Toothless!

What's missing in this photo? 
Hint -- look in her mouth!
Ellie hopped in the car last Thursday after putting her shape monster project in the front seat.  She said "Look in the shape monster's lap!" and when I did, I saw a little note from Mrs. Cox, Ellie's first grade teacher.  I looked at Ellie, confused, and she said "What's on the card?!" and I realized Ellie's TOOTH was taped to the card!   Mrs. Cox pulled it out for Ellie!   That crazy loose tooth that would not fall out -- it's been loose for months. She'd checked on Ellie's wiggly tooth every day for over a month, hoping she could pull it out.  Well, she finally succeeded!  Mrs. Cox is the best tooth-puller ever.  
The tooth fairy visited Ellie Thursday night leaving a tiny note and a gold dollar.

Ballerinas, Bicycles, Princesses & the Piggly Wiggly

Thursday was ballet photo day in anticipation of the upcoming recital. This year, the recital is the Four Seasons.  Abby is in the Spring performance and Ellie is in Autumn.   It was Ellie and Abby's first time to try on their full costumes and they looked lovely!  (pay no attention to the Tom's on their feet -- we switched to ballet slippers when we got there!).

Abby was beyond thrilled to wear her costume and Ellie was just ready to get there to see her ballet buddies.
This picture makes me laugh!

Abby's sweet class getting ready for their close ups!

Friday night, we headed downtown for the annual Gran Prix bike race.  Bicyclists from all over the South arrive in Brookhaven for the weekend-long event of several races.  Friday night is the exciting short race:  59 minutes of laps around several downtown blocks.  We love watching the cyclists zoom by, following several lead motorcycles.  They came by about every 90 seconds in a blur of wheels.   

Abby spent this afternoon as Tangled, along with her Rapunzel doll and Tangled-Bitty-Baby!  A sweet little princess!
Tonight, the girls and I made a quick trip to the Piggly Wiggly and Abby entertained the entire cash register area with her VERY loud rendition of "Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes", complete with all the motions -- it was hysterical!  She is not at all shy!

Sweet Geniuses!!

Ellie's new favorite show is Sweet Genius on the Food Network.  On it, four contestants compete to create the most tasty, whimsical and creative desserts and win the title Sweet Genius.   She loves the creativity and use of interesting ingredients.  Granna & Papa gave her an Easy Bake dessert kit and we spent Friday afternoon creating desserts of our own!
Here's Ellie measuring out the water for the batter...

and microwaving the tiny cakes.

Abby's job was to mix up the fondant -- pink and purple!

It was our first time working with fondant and we will definitely try it again -- it was like edible playdoh and we had a great time with all the tools in the Easy Bake set.

Abby's pressing strips of fondant into the stencil board.  It imprinted swirls, flowers, leaves and more.  And Ellie's rolling out the fondant for the cookie cutters.

Our first attempt at fondant covered tea cakes!  So fun!  The girls can't wait to try more!  I can see lots of fondant creations in our near future.

My little Sweet Geniuses!!

Easter Sunday

Sunday morning, we attended Sunday School and church, then headed home to prepare for our family celebration.  Tim smoked delicious pork tenderloins, the girls and I baked a cake, and everyone else brought tasty side dishes.  It was all so yummy!  And so very nice to be with family for the holiday!

The Easter Bunny surprised the girls by hiding their eggs at Papa & Granna's house so after lunch we walked around the corner to their pretty garden.  Ellie & Abby had a doting audience as they discovered their eggs!

Uncle Chuckie joined in the hunt and Abby kindly shared a few of her eggs with him.

The Bunny hid the eggs in some tricky places this year -- on Papa's bell, Granna's bridge, in forks of trees -- the girls loved their search!

Nana & Granna!

Abby filled her basket several times so Tim followed her around with an 'overflow basket'.

Ellie found a ton of eggs!  Some had money in them, much to her delight!

Monkeys!

Happy Happy Easter!!! 
It was a perfect day!

The Easter Bunny!

The Easter Bunny visited while the girls were sound asleep and he loved his fresh carrots and note from Ellie!
He left powdery footprints through the living room -- that silly Bunny!

Sleepyheads checking out their Easter baskets.

The Bunny left Ellie a basket full of goodies, including a Vera Bradley handbag, a new Webkinz, a set of classic chapter books, satin Sleeping Beauty pillowcase, and lots of candy!

Abby's basket contained a Tangled musical book, matching Rapunzel girl and doll dress up dresses, a tee shirt with a carriage that says "This is how I roll.", satin Sleeping Beauty pillowcase, and lots of candy!

Ellie can't wait to read her new books!

Abby modeling her Rapunzel dress.

They also discovered some precious gifts from Papa & Granna!  In their big eggs were beautiful matching pink dresses and cute pink handbags.

And for both girls from Papa & Granna, a butterfly house!  How exciting!!   We can't wait to see the beautiful butterflies enjoy their new home.

Our Easter Girls -- Sweet Snapshots

Sisters!

Giggles!

Ready for church Easter Sunday

I love these girls!

Easter Eve

Saturday evening, we followed Uncle Jeff, Aunt Sarah, Granna & Papa up to Wesson to Mrs. Ratcliff's Easter display.  It's one of our Easter traditions, we missed it last year, so I think this is the first year Abby's been old enough to really enjoy it!  Abby and Jeff are taking it all in. . .  it's a lot to see -- an entire yard of wooden bunnies and Easter decorations.

Our traditional train photo!

Ellie's favorite was the egg tree.

Mrs. Ratcliff gave the girls little baskets of candy and sticker books.   She cut and painted each of the bunnies in her yard! 

Uncle Jeff & Aunt Sarah brought the girls Easter gifts -- so sweet!!  Abby received a penguin that unzips and re-folds into an igloo pillow.  Abby LOVES penguins and named this one Uncle Jeff.

They gave Ellie a 550 piece puzzle and set of Cranium games.  She's so excited about getting started on both!

We colored eggs.

Then they added stickers to their colorful eggs.

Then it was off to dreamland to wait for the Easter bunny!