Easter 2009

Easter '09...I know it was a week and a half ago, but I'm still trying to get caught up on posts! We had a great Easter this year. We had a potluck meal at church after the morning service, and I signed up to bring a dessert. I was planning on just making a boring cake of some sort when I received an email from Parents.com. Included in the email was a link to "Easter desserts," so I thought, let's just see what they suggest. I found an easy-sounding, cute Easter basket cake. Now, I'm not all that creative, but I thought, I can do this! And I did! Here's my version of the cake...

Ingredients

• 1 box (18.25 ounces) cake mix
• 1 can (16 ounces) vanilla frosting(I used cream cheese icing)
  
• Pink icing color(I used blue food coloring)
  
• 1-1/2 cups sweetened coconut
• Lavender Marshmallow Peeps(or whatever color you want to use)
  
• Malted-milk eggs
• Jelly beans

Directions

1. Prepare cake mix according to package directions for making two 8-inch round cakes. Transfer pans to wire rack; let cool 5 minutes. Invert cakes onto wire rack and cool completely.

2. Using a serrated knife, cut a 6-inch circular indentation in top layer, about 3/4-inch deep. Frost entire cake, stacking layers, with vanilla frosting. Use a large serving fork to create a basket-weave design in frosting on side of cake.(I used "whipped icing", so it was too soft to create the basket-weave design...oh well!)

3. In a small bowl, dilute pink icing color with 2 tablespoons water. Stir in coconut to tint, and spread on a baking sheet to dry slightly. Fill indentation in top of cake with tinted coconut. Nestle Marshmallow Peeps in pink "grass" and add malted-milk eggs and jelly beans. For handle, cover a wooden basket handle with two strips of green felt and insert into cake.(I didn't put a handle on it, as you can tell, but I think it still turned out cute)

After church Daniel and I came home and had a mini photo shoot. I just wanted an Easter picture of us, but he decided we should take several. So, enjoy! :)

Can't wait until next Easter when Riley will be out in the world with us! :)

We HAD to get one by the beloved truck!

I'm liking the angle of this one...all Daniel's idea

Love him!

I'll close this post with a Riley update. He is doing very well! We went to a regular appointment this past Monday and his heartbeat sounded great and I'm right on target with my stomach growth. We'll go back again on May 11 and then after that we'll start going every 2 weeks rather than every 4. I'm still amazed that yesterday I made 26 weeks! Just 14 more (or maybe less!) until we get to meet our sweet boy face-to-face. I can tell you one thing...he is an active little man! The past few days, especially, I have been feeling him kick so much! I love it! I'll leave you with a pic of me at 25 weeks in a very cute shirt that my brother and sister-in-law gave me for my birthday. :)