Easter Morning

We went to a sunrise service at the top of the mountain here in Cáceres.  It was beautiful... to see the sun rising over the whole city... wow.  There were very few people there, but it made it that much more special.  This sunrise service tradition was started by an American missionary (Spaniards don't really do early mornings!) and I think we Americans dominated this service... especially with having 6 in our family!! :)  hehe... but, it was beautiful and special.

The kids were so excited this year... we actually had plastic eggs to find this year!  :)  Last year, we didn't have any... they don't have them here, and I hadn't thought to bring any.  This year, we had a friend bring them for us from the States.  We didn't have a ton of eggs, but we had enough for each child to find 10 eggs.  We started our tradition of an egg hunt in the house when the kids were little, because Nathan couldn't walk for the longest time, so it was easier for him to navigate the house on his knees than to be outside in the grass... so, even today, we still do in inside out house. 

The face of victory! haha... whoever found this white egg got to open a big surprise...

This made LAUGH when I saw the picture.  This is a lovely thought... obviously, there were gummy worms inside Nathan's egg.  They must've fallen out when Nathan grabbed the egg.  Yummy thought... eating worms that came from inside a stinky shoe. haha...

I think Carolina would have eaten every single piece of candy, one right after the other, if we had let her!

New T-shirts!

Jonathan got to open the big surprise!... even though it was for all of them.  Grandmommy an Papa bought them a FUN Easter gift... a new Wii game! 

All three had been saving their money together to try to buy this game.

Carolina got her first nail polish!  We've never done her nails, b/c I have a feeling that once we start, it will be a constant request. :)

She was SOOOO excited.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

This coffee cake is one of our favorites, and it's really yummy gluten-free, as well! (Just substitute your favorite GF baking mix for the all purpose flour, and add 3/4 tsp. xanthan gum.) Just as a personal preference, we always double the strawberries!!! ... and if you double the recipe, it works well in a 9x13 pan. :) So yummy and simple!

Strawberry Coffee Cake

Found on Allrecipes.com

By: Rose Palsgrove

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• TOPPING:
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cold butter
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat the egg, milk and butter. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Top with strawberries.
2. For topping, combine flour and sugar in a bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in pecans if desired; sprinkle over strawberries.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cut into squares; serve warm.

Easter 2012

We have all been recovering from being sick for the past month, so we had a very quiet, restful Easter... it was so fun having all the kids home for the week!

The kids were occupying themselves as we got ready to color eggs!

Finally time! 

We couldn't find white eggs... it's rare to find them here, but sometimes you can!...just not this week. haha...

Carolina was thrilled with the idea of coloring eggs... and coloring ON the eggs

The fun thing about the brown eggs is that the colors ended up being kinda bright!  Each egg was different b/c each shade of brown was different with each egg.  It was fun.

Not quite Easter colors, but still fun memories!

Everyone helped with the preparations for Easter breakfast!

This is one of our favorite things!... fresh squeezed lemonade!

Carolina wanted to try a little bit of the lemon juice, so Wes gave her a little

He was hoping for a fun sour face when she was done, but she actually  liked it!!!  haha...

We also did orange juice

They love to help!

Carolina is my constant helper in the kitchen... no matter what I'm making.  I LOVE it!  Here, we are making the strawberry coffee cake for the morning.

She really can do it by herself!

Then we added the topping... BUT, if forgot to get a final picture, so you'll just have to trust me... it was pretty and it was yummmmmmmmy! :)

The kids playing

We've had a couple days of nice weather this past months, so the kids took advantage of the time to play outside...

They've all ended up getting scooters in the last little while, so it's their favorite thing right now

Weston and Jonathan with our neighbor Pablo

Carolina thinks she is so big, since she can keep up with her brothers on this thing!

yes... she LOVES it! :)

I had to put these up... the kids asked if they could color with chalk outside... I assumed it would be on the sidewalk.  Wes and I were side-tracked with something inside for a few minutes, and this is what we found outside.

Do you see the outline of the person on the ground?... makes me wonder what they've been watching... :)

This made me LAUGH when I realized they had actually written words on the fence.  I don't know if you can really see it, but it's written in blue above the colored circles.  It says "you will never escape!" (in Spanish, of course) haha...