Two More

two more pretties

Baby Hazel

I'd like you to meet baby Hazel:

 I was lucky enough to do a photo shoot with her a few days ago.  She is the precious daughter of one of my husband's cousins.

 so tiny.  so darling.

 I don't think I would ever tire of newborn photo shoots.  They are my favorite, I think.

 Food photography is awesome, but the post editing isn't nearly as fun.

 I LOVE this one:

 and I'll end the post with feet!

I can't wait to do a shoot like this with my own . . . aaaah!  So excited!  And if I ever get a hold of another newborn, I just might bring all my stuff to take some photos!

xoxo to baby Hazel.

Easter Fun

We had fun dying Easter eggs:

 Madeline insisted on keeping both pink dyes and "promised" they were different from each other.  Only a girl who loves pink as much as Madeline has a trained eye for noticing such slight variations in the coloring!

 She also dyed one of her eggs orange, but only after drawing a princess on it first with the clear crayon

 Bright colors, stripes, and stickers:

 Excited for an egg hunt in our back yard on Saturday:

 and humoring mom after the egg hunt by posing for a picture by the tulips:

Lemon-Berry Shortcake Cake

I pinned the recipe for this lovely cake a few weeks ago thinking it would be great for Easter.  It's so nice to be feeling good enough to bake again!  I enjoyed making this cake and now I'm really in the mood to bake and bake and bake!

I followed the recipe I pinned in every way except that I added lemon juice to the frosting and omitted half the butter.  It whipped up to a nice texture and tasted really good!  Sigh, I like cake.  I just might have to have a piece for lunch.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

Hope your day is filled with the love of Christ,
family, tulips, and sweets.  

Dino Park Pics . . . finally!

The Dino Park was another highlight of our Cali trip.  Ethan especially LOVED it, no surprise!

 all five cousins

 The favorite part of the dino park was climbing up the inside of a GIANT T-Rex!  Here are the kids inside his mouth!

 I guess it's the biggest one in the world.  :)

 There were also mechanical dinosaurs that moved, which the kids loved.

We also did a little panning for colorful rocks.  Madeline loved that, and got to take home a little bag full of pink, purple, blue, red, and green rocks.

Lots of fun!

Update

I still haven't finished going through the pictures for our California trip.  And since then, we've had another incredibly fun week with cousins on the other side!  An impromptu visit of cousins from New Mexico made one six year old boy I know extremely happy!  They've had sleepovers and parities and spent hours and hours running around on Grandpa's farm!  This has been the best off-track time ever!

But I didn't ever take my camera . . . blah.  I hope to steal pics from my sisters-in-law though!

In other news, I'm 15 weeks now!  Wu!  On Tuesday I have an appointment and that's where I schedule my ultrasound.  I'm getting excited for that.  And as always, I'm hoping the baby is doing well.  The next month or so should be fairly telling in that regard.  And how am I feeling?  Let's just say that the next few months are going to be long for my hips, among other joints.  But that's okay!  Morning sickness is much better now.  And I don't have to take naps anymore!  Wu!  I've never liked naps.

Is it a boy or a girl?  Sometimes I'm just sure and sometimes I'm not at all.  That's why the crocheted blanket I'm working on right now is cream.  Soft and cute and cream.

And now I need a snack  . . .