Easter Sunday (Lime Pineapple Sparkling Punch)

We put together a very last-minute (two days' notice) dinner with four families from church. Hai-Li brought her niece and son, Justin.

Kelly practices his Chinese with her to get ready for his first trip to Taiwan in four weeks.

The weather was drab and wet the day before, but Sunday turned out to be a perfect day to entertain outside in our backyard.

Trevor and Seth Katelyn

The hunt is on!

Lindsey is in recuperation mode on the side of the pool.

This is fun!

Lonna, at least 20 minutes before realizing she'd have to dive into the shallow end of the pool to rescue her 3-year-old daughter, who stepped in, fully dressed and sank in panic, submersed under water with her eyes and mouth wide open, staring upward to the crowd of people watching her. (Our first incident of this sort. Luckily, it was an extremely brief moment, but it was pretty scary, nevertheless.)

Looks like we gave the little kids too big of a lead and most of the Easter eggs were already snatched up.

Christopher was still happy!

Seth was too.

Gwen put her candy away the moment it hit her hands. My kind of girl.

Mini buckets.

Are we done yet?

We had a really nice afternoon and enjoyed our friends and their young families for a potluck dinner. I made ham, turkey, and my mother-in-law's "Heavenly Potatoes" recipe, plus the tasty things our guests brought.

Kellie and her family brought us this adorable centerpiece featuring fresh, hollowed eggs. So creative and cheerful! Thank you!

Kelly and I served a refreshing Lime and Pineapple Sparkling Punch. (He was my mixer and chunk-chipper.)

Lime Pineapple Sparkling Punch:

• 6 to 8 limes, cut in half, then juiced
• 1 big can pineapple juice (48 ounces)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 liters Perrier, lime flavored

Mix together fresh squeezed limes with pineapple juice and sugar. Free in bowl or pitcher. Before serving, pick away or chunk up the frozen concoction, put into serving container, than add the sparkling water. Serve with ice.

Five-minute Birds Nests

• 1 bag of white chocolate chips
• 1 bag of chow mein noodles
• coconut, tinted with green food coloring
• Pam non-stick cooking spray
• candies that look like eggs (jelly beans, etc.)

Place chocolate chips in microwaveable bowl, cooking on high for one minute in microwave, stir. Heat additional 30 seconds, then stir, and 30 seconds longer if needed. Pour melted chocolate over chow mein noodles, then mix gently to coat evenly. Spray an aluminum or stoneware muffin pan with non-stick spray, then divide nests into the number of muffin wells. Form indented shape from the centers, then add tinted green coconut and candy eggs. Next year, I'll try Julie's Rice Krispy Treat birds nests.

My delightful new casserole dish from none other than Walmart. (I rarely shop there, but was pleased when I saw this cute little number.)

Prepping for the amazing punch

Fancy eggs

Lindsey had her wisdom teeth, all four, extracted two days before this and she's looked like a chipmunk all week. My poor baby, it's been a rough time for her.

Kelly is the official Easter egg decorating parent of our family. I just provide all the materials and turn the task over to him. He and the kids look forward to their "thing" every year.