"Chenille" Baby Blanket

About a year ago I saw a tutorial on making "chenille" baby blankets. They are kind of really cool. I've wanted to make one since I first saw them but never liked any one's baby enough to make the effort. KIDDING. But seriously, I still haven't finished Eleanor's baby blanket, so let just realize my short-comings and go from there. Recently I saw this tutorial pop up again and I thought I would try it for our little one soon to come. I bought some cotton flannels and got to work. It's kind of a fun project. The original tutorial is here and the one by Dana over at Made is right here. You got to love Dana and all that she does. Is she on crack, or meth do you suppose? I know I am going through a nesting phase right now and finishing a lot of projects, but these professional bloggers are out of control productive. In my early days of blogging I kind of wanted to jump on board the whole "I can do that- I should be making money off this!" mind-set until I realized that I really don't want a full time job being crafty. These women are intense! I appreciate what they do, but anytime I try to do what I like for a living, I don't like it anymore. I just want to be Eleanor (and bambino #2)'s mom. That's enough for now.

Anyhow. Why am I rambling? Oh yeah, cause I am due in 10 days and everyone has to let me do whatever I want. So. Back to the blanket. I took about eighty pictures, because as Dana said- it's just neat looking at every stage. Here it is all cut up.

Here you can see the backing fabric that I adore, but that doesn't really match the other stuff, but once it's washed and fuzzy it's not such a big deal. Also- after about two hours of cutting and only being about an 1/8th of the way through, I went and bought a chenille cutter. Wow it was worth it. I went from thinking that this would be the one and only blanket I made this way, to now wanting to make one for everyone I know. Big difference.Here is the binding that looks like yet another shade of blue that doesn't quite gel. As much as I like decorating and fashion and what not, I really don't have that quilter's gift of picking amazing fabrics to go together. I'm having the same problem in my bedroom right now too. Three different shades of gray and they are not getting along. Grrr.

And here it is after going through the wash. I wish I had thrown a color-catcher in there, as the red makes the light blue look a touch lavender, but I'm ok with it. It's done, and lately that has been my drug of choice. Done projects.

Would you like to know what else I want to finish this before baby? Oh good, cause I want to tell you.

-Finish painting the dresser I bought for little baby-boy's clothes and stuff. I naively thought I could have them share a dresser, nope. Too much stuff. I bought the dresser for $7.44 and it's really cute, just needs some refinishing. I sanded and primed it today and also did a heavy primer on the inside- as once I got it home I found that it had a broken sample of men's cologne inside. It was sooo strong! I don't want my little boy smelling like a man until he is one. So after two weeks with baking soda treatments, I got out the Kilz Primer and sprayed the insides of all the drawers. Now it all smells heavily of paint. Hmmm and ugh. I hate when projects take 7 more steps than you planned on.

-Take in my bed sheets and bed skirt. We recently bought new "good" sheets since the ones from our wedding registry are literally falling apart. We know we will be leaving this bed here when we leave in a year, and would like to upgrade to a King size, soooo I got King size sheets for our Queen sized bed. It's more annoying than I thought it would be. I'm tripping all over them and they come off way too easily. Want to fix each day, but each day comes and goes and I still don't take the time.

- Make two Mexicali dresses into shirts. I've had these for years and don't wear them as dresses as they look a bit costumey. I did one about a month ago and love it, so I just need to do the other two. This is low priority.

- Finish 3 or 4 other sewing projects that I started ages ago and haven't finished.

- Clean out our spare room so my mom and Clayton's mom have a spot to sleep when they come. My cute mom keeps saying that is why she is coming, to do this kind of thing. Mmm, no. Nothing is less welcoming than having a cluttery room with no where to put your clothes and no bed to sleep on. Hey! Thanks for coming! Now go sleep in a corner on the floor.

- Deep clean out our car. Oh my gosh, it is truly hideous right now. This is on the agenda for tomorrow.

- Finish painting a side table of Clayton's. I sanded it today but ran out of paint halfway through. Durr.

