Easter..Eggs..Hunts...Oh My!

The meaning of Easter from Addie's point of view: "It was time for Jesus to go home". Well put Addie.

Easter Weekend was a FULL weekend. We went to two Easter Egg Hunts on Saturday and then of course Sunday we celebrated Easter with family. The first hunt was a little early in the morning and it was still a little chilly. We went around 10am to my church. They had a ton of eggs and lots of prizes and then a cookout afterwards!

Addie once again was star struck by the Easter Bunny and had to have a picture with him!

They had so many eggs that each child probably had 20 or 25.

After our bellies were full we headed to the second Easter Egg Hunt where we had a fabulous snack of popcorn! Mmmm...I love popcorn from those machines..it is like movie theatre popcorn! We each ate a bag!

By now....Addie was a pro at hunting for eggs...of course when they are spread on top of grass in an open field....one could probably be a pro the first time around! HA! Nonetheless...Addie loved it!

Addie had a gold ticket in one of her eggs and was soo exited to pick out a special prize! In the picture above she is holding her "gumby" style bunny rabbit!

We met up with Addie's sister Sadie (pic below) and got a cute grin from both the girls!

Easter Sunday we woke up to find little bunny paw prints scattered around the downstairs....Addie knew if she followed the footsteps a nice surprise would be waiting for her!

I have read so many blogs about other people's Easter.....and so many of them seem so proud because "this year they decided to go with an Easter basket that did not have any candy in it". I have no idea who they are trying to impress...but seriously people..no candy in the Easter baskets? Either 1. they are not telling the truth....or 2..they ARE telling the truth and their children are still wondering around to this day looking for the candy that the Easter Bunny must have brought and hid somewhere REALLY good. No...I don't give my child candy all the time but yes..she gets candy and it is not "just on special occasions". "Gasp"..yes..it's true. Of course we don't eat it for breakfast...well not every day...but I feel that teaching Addie moderation is better than abstaining altogether. The parents that are trying to keep their kids from eating candy and junk food is like giving them a ticket to explode at the first sleepover they have at someone else's house...someone like me. Ha..parents beware..I will give your children sugary cereal and I am not afraid of....wait for it....."HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP"! "Gasp" again...... So...this long sugary rant leads to a picture of Addie's Easter Basket with CANDY! I realize the picture below does not do my rant justice but the candy was there..nonetheless! Mmmm! So good! We also had plastic Easter eggs hidden around her play room with candy in each of those too!

Once again I do not have any pictures of my family but they all came over (mom, dad, sister, brother in law) for Easter Sunday. We had a great meal and just hung out and enjoyed this beautiful weather. Addie ate more candy (sorry..last candy reference--i think my point has been made) and then we got ready for work and school the next day! It was a wonderful Easter Weekend!

Lesson Learned.....

Somehow three blog posts that I had...all disappeared...very mysterious and hopefully just a one time fluke...anyway...that is why I am just now getting my April posts out. I thought they were already posted....but have disappeared...in never never blogland...

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With that being said....trying to remember these weekends is not as quite clear as it once was but I do remember that this weekend in particular was gorgeous and the weather was perfect to be outside...all day long. We got the jumpy house out and had a great day!

Sime Sime and Tangled enjoyed the weather too!

When Addie and I dyed eggs this year she was very good at using the little dipper that is provided for you to dip the eggs in....and take the eggs out. Then we progressed to just using our hands to plop the eggs into the dye....

Then we progressed...or regressed might be a better word....to using our hands to get the eggs OUT of the dye as well. No harm done except Addie smelled like vinegar and had blue fingers for about a week.....

Are these not the UGLIEST Easter Eggs you have ever seen??!! Wow...lesson learned not to use a box of egg dye that was last year's dye...buy new.....every year. Oh well....it was still fun but wow...the Easter bunny didn't even hide these eggs when he came to our house this year...

Our first..of three egg hunts!

