Carnival

A couple of weeks ago Nathan's school had a carnival...it was nothing like my elementary school carnivals, but was still fun. They called it an inflatable carnival and had tons of jumping things and slides, game booths, and a rock wall. The kids had the best time! We got them the unlimited rides bracelets and they ran around for 3 hours. One great thing about our school is it is tiny, so there weren't many people there and they never had to wait in line longer then 2 or 3 minutes.

I couldn't get Nathan to stop running for a picture...

Ava catching up to Nathan

Nathan almost to the top- on the hardest side!

All of the kids in Nathan's class love Ava. The girls are always so excited when we come to help in the class and she gets to go to recess. And the boys love to chase her. The carnival wasn't any different. Ava hung out with Nathan the entire time. I was sitting on the lawn watching them all run around when I saw one of Nathan's friends walking (alone) with Ava toward the game booths. He then played a game, got a prize, and gave it to Ava. It was so cute but I about died- she is my baby, and only 4 1/2! I am not ready for all these boys to be in love with her!!

When it was almost time to go, that same boy ran over to me and said Ava had fallen down hard. I guess she was running with the boys and tripped. Her arm hurt for the entire week.  We thought she may have had a hairline fracture, but she is finally better so we don't know.

Raspberry Cheesecake

For Easter I wanted to make a special dessert. We all love cheesecake, but I wanted to try something new. I found a few different recipes and took bits and peices from them. I didn't want a really tall cheesecake so I halved the amount of cheesecake-y goodness and used an 8 inch pan. If you were using a bigger pan you would use the same amount of crust  and just double the cheesecake portion. Anyway this is what I did:

1 1/2 c Graham Cracker Crumbs
3 Tb Sugar
1/3 c Butter (melted)

Wrap the bottom and sides of a spring form pan with 2 layers of foil (to prevent leaking). Mix  the above ingredients together and press into the bottom of a spring form pan. ( This will make a thick layer, you could probably do 1/2 to 2/3 of the amount)

Bake crust at 325 for 10 mins.

2 pkgs Cream Cheese - softened (I use Philadelphia)
3/4 c Sugar
1/2 c Sour Cream
Pinh of Salt
1 tsp Vanilla
2 eggs

1/2 can of Raspberry Pie filling

Beat cream cheese until smooth, then mix in the sugar, sour cream, salt, vanilla, and eggs until well combined. DO NOT OVERMIX.

Pour into baked crust. Spoon raspberry filling randomly on top of the cheesecake. Using wooden skewer or knife swirl in "U" shapes kind of like this:

Red line first, then purple- no laughing at my drawing :)

Put  entire pan inside a larger roasting pan, then pour HOT water around the cheesecake so that it comes about half way up the side to make a water both. Bake until set but still slightly wobbly in the center~about 60 mins. Remove from water bath and place on cooling rack. Let cool completely before refrigerating. When you are ready to serve it run a knife around the edge of the pan before removing the sides.

Easter

Our Easter was nice and quiet this year. I was so chill, I hardly took any pictures. Saturday we had our annual community Easter Egg Hunt. The kids got lots of DQ and Wendy's certificates(score!)and some good candy and prizes too. Shay & Maria brought Emery up for it and then we all headed back to our place for donuts, strawberries, and juice. It was nice to just sit and relax in the back yard with them while the girls played in the dirt and the boys played football.

 

In the afternoon dyed eggs then we went down to the Art Festival to watch Meg dance. She was awesome of course. After grabbing snowcones we all went to Chick-fil-A for dinner.

 
 Sunday we managed to squeeze in our own egg hunt before 9 am church. The kids were so excited about their baskets and hunting for eggs. I really think less is more sometimes. I usually do quite a few toys in baskets, but this year we decided they have way too much stuff so they got candy and one little toy each. Plus the eggs we hide always have coins (quarters this year) which they think is the coolest. I also got them each a new Lego Minifigure and hid it's parts in different eggs.

 
Here are the kids in their new Easter outfits...Poor Nathan can NOT take pictures outside in the morning...the sun is so hard on his eyes no matter which way he is facing!

I was pretty tired after church. Our sweet friends, the Carter's are leaving for their mission in 10 days, and it was their farewell. The church had more people then Stake Conference! Lots of people love the Carters :) I served in Primary with Kristine~ she is like a Mom to me. We are going to miss them! I had to lead the music in primary so after being emotional in Sacrament, and then standing for 2 hours waving my arm I was beat. After church we headed to the Carter's for lunch, then came home and vegged. Kristine gave the kids chocolate and when we got home Nathan took one piece and said, "I am going to save this until she gets home." They love her lots. I made a nice little Easter feast with Ham, cheesy scalloped potatoes, rolls, salad, deviled eggs, and raspberry swirl cheesecake. We were all so full that we just laid around after dinner.