On Saturday afternoon, we dyed eggs.  We decided to try one of those “swirly” dying kits this year, which turned out some really pretty eggs.  The problem, however, is with the cooking oil that’s required to achieve the swirled effect…the eggs are left with a rather messy oily coating.

Trevor insisted on wearing his tie-dyed t-shirt to match the eggs we were making!

On Sunday, we headed down to Waynesboro for our annual Easter dinner get-together with my mother’s side of the family. This Easter was extra-special since our little Ella was able to participate in her first egg hunt! She had a blast and knew just what to do!

“I know there’s something in here!”

Ella with her new “guck” (a.k.a. duck):

My tree-climbing kiddo could not resist climbing my grandmother’s large dogwood tree.

My mother wanted a “nice” photo of her three grandchildren together on Easter. By the time I got a chance at this, all three kids were tired and grumpy from the festivities and the resulting photos were, well…not so nice! The following represents the best of the batch!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter with your families, too!

The front:

The back:

The artist himself!

The boys and I colored eggs today, and tomorrow we will be celebrating Easter with my family in Waynesboro.  It’ll be so much fun watching my 13-month-old niece, Ella look for eggs!  I’ll be taking lots of photos, which I hope to post here on the blog this week.  Happy Easter!

Performing the 28 animal movements sequence, an integral part of the yellow belt rank test:

Meditation:

Rank Certificate:

Trevor with his head instructor, Shen Shung Cochran:

Ella with Dad:

Snoozing before the service :

Ella and Pastor Joe:

Another snooze with Grammy :

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

“The emphasis of Pai Lum is on achieving maximum results with minimum effort. Pai Lum develops:

* A healthy mind in a healthy body
* The ability to defend oneself
* Increased self confidence and self discipline
* A peaceful way to vent tension and aggression
* Patience in all aspects of life
* An understanding of the body and it’s unlimited potential”

In the short time that Trevor has been studying Kung Fu, we have noticed a marked increase in his self-discipline and respect for others around him. These were two issues he was previously struggling with, in school as well as at home. I recently took my camera along to class to catch Trevor and some of his peers in action. He looks forward to each and every class!

Chi Kung breathing exercises:

Practicing the reverse thrust kick:

We are hoping that Trevor will continue to enjoy Kung Fu as much as he does now!

One of the many random mushrooms that keep popping up in the garden:

This is the little “garden guy” that was left behind by the previous occupants of the apartment we moved into when we got married. When we moved into our first house 2 years later, we decided he had to come with us. When we moved again to our current house, he, of course, came with us once again! I like to think of him as our little “good luck in life” charm since we found him when we were first married and he’s still with us.

Happy spring!

Aaron taking a break to check out his loot:

My grandmother’s squirrel feeder made for a tricky little hiding spot!

Of course, there are always the difficult-to-find, out-of-reach eggs to keep the boys “on their toes” ha ha!

Our sweet little Ella:

Making a silly scrunchy face for Memaw:

“I see you, Aunt Kristi, with that big black thing in front of your face again!”

Next Easter should be fun when Ella will likely be able to find some eggs of her own!

The boys both enjoyed holding Ella for a bit:

Getting sleepy!

Peacefully sleeping:

Blowing icky milk bubbles!

The monkey on Ella’s cute little crib mobile!

I took these photos nearly 3 weeks ago when Ella was about 9-1/2 pounds. She just had a checkup this past week and the little stinker is now 12 pounds! I have some photos from Easter that I want to post this week, and her face is looking much fuller than in these photos. Even though I’ve raised two of my own babies and know all to well how fast they grow, Ella seems to be growing even more quickly because I don’t get to see her everyday. Time for another babysitting gig, I say!

Another factor that weighed heavily into my decision was the fact that I have neglected my own personal photos for what seems like forever. I would really like to take the time this year and get caught up on personal photo editing and (gasp!) perhaps even get them scrapbooked!!! I’ve also been dying to get some coffee table books printed up featuring some of our recent family adventures!

I certainly hope no one gets the impression that I’m going away forever. It’s just for this year only! Next year I will most definitely be cutting my work hours back and putting a huge effort into getting my business back up and running. This will also give me the time to get some of my coworkers at my day job trained in some of my responsibilities so that I will be in a position to cut my hours back when the time comes.

Anyway, without further ado, I wanted to post some photos I took of Ella when she was a week old (a little belated, I know ). Enjoy!

A nuzzle with Dad (notice the red hair connection!):

Ella and her beautiful mama:

Gotta love those tiny fingers:

Yesterday I babysat Ella while her mom and dad could go out for their first “post baby” date. I took lots of photos with my new 5D MarkII which I hope to be sharing in another day or two!