may_lyn mentioned I hadn't posted pictures lately, so here's a bunch of them: Laurel swimming after losing her first tooth, the messages she wrote on Easter eggs, a quick icing job I did on a cake, and a couple of photos from last week's first grade field trip to the Dallas Zoo. (We're going to the zoo again in a few weeks with my Cub Scout den, so I'll get better pictures then. And ride the carousel, since Laurel can't wait to ride the one there.)



Laurel swimming in the hot tub and showing off her first baby tooth lost, 20 February.


Laurel's message Easter eggs. They read, left to right: (back row) Happy Easter, I ♥ Bunnies, I am a cool cool cat; (front row) [bunnies] ♥ [Laurel], Meow, Bunnies are cute. Not pictured is one that read "Eat me Mom".


My quick n' dirty Arrow of Light icing job -- the tan was hand-tinted buttercream, the blue was premixed icing with a plastic leaf tip, the red was premixed icing through a large star tip, and the yellow was hand-tinted buttercream through a small star tip. I am lazy when it comes to free work.


Laurel and a friend sitting on a tortoise statue outside the Bird & Reptile Building at the Dallas Zoo, 25 April.


Laurel petting a guinea fowl in Travis & Zach's Bird Landing at the Dallas Zoo, 25 April. (The sun conure that repeatedly dived at my head trying to get a reaction out of me came out a blur in every photo I took until it kindly sat on a perch a few feet away and we made faces at each other. It later happily perched on a visitor's straw hat and appeared delighted with all the attention it got for that.)


The small koi in our freshwater tank seem to enjoy blowing bubbles at the top of the tank, so it was amusing that the large ones (3'/1m long) at the zoo did as well on a much larger scale.