy could get a balloon puppy, and of course, Koen's popped as soon as we arrived home so he sobbed and wanted either for me to fix it or to go back and get a different one.  Since my balloon skills are limited and the event was finished he was left with the harsh reality that sometimes things just aren't fair. 



Trying to make the bunny hop into the Easter basket.



There was an indoor egg hunt for kids five-and-under so both boys went in and found some candy, and then the big-kid egg hunt for five-and-up (those lucky five-year-olds!!!) was to be outside at the end of the event.  Both boys wanted to try the outdoor egg hunt up until the time they found the free snacks in the gym:  fruit, donut holes, and juice!  Why search for food when they hand it out for free? :)  So, no outdoor egg hunt for us, which may have been ok on that rainy morning. 



Ty's turn!  Both boys were successful!
 (Notice Brielle in the background!)



While it would have been fun to try some of the other projects, they time frame was perfect for the kids and they were ready to head home again just as things wrapped up. 



Brielle enjoyed part of a donut hole
and some grapes at snack time.







April 15: Palm Frond Collage

With Palm Sunday coming up this Sunday, I thought I'd introduce the celebration to Tysen with this project.  We talked about Jesus coming into a big city riding a donkey and how the people were so excited to see him that they waved these palm branches and laid them in the street for the donkey to step on.  Ty really had one question about the whole story:  Why?  And that question was repeated often as I tried to explain this event.  :)  So to make our palm leaf, I used this link as a guide:  Palm Frond Collage. 

I cut some strips of green construction paper and tissue paper.  I had Tysen snip them into smaller pieces.  He started out using his scissors but quickly discovered ripped worked better for him. 





I squeezed some glue onto the paper and had him spread it around with a paintbrush.  You can print the template from the link above. 





Tysen carefully placed the various green papers on the palm leaf paper.  He did a great job covering most of it!  After he finished, I cut out the palm shape (you can still see the lines if you use tissue paper), although I'd recommend waiting until it dries before you cut it out as it got a bit messy. :)  We then glued it on a black background.



The finished product!  Once it dries I'd like to add the word, "Hosanna!" at the top. 



March 28: Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

Talk about yummy!  Tysen enjoyed these from his first taste:  licking the spoons, the beaters, and just eating the dough out of the bowl!  All the other taste-testers raved about these treats as well, and I will certainly be making these again!  These Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs are the perfect treat involving two favorites:  chocolate and peanut butter!  They certainly don't need to be restricted to Easter season (yes, I realize it's a few weeks before Easter yet, but the kids are already excited about it!).  Hope you get a chance to sample one of these!  (Note:  the recipe states it makes 12 eggs...we made 25!)

Kittencal's Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs (Kittencal is one of my favorite chefs on food.com)

1 - 16oz. package confectioners sugar
1 cup peanut butter
4 1/2 Tbs. salted butter -- softened (if using unsalted butter add a pinch of salt)
1 Tbs. milk (may need more)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup crispy rice cereal (like Rice-Krispies, slightly crushed) *optional*

Glaze:
10 - 1oz. semi-sweet chocolate baking squares (could use milk chocolate) *I just used 10 oz. chocolate chips
1 Tbs. shortening

• In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar with peanut butter, butter, milk, and vanilla until smooth and well-combined (may need to add more milk to if the mixture if dry).
• Mix in the cereal at this point, if using.
• Shape into desired size egg-shaped balls.
• Freeze for 1 to 1 & 1/2 hours.
• Chop chocolate into smaller pieces and use a microwave-safe bowl to melt chocolate with the shortening.  Microwave until melted stirring occasionally.
• Dip each egg into chocolate allowing the excess to drip off.
• Place on waxed paper.
• Decorate with sprinkles, etc. if you'd like.
• Refridgerate until cool.