- Start painting my sewing desk. I bought the world's cutest green color in the inspiration of THIS awesome bit that I saw ages ago but I have yet to sand or prime, so this one is getting lower and lower on the list as well. All I wanted to do last week was paint outside and it rained all week. So I sewed instead. This week it's beyond hot and muggy and all I want to do is sit inside and eat generic Otter Pops. Guess which scenario is going to play out more?

- Rent a steamer to clean our downstairs couch, all the carpets and mattresses and maybe the car interior. Do you know how hard that sounds? Super hard. Just saying. This has been on my to-do list for about a year.

- Get the brakes fixed on the car. Think this maybe shouldn't be mixed in with sewing projects and painting dressers? And should, I don't know, just be done? Yeah. Me too.

- Take the hospital tour so that I will know where to go should this baby come anytime soon.

- Eleanor's 2 year pictures. So we're three months behind. Two is two, right?

- Cover some pillows I've had for ages.

-Pack a hospital bag.

- Get Clayton's dental appointment made, and soon. Poor C.

- Start the recipe book I bought from a friend on one of those scrap booking sites. Wanted to support her at the time, now just feel like it will go to waste. Send me your best treat recipes folks. I'm making it all desserts.

- Sleep.

Holland/Tulip Festival

So according to the internets, one of the Michigan "bucket list" things to do is see the Tulip Festival in Holland Michigan. We probably wouldn't have gone out of our way for it, but it happens to be where our favorite beach is, so we decided to make a day of it. And I can save you a trip by saying "eh".

I printed off a map and directory telling about all of the amazing places you can see the tulips. It had them ranked by number of bulbs planted. The big farms want to charge you $10 a person to go see them which is downright hilarious to me. They average about 200,000 bulbs, so I would imagine it is special, but we are too cheap to pay to see flowers. I can see fields all over Lansing that have at least 200,000 dandelions, so there. We instead went to a place that has 80,000 bulbs planted and is free. I was still a bit underwhelmed. You mainly walk around looking at little planter-sections of different varieties of tulips. Maybe a greater interest in horticulture is needed to make this fun. I was just a little bored and a little panicked that E would pick one. The fine is $50 per flower. Yikes. Luckily, she did very well at "NO TOUCHING!"
Hey look. A windmill and some tulips. The most photogenic part of the whole festival.

Some friends of ours went to the parade, vendors and whatnot, but unless they are throwing candy, I can't possibly be bribed into watching a parade at 8-9 months pregnant.

Here are E and C walking around the tulip planters. E is into waving a lot now which is always funny to me. She also likes to say "Oh HI!" or "Hello derr!" like she hasn't seen you in weeks.

Tulips, two year old, lamb.

She was enjoying running around on the grass. I was enjoying not chasing her. This is poor Clayton trying to get a shot of her in front of the tulips. I ask a lot of my family.

He corralled her back to where I was sitting in the shade. I tried to bribe her with a piece of gum to sit on my lap for a picture. I like that you can see the gum in her mouth. I don't like that I look so dorky with braids. On Eleanor? Adorable. On me? Hmmm, why'd that big gal do her hair like a five year old?

Thank you for hiding my double chin sweet girl.

It was super hot in downtown Holland, so we had high hopes for the rest of the day at the beach. We got there and it seemed awfully cold, but I got my suit on anyways. By the time I made the walk to the beach I was shivering. Clayton brought E over a few minutes later (they had been playing on the swings on the other side) and I was heartbroken to see Eleanor so excited to be at the beach. She is obsessed with all things Little Mermaid right now. P.S. She's waving again.

This is as close as we got to getting wet. The place was deserted. We bailed. You needed coats. We were going to meet some friends there but I called them to tell them it wasn't worth it. They went anyways as their boys had their hearts set on the beach. They said as they made the drive from Holland to the shore, the temperature gauge in their car dropped about a degree a mile. It was a twenty degree difference between the two. Bummer.

