Easter Weekend

Our Easter weekend was full and fun and spent with family. We started off Easter week with Portuguese sweet bread from Nana. It was a special breakfast treat for the boys!

The boys were supposed to be in school on Friday as a makeup day due to our winter storms earlier in the year, but we decided to take the religious holiday off instead. The boys and I went to Hermann Park in the morning because it was a beautiful day.

We rode the train and checked out all the art in the park. 

Meanwhile, back at home Gene was busy making a full recipe of sweet bread.

In fact, Gene baked all weekend long, cranking out about eight loaves of sweet bread, sandwich bread, a crusty sourdough loaf, crackers, and these poppy-seed-topped buns. 

We spent Saturday afternoon at my parents' house. 

The Easter bunny left clues for an Easter scavenger hunt that took them all around the house and up and down the four flights of stairs. Afterwards we all enjoyed a delicious dinner in their new dining room.

We get up early on Easter morning to get to 7:30 Mass. The boys came downstairs to find their Easter baskets filled with books and a new CD.  

We spent Easter afternoon at Nana and Pop's house. The boys were excited to go on another Easter egg hunt with their cousins.

The kids found eggs and the robin found worms!

Each kid had a giant egg with a wind-up chicken inside. She wanders around and lays candy eggs!

This was little David's first Easter!

All three cousins were sitting with Jess on the steps after their Easter candy snack, so we called Mike outside and I snapped a few pictures of their family of five.

After the egg hunt, we got down to the business of cooking Easter dinner. Gene made bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin and buns, I made roasted carrots and mashed potatoes, and Jess made green beans and pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts). What a feast! While we cooked, the cousins played together. They all get along beautifully but Henry and Mary have a special bond as evidenced by these notes, written by Mary, that came home in Henry's pocket.

We enjoyed the perfect family weekend, full of delicious food, plenty of sunshine, and jelly beans for everyone!