A Snowy, Yummy Easter

On Saturday Ellie and I had THE EASTER BUNNY discussion. It all came about because of the anticipation of the holiday (especially the egg hunt) and the snow. She was worried. I made the mistake of asking her if she
wanted the egg hunt inside or outside. That was when I made the mistake. "What do you mean? How can you tell the Easter Bunny what to do?" she shouted. She stomped off. A bit later, still stomping, she comes to me and demands to know if the Easter Bunny is real. "After all, Mom, I know you are the tooth fairy!" I asked her if she really wanted to know. How would she feel if he is real? How would she feel if it is me? It took a while, but we got through it. She wanted to know why we had lied to her for so long. that was a difficult one. She closed the conversation with a huff and a "I KNOW SANTA IS REAL!" I think she had actually figured it out, but did not want to let go of that part of her childhood. I also think that she worried that if she knew for sure that I am the Easter Bunny that we would not have the egg hunt. But of course we did. In an effort to reduce the sugar intake, our eggs contained coins, not candy. Ellie also got two stuff, ultra soft lambs. Ethan got duck figurines and tools.

Easter dinner was a little bittersweet. It had been tradition to go to Aunt Kathy's and Uncle Joe's house for Easter dinner each year. Uncle Joe would make these wonderful candy filled nests. The kids each got about 20 of them. The searching was sometimes the most fun. Kathy and Joe live in the foothills. Their backyard is sort of a baby deer coop nursery this time of year. Last year, as I put out the nests, a yearling followed me around. She was very funny she followed about 15 feet behind me and she tried to nibble the nests when I was not looking. There was also the issue of Franky the semitame squirrel with a sweet tooth. I was a little concerned that I would get accosted by the wildlife in search for chocolate. I came out of it just fine, the nests did get a bit picked over. Franky did not seem to realize that we could track him by his trail of candy wrappers he left as he munched. This year Joe is in hospice. We have not been able to see him since July. While we think of him everyday, Easter was an especially thinking-about-Joe kind of day.

Dinner was at the grandparent's house. Ethan made a wonderful strawberry soup and I made lemon souffle. Ethan had enjoyed a chilled strawberry soup when last we went to upstate New York. It was the last meal of the trip and Uncle Marty and Aunt Caroline took us to a five star restaurant by the lake. Making that soup caused Ethan to remember that thrill. His soup was wonderful. It is made of strawberries, heavy whipping cream, sugar and orange juice with no pulp. It was a hit. My souffles looked nice and were enjoyed, but the level of lemon flavor from ramakin to ramakin varied greatly.