Thursday, May 28, 2015

Easter {2015}

This time of year seems to be when life gets crazy and I get behind on catching this blog up...so I guess there's nothing new there.  At least I'm blogging about Easter before the end of the summer this year! ;)


Let me also just start this off with a warning.  Right before Easter this year I finally purchased a new camera {something I've been wanting to do for a LONG time!}, and this was the first time I really used it, aside from following my kid and pets around the house.  All that to say - I took a lot of pictures. :)  I am trying not to post aaalllllll of them, but still.  There are a lot. Sorry. (not really!)

Anyway, Easter!  Lilly is at such a fun age right now, holidays are just too much fun.  Easter was no different.  She had the time of her life, and we loved every minute of watching her!

We started off Easter morning at home with her Easter basket.  I may have gotten a little excited when shopping for Easter basket goodies.  No Easter grass needed in this basket!  I filled it with a few books, 2 pairs of shorts, a bathtub duck toy, bubbles, an easter egg shaped cup, some crackers, 2 pairs of flip flops, and probably other things I'm forgetting. There were also a couple things that I had to leave out because I ran out of room. Yes, I may have gone overboard.  I seem to have an irrational fear of not having enough things to fill the Easter basket...




After digging through all the goodies in her basket, we had a small egg hunt for Lilly in the living room.  She did a great job of finding eggs, and got so excited at each one. I attempted to take a video on the new camera (HD video! woohoo!) but I had no idea what I was doing and didn't realize that my photo settings also carried over to the video.  So I got a mostly blurry video.  But hey, it's something! 

Once Lilly found all her eggs, she went through and opened them with Daddy (and Daisy felt the need to help too apparently)


My newest tradition is holiday pancakes.  I always want to make some sort of fun breakfast for holiday mornings, and then never have time and we end up eating cinnamon rolls from a can.  So I've decided pancakes is easy and quick enough but can still be a fun tradition, so that's what I'm going with.  I even made Easter bunny pancakes...sort of. 


 We did the obligatory back yard photoshoot as well, once she was changed into her Easter dress. (side note: I think I purchased 3...maybe 4, potential Easter dresses this year.  All came from consignment sales and were less than $10, but clearly I was having a hard time making a decision.  Not sure when she's going to wear the other dresses that didn't make the cut, but oh well.   I finally settled on this one, which I think looked super cute on her!)


This kid has become such a ham.  She seriously has the most expressions and they are so funny.  Easter egg hunting was quite the production, and that's part of the reason I have so many photos - she was just making some of the funniest expressions!  Case in point:


After the fun at home, we headed to Grandma & Grandpa's for brunch. Lilly opened 2 more Easter baskets, one from Grandma & Grandpa, and one from Great Grandma.




She also clocked some quality time with Great Grandma, which just warmed my heart.  They were so cute together!




After all of that fun, we headed back home to get ready for the other side of the family to come over and continue the celebration.  Lilly took a short nap, and I got a few things cooking in the kitchen.  Once everyone arrived, Lilly and her cousin Lexi opened their Easter baskets (so. many. baskets. this year)



And then it was time for the big egg hunt.  We hid a ton of eggs for both girls all around our backyard, and I got such a kick out of watching Lilly hunt.  Like I mentioned: ham.  This girl just cracks me up!






(maybe it runs in the family...)








I told you.  The excitement was endless.  And I could have included probably twice that many pictures!  Love my animated girl. :)

The girls came inside and opened up all of their treasures - and our collection of little crap multiplied by about a million I think.  Between 5 Easter baskets and 2 egg hunts, we have more than our share of little toys and trinkets around here!


Before they insisted on changing out of their Easter dresses, we got the girls to sit down for a couple pictures.  Things started off very classy...


And then they got cute.  Super cute.


After the cousin bonding time, we ate a delicious meal, and all sat around watching the girls run around together the rest of the evening.  I'm telling you, kids are the best source of free entertainment around. :)



And...that's a wrap, folks! We had a wonderful Easter this year, and I had even more fun playing with my new camera.  I pretty much haven't put it down since, so be warned that there are plenty more picture-filled posts on the horizon. :)


Wednesday, May 27, 2015

{365 project} ~ April

Just a little late posting this, but better late than never...right??  April flew by in the blink of an eye.  But we are happy for the start of Spring and (somewhat) nicer weather around here!

Highlights from April:
~celebrating Uncle Zach's birthday (and Uncle Zach just happens to be one of Lilly's favorite people these days)
~Easter celebrations
~lots of outside play time with warmer weather
~a date night and a concert for us
~2 1/2 year checkup for Lilly