Easter Weekend Update

I hope you had a wonderful Easter! Easter is always a wave of emotion for me. It's overwhelming to think about Jesus' sacrifice, His love for me and His power to overcome death! We serve a LIVING God!

On Friday night we went to Good Friday service. Always meaningful. And I always cry.

Saturday morning was spent at the Easter Egg Hunt. My hubby got a selfie with the Easter Bunny. HA!

The kids had a great time with their friends

Sunday was church and off to my parents' house for our big Italian Easter dinner. We always make homemade pasta and ravioli

My mom always makes Braciole too, which is an Italian rolled, stuffed steak. YUM!

She uses my Great Grandma's recipe, but Giada has a good Braciole recipe too.

And we had another Easter Egg Hunt

They had color coded eggs so that everyone got the same amount of eggs to find. Had to make it fair so that there weren't any fights or tears.

It was a great and memorable weekend! I hope you had a great Easter too!

Our Baby is Three

Today our sweet baby girl is THREE. YEARS. OLD.

You can see the Dora Birthday Party we had for her HERE

I love the little spunky, funny girl she is becoming.

She loves:
Frozen
Macaroni and Cheese
Dora the Explorer
Puppies
Team Umizoomi
Books
Slides
Pretend kitchen play
and
Little People

This was her one year ago, on her second birthday:

And this was her on her first birthday, when we did "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" birthday:

Oh how things have changed! She will be off to preschool next year, which is mind-boggling to me.

We love you baby girl!! Happy 3rd Birthday!

A Dora Birthday Fiesta

Tomorrow, our baby turns THREE!!! I cannot believe that it has been three years.

Because we had family in town last week, we decided to throw her a birthday party a little early. Her request? A Dora the Explorer party.

Since this was an evening get together, we did a taco bar and other Mexican food...

Click here for a tutorial on how to make this fiesta banner

I made the little menu cards using images I found on the web and CoopHeavy font, printed on cardstock. 

These are my favorite paper straws! You can purchase them from my friend, Melissa of Twigs & Twirls here

AND you can get 10% off of her already-reasonable prices with coupon code BEBE10 (expires May 31, 2014). Woot woot!

The kids also played "Pin the tail on Swiper"

Opened presents

And had cake!

Each kid got to take home "Dora's backpack"

Complete with stickers, fruit snacks, a balloon, crayons and a coloring page

It was a fun evening with yummy food, great family & friends and fun!

What are your kids requesting for their birthday theme this year?

Coconut Cupcakes with Malted Buttercream Frosting

I'm sharing the recipe for these sweet little cupcakes over at 30 Days today.

These coconut cupcakes are all dressed up for Easter with a nest of toasted coconut and one of my favorite Easter candies...Robin Eggs.

Go get the recipe here.