Back in the car Eleanor showed us that she is as cool as ever.

The whole trip felt a little like a waste. I had my heart set on a beach day before the baby comes. A dozen other little things went wrong all day too. We were scratching our heads as to why we were having such bad luck. We even stopped at this great fish-place in Grand Rapids on the way home to buy some fresh fish to grill once we got home. Sadly they had NOTHING worth buying there, just a bunch of stuff they had already cut up to fry. Disappointed we ended up buying trout from Meijers instead. It wasn't until the next day that we realized that it had been Friday the 13th. We aren't superstitious people, but maybe we will just sit the next one out.

Wee Boy Baby Shower

On April 28th a few of my friends and neighbors threw baby boy Firth a baby shower. It was downright delightful! I couldn't believe how many people came to show their love, it really is the sweetest feeling to know you have such lovely friends. And can I just say the food was freaking awesome? Such good treats. Here I am with my third? plate, you can see how excited I am about it. You can also see how the buttons on my shirt are working overtime. Poor buttons. Did I tell you how I a few weeks ago I ripped my pants all the way down the front? That was awesome. Anyhow...

Look at all the fun treasures! This little guy is freaking SET!

I am going to post the names and a little info of everyone as I want to remember everyone down the road. I apologize if it isn't your favorite picture of yourself, but I think everyone looks adorable. Here are Delicia Coupe, husband just finished his 1st year of law, 3 adorable daughters and they might be the funniest couple I've ever known. Jamie Helgesen, might be the hottest person I've met in real life, her husband just finished his 3rd year of law, she's mom to 3 adorable boys. They have just moved home to Utah and the ward just got sadder. Meg Hansen, crazy smart and has three of the brightest kids I've met, who also have the most beautiful curly hair, her kids are my go-to in Primary, they will always answer a question correctly for you.

Rachelle Woodbury now lives in Washington but was here randomly for the weekend! She is expecting her second baby a bit after me, she is a yoga guru and I miss her little Josh as I occasionally watched him. Angela Johnson is my wall-neighbor, she has to put up with all our noise. Her husband is in the middle of his post-grad something or other (sorry Timmy) in Soil engineering, or something. She is expecting her third son this summer and sings like an angel. Kristy Rivers is in the Primary Presidency with me and is my sanity each Sunday. She is hilarious, the mother of 5 darling girls and works while going back to school. Straight up awesome.

Aubrey Boardman is our resident party planner whiz, has two sweet kids and is rocking it as a "single mom" while her husband is working in California for the summer. Celina Wille is the mother to four kids, the wife of our bishop, a relative encyclopedia of nutrition knowledge and one of the best cooks ever. Speaking of awesome cooks, Kristen Gray makes the best pies and treats and is one of most creative and artistic people I know, and she's talented, not just creative. There is a difference. Sadly she and her husband are moving soon.

Ashley Stevens husband is finishing his schooling this year (child psychology?) and they have two of the sweetest girls. Her daughters are always dressed like something out of a storybook and she makes the most precious quilts. Ruth Seedall is another one of my street neighbors and the mom to four great kids. She is our fountain of knowledge as far as being a mom goes. Have a question? Call Ruth. Sadly we lose them after December but we try not to think about that. Kris Barncard is one of our Relief Society's treasures. She is one of the most charitable women I know and is so thoughtful and kind.

Lexie Phillips is the last of my street neighbors. She has four blond lovelies and is also leaving this Summer. Angela and I will need anti-depressants soon to deal. Lexie is insanely talented at anything baking or crafty. People watch to see what she or Ruth bring to ward potlucks as you will want to get some of theirs first. Marissa Christensen's husband is in the middle of medical school and she is so so stylish, always looks so ladylike and put together. She is expecting her second child this fall, I always want to carpool with Marissa because she is so fun to talk to. Jodie Evans husband just finished his first year of law, they have two insanely beautiful children and she is our resident ward hair girl. It's so much fun to have her do your hair. She also knows how to do all that couponing stuff that is way beyond my IQ level.

