Requisite basket.

Requisite egg-dyeing.

Optional, but totally necessary, cookie baking. Oh my gosh, those cookies are good. Aren't they pretty too? We used a cookie decorating kit that my mom brought along with the egg decorating kit. Both were from Williams-Sonoma, and while short on directions, they were loads of fun. The cookie recipe came on the back of the box of cookie cutters, and can I just say, cream cheese? Oh, delish. We have a tried and true cookie cutter recipe that has seen this family through generations of Christmases and Valentine's Day. This new recipe may have trumped that. It's hard to feel nostalgic for Joy of Cooking's rich roll cookies when there's cream cheese involved.

And then there was dinner. Roasted corn casserole, asparagus with almond-lemon butter and ham with a molasses-coffee glaze. The glaze made it, really. Not too sweet, slightly smoky with a coffee undertone.

Good dinner, good day, good times.

The best Easter present of all was the first-of-spring arrival of our very first nephew! Welcome to the world Baby Kieran Sebastian! We haven't even met him and we're in love with him already.