Spring Photos

These photos capture Claire just before her first birthday
and both girls in their pretty Easter dresses.
Enjoy!
Happy birthday little Claire. Silly Lilly

Happy 1st Birthday, Claire

Claire turned one in high style on Saturday, April 11. Dressed in her pink birthday dress and hat, Claire was the star of her party. Her special guest was Nana all the way from Kansas.

Big sister Lilly was ultra excited to greet and play with party guests, eat cupcakes and pizza. The pinata was the highlight of the party... providing much needed sugar and toys galore. Lilly and friends successfully disassembled Claire's pull-string pinata. When the pinata opened, Lilly selectively gathered only the dum-dum "suckers" from the pile of candy. Claire watched from the sidelines.

Homemade cupcakes provided another much-needed carbohydrate rush amongst party guests. Chocolate or vanilla, take your pick... homemade chocolate buttercream or 7-minute frosting. Yum! Nana and mom had fun making (and eating) these before the party started.

Claire dug right in and enjoyed her little slice of heaven... sugar sugar sugar. Claire is a carb-o-holic, so this was a moment of true glory for her that probably left her wondering: "Where's the ice cream?"

But before the party began, we had a "balloon incident" in Lilly's room. The hazards of having ceiling fans all over the house become apparent everytime we have balloons. Inevitably, one (or 12) will become wrapped around the fans. Rob had fun "cleaning up" this one.

Happy birthday, Claire. We love you and wish you many more healthy and happy birthdays. Thank you to everyone for your beautiful cards and gifts. Claire adores each of them.

Thanks Easter Bunny

Easter is almost here, so a trip to meet the Easter Bunny was on the list of things to experience with the girls. We talked it up for days with Lilly, knowing it was highly likely she would wimp out once in front of Mr. Rabbit. Claire wasn't a concern given her young age.

We ventured to the mall, walked up to Mr. Rabbit's house and stood in line to meet him. Lilly was extra excited to be there, even waved to him multipled times from the line, said hello from a distance, and even told us "He's my friend." But when the big moment arrived, she was not willing to sit on his lap, sit on the chair beside him or even stand in front of him. Instead, she stayed in the safety of Rob's arms while Claire had her pictures taken. In polite Lilly fashion, she showed much enthusiam as we walked away from Mr. Rabbit's house exclaiming: "Bye Rabbit. Will you come to my house?" Enjoy the photo of Claire.

We'd better begin talking about Santa right away...

Claire's first introduction to the Easter Bunny

Culinary Creation...

Question:

How do you convince two little girls to eat beets?
Answer:

Beet cupcakes

Reminiscent of "glop" from Dr. Seuss

Taster Lilly ate her share.
If you are fond of tasty carrot-cake, you may also like beet-cake. Texture, ingredients and flavor are almost the same. Organic beets are always included in our co-op basket we purchase every few weeks, so instead of permanently scarring the girls by making them eat pickled beets, cake was the best option. This recipe was made possible by Cooking Light magazine. Add a little light-cream cheese frosting and they really can't be "beet".