Happy Easter!

Easter was great! Hannah is really at an age where she gets it. I am proud to say that we made it to church. A 2 1/2 year old still provides too easy of an excuse not to make it a weekly tradition. But she did really well. She made it 40 minutes into the service before Joel had to remove her. Sadly he missed communion but he'll live. I trust God will forgive him, being that he was out with Hannah keeping her from disturbing all the others trying to hear His message.

She loved her Easter basket which thrilled me since I was the personal shopper for it.

After church, she got to do her egg hunt. It was too cute. She was so excited to find more and more eggs (hidden by daddy), but was very much OK with us hinting to where she was supposed to look. Maybe next year she'll be a better hunter instead of just the gatherer.

Then she and Daddy took naps (why I didn't, who knows). Then it was off to my dad's house for the family get together. It was great to see everyone. Best of all was seeing my cousin Clay who sadly almost 3 years ago was diagnosed with a very rare brain cancer. His struggle has been a tough road for him, his wife, 2 kids, his mom, and my cousin. But he has perservered and looks amazing. It's hard to believe that the stories I heard about him not being able to feed himself, talk, move, etc are real, considering he spoke beautifully, gave me a really strong pre-cancer-like hug and was actively participating in many conversations. He's a walking miracle and proof that prayer works.

Hannah enjoyed playing with Savannah. They're only 3 months apart and it was great watching them interact. Since Hannah doesn't have siblings (yet ... only 7 weeks and counting), she's not terribly used to really playing WITH someone else.

It was a wonderful day!

So you'd think that with a 2-1/2 year old little girl, dying Easter eggs would be a total blast for me. Well, I officially discovered my CONTROL FREAK side this afternoon. After she awoke from her nap, my husband and I took her into the backyard where a table was set up with cups full of different color dyes. The eggs had been hardboiled or hollowed out and her canvas awaited her. She was THRILLED! She loved to dump them in the cup. Unfortunately (for me, not her) she was not patient enough to let them get a good soak and soon, she'd be pulling them out ... too early for mommy. My husband was wonderful with her and kept reminding me that "she's only 2!" Try as I may, I couldn't help getting frustrated. She'd pick up the wet eggs, put already colored eggs into a new color, thus creating a yucky mix, let the hollow ones slip accidentally leading them to break, etc. etc. etc. It was too much for me. I hope I didn't ruin the experience for her. She seemed to enjoy it the whole time. Sadly I think I ruined it for me though. Well, I guess there's always next year. I can't wait for tomorrow when she gets to search for all the goodies the Easter Bunny will bring her (Curious George, the movie, new sunglasses, new swim goggles, new Minnie Mouse and Cinderella big girl panties, and a few pieces of candy). Happy Easter!!!!

Hi! I'm Rachel Rae.

So my 2 1/2 year old is the cutest thing. I know, they all are right? But just yesterday, while we were grocery shopping, out of her mouth pops, "Hi! I'm Rachel Rae. And today I'm gonna cook ..." That was it. I asked what she was going to cook and she said, "Strawberries." I couldn't stop laughing. So for the next 10 minutes, all I heard was, "Hi! I'm Rachel Rae" over and over again. Apparently my sister (aka caretaker twice a week) has been exposing Hannah to the Food Network. Hannah definitely has a love for toy kitchens. She got one for Christmas from her Lola and Papa and recently we went to a children's museum filled with fun stuff and she would not leave the home area. Here she is "cooking" away. By all means, if this little ones wants to cook, I won't protest. Planning our meals each day is like torture for me. I craft. I don't cook!

Aint as easy as I had hoped it would be

First off, please don't let the title of this post discourage you from starting your own blog if it's something you've been considering. But my goodness!!! I see all of the beautiful, eye catching blogs of others out there and I want it for my own! But for a beginning blogger, to get there is a whole new world of lingo for me. And a whole lot of time I am not sure I have at the moment. So bear with me as I endeavor to improve the appeal of this little site of mine.

And I promise to begin posting pictures soon. Most of them will be of scrapbooking layouts and projects, but if it applies to one of my posts, then you'll be sure to see other types of pictures as well.