Easter Tid Bits

Easter Sunday is upon us.
It's one of our most important holidays of the year and we have spent weeks preparing our hearts and minds to commemorate Jesus' horrific crucifixion and the amazing miracle of his resurrection.
Our kids know that Easter is far more than bunnies and egg hunts and I am so proud of the way they respect the true meaning behind the holiday.
All of that being said, I also love the tie-in of Easter being a time of rebirth and renewal, which is also the start of the Spring season. My lilies are blooming for the first time, there are gorgeous birds on our bird feeders every morning, and I just want to open up the french doors and let the fresh air in all day long.
This weekend we will be attending Easter services at our church on Friday evening, which we've never done before. We'll be serving at church on Sunday, so we'll still be dressing up the boys in their new Easter outfits (matching of course - insert the gag sound from my husband), and then going out to one of our favorite restaurants for brunch after ward.
And of course one tradition that we're all looking forward to is dyeing eggs.
Every year, my parents have come over on Easter weekend and my mom dyes eggs with the boys.

Sweet Payton, age 3.

One little trick that I recently learned about eggs is, that if you want hard-boiled eggs, you don't necessarily have to boil them! You can bake them instead. It's SO easy, and it makes perfectly hard-boiled eggs every single time.

Simply place the raw eggs in a muffin pan, bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and then plunge into an ice bath for 10 minutes. Perfect eggs every single time, and they don't crack, which can often happen during the boiling method.

So since this post is titled "Easter Tid Bits" here are some extra random photos for your enjoyment...

Parker had his Easter party at school this week. We hid over 100 eggs on the playground and it took them about 4 minutes to find them all. Just look at their excitement!

Parker and his sweet friend, Riley. We carpool together and their conversations always crack me up.

I was browsing Pinterest this week and came across these fun Easter pins in case you're looking for some last-minute ideas.

These gorgeous blackberry & brie tarts not only sound like they would taste incredible, but they're only 4 ingredients! Gotta love an easy and impressive appetizer. Recipe here.

Personally, I'm not a fan of hard-boiled eggs, but I know everyone will be looking for ways to use up those Easter eggs post-holiday. This version with crumbled bacon and jalapenos looks like it would be a fun twist on the traditional. Recipe here.

How beautiful is this drink? It's called the "Charleston Pink Lady" and I may just have to go buy grenadine to make one of these beauties. Recipe here.

And these would be fun to hand out as favors if you were hosting a lot of kids for Easter brunch. So simple! They're just powdered sugar donut holes inside a bag with a free printable stapled on top. Easy, peasy! Link here.

Okay, that's it for me today. I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter weekend surrounded by people you love. And on Sunday, I hope you'll take time to thank God for sacrificing his one and only son so that our sins could be forgiven. That my friends, is the best gift of all.