Hoppy Easter

I love Easter... I love the pastel colors, pictures with the Easter Bunny, dying eggs, egg hunts, Easter baskets, candy, cookies, getting together with family, and getting dressed up for Easter Mass.

Evan's picture makes me laugh this year... it looks like he is thinking "I am too cool to smile for the Easter bunny!"

Dan's parents came over on Saturday at visit and bring over some Portuguese Easter Bread. Nuno made each of us a small loaf of bread. My sister and I use to make this type of Easter bread with my Granny when we were little.


So, Dan and I were looking for a fun way to teach Evan about the true meaning of Easter. I did some research and found a recipe on how to make resurrection rolls. We made them Easter morning after church. Making resurrection rolls is super easy, and they're really yummy! It is a great way to use them to teach kids about the Easter story. Even though Evan is still really young we want to start these traditions early!

Resurrection Rolls aka "Empty Tomb" Rolls

Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
8 large marshmallows
Melted butter
Cinnamon
Sugar

Directions:
Give each child one triangle shaped section of crescent roll. This represents the tomb.
Each child takes one marshmallow which represents the body of Christ.
Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.
Lay the marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow.
Make sure all seams are pinched together well. (Otherwise the marshmallow will "ooze" out of the seams)
Bake according to package directions.
Cool.

While the resurrection rolls baked, the marshmallow melted away, leaving an "empty tomb". Isn't that cool?! Jesus has risen!

Celebrate God's love! Hope everyone had a hoppy Easter :)

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Fun With My Boy

I woke up this morning and realised Evan and I didn't have any plans for the day. This is a rare occasion for us so I decided to take advantage of our open schedule and took Evan to Bounce-U. For those of you who don't know, Bounce-U is a place for kids that has inflatable bounce houses. They have a toddler playdate in the mornings for the little ones. It is nice because they are never really busy at this time, there a no big kids running around, and they turn off the loud music. Evan had a really good time today. He loved walking around and exploring everything. His favorite thing to do was go down the big slide.

I sure do love this smile!

Memories of Anna

Last week I heard the devastating news that one of my best friends, Anna had gone to Heaven. It was very unexpected and I keep asking myself why this happened. My life will never be the same without her. It has helped me to look through my old scrapbooks and photo albums and remember all the good times we shared. There were so many...

Anna decorating for Kelly's bridal shower in 2001. Anna and I hanging out at my parents house. Anna, Tiffany and I. Best Friends. We were in eachothers weddings. Trip to Seattle for Alison and Bob's wedding. Anna and Shawn meeting Evan. Oh how she loves my boy.

I miss you, Anna.

Today We Celebrated!

Evan has started taking steps by himself! And we finally got it recorded.

I could not decide which one I liked best so I posted them all :)







I have been reading a blog, Enjoying the Small Things, by Kelle Hampton for about a year now. I love the way she combines writing and photography in her blog. Kelle found out when she delivered her daughter, Nella, that she had down syndrome. Her writing celebrates the good and recognizes all the beauty life. She has been a real inspiration to me!

This is quote from a blog post she wrote yesterday:
"When they tell you your child will have delayed milestones, it means less that you will struggle and ache for those events to come but more that when they do come, your heart will leap, your soul will celebrate and your arms will stretch to hold and kiss the growing one that forever surprises you."

Today, we celebrated Evan learning to walking and we are so very proud of him!

Tuesday

Here are some pictures I took from today!

I found this cute garden kit at Walmart and just had to pick it up. Evan and I planted some cucumbers and tomatoes... fingers crossed I don't kill'em!

Evan has been getting his eye teeth or as Dan likes to call them his vampire teeth :) So... he has been a little on the winy side this week. To keep his mind off those darn teeth we have been spending a lot of time outside.


Today Evan drew with crayons for the first time! Evan got these really cool TaDoodles Crayon Buddies for his birthday. They are perfect to help him in developing his gross to fine motor skills. Plus they are really FUN!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Quick Update

Last weekend Dan ran in the Gasperilla race. This was his first 15K. He finished the 9.3 miles in just under 2 hours! He got a medal for completing the race. I am very proud of him. The race started at 7:05 am and he had to be there an hour early. Since it was so early, Evan and I opted to cheer from home. Dan is looking forward to training for his next race... a half marathon!

Our family has been really enjoying the beautiful weather. We decided to renew our Lowery Zoo passes this year. So we woke up Saturday morning, had a lazy start to the day and then headed over to the zoo. Evan loved seeing the monkeys and fish.



Evan has been working hard on his walking and can take about 4-5 steps now! He wants to walk so much and tries to every chance he gets. :) We are so proud of him!



Hope y'all have a great week!

Challenge 5

This weeks photography challenge is about composition...

1. Keep it simple - I eliminate wasted space in this photo to fill the frame.

Original shot

Cropped in Photoshop

2. Apply the rule of thirds


3. Keep an eye on the horizon

I positioned the horizon about 1/3 of the way up on the photo to focus on the sky.

I placed the horizon about 2/3 of the way up on the photo to keep the focus on the water.

4. Frame your subject- this is a picture taken back in November. But it is a good example for this exercise :)

Valentine's Day and the JOY of Love (Days 6-12)

I love Valentine's Day...

Evan and I went to a playdate at Mikayla, Brianna and Joshua's house. At night Dan and I celebrated with a quiet night at home. Dan normally cooks Valentine's Day dinner for me, but this year I cooked. I made us lasagna with homemade crepes instead of pasta and garlic bread. It was amazingly good, if I do say so :) After dinner we watched a movie. We started this tradition of making dinner and watching a movie together when we were dating. We ended the night with delicious homemade chocolate dipped strawberries and pink champagne.

6. Who they love- Evan loves his Aunt Rachel!


7. Generations- My parents, sister, me, and Evan... 3 generations :)


8. Gift from the Heart- Dan gave me this beautiful ring for Christmas 2009.


9. Passions and Hobbies- This picture represents Dan's love of basketball and the Celtics :)


10. Space – where they are comfortable- Evan is so happy and relaxed when he is in his swing :)


11. Dreams- Evan fell asleep in his highchair while I was getting his dinner ready!


12. The Eyes- I love this picture!! His eye lashes are so beautiful.

Sunday with Friends and Challenge 4 Completed

Are you ready for some football! We got together with some good friends and family for the big game at our house.

We ate pizza, had a friendly bet on the game, cheered loudly and had a great time!

Steve is wearing a cheese hat he made... hehe!

I made the cutest BBQ themed cupcakes for dessert. The "kabobs" are cut gummy bears and carmels skewered on a toothpick, "steaks" are hand-formed carmels with piped black frosting. I got this idea from Kelle Hampton's blog. They were a hit!


For this weeks photography challenge I tried to use filled flash to eliminate dark shadows on Dan's face. I am still going to have to play around with this... I think I will have better luck when I try this technique for sunset beach pictures of Evan.