Friday Favourites – Zoo To You and Easter Feasts

Happy Friday! It feels like this week has just been jam packed with appointments, meetings and get togethers with friends. The week before, we went to my parents’ to dogsit/housesit while they took a last minute trip to Florida. It’s always a nice break for us too and we usually make the most of the slower paced week. Then reality hits – we came home late Sunday night after ten days away and all our work and chores and problems were still at the apartment waiting for us. I don’t think we’ve had a moment to tidy up since we got home, and of course we have company coming tonight, so it will be a mad scramble to get everything looking half decent after work. But it’s always worth it to have the place tidy again and not have to spend the whole weekend cleaning. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to start purging and packing more this weekend!

/  /  /

Last weekend I went to the 6th birthday party of our friends’ daughter. She always has the best birthday cakes and decor. (Check out the “Under The Sea” party last year). This little girl is lucky to have a pretty talented mama and aunts, and I always love to see what they come up with.

 I loved all the little details in the cake, from the animal print backgrounds to the little characters.

 So cute!

Of course a zoo party wouldn’t be complete without real animals! Zoo to You came to visit the party with lots of different animals for the kids to learn about. They even got a chance to touch or hold them.

Most of them were fluffy and cute or really slow, but then this albino burmese python showed up to the party and I swear all the adults jumped back a bit! This thing was still a baby and it’s already 6 feet long.

On Saturday night, we went to my in-laws for a lovely Easter dinner with the family. There is always so much good food, that we leave completely stuffed. I brought along a double batch of my Mom’s Infamous Macaroni and Cheese. I know that Garrett loves it and it’s always a big hit, so I’m happy to bring it. It helps that it’s also so dang easy to make.

On Sunday night, my parents’ flew back into Toronto, so we met up with them at my great aunt’s apartment in the city for a quiet Easter dinner together. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a family dinner at her apartment, but I remembered why I love them so much. She always sets the table with her cute dishes (I love the smaller sized dinner plates and retro glasses) and big platters of yummy country cooking. No one makes a roast beef like she can…although she’ll admit that my mom makes the better gravy, so we waited until she showed up to help out!

/  /  /It’s raining and pouring here, but I’m trying to keep a positive attitude and think about how all that water is going to get the ground thawed for plants to start coming to life again. We’ll start seeing little green shoots everywhere oh so soon (and I can hardly wait). Hope you have a nice weekend!