under THREAT of hate mail...

i'm finally updating my blog! things have been crazy and fun and busy around here. we have celebrated 2 birthdays, had a week-long spring break, several illnesses, easter, first time fishing (and catching a fish!), and started soccer! we have a lot to catch up on, so i will do it in small batches...keep checking back, i hope to do at least 3-4 of these mini-posts today. so, without further ado....

Happy Birthday Hadley!!

here is the cute little birthday girl with her "ballerina cake". she looks so big in this picture, much bigger than 3! we kept the birthday low-key and had dinner in Princeton with the neighbors, Mitch (MITCHELL!) and Marisa and their cute little Lucy, who hadley told me is her "sister friend". so cute.

A close-up of the cake...yeah, it was a bit squished to begin with...this was the reject cake for the bake-off held in Relief Society. I had to bake the cake twice, since the first one fell in the middle, but i saved it in the freezer and used it for hadley's birthday cake. i was so glad to not have to bake it that day! oh, i won the bake-off, by the way...first prize in the "non-chocolate" category. the second time i have entered this recipe and won. yummy, yummy coconut cake!

hadley got kitchen play things for her birthday from us, because she likes to "help" me when i am cooking and be "chef hadley". here are alexander and lucy playing along with her. lucy and hadley both wore party dresses to dinner and were doted on, as usual.

when i saved this photo, i titled it "girlie giggles". look at that face!

helping me place the candles...see how she is pretending to do it along with me? is that princess aurora on the table? seriously sisters, thank-you for the princesses. they have all kinds of adventures. the other day they were all lined up with one in front and they were having sacrament meeting. she was talking about Jesus and trying to make lucy fold her arms and say amen. (lucy is jewish) it was kinda funny.

i LOVE this picture because it captures the true essence of hadley...the cuteness, the silliness, the exuberance! as i recall, she was shouting "cheese!" and flourishing something (her twisty straw?) for the picture. many thanks again to all of you who sent birthday surprises...it made not being in utah a little easier. between all of hadley's mail, easter packages, and alexander's mail, we got used to fun mail surprises and hadley started to cry the other day when there was nothing fun in the mail. we love you all! stay tuned....