We had a great family weekend. Since D has this new gig at work, his schedule is VERY flexible and allows him to have many weekends and holidays off. Since we've been married, we've never had this kind of flexibility and are soaking up every single second of it!! We know it won't last forever, so for now, we're enjoying it as much as we can!! Saturday we had Easter with the Schroyer family and D's mom, Brenda, joined us as well!! It was so much fun to all be together.
Rylee was cute as a bug in her yellow sundress. She's loving to smile for the camera now -- so it's fun that we get to take some photos of her!
The Jakester is still way too busy to slow down for photos, so we didn't get as many of him. But he looked ever-so-handsome in his Chaps button up shirt. I love how he looks so much like a little man! :)
The grandparents enjoyed spending time with all their kiddos in one spot!! Please excuse this collage -- I don't know why it's so small and apologize that Rylee and Peer's heads are cut off. I'm still learning....
Easter basket and egg hunting time!!! The kids loved the baskets their Mimi put together ...especially Rylee's Pez dispenser and candy and Jake's bubble wand.
This year, I took on the task of baking several different items for our Easter meal. My grandparents are Mennonite and my grandma has some Mennonite cookbooks that are very special to her. She always has a small Mennonite cookbook on her end table that I love to look through but always a little scared to touch since I don't want to destroy any of the fragile pages. I know how dear it is to my Grandma and I know that Mennonite cooking brings her back to her youth. One day, several months ago, while I was looking through the cookbook, my Grandma suggested I make Paska, a sweet bread typically made for Easter. Then, about a month after that,my sister mentioned in passing that it would be fun to have Zwieback for Easter too (double bun rolls my Grandma use to make). I found a Mennonite Cooking Blog and discovered 2 desserts that I wanted to try as well. So I set out to make 4 different (and brand new to me) items for Easter. It was a big task, but I felt honored to bake these time-treasured treats. It was also wonderful to sit down and talk to my grandma about ways of making them and how her and her family would do things. It was fun to hear her talk about Faspa and everyone in "Mennonite Row" making Zwieback every Saturday. :) It's stuff like this that should be passed down from generation to generation and I feel so honored that it is. When my mom took a bite into a Zwieback, so she got real still and said "ooooo...It's taste just like Grandma use to make". Wow....best.compliment.ever. My grandma told me that my Oma (my gpa's mom and an AMAZING cook, especially with yeast dough) would be very proud of me. I'll carry those complements with me for the rest of my life.
This year, I took on the task of baking several different items for our Easter meal. My grandparents are Mennonite and my grandma has some Mennonite cookbooks that are very special to her. She always has a small Mennonite cookbook on her end table that I love to look through but always a little scared to touch since I don't want to destroy any of the fragile pages. I know how dear it is to my Grandma and I know that Mennonite cooking brings her back to her youth. One day, several months ago, while I was looking through the cookbook, my Grandma suggested I make Paska, a sweet bread typically made for Easter. Then, about a month after that,my sister mentioned in passing that it would be fun to have Zwieback for Easter too (double bun rolls my Grandma use to make). I found a Mennonite Cooking Blog and discovered 2 desserts that I wanted to try as well. So I set out to make 4 different (and brand new to me) items for Easter. It was a big task, but I felt honored to bake these time-treasured treats. It was also wonderful to sit down and talk to my grandma about ways of making them and how her and her family would do things. It was fun to hear her talk about Faspa and everyone in "Mennonite Row" making Zwieback every Saturday. :) It's stuff like this that should be passed down from generation to generation and I feel so honored that it is. When my mom took a bite into a Zwieback, so she got real still and said "ooooo...It's taste just like Grandma use to make". Wow....best.compliment.ever. My grandma told me that my Oma (my gpa's mom and an AMAZING cook, especially with yeast dough) would be very proud of me. I'll carry those complements with me for the rest of my life.
The only bit of a problem with making Mennonite dishes is that Mennonites cook for a lot of people. lol My grandma would tell me how so in so had 12 kids, and somene else ha 7 and another had 8....etc. So all their recipes make A LOT of food to feed a lot of people. I had to half (and some times quarter) recipes in order to scale them down. The Zwieback rolls originally made 8 dozen and the Paska recipe makes 12 loaves!! :) If you ever need a recipe for an Army (or a family of 20), let me know!! :)
The below collage is of the 4 items I made. Please excuse the quality of the 'breads' photos. They were taken from my phone. :) From left to right-- top: Chocolate Chip Carmel Nut bars, Paska loaf (XB stands for Xpucmoc Bockpec meaning "Christ Arose". I also made a sugar icing that goes on top, but I kept it on the side instead of putting it on top), Bottom: Zwieback rolls (I ended up making 70 rolls!), and Coconut Cranberry Lemon bars.
Sunday we went to church and then had a very small and informal gathering at our house with some close family who didn't really have any other family gatherings to go to. You can't spend Easter alone! :) Next week we have Darrin's big family Easter celebration -- so I'll try to make sure to get a lot of photos then, too!
Sunday we went to church and then had a very small and informal gathering at our house with some close family who didn't really have any other family gatherings to go to. You can't spend Easter alone! :) Next week we have Darrin's big family Easter celebration -- so I'll try to make sure to get a lot of photos then, too!
looks like so much fun! and i want to try all those goodies. how do you find the time?!?!?!
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