crunchies & cookies

This was my view this morning
as I did crunchies....

Spring skies!
Perfect.
And,
the reason I do crunchies:

Cookies.
This may appear to be
the standard cookie
with white chocolate chips.
Anything but,
my friends.
This cookie has a secret.
It should be called "Rays of Sweet Sunshine"
or
"White Chocolate Sunburst"
or
"Mouthwatering Specks of Sunlight".
But they're simply called
"White Chocolate Lemon Cookies."
The secret being lemon.

Recipe from my friend, Rosie

Cream:
1 C butter & 1/2 C sugar & 1/2 C brown sugar
Mix in 2 eggs.
Mix dry ingredients:
2 1/4 C flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 t lemon peel, grated
(I've made these twice now in 1 week
- the 2nd time I added 3 t
of lemon & it was even better!)
Mix dry & wet & then add
2 C white chocolate chips
Bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes.
(just barely golden around the edges,
soft in the middle)
Share the sunshine!
Do an extra crunchie or two.

Easter weekend.

I could not get over the glorious
weather at the beginning of Easter weekend.
I took the babies out for a walk
and inhaled the Spring glory.

And Friday night?
You got it,
a date with my Hunk.
It was actually a triple date
with his parents and uncle & his date.
Heard of the Lower Lights?
FAN-TAS-Tic!

in the elevator on our way up to see LL

And Friday late night,
as in 1 am late.....

the Easter bunny hopped through!
Leaving his cute little powdered sugar
prints behind.
I had to fend off a cat
who wanted his cabbage & carrot
that Mia & Ella set out.
By the way, Mia acted as if she
never knew the secret behind holidays.
I was so proud of her!
She's a believer.

And Saturday morning found
us up early hunting eggs & baskets,
eating Mrs. Cavanaugh's chocolate eggs
for breakfast,
& watching Tangled
(again - only this time, it's
our own copy - Hooray!)

Then we were off to Uncle's house
for the big cousin's egg hunt & brunch.

I made my girls skirts for the first

time ever! Like how I put this in small

writing so as to appear humble?
But, really, it's exciting to me!

Ella drops cookie, retrieves egg,
dumps egg in bucket,
picks up cookie & eats.

I have some tulips!
They worked!

Easter morning.
It wasn't about eggs,
chocolate,
bunnies,
or parties.
That's the celebration of Spring to me.
I love the separation.
It is about celebrating the resurrection of our Savior.

It had been a really neat week.
Learning & reading about His last week of life,
His sacrifice & love for us,
singing,
having a dinner of fish, bread & honey,
making goals to be more like Him......
it was good.
Hope your hearts are filled with Easter, too!

celebrating....a bunch o' stuff

Is he crying or laughing?

It's pure 100 percent hysterics!
Laughing so hard that he's silent
followed by a gulp and a gasp and more giggles
and bursts and silence.
It is the best sound in the world.

Egg dying.
I'll never miss a year
my whole life long.

Celebrating a trip to the zoo.
It was Rooskii's first time!

a kneeling camel~
why do they do this?!

She was totally enthralled
with the animals.
It must be quite a trip to see
the 2-dimensional pictures in books
come alive!
When she was scared of an animal
like the tigers and gorilla,
she would say,
"All done. All done. All done."

just a baby at 14 feet

Yep, the zoo was fun
and......

......educational.
PS: Tortoises are very l.o.u.d.
Who knew?

Celebrating that she finally
wanted to learn how to ride a bike
with no training wheels!
And of course, celebrating that she can
do it!!

Grandma & her grand-daughters

I love that Mia just can't get
out of the car after a library trip
because she's too engrossed in her book.
We're reading the Cobblestone Cousins
series together right now
and oh, my GOODness,
I love those books!

When Ella falls asleep
on my bed.
PPS: Have you ever seen a picture
of her without her paci?
Me either!

Celebrating family games of
Hide 'N Seek.
She is learning to count.
"ooooone, twwwooooo, freeeee,
onnnneee, freeeee..."

Bugg gets quite strategic
with his hiding spots.
But his laughs & babbles
give him away!

Eating boiled eggs on the front porch
while waiting for Buggy to come
home from school.

Therapy.
Vision therapy specifically.
Bugg really responds to the light box.

So does Ella.

Our alone trips to
Sam's club.
Only 75 percent difficulty!
If I had my other 2 children,
they'd add up to 100 percent.

Cleaning up heart puddle
messes here.
Oh, oh, for the love of
SWEETNESS!
I didn't know Mia had sneaked in
until I checked on them right before I went to bed.

Celebrating Mia's 1/2 birthday.
Well, in February, that is.
We had lunch together at school
and then I got to go out to recess with her.

We had school lunch
which she doesn't get very often.
I got a sweet kick out of sitting
at the little cafeteria tables
with my big girl.
She was so giddy & adorable.

Celebrating little excursions to meet

Mia at the bus stop.
Making the ordinary a bit more extraordinary
with popcorn & daddy's toy...

Yep, he attached a camera
to the front of his car.
'Cause he's cooooool like that.

I gave Bugg a bath one night
and discovered a tattoo!
I love those funny gals at preschool!!!

Celebrating.....
finding something to do.....

Like making a homemade volcano.

Cookies being eaten
by a baby in a diaper.

a Hotel trip!

It's nice to not have to
clean up after your own messes
every once in awhile,
agreed?

I know you wanted to see it again!
Am I right?
Huuuuhh???