Happy Easter!

We hope everyone has a lovely Easter Sunday!

I am a little behind this year and just mailed out our Easter cards...today!!! (I am getting worse instead of better as Rachel gets older) Here is a peek at some of the beautiful shots Amanda took last Friday. I took Rachel in for her 2nd Birthday Photo Shoot. It was funny as it started out being only two outfits...her birthday dress with and without the party hat and the tutu outfit I had made for her. Then I remembered that last year I had some photos taken with the #1 and she was wearing adorable pink overalls. So I decided to put her in overalls for some pictures with the #2. Then...she received an incredibly beautiful purple dress for her birthday from her Grandma & Grandpa! I couldn't have been more excited! My Mom did not know it, but I had decided back in January that I wanted Rachel to wear purple this Easter. I had been browsing all the stores and also the internet for the perfect purple Easter dress. I cannot even describe how I felt when I opened the box of birthday gifts from them and right on top was this amazing purple dress. Neither Mom nor I had mentioned anything to each other. It was the best surprise. In my totally unbiased opinion:)...Rachel looked like a little doll in it! It suits her so perfectly and she was just a vision of loveliness:)...Of course, that is coming from her Mommy. I must admit, though, that every time I look at the pictures...uploading to computer then to Costco to make the cards, then writing out the cards, stuffing the envelopes, uploading to FB, and finally this blog post the song "Isn't She Lovely" keeps playing in my head:)...yep, I love her...big time...

So back to my "story"...what began as two outfits for pictures soon became four! Then I had the birthday hat like I mentioned and she wanted to take her Bitty Baby doll! Oh, and we took Gymbo, of course:). So...about 130 pictures later which became over 300 with borders, enhancements and collages...here we are. Oh, and I almost forgot! I had to take her back in again on Monday! Two of the original backgrounds Amanda used on Friday just did not look good when we viewed the photos after the shoot. Plus Rachel was about done by the time we got to the #2/overall shots...and who could blame her? It was a long day! The photo parts went quickly , but Amanda was working by herself and had to keep running out to answer the phone, take care of customers at the desk etc...All I kept thinking was "She is only two and you are SO losing her with all these interruptions!" I was getting very nervous. I love getting great pictures but when Rachel is "done" that is it. It is never my goal to upset or "torture" her with picture-taking. So, on Monday we went back in and reshot the tutu pics and did several more overall photos on the better background. The best thing...Frank was working from home and was able to come get her after her photos were taken. That left Amanda and me to have some FUN checking out all the photos. We work well together adding borders, enhancements and creating collages! It was an exhausting two days, but everyone knows how much I love pictures and it was so worth it to me:).

Oh, and I can't believe I let this happen, but we did not get to see the Easter Bunny! Actually we saw the bunny a bunch of times, but I did not take Rachel up for pictures. The few times we were at the mall I either did not have her dress with me or did not want to make her sit for even more pictures at the time. I actually planned to take her when we were down in Oregon but I totally forgot! Oh, well...I felt bad but her Daddy came up with a great idea! She received a box of Easter presents from her Grandma Fran the other day. In the box were 2 bunnies who are about Rachel's height. She loves them! I stood them on the floor and she just kind of stared at them then said "Hiiii...iiii!" and went over and gave each one a big hug! Frank thought it might be cute to photograph her with them. I love it...the dress from Grandma & Grandpa...and the bunnies from Grandma Fran...what sweet, special photos those will be!

Bunny Hugs!

This was the bunny in her Easter Basket last year.

Just one more story! We saw the Easter Bunny at three different malls during the past two weeks! Yes, kind of foolish that I did not get her picture taken with at least one of them, I know. We saw him at the mall where her Gymboree classes are first. I parked the stroller right by where he sat and thought I'd let her just check it out. (Trying to prepare her for photos as I still remember her terrible fear of Santa this past December!) She looked at him then started saying "Hop, hop, hop, hop!" I said, "Yes! It's a bunny." and we talked about him, getting pictures etc... He looked over and waved and Rachel just kind of showed her "shy" side to him. People do not think she has a shy side, but it really does emerge at times. We ended up being in another mall for some reason a few days later and then found ourselves at the third mall twice for her portraits last week. I guess she was feeling less shy the second, third and fourth times as she kept waving to him! It was so funny...the second time we saw him. she waved to him with the little fingers curling down over the hand wave and he did the same, then he started doing the "parade" type wave and she immediately started copying him. It was cute how his shoulders bounced up and down as he laughed. Then Rachel started blowing him kisses! That made him laugh even more! She had everyone "awwww-ing" her actions. That's my girl!