Addie and I went to the Governor's mansion for an Easter Egg Hunt. We found out about this last year and we were excited to be able to go again this year. Addie had a blast. They practically had to kick us out(not really) when it was over because it was such a beautiful day and we were having so much fun! We met up with Addie's good friend MacKenzie and her sister Krista and their mom, Amanda (who is 8 months pregnant and you can hardly tell)!

Addie LOVEs having her face painted so that was the first stop...after the Easter Egg Hunt! Here is my little bunny before.....

And After! Too cute!

Here is the whole crew before and after the face painting...I think they forgot to paint Mackenzie's smile back on......nap time anyone?

Addie gets star struck very easily...I mean...this IS the Easter Bunny we are talking about here......oh yeah..and the Governor of GA and his wife.....

Addie was a pro at the "egg roll"...or "pick your egg up and throw it as far as it will go" game....


In the picture below Addie is watching with amazement as they make her a balloon animal shaped like an Easter Bunny. I think she just looks so sweet in this picture.

Addie made sure to make the rounds ....She pretended like this was her backyard and honestly didn't understand why we could not get in the fountain....."No Addie...this is not like the water sprinkler in our backyard" After this wonderful day we went home...showered and went to a friend's house for dinner!

Can you tell Addie LOVES dogs...and is ready for another one! Whenever she says "maybe we can get another dog someday" I tell her whenever the mortgage is paid off....we can get another dog. Little did I know she was listening (kind of) and I heard her tell somebody the other day "We are getting a dog when we can pay for a house".....thanks Addie

Addie above with Dooley(GA bulldog fans) and below with Emma! They weigh about 3x what Addie weighs...no fear!

The Motley Crew! Not the best picture but you can tell they were thoroughly enjoying their macaroni and cheese...in fact that looks like the only thing they have on their plates! Great Weekend!

The Little Things

I have to admit..I am not a "news" person. I don't watch it and I don't read it. I like to live in my little bubble as I know it. Now don't think I am naive to things going on....I just don't need to know the everyday details per se. But...with all of the awful things going on in Africa right now....it is hard to not take a closer look at how LUCKY we are to be in America and have the freedom to live our lives the way we want. My life...I choose a bubble. People that live in a world where democracy does not exist have no choice but to live outside of a happy bubble.

Japan.....I am sure a lot of the people who have been touched by the earthquake and tsunami have changed what they value in their life today as opposed to March 11, 2011. This brings me to my title and point.....time to take a closer look at the little things I appreciate and love in my life. These things do not have a Prada tag on them or a price tag at all for that matter. These things I value and cherish most in my life are things that are mostly free. I think I cherish time most of all...that is the time I spend with my daughter, family and friends. I did a lot of this in March and I can't believe March is over.

We celebrated granddad's birthday with yummy cupcakes! Mmm!

We had craft time...which I LOVE and thank goodness Addie loves it too! Here is our latest Easter footprint craft on stretched canvas!

We had "Cowgirl" dress up time! My Uncle Tommy gave this outfit to my sister and me a long time ago. YaYa added the red cowgirl hat for Addie and ....Voila...you have the cutest cowgirl around!

The cowgirl hat came just in time for "Crazy Hat Monday" at Addie's school!(below picture) Addie LOVED wearing her cowgirl hat to school all day!

We had outside play time. Addie was on a roll bringing things outside from her playroom...I think she asked me "Momma...can I bring a stuffed animal outside to play". Is it just me or does "A stuffed animal" mean "one"........

Now Disney needs to get some hints for their next movie from Addie...Sebastian drinking out of a dog bowl from Littlest Pet Shop while Mrs. Pots from Beauty and the Beast serves tea...and don't forget Marie from Aristocats and Penny from 101 Dalmatians supervising in the background...I think we also ended up with a unicorn and some princess from a far off land in the mix too...

I enjoyed outside play time too....

While we were outside I was soo excited to see our tulips starting to bloom! Yay..spring is really here! Tulips are my absolute favorite flower..purple tulips