Easter Pretties

"I think the Easter Bunny went that way, Mom!"

We had a very nice, fairly low-key Easter this year. No company over, just going to church and then a yummy meal of salmon and asparagus, and a semi-successful photo session of the kids in their new Easter clothes.

As you can tell, although it was sunny, the wind was chilly and the poor kids tried valiantly to pose nicely but it was obviously very cold outside!

I tried distracting them with those fun fake flowers, which worked for a little bit but not long enough!

By the way, I want to apologize for the fuzzy, untouched photos. I've been using my husband's laptop to blog on for the past 4 months, because our (very) old desktop is maxed out and we haven't been able to get a new computer quite yet. The photo software on this laptop is extremely basic, and for a reason seemingly beyond my control, when I plug in the photos to my blog, they immediately get "dumbed down" and all grainy. I can't figure out what's going on, because the version from the camera is crisp and gorgeous. I wish I knew enough about these things to do something about it, but hopefully I'll be able to start using a real photo editing program soon. It's frustrating to take decent shots only to have the translation make them look crummy.

Anyway, here's a close-up of the doo-da on Eliza's front. I took a bit (I think about 10 inches) of extra lace, the same kind I used at the bottom of the dress, and gathered it together into a circle, slipstitching the ends together for a seamless look. Then I just made a simple bow, sewed it all together and then stitched it to the dress by hand. It's one of my favorite parts of this dress.

Here's a view of the back. I made this dress using a pattern for the top part (it was for a pull-over top) and I just added the skirt part to it. The top part is obviously too big - I hadn't used the pattern before and guessed wrong on the size to use. You know how sometimes it's hard to tell what size to cut out because every pattern maker is different and the sizes seem to vary wildly? I don't actually use patterns that often for my girl's clothes, so I'm still learning what works. I think I'll be able to fix it by gathering the top parts of the sleeves more - it just gapes open too much at the neckline.

Sweet Eliza was a dearie during this photo shoot, and tried very hard to pose nicely even though she was very chilly. She's getting to be quite a good little model, don't you think? Not that I aspire, in any shape or form, for her to be a model in real life...it's just nice that at least one of my children can be fairly consistent in her expressions and will hold still for more than 1 second straight!

Hazel, on the other hand, makes a break for it at every opportunity she gets! Isn't that look of sheer joy on her face fun to see? She's escaping to the back yard where the swingset is.

I love this shot of Eliza and Hyrum. So sweet and innocent.

Hazel loves to look at airplanes up in the sky. She notices them even when they're a tiny speck way up in the air. Kids can be delightfully observant. The other day I was taking Hazel into a store, and I was letting her walk until we got to the front entrance. The side of the building was made of rough cement blocks, and she just stopped dead in her tracks when she got close to them. Hazel did her "Ohhhh!" expression and walked up to the rough wall with hands outstretched, and she then proceeded to study and "pet" the side of the wall for a good 5 minutes. It was hilarious. There was a lady in her vehicle that was just about to leave the parking lot when Hazel started her wall study, and the lady got such a kick out of watching Hazel that she stayed in her parking spot just to watch what my curious little kiddo would do next. It's so delightful to see little kids find so much wonder in the things we consider completely ordinary.

Here's Hazel again, frozen to the spot until the airplane made its way clear across the sky and out of sight. Maybe she inherited some of her daddy's pilot genes...

Then she was off to go explore another part of the yard.

I forgot to mention that the green and blue fabric is some that I've had on hand for a few years now - it's one of Amy Butler's early lines called Charm. I have always loved this fabric - there is so much incredible detail in it when you can look at it closely - it fascinates me. I originally bought it to make a fun skirt for myself, but that never happened and so it's good to see it made into something darling for my girls. Hooray for Amy Butler!

Here's our crazy crew first thing on Sunday morning...notice Hazel already has a big chunk of chocolate in her hand. She made a beeline for that foil-wrapped bunny and had that thing unwrapped and in her mouth before I could get the lens cap off and the exposure worked out. That kid LOVES candy!

Here she is stuffing it into her mouth as quickly as she can, because she thinks that we'll probably be taking it away from her soon. I actually let her eat away until I could finish taking some pictures - it was the only way to get her to hold still on that couch until picture time was over!

"What, you mean I get to eat the WHOLE THING?!"

And finally, we have Hyrum demonstrating his amazing face-making skills as the girls look on with rapt attention. Watch out, Hyrum, or your face will be stuck like that forever!! (How many times have we all heard that in our lives, right? As if any kid actually believes it....)

I have more to post, but it will have to wait until tomorrow - it's getting very very late again. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday and that you were able to reflect on the real meaning behind this blessed holiday, beyond the bunnies and the candy-filled eggs.

Oh - I keep on forgetting to thank all of you wonderful ladies out there for your incredibly kind comments and/or great advice about my breakfast table/chairs! I love hearing what you have to say, and thanks so much for taking the time to comment! It makes my day. About the red chairs...I think I'll just sit on them for awhile (ha-ha, pun intended) until I have time to paint them black with some of the red peeking through. They're fun as red chairs, but I think that they'll be better in black - especially considering that I'm planning on making roman blinds for the windows behind the table in the same red and white Amsterdam print that I used on the black accent chairs in my front room. Many thanks for all your help with that, sometimes it's good just to have a sounding board.

And Sarah, if you name your little Easter vignette "Ode to Shelley", I'll dedicate my efforts to get back into shape (so far just a plan in my head, unfortunately) "Ode to Sarah". You are such an inspiration to me, what with having 5 children and still looking as trim as you did in college. You have more fitness dedication in your pinky than I seem to have in my whole being these past few years. So can you just periodically email me to nag me into taking the time to exercise? I need a big, huge push out that front door these days. I no longer have super freezing weather as my excuse - and I'd better hurry before the muggy, sluggish days of summer appear! But right now I just need to get to bed. G'night, all!

Comments

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Oh, what a great idea to make such a cute doo-da to the dress!
Really love it!

Posted by: celia | April 14, 2009 at 06:12 AM

The dresses are gorgeous, I love the gathering on Hazel's... have plans to try that on a summery top for my daughter but we are in Maine and summer is way off so I feel like I have some time. I still don't know when you manage to get any sleep!!

Posted by: Morgen | April 14, 2009 at 07:45 PM