Mandy Wood's husband just finished his law degree and so they left us along with the Helgesens. The Wood family were one of our favorites, we went to Chicago with them this winter and had a blast. They have the best taste in food and both are amazing cooks. Mandy can make any party crazy- gorgeous and is so talented at decorating and the like. Their son is sooo cute. I already miss them like crazy. Jessica Anderson just had her baby girl Abigail a week ago! Her husband just finished his 1st year of med school. They are our super impressive performers. She can play a bunch of instruments- most amazingly is the harp, and he is a ballroom dancer.

Christy Bailey is also in the primary presidency with me and is just your solid, amazing gospel pillar. Her 4 kids are so cute and soooo smart. Humble as they come, she freaking made an entire quilt in one day for our baby and it is cuter than anything I could have worked on for months. And I didn't even know she quilted! Just amazing. Last but certainly not least, Emily Becker is our ward sunshine. Aside from being gorgeous, she is so fun to talk to. She is our ward librarian and I have to force myself to go to primary rather than trap her in there to talk to me. Her two daughters look like the 50's illustrations for Dick & Jane primers, all blond curls and dimples. Her husband finished medical school and is a bona-fide doctor now. Luckily they are working here in Lansing so we get to keep them longer.

Big ol' me! I'm the ward busy-body in that I want every one's business to be my business. I'm kind of pathetic in my calling (thankful for the other three that pick up my slack), my husband just finished his second year of law school and I am expecting our second baby, a boy this time, in about fifteen days. Wait, what? That can't be right. Hmm. I am a jack of all trades and master of none as is evidenced by my house full of unfinished projects and cluttered surfaces. Today Eleanor wore a swimsuit all day long! Oh, I should mention that it was raining non-stop and a little bit freezing in the house. I am apparently motivated only by my cravings.

There were a few ladies who were there but didn't make it into pictures, and so many more friends I could talk about my love for, but again, this was mainly for records, I just got a little carried away. My mom honestly gives thanks every day in her prayers for the amazing friends and neighbors we have here in Michigan. We do too. It's hard to have so many wonderful people come and go so often, but I am so glad we got to know some of them while we're here.

Eleanor's Newish Tricycle!

Ok. So this was an insanely satisfying project. I recently bought Eleanor a used Radio Flyer Tricycle for $11.99. I was pleased with the price and figured I could clean it up. Only I couldn't. It had some weird tar-like substance on the handlebars that none of my magic chemicals could get off. So I decided to paint it, since that is pretty much my answer to everything in life right now. I took off the seat and taped up the wheels before I remembered to take a picture, but here is what it looked like before, only much, much dingier, and without the yellow basket on the back or the streamers.

Here is a close up of the handlebars. Ugh.

And the whole bike, minus the blue seat. A few coats of white primer, a few coats of aqua spray paint and a touch of pray gloss later...

... and we have THIS! Isn't it adorable? I am so pleased with how it turned out!Eleanor loves it so much, a little too much. Sadly now when all the neighbor kids are out riding bikes in the driveways and playing in general she will not join in if her bike is out there. She will sit on it in the middle of the lawn making sure no one will touch it. Then she wants me to bring it indoors so no one can touch it. Great. Little Ebeneezer Scrooge we've created. Remind me again, at what age does sharing kick in? She can scoot around on it a bit and can push the peddles back and forth, but doesn't understand the whole "around motion" that will get her moving. Hopefully by the end of the summer she will figure it out. I'd also love to add some sweet white streamers, but don't think there is a way to get them in the end of the handles. The previous ones were cut off and I couldn't get the handles off either. Oh well, Good enough.

I Made A Bench!

So I recently got it into my head that I needed a bench at the end of my bed so I would have a spot to sit and put on shoes and socks. Pregnancy makes the dumbest things seem really important. Generally the end of our bed is where my totes full of clean laundry sit til I am ready to have a folding party while watching a movie. I'm slowly trying to make our room into a grown-up space that looks pretty, versus the college bachelor looking space it's been. I mean, we have a tall kitchen cupboard ($3 at a yard sale last year- it was brand new!) that holds our extra canned goods right next to our dresser. Because nothing says classy like pinto beans and applesauce in the bedroom. Anyhow, I found an online tutorial and got to work.

I bought a new shelf piece for $3 and four table legs for $2 each at our local Restore. A piece of foam for about $9 at Joann's with the half off coupon (Does anyone know a cheap source for foam?), $1.50 for button blanks that I covered with fabric I had on hand and new fabric for $7 a yard on sale. I used 1+1/2 yards. I used an old fleece blanket for the batting, spray paint I had on hand and my neighbor Timmy cut the legs down for me with his saw. It has 6 legs (the two far back ones are the tops of the table legs and don't match, but you don't really see them) and is only a tiny bit wobbly! Yay. I actually bought some small "L" brackets for $2 to strengthen it so I feel very comfortable sitting on it. All together I spent $34 (if my math is right), half of what the gal in the tutorial spent and mine is a wider depth and more sturdy. Oh! And mine has tufted buttons. I'm pretty pleased, however, if I were to ever make another one (which I doubt I will ever want to do) I know what mistakes to avoid. Like using dowel screws as opposed to regular ones, but hey. Live and learn. Here are my pictures. I will have to post what it looks like at the end of the bed once my room is clean. Ahem, might be a while.

I took this close-up to see if you could tell where I had to patch the fabric together. I bought one yard thinking that since it was decorator fabric it would be 54" across. Didn't even check. Duh. Got home, realized it was 45" and wouldn't work and had to go back and buy another half a yard. Then got home again and realized that another half a yard didn't solve my width problem, duh, so I ended up just patching it all together. You can't tell unless you look close, so, yay!I do enjoy sitting on it to put on my socks. And my piles of laundry look ever so much better stacked on this as opposed to sitting in tubs. Ha. Yeah, I will be clean and grown up one of these days. I have a few more projects that I've finished recently and a few more to knock out in the 23? days til our little man is supposed to arrive. Wish me luck!

Butterflies!

A few weeks ago our playgroup was at the MSU Butterfly Garden. It's free and adorable. Of course we had a hard time finding it so we missed seeing it with our friends, but Eleanor loved it nonetheless. This picture cracks me up as we love the show Venture Brothers. One of the villains is called The Monarch and is always trying to recruit new henchmen to be his butterflies. I think Eleanor would be a great henchman.

They have little nectar pots for you to dip your finger in so the butterflies will land on you. E kinda didn't get it at first, and it's just as well. She doesn't understand the bit about not touching their wings. But she did enjoy seeing other kids hold them.

A lot of this. Begging them to land on her finger with shouts of "HERE BUTTERFLY!", then scaring them so they take off and then getting excited that "It's flying!"Here is the video of what I'm describing.

I didn't even realize when I got her dressed that morning that her shirt had butterflies on it. Wish I could claim that I was that organized.

This one flew right in her face, which made her day.

I made the mistake of catching one and trying to let her hold it. She had seen some little girls putting nectar on their head to get the butterflies to land there so she tried to put him there.

My apologies to the poor maimed butterfly and his family. I hope he can still get work with a chunk of his wing missing. She must have said "LookLookLook!" about a thousand times.

Every shot was precious as she was so delighted with the whole room. I need to find more things like this for her to do.

After we enjoyed the butterfly garden we made the short drive over to the MSU dairy for an ice cream cone. E got to share a table with one of the hottest little boys in our ward, Corban. You may have seen him before.

Ice cream is definitely an outing we need to do more often.

Vase Before & After

So here is a vase that I bought at Hobby Lobby over a year ago. It was marked down from $70 to $6, and was 30% off that. Sweet. I liked it until I got a different vase for my living room that clashed styles. You can see a bit of the newer vase in this post. It's in the last picture sitting on the side-table. Anyhow, I decided to do something with this one, even though I really like the design. Lately I have been spray painting anything that will hold still with white primer. Frames and nick knacks mainly. I gave this vase a good coat and then made a stencil of a quatre-foil design I liked and went at it.

Before

After.
I know, I know- I've got mad photography skills. Don't be all jealous that I know how to use a flash so well.

This is a little better, despite my messy sewing stuff. Sadly, I got so excited about painting this that I really didn't consider where it will end up, and if it will match anything. I was originally thinking our bedroom but I want to keep that area more neutral with shades of gray, white and black. Now this may just live downstairs where there is a bit more of a rainbow going on.

So many more projects to come!

P.S. Charlotte- I wanted to just buy a freaking stencil, but I didn't want to spend more than a dollar, soooo... being super cheap, I made the stencil by printing off the design on the computer, tracing it with a Sharpie onto one of those flexible kitchen cutting boards (I have a bunch of them and only use one) and then cutting it out with an exacto knife. I thought about using contact paper or something that would stick, but didn't want to make a trip to the store, and I wanted to be able to reuse it, so I just used what I had on hand. Once I had the stencil I just held it in place on the vase and traced the design on with a pencil and then hand painted it with craft paint and a small brush. I honestly think true stenciling would've been harder, and I am always disappointed with how much stencils bleed. It sounds like a lot of work, but it was one of those projects that I would spend a few minutes on at a time while watching tv or while E was playing. (Um, that would often be the same chunk of time.)

Musical Eleanor

Little Eleanor has been quite taken with the songs from a few of her favorite movies. She loves The Little Mermaid 1 & 2, Tangled of course, Peter Pan, Tarzan and this week saw her first clips of Annie. She also loves singing her hymns and other nursery songs each night with us. I was impressed a while ago to find that she actually knows all the words, or at least the phonics of the songs. Getting her to sing for the camera is a bit tricky, if you start singing the song to get her to start, she invariably says "Let's watch it!" She has our number, but in April we had a few good days. So for the grandparents and any one who likes to hear songs sung with words missing and shortened endings, here you go!

I've Got A Dream from Tangled



I Am A Child of God



Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree



Variations on Ariel

You Know You're Too Pregnant When...

I know I'm too pregnant when...

1- I take off my shirt at the end of the day only to find that the bottom half is hideously stained, some of it from breakfast.

2- I found a box of cereal in the fridge and an opened bottle of BBQ sauce in the pantry.

3- I cannot account for one of the seventeen bruises all over my body.

4- I secretly daydream about breaking a leg or something minor just so I can spend a day in the hospital being waited on. Those people who are dying to check out early after labor? Who are you? (P.S. Don't take this one too seriously please. I am not pre-post-partum depression, at least that I know of. Is wishful hospital stays one of the red flags? Probably.)

5- My dreams are seriously ticking me off. Purses getting stolen... ruffians threatening me and Eleanor... my teeth breaking off so I look all hillbilly... obnoxious, tattooed, German, hippie couples who are also expecting coming to stay with me and not leaving... but worst of all, I dreamt that after delivering I looked down and thought "Hey! I'm not that flabby! I can deal with this!" and I was so excited that getting back in shape wouldn't be too bad. I woke up all happy, only to realize how "off" I was in my dream. Stupid sub-conscious! Can't you just let me dream of rainbows and cake or something?

6- My floor is littered with who-knows-what as barely anything is worth bending over to pick up. And let's just have a good laugh now at how little I plan on sweeping. (P.S. After writing this, I spilled an entire bowl of raw hamburger that I had just mixed up to make meatballs. Sadly, I scooped it all up and only said half a swear word. "Shiaaarrggg!" if you're curious. Hair cooks out, right?

7- Eleanor has eight new favorite movies... this week.

8- Clayton had a take-at-home final that averages about 7 hours, so Eleanor and I had a whole day out together. We went to the park, the duck pond, errands and a movie. My movie date with Eleanor involved spilling half our popcorn in an actual bathroom stall, only to have her start eating it off the floor (Shudder, shudder, shrug.). She was so happy. We then spent ten minutes watching previews with me thinking, "These seem a bit mature for the cartoon Rio..." before realizing that we were in the wrong theater, thus missing 15 minutes of our movie. The capper was then having Eleanor soak through her diaper so completely (while on my lap of course) that it looked like I wet my pants as well. Even the seat was soaked. Sorry NCG. Good times.

9- I'm trying not to cry constantly over little, dumb things -like losing half my popcorn on the bathroom floor. However, I think we can all agree that that one is a bit justified, but other examples would be not finding the right curry paste at the grocery store, not being able to find my shoe or having to wait in line at the mall. (But don't they know how tired I am?)

10- I found that taking a bath was waaaay too much work to just end up freezing and uncomfortable for half an hour.

11- I've told several people I would call them or text them something only to remember it four days later.

12- I have the energy to paint a desk but not walk up the stairs. What is that all about? (Except I haven't actually found the energy to paint the desk yet. But I bought the paint!) (And seriously, you will all be super-impressed with my latest projects. Just not my laundry pile.)

13- I need a nap after every meal. Yeah, don't tell my doctor. I'm pretty sure that means I'm not eating right.

14- Having a list that ends on 14 because half of the thousands of thoughts I had for this post are completely beyond my reach. I am useless lately. If it isn't on one of my thirty lists, I have no recollection of it. Here is a sweet picture to make this post worthwhile.

One month to go! My due date is June 10th if you are interested. I plan on delivering on June 1st for Jenni's birthday instead. Hope the baby is aware of my plans.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt & Brunch 2011

The Saturday before Easter our little Greencrest Avenue gang threw an Easter egg hunt and brunch for basically anyone in our ward who wanted to come. We did a very scaled down version last year that was a lot of fun, this year was even better. We were blessed with beautiful weather despite it raining all night. The grass was a tad wet in places, but the sun was so wonderful. We had a great turn out. We were trying to estimate the number, and think it was around 60 people give or take a handful. The kids had a blast. Eleanor still isn't quite old enough to get why we are hiding eggs, but she enjoyed her back lawn being filled with friends and candy. Here are a few pictures from the day.

I started with a big bunch of balloons for pictures, but couldn't get one of her smiling.

She still doesn't know at this point that all of her eggs have something in them.

Daddy can always get her to smile.

See!

And mom can usually get her to hug.

She wasn't interested in any of the food offered, until she found one of Delicia's bunny cupcakes. Of which she ate only the top. Naturally. I have a million dollar idea- reusable, plastic cupcakes that you just frost and decorate the tops of for kids parties. They enjoy the frosting and you don't waste a cake. I'd buy them.

She went off far away from the other kids to eat her cupcake. Like a little squirrel or something.

After eating, the grownups hid the eggs. Everyone brought 15 so everyone could leave with 15, and we did it in two groups. Four and older and three and under. Kept everything running smoothly and everyone very happy.

Here is a snippet of Eleanor in action. As usual, the second egg she finds cracks open and the gig is up. All she wanted to do after that was eat her chocolate.

We got her to keep going. No one said Easter was easy.

Tried for a few more pictures with her haul. Still not interested in smiling for me. She did find an old paintbrush though.

Later as we sat around talking in the sunlight... (Which burned the crap out of my pathetically white skin. Um, hello- 67 degrees was the high for the day. I am in for a world of hurt this summer.)... Eleanor decided she was hungry enough to finally eat something. Mainly leftovers from other kid's plates.

And she was happy.

The next morning she got to "find" her Easter basket. Yes, we hid it on top of the table. We'll try harder next year, but how is a two year old supposed to know that there is a magical basket hidden somewhere?

Here she is discovering it with Clayton. And boy does she loooooove her Rapunzel doll. P.S. Note her sweet bed-head.