SUMMERTIME!!!

First swim in the pool = it's officially summertime!!

And she is off!!

On May 15th, 2011 my little angel decided it was finally time to walk! She practiced for about an hour getting out of her chair, standing for a few seconds and then falling. Then she grew tired of that so she took one step, so I thought we would have an hour more of just taking one step. Well I was WRONG, her second attempt at walking was twelve steps, TWELVE!! She went across the living room like it was nothing. My eyes filled with tears, my baby had crossed a major milestone. Our lives would never be the same. On a positive note, with the new ability to walk comes the ability to wear the millions of extremely cute dresses hanging in her closet! Score!

Mothers Day

This year Mother's day had a different feeling to me then the prior year's Mother's day. I actually felt like a mother. Perhaps last year during this time I was still in a fog from becoming a new mother. I was deep into the 3 hour cycles of eating, sleeping, diaper changing with a little bit of playing mixed in. I was a little sleep deprived from middle of the night feedings, and was still trying to understand what my new role was. Now I feel a lot more comfortable about my role and I love every minute of it! I am so grateful that Madison has made me a mother and I wouldn't change my current role for anything. Madison was such an angel and got me a beautiful necklace that I know I will cherish forever ( I have a feeling Waylon helped her pick it out and pay for it) We had Mexican for lunch with my mother, and grandmother, it is amazing to think there were four generations of women sitting at the table. I am sooo happy I had a little girl and that I was able to share her with my grandma. After lunch we spent the rest of the day at home, with our little family of three. It was a perfect Mother's day!

 Madison loves reading cards

I will keep it forever :)

90 years young!

This year grandma turned 90! What a milestone! Mom and I had planned a surprise party for the day after her birthday. After the fact, we should have had the party on her actual birthday because we ended up have 2 birthday parties. First on her birthday, Mom, Tammy, Madison and I took her to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We had balloons, presents, cake, pretty much the whole works. Then Saturday she was supposed to go to dinner with Mary and Bob and they decided to "stop" by the house so they could see Madison for a bit. When she walked into the living room, we did the customary jump out and SURPRISE!! I think she was totally surprised. The night was so fun. We had dinner, cake and played a Grandma trivia game, where the lucky winner got an 8x10 photo of the birthday girl! It was awesome to spend the evening with the entire family and celebrate such a special event!

 I ordered personalized M&M's complete with a photo of grandma. Some thought it was a little strange, I thought it was fun! Who else can say they were on a M&M??!

 I am pretty sure this is a look of surprise!

 Game time!

 The whole crew! (we were missing two, sorry Alex and Katie, maybe I will photoshop you in later)

 The three kids. Martha, John and Mary

 Mary's Family

 John's Family

 Martha's family

 Grandkids and one great Grandchild

 I think she was enjoying the birthday song



What a fun birthday! Can't wait to celebrate 91!

The Making of a Bunny Cake ...

Every year, for as long as I can remember, there has been a bunny cake. When my sister and I were younger we would spend Spring Break with our Great Uncle John and Great Aunt Ollie.  This week was always anticipated because we pretty much got to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. And during this week there was ALWAYS a bunny cake. Sometimes the cake would just appear and sometimes we got to kind of help make it but I really don't remember actually making it. You see, Ollie was somewhat of a perfectionist and now that I am older I understand the bunny cake isn't something a perfectionist can tackle with the help of a young child. I decided after Ollie passed away that I would carry on the tradition of the bunny cake. The first year was a disaster, and I remember some tears being shed because I couldn't get it just "perfect". This year there were no tears, and I think the end result turned out beautifully! So for anyone interested in making this delicious cake, follow these simple (haha) steps:

Ingredients:

1 chocolate cake mix

2 cans, FLUFFY white icing (must be fluffy)

food coloring

coconut

 Prepare cake mix according to instructions on the box:

 Bake in 2 nine inch round pans

 Cut ears and bow out of one cake (I know this somewhat resembles the playboy bunny, but it will get more kid friendly I promise)

 Die part of the icing whatever color you want for the bow-tie, and as the Cake Boss would say, "dirty ice" the cake. This is the point where it is necessary for 2 cans of icing. In order to cover the entire cake I have found it much easier to use 2 cans instead of just one. I believe this is the point last year when the tears came. Cake crumbs were mixing with the icing and my bunny had lots of freckles. To avoid the tears and freckles I decided 2 cans were a must!

 Apply coconut. Die some pink for the inner ears and some green for the grass. Some people don't like coconut as much as others, so I left the bow-tie for them.

 Insert jelly beans for eyes and twizzlers for whiskers (I forgot to buy the twizzlers, oh well maybe next year)

 Family photo opportunity!

I can't wait until Madison is old enough to help with the cake. I will tell her the history of the cake and that it is her Great, Great Aunt Olla Faye that she is named after. Who knows, maybe the gift of the perfect bunny cake making is in her blood.

Just a few photos from where the tradition started ...



Easter Bunny!

I was a little worried about how pictures with the Easter bunny would go (especially after the Santa disaster!)

But Madison surprised me ..... I think she liked him! (well maybe she just tolerated him)

 Then the Easter Bunny brought her all sorts of goodies!

 YAY! Eggs full of goldfish! What more could a girl want!

 And I must say, every kid needs a busy ball popper (as long as it gets to stay at grandma and grandpas)