Bunny Business

When I was a kid, the EB came to our house every year. I have fond memories of coming into the living room and finding five baskets, filled with what seemed to be a one month's supply of sugary goodness, all lined up neatly in a row on the couch every year until I was possibly ten (I'm not sure exactly). I LOVED how the EB would leave my favorite Easter treats in a cute little basket with fake plastic grass. I especially loved finding little jelly beans hidden deep in the grass, but it did bug me that the Peeps marshmallow treats always had the plastic grass stuck to them. This Easter morning tradition made a lot of yummy, sticky, then sickly memories for me. I was not the type of child to savor my spoils over the next week or two. I was usually done with my entire basket of goodies by the close of the day. I think I even found a way to snitch goodies from my sibling's baskets.(Shhhh!) I was able to hide this fact until I developed an allergy to chocolate. Carob bunnies were not on my list of acceptable treats! SO when I broke out in hives after eating someone else's chocolate rabbit, my bad habit of snitching was discovered. Subsequently, Benedryl is another thing I associate with EASTER.

My husband's family didn't celebrate Easter in the same way. His mother is French and the EB didn't exist there. Easter was purely a religious holiday in their home. So, no baskets of candy and no easter egg hunts.

Fast forward to 2000 when our first child was old enough (2) to truly appreciate any holidays... we decided against giving large baskets of candy from the EB, but we did think it would be alright to do a little egg hunt. Living in Wisconsin, an outdoor egg-hunt was not logical for a two year old, so we hid eggs throughout our two bedroom apartment. It started out small and became a pretty fun activity and tradition. And it seemed to be endless because the kids would find the eggs, put them in their very small baskets until they were full, then give them to us to put in a bigger pot. Then we would re-hide the eggs for the kids to re-find. We would play our game for about 45 minutes, or until they wanted to open the eggs and see what was inside. Sometimes, it was just chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. Other times, it was jelly beans and m&ms.

Once we moved to CA, the egg hunts moved outside. That made it even more of a challenge for us to hide them while they were hunting, without them seeing us. This endless egg hunt worked really well until the kids were about six and realized we were recycling the same 30 (or so) eggs, then they helped to hide the eggs.

This year, we will have four hiders and one hunter. It makes me a little sad that the kids are getting so old and outgrowing these little traditions. Now, they just want the candies from inside the eggs. So, this year we are starting a new tradition. We are going to make some baskets for some of the elderly ladies in our church congregation. We will continue our tradition of watching the Ten Commandments on Good Friday. And maybe we will have a family Easter party with some Gluten Free goodies for all.


Looking for Gluten Free Easter candy, I found several blogs about/for celiacs that had an abundance of information that I found extremely useful. This one seemed especially good:



I am so glad to see that Dove chocolates are GF...I looooooove all of their yummy milk and dark chocolates! We will definitely buy more of those!

my search is over!

If you loved a particular food and found out that you could no longer eat it, how would you feel? I love good bread. The taste, texture and the filling qualities of bread are comforting to me. Not to mention easy and versatile! Since I learned that I have Celiac's, I have missed bread. Sure, there are lots of GF breads out there, but NONE of them resemble regular bread. They were too hard, grainy, crumbly, tasteless, etc. Well, I finally found a wonderful, soft, tasty gluten-free bread!

Udi's gluten free whole grain bread

It is so heavenly! Thanks to Udi's, I don't feel deprived anymore. I can eat a piece of bread with a meal or by itself, toasted or not, buttered or plain, and it is delicious. It also has fiber! That's right! Can you believe it? I have to say I was quite shocked myself!

I also tried Udi's GF blueberry muffins. Despite the plastic taste from being baked in a plastic tray, they were quite good. They are a big improvement from my own attempt at muffins which were made with garbanzo flour:P

resolutely resolved

I don't even know the last time I posted here...it's not a big deal...i don't think anyone actually reads this:)

But i feel like writing about my new year's resolve.

i have never really made concrete new year's resolutions. at best, i have some nice thoughts about what i'd like to accomplish throughout the year. every year, without fail, i come to the realization that i'm a wimp when it comes to accomplishing pre-set goals. it is mostly because i'm a spontaneous type of person. i have tried to make meal plans, daily routines, exercise routines, budgets, etc. but it just won't work for our family. there is too much uncertainty with our day-to-day lives to follow any specific routine. i could blame my husband's erratic work schedule; he has never been home at the same time two days in a row. but i know it is more than that. it is also due to my nature to let everything go with the flow. i don't like strict schedules and routines. i love for the kids to have ample time to play in the yard, color, or do projects as they please. i like to have whatever dinner i'm in the mood for on any given night, especially if the kids can make it. i hate feeling obligated to be places, even though i love going places. i don't like deadlines either! it all boils down to not liking stress of any sort! making new years resolutions stress me out.

since we don't have a set time for anything, i am resolutely resolved to do what i can when i can. despite my loose routine, i still feel like i accomplish a lot. (all in my own time, with as little stress as possible) of course, i would like to go running every day, play tennis and volley ball weekly, write on my blog monthly, go to the grocery store every other week, compose piano and flute music, get better at playing the violin and clarinet, get to church on time, do service projects for friends and family, sing with the kids more, bake gluten-free bread and cakes, hold daily family devotionals, do more scrap booking, learn french, keep a cleaner house, sew, read more, grow all my vegetables from seed, learn how to draw/paint, remodel the garage...the list goes on....

i am anxious to see where this year leads us. i know that we will learn many new things. i hope that i will look back on this year with a sense of accomplishment and gratitude for all the opportunities i know we will have to grow and progress.