Easter 2010-A FIRST

Some people in my family.....who will remain nameless.....think the holiday Labor Day is for chopping wood and bringing it up to the house....well...the Holcombe's version is that the Saturday before Easter is for planting! You can see for yourself that Grace does know how to properly use the hoe....JoGail well...I think she thinks it's a stick horse or something!  The picture of Coy shows his Easter, Father's Day and anniversary present! He has definately enjoyed using it compared to  his other one! They planted alot....now it's time to wait and water ! If half the squash plants make the neighbors will be locking car doors and not answering their doors....we'll have squash and zuchinni everywhere...along with black eyed peas, green beans, okra, butterbut squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet corn, watermelon and cantaloupe!

Our Easter meal was absolutely delicious! I did use two tips I thought of as I was cooking....I cheated on the apples in the salad and bought a package of apples at Subway yesterday when I was there for lunch...just the right amount and they didn't yellow! I also used a spray water bottle filled with lemon juice to spritz the asparagus before I roasted it. Kept me from saturating it! Grace sure loves that asparagus.....I was absolutely amazed that I only opened 1 canned ingredient for this entire meal (mandarin oranges).....it was definately a FRESH meal. The strawberry pie was a great way to finish off the meal.....thanks for the recipe, Mom.

We tried to make some BBQ chicken. And just let me insert here that NO ONE has ever matched my PawPaw's BBQ chicken in my book. No one has really even come close. Sorry but we didn't today either! I can remember him sitting in his overall under the patio all day cooking that chicken. That was my favorite thing he cooked. Now my MawMaw, alot of people love her chocolate cake, stewed potatoes (they are to die for), and famous her iced tea in either the gallon milk or vinegar jugs (yep, lots of sugar and those jugs always have her name on them!). But my absolute favorite thing was her chicken and dumplings. It was like the size of 2 dutch ovens put together. Now she hasn't made them in years, but I think that' spartly because she only knew how to make them in the biggest pot she had. I've never seen them in any type of smaller pot and there was never any leftovers that I remember.

I was sitting here in the living room a few minutes ago telling Coy that this Easter is a first....and let me tell you it's a BIG first.....Neither girl has asked or said ANYTHING about the Easter Bunny all day. We HAVE talked about the resurrection and Last Meal today and listened to Christian music while we straightened up this morning. That's pure joy in my heart. My girls ARE getting it. It's not about what we eat, what we wear tomorrow or any other gifts we might get. It's about HIM and our relationship with HIM.

Hoping we all keep Christ in our hearts this Holyday!


~Laurie