Ready for the Spoon?

Spoon + Cup of Yogurt + Mom willing to clean a big mess = Big Time Baby Fun

Enough with the spoon. Now its time to practice drinking from a "cup."

I'll brag on him a bit. Marshall did surprisingly well for his first real solo attempt with a spoon. I gave him a little help at the beginning then he seemed to get the hang of it and hit his mouth almost everytime. After he finished eating and had finally given me the "bowl" and spoon, he kept doing the spooning motion over and over -- too funny. Glad he can continue practicing and keep the mess to a minimum.

Squirrel Cake, Anyone?

It was supposed to be Hummingbird Cake, not Squirrel Cake, but nobody told that to the little creature who showed up on my window ledge to help with the baking.

Maybe he knew they were going to turn into sunflowers!

So this weekend, David's folks came up for a visit and, because I love to come up with fun projects I don't have time for while neglecting housework I should be doing, I decided to make hummingbird cupcakes (for Pops) decorated like sunflowers (for Zannie). Sort of a Happy Birthday to Y'all and Thanks For All the Help.

If you will all pardon my self congratulations, I think they came out looking pretty cute and the cake tasted OK, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite as banana-y as it was. The banana totally overwhelmed the coconut, pineapple and pecans that were also in the cake and sounded so tasty to me. For my money, it might as well have just been banana cake...and I got my recipe from Martha Stewart so it should have been just perfect! If that is what Hummingbird cake is supposed to taste like, then I'll stick to Grandma Johnson's Banana Bread! The flowers looked OK, but that sure is a lot of colored icing - maybe a bit too much.

All in all it was a fun experiment and I might try silly overly decorated cupcakes again, but only for a party or a bigger group - no one wants to eat more than one with all that icing. Oh yeah, and with so much icing and cookies too, it seems like sticking to a basic cake might be smarter....but at least the squirrels seemed interested in my experiment.

What an Easter!

Lots, lots more to share, but this will have to do for now (9:30 on Easter night).

What a beautiful day we had for celebrating such a blessed event! After church, Marshall had a great time hunting Easter eggs (thanks for the lessons, Hope, Cowboy, Lyndsey & Emily!) or was it strolling among the wildflowers (thanks for the lessons, Grandma Pal).

Whichever, he had fun!

More to come - including many Texas and North Carolina pics, Easter basket fun (including Peeps, Jodie), and much more. Hope I get it all posted one of these days.

We had such a great time visiting with all the family in Texas and NC. Thank you all for your hospitality. It was great to get home and see Dad/David, but we miss seeing all of you!

The Letter of the Day is "D"

In fact, D is not only the letter of the day, but also the letter of the week, the letter of the month and, well, you get the idea.

I think I can honestly say that Marshall says two words now. Maybe four. They all start with D even if they don't.

For sure words:
Dada - definitely means Daddy, but also seems to be a good word to use for lots of other things.
Dye-dye - bye-bye - which is getting lots of lots of use this week

Sometimes words:
Dah-do - Fado
Day-dee - Daisy

What can I say? The kid likes the sound of D.

Funny thing is that he makes all kinds of other sounds when he is reading, pretending to talk on the phone, playing in his bed, etc.. I heard a whole host of sounds, but when he wants to talk to us, it is all about the D.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Some of us seemed to like celebrating with the little green hat more than others.

Celebrity Photo Op

OK - so he didn't meet the president or anything, but Marshall seemed to get a kick out of these guys.



Who were those masked turtles???

Guarding the Yard

We're pretty sure the girls like their new yard.




Still, it is tough to really nap outside because dogs always have to be on the lookout -- or sniffout -- for invaders (squirrels, birds, neighborhood children, leaves...the usual suspects).




Well, at least one dog has to be on the lookout at all times.



Meanwhile, Marshall keeps an eye on the action outside from his perch in the Pack-N-Play.




If the action outside slows down, he does a bit of rolling around and...



voila - more fun with static hair!