Recipe

Resurrection Cookies

Read whole recipe before beginning; try to do together Saturday night before Easter Sunday.

Ingredients:
1 cup whole pecans
3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vinegar
pinch salt

You also need:
Wooden spoon
Bible (I think I may print out all the verses on a single sheet for next year.)
Zipploc bag
Tape

Preheat oven to 300°
- Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them up with wooden spoon; John 19: 1-3
- smell the vinegar; John 19:28-30
- add egg whites to vinegar; John 10:10-11
- taste salt; tears & bitterness; Luke 23:27
- add sugar; sweetest part of story is Jesus loving us and wanting us to know Him;
Psalm 34:8 & John 3:16
- beat with mixer for 11-15 min until stiff peaks are formed; white represents purity; Isaiah 1:18 & John 3:1-3
- fold in nuts; drop onto waxed paper-covered cookie sheet; tomb; Matt. 27: 65-66
- cookie sheet in oven, oven OFF; tape to seal oven.
- sadness at leaving cookies; John 16:20 & 22

Sunday morning
- cookies are hollow! Matt. 28: 1-9

We had a big time doing this together - even Aubrie got in on the action this year!

Easter Sunday

We had a great Easter Sunday even though it was a little chilly for the upteenth time in a row! At least it feels like we haven't had a warm, sunny Easter in quite a while.

Anyway, we opened our oven first thing to see our resurrection cookies, and I think I need to turn my oven up higher because ours are never completely hollow on the inside. The girls still got the point, and it was big fun. We've done this three years now, but they forget each year what's going to happen which actually makes it even more fun for me!

I took some pics the day before Easter (sans sweaters), but the family pic was the day of - chilly and a bit windy...

Snow Advisory

I thought it hilarious considering my earlier post today that we are under a snow advisory in MS right now. It is sleeting as I type. Go figure.

Those of you in colder climates might appreciate how our advisory is worded:

AS COLDER AIR MOVES INTO THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON...RAIN WILL MIX WITH AND CHANGE TO SNOW. SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE EVENING BEFORE TAPERING OFF TO FLURRIES AFTER MIDNIGHT. TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATION OF ONE TO TWO INCHES REMAIN POSSIBLE.
A SNOW ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES. USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING. (sorry for the all caps - blame it on the Weather Channel.)

The funny part is the one to two inches. We're just such sad winter drivers around here!

Okay, it's already stopped sleeting - I may have to wake up the girls from their nap if it starts to snow, though. I don't think they would know what to do with two snows in one season!

Spring is in the Air

I have to say that I LOVE spring in Mississippi. Some of my favorite things are:

1. forsynthia bushes .

2. all of the tulips that are out at Highland Village.

3. Japanese magnolias . (I really need one of those in my yard.)

4. the daffodils and paperwhites that have already come and are on the way out.

I also love that Emma was born on the first day of spring. As spring brings all kinds of newness, she definitely brought with her a new era of our family life (the kid era) which we thoroughly love!

Lips and Toes, Toes and Lips

I have a confession. For the last few days my lips and toes have matched. I know, the mind reels.

For those who know me best, they understand that matching has never been a big thing for me. In fact, I prefer to call myself a blender. I don't like matched sets in many of life's categories. I think it's the rebel in me. We have one matched set of furniture in our entire house. Nothing in our living room is a set, dining room, etc. You get the picture. We don't even have matching bedside tables.

In college this was a source of at least slight frustration to several of my friends who believed that clothes should actually, well, match. The pinacle of their frustration had to be one of my favorite "put together outfits" which included several lovely shades of winter white with my favorite tan shoes. I loved mixing all those wonderful neutral colors together.

Anyway, back to my toes and lips. I remember the days of looking at my grandmother's Avon catalogue and wondering if there were really any people in the world who bought the coordinated sets of lipstick and fingernail polish. I don't still don't know if there are, but I do know that, entirely by accident, I stumbled into this arena. I've worn a shade of lipstick that I love for the past few months - a beautiful bronze. Well, Thursday, I was looking for a shade of polish for my very bare looking winter toes. (Spring is right around the corner...) Anyway, picked one out, came home and just before bed had a second to paint the scary toes. The next morning I put on some lipstick, looked down at my toes - Oh my gosh! It's happened. I match.

I really don't know what to do with myself now.

The Cough

Emma's favorite phrase this week is "the cough."

"Daddy, you don't need to eat after me because I've got 'the cough.'"

"Mommy, can I call Nanny to tell her I've got 'the cough'?"

"I need some medicine because I've got 'the cough.'"

I'm not sure where she picked this up, why she doesn't say "a cough," but I got a little mileage out of it this morning pointing to Todd's people who occasionally say "the WalMarts." I smile on the inside...

He quickly suggested that it was just a southern thing, but I don't think so. It definitely comes from his people.

Gotta run because the girl with "the cough" is wanting my attention.

A Strange Peace and Quiet in the House

All three of our girls are at Todd's parents' house tonight, and it is oddly quiet around here. Todd is enjoying hollering at me from across the house since there is no one to wake up. We also sat in our living room, ate on the floor and watched TV at full volume...oh, the luxury! It's the simple things, right?

We're taking advantage of the time to fill out more Mission Board paperwork since we don't get many chunks of time like this one. :-)