... and we're back.

Hello friends, sorry for the long delay. I ended up getting pretty sick towards the middle of last week, so I was laying around a lot. Then Easter happened, so I was busy with family & cooking. I'm happy to now report that I feel much better than last week. I'm *finally* getting over the illness - just residual mucus and snot at this point. (Lovely, no?) At least there's no more pressure, itchy eyes, or sneezing. Now, I can actually breathe through my nose, and I'm not carrying my Puffs Plus box with me everywhere I go. Baby steps.

So what did you miss? Not too much, but I'll do a quick re-cap.

I finally christened my one & only Easy Bake Oven. This is big for me. I yearned for an Easy Bake all through childhood, but Santa never delivered (ahem, ahem Ma & Dad), but Ken came through for me on my 34th birthday & made my dream a reality. Granted, since I am 34, finding time to finally break it in proved to be a challenge, but I put my foot down & was determined to bake like crazy about a week ago.

Got everything set up and laid out.

Right as I go to choose which mix I will do first, I started wondering how this thing actually bakes. I've always heard it's a light bulb that creates all the magic, but I saw no light bulb anywhere in my box. I go to read my handy-dandy manual, and what do I see?

There's a "You Will Also Need From Home" section.
Light bulbs fall into that category.

Wtf? They don't supply your first heat source? And it can't be just *any* light bulb, it has to be a 100 watt, regular, normal light bulb. No soft light, or frosted, or energy efficient, or anything. Granted, this sounds easy enough, but try locating a "regular" 100 watt light bulb at your local store. It's not as easy as you would think. After a tenacious search, I found the bulb I needed, and tried this all again about four days later.

There's the first cake, on the right-hand side. Success!


Z frosting our first beauty.


The finished product.

Zach loved this cake. You would've thought he was eating a dessert made by the most amazing pastry chef on the planet. I think it was partly due to the fact that he was involved in the baking process, hence experiencing the fruits of his labor. Either way, I got one bite, and he finished the rest. Other than the frosting being a little grainy, it wasn't half-bad for something that was baked in a plastic oven under the heat of a non-frosted, non energy efficient, high watt light bulb.

After our Easy Bake experience, I had to bake for real, and made some pound cake muffins. Can we say delicious? I already had Cool Whip and fresh strawberries on-hand, so it was easy to whip up a yummy snack or dessert until the muffins ran out. That didn't take long, since Aaron ate them for breakfast, as well.

Pre-Cool Whip.


That's more like it.

Z had a few days off from school, which he thoroughly enjoyed. We colored Easter eggs on Saturday night, which went a lot faster and cleaner than it ever has before. I guess that's the perk of having a kid who's almost 7. This sort of thing isn't such a production, and I love that.

Aaron reached in the cup for an egg,
forgetting that crap stains your fingers.


Z laughing at Daddy's "smurf fingers".


He said this was Megatron.

After coloring eggs & putting Z to bed, Daddy & I got to work stuffing plastic eggs with candy for Z's egg hunt in our backyard the next morning. Last year, we stuffed some of his eggs with money, and we were sincerely hoping he wouldn't remember that. This year, the Easter bunny is dealing with a recession, so it was only going to be Twix and Kit Kats in those eggs. Thankfully, we got our wish. He didn't remember and was thrilled with his candy-stuffed plastic eggs.

The cutest things I found this year -
carrot shaped eggs.


Z's Ben 10: Alien Force-themed basket.

Easter was pretty awesome, and everyone came to our house this year. I'd rather cook than drive any day, so it was a welcome change from years past. My Mom brought kielbasa and potato salad, and it was scrumptous, as always. I made a ham, with homemade brown sugar glaze, and it turned out wonderfully. I also baked another blackberry pie and made some cupcakes for the kids (even though we all had a few ourselves).

My parents & Ken came over, as did Aaron's step-sister & her family. Z was *thrilled* to finally have cousins to play with, so having them over was a blast for him. We had them over for dinner again on Monday night, and I got some pics of Z's treasured, new-found cousins.

Mariska, my new favorite buddy.


Oh, the trials of having two older brothers.


Brodie and Mariska.


Despite the Transformer helmet torture, she adores them.


Jonovan. This one never stands still. Ever.


I forgot how adorable he looks holding a baby.

The kids have all become obsessed with one another, so I have a feeling we'll be hanging out with them a lot more. They ask Kristi when they can come back over, and Z is constantly asking me when they'll be back over. I'm just happy they even care about family. Makes my heart happy that they like the connection, and want more of it.

Z went back to school yesterday, and he was happy to do so. He really loves getting back to his friends, and being stimulated mentally during the day. I sent him back with a load of cupcakes to share with his class, since the teacher asked that we not bring treats for Easter last week, but instead wait until this week (although many other parents did it anyway).

Food coloring is ridiculously fun.

He brought home this paper yesterday, to show me how he's been practicing his days of the week. Getting things like this from him makes me realize how fast he's growing up. He would have never been able to print these words so well before he started kindergarten. Time just flies.

It's now Hump Day, thankfully, and we have a trip to the San Antonio Zoo to look forward to on Friday. This is Z's class' big trip for the year, and he is stoked. Aaron will be able to go with us on this one, which only adds to Z's excitement. I'll definitely take pictures of that, although there is a 70% chance of rain that day. That ought to keep things interesting.

For the inquiring minds that wanna know, we haven't heard anything else from Neal.

Three things I'm grateful for today:

1. The free supply of coffee at my job.
2. That I even have a job.
3. Kristi's kids.

I will try not to go as long again before my next entry. And I know I promised Spring Break pictures ages ago, but there are just so many. I'm debating on whether or not to just let that go altogether. Have an opinion either way? Leave me a comment & let me know.

Peace & pastries.