The Best Easter!

Today was one of the best Easters I can remember. It was perfect! We got up and went to church as a family for the 10:00 mass in Old Tappan. We met John's brother Jesus there and it was a really nice service. The lead singer of the choir had the most amazing voice ... she reminded of of Idina Menzel (the woman who played Elphaba in Wicked). Since Catholic masses are so scripted and different from what I'm used to, I try to find joy in the other aspects like the choir :) Not that we attend mass very often.

I was TRYING to get a picture of John with both girls, but Avery was being a little stinker ... you can see her green sweater in the right side of the picture, since she had thrown herself on the floor. Oh well. Between my mother and me, the girls were completely spoiled with Easter gifts this year - many thanks to my sweet mom who sent so many wonderful things!

Reagan and Papa

Avery finally got on John's lap to explore her Easter basket

Reagan and Mama

Mama (with chocolate!) and Avery

Avery was having difficulty pulling out the jelly beans from the fake grass, so she ended up with a mouthful of it!

Reagan sat in this position for at least 30 solid minutes, playing with this new coloring book/board that I found at Kohl's. It was sort of like an Aquadoodle, since I filled the brush with water ... as soon as the water hit the page, it exploded with color. Reagan carefully colored each page and then was disappointed that the first page had gone back to being white once the water dried! I explained how cool it was that she could color it over and over and she was then happy again.

The Mendez ladies

My one and only attempt at a picture of the girls together ... oh well, maybe next year!

Once Avery went down for her nap, Reagan and I got busy dyeing Easter eggs!!! I'm not sure who was more excited about this, but I'd bet it was me. I don't know why, but I just love doing this, especially since I get to do it with Reagan now! The above picture makes me laugh because it is such a funny pose - you think she's tired of all my pictures yet???

Reagan scolded me for not wearing my apron, so I obeyed my very smart daughter

Look how excited I am!

Reagan did a very good job taking this picture, especially considering that my camera is so big and heavy!

My little cutie!

After dyeing eggs, we got ready for our guests to arrive. This year was a little bit different because many members of John's family were out of town (Jose, Doreen, Lauren and Gabby were in Mexico, and Debbie, Josh and Ethan were in Florida). Since it was just going to be Maribel, Marcelo and Joaquin, then Maribel's parents Nayda and Pepin, we decided to invite the Heid family as well (Nicole, Chris, Mia and Bennett). On Saturday, Nicole helped me pick out some fun placemats for the table, then Nicole brought over the centerpiece. I thought it turned out fun and festive, so THANKS Nicole!

Maribel always brought Nila a hydrangea each year for Easter, so this year she gave it to me. It was beautiful and I'm excited to plant it and enjoy it each year.

Mia, Nicole, Amanda and Reagan

Amanda and Nicole

Maribel brought her AMAZING appetizer: brie cheese, dried cherries, walnuts and honey, all baked in a puffed pastry! Seriously, it's to die for!

Nayda ~ she seemed a little bit sad today ... I think she was really missing her sister Nila :(

These two made quite a pair ... poor Pepin had an infection occur in his tooth, so his whole jaw was swolen! Jesus took a nasty fall on Thursday and ended up at the ER for stitches on his nose.

The Heid Family

The 5 kids ran around the house on sugar highs, acting totally nuts ~ it was pretty funny! Reagan was holding Bennett's hand, guiding him around like he was her little brother. The 5 kids are all between 3 years old and 18 months, so they get along quite well. Joaquin and Bennett are the same age, so I'm sure he was happy to have another boy around.

Avery running

Reagan in her dress-up shoes

The Mendez Family - 3 out of 4 smiling, not bad!

The kid table

The adult table ... we ended up with SO much food! Everyone contributed to the dinner, so we had a wide variety of yummy food: Nayda made her delicious pork ribs with Spanish rice, Maribel made garlic shrimp and her famous sweet potatoes, Nicole made creamed spinach, twice-baked potatoes, and homemade mac-n-cheese for the kids, and I made a honey baked ham and rolls. We had enough food to feed an army!

Then John surprised me with a birthday cake, since my birthday is tomorrow (April 13th) - it was very sweet and thoughtful of him!

Reagan helped me blow out the candles ... looks like she needs a little practice, since she's spitting in this picture!

Hey, that's a fairly good family picture! Yea!

Then it was time for the Easter Egg Hunt!! Maribel stuffed all the eggs with candy and such, then hid them in the living room.

Reagan and Mia, showing me their stash!

Cheese!

Making Bows

For those of you who have little girls, you are probably always trying to find cute ways to style their hair. Well, my little sister Camille has always made hair accessories for her daughters, so she taught me how to do it, back when Reagan hardly had any hair. A while ago, I made a bunch of flower clips for her hair and she's worn them almost everyday.

So, I decided it was time to make some new hair accessories. I wanted to use ribbon this time and make some simple bows (kind of like the ones pictured above). Looks easy, right? So I invited my friends over for a craft day of bow-making!

Here are Michelle and Nicole in my dining room ... we definitely had plenty of supplies!
Aside from making bows, we had a great time socializing and eating! Nicole brought her homemade hummus which was TO DIE FOR! Seriously, I'm going to have to post the recipe on this blog so that everyone can make it and taste how good it is. I whipped up my favorite fruit dip from Tastefully Simple. It's a combination of cream cheese, marshmellow creme, and the blueberry seasoning packet from Tastfully Simple. It's heavenly. Michelle brought some candy that we never even opened, since we couldn't stop eating the dips!

Here are the bows that Nicole made for her daughter Mia. This picture was taken AFTER she took each one apart and re-did it, since she'd sewn them to the clips incorrectly and they weren't closing properly. Poor Nicole :( At least they turned out cute in the end! Michelle was a natural at this project ... she had a knack for creating adorable accessories for her daughter Charlotte. She was also the most efficient of the 3 of us, so she left with a good amount to add to her collection.

Here are the bows/clippies that I created today. Not very many, for the 3 hours we spent working on them! Obviously, it was our first time, so there was a huge learning curve. I have a feeling I'll be much better at making these next time I try. It will take some practice, but I'm sure I'll be making bows like the pros someday soon!