Easter Day dawned to everyone getting to sleep until whenever they wanted and an excellent breakfast waiting for us.  My mom had out done herself with french toast casserole, eggs, bacon, fruit and more Easter candy than any of us should have consumed!  After breakfast, we were back outside to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather, which was sunny and fantastic.

Ray, against his and my better judgement, decided he wanted to learn how to do wheelies, a trick my uncle was showing us the day before.  So Uncle Ed taught my husband how to ride the ATV on just the back wheels across the lawn.....

Bestill my beating heart.... I could only sort of watch....

He was exceedingly proud of himself and enjoyed it thoroughly! 

We spent most of the day just hanging out and chatting, which was great.  There was an large Easter feast to compete with breakfast and all the candy we had been eating...

 (my cousin Irene eats her peep in a civilized fashion)

.... and then everyone packed up to head home in the late afternoon!

So today the rest of the family arrived for the Easter festivities.  Uncle Ed came with my cousins Irene and Ford.... who I probably haven't seen in a few years!  He also brought all sorts of motorized trouble.  Last Easter Mom, Dad, Will, Katie and I enjoyed using Uncle Ed's ATV, and this year he brought it again!  To accompany it, he also brought his little two stroke engine scooter, which he said is used to get around the pits when he races (hence the number).  Dad took it for a little drive on the lawn and up and down the driveway.

Then it was Ray's turn on the ATV.  He was totally bummed that he missed the Easter celebration last year, but he was even more bummed when he heard that we had been rippin' up the front yard on the ATV.  So this year he had his chance.  Uncle Ed gave him the skinny on how it runs, and away he went!  Part of the away was accidentally into the brush on the side of my parents lawn.  And he did sort of drive straight into a small tree.  But no harm, no foul, and both he and the ATV (bad brakes and all) seemed to remain in one piece, so good fun was had by all.

And while I greatly enjoyed the ATV rides last year, I am still a giant chicken.  Which means I do like to go fast, I do like to do jumps and quick turns, but I am not capable of driving that beast myself.  Uncle Ed took pity on me and gave me a great go-around on the yard which both thrilled and scared me!

So here is Ray... late in the evening by the interior light of our car.

Tonight, after work, we drove down to my parents house where we will be spending Easter weekend.  We didn't manage to get out of Burlington as planned.... say, before 4:30.  I got stuck at work a bit, then had to run home for some things, and Ray got stuck in the office too.  By the time we were finally "on the road" we realized we needed to eat dinner before we got too far out of Burlington.  We stopped at Marco's in Shelburne, and I had some pizza while Ray opted for a salad.  We knew if we waited much longer, we'd be out in the middle of no where and totally starving.  Ray has had a super long week, so I did the driving, and he even caught a quick cat nap on the way down.  Now we have arrived (we are the first ones, the rest of the famn damily comes tomorrow) we have big plans to SLEEP!

Even though today is St. Patrick's Day, it's a Wednesday, which means it's a Jazzercise day.  Jami, Tony and I went and worked our buns off, and then came back to Casa de McBe for the modern take on the traditional St. Patrick's Day meal.  Instead of regular corned beef and cabbage, Ray did a roast in the oven and made a carrot and cabbage slaw.  Ray and ladies loved it, and I was SUPER happy that the house didn't smell like cabbage... my least favorite part of St. Patricks Day.

Ray also did my favorite St. Patrick's Day thing... he made the mashed potatoes green!  Yeah!  Growing up, my mom would always made green foods for St. Patrick's Day: green milk, green shamrock shaped biscuts, etc.  Ray was so sweet to carry on the tradition.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For a Valentine's Day treat Ray researched and cooked home-made gnocchi for me.  This morning we had to get up and return the rental car the actors from Souvenir have been using, and it had to be back to the rental car place by noon.  Since I cannot drive two cars a once, Ray came to help me.  After dropping the car off we headed downtown for some impromtu lunch and to pick up the supplies for the gnocchi making.  A potato ricer from Kiss the Cook (oh, and cookie sheets too, since they were having a sale), a pasta "knife" from Homeport, then groceries from City Market (mostly potatoes) and Price Chopper (mostly everything else).

Ray started working on this masterpiece around 6:00pm, and we were sitting down to a WONDERFUL sight by 8:30pm.  Unfortunately it was too yummy, so I forgot to take a picture first!

Here are the left over gnocchi that Ray is planning to freeze and save for Wednesday night's post-Jazzercise dinner with Jami and Tonya.  He used three separate kinds of potatoes, the blue ones, russet and then something else that is a bit buttery.

I think gnocchi might be my perfect food.  It's essentially like eating the best french fry you've ever had - and it's ok to have it for dinner!  Ray pan-fried the gnocchi with garlic, olive oil, rosemary and some other spices.  It was PERFECT.  And oh, so, yummy!

Happy Valentine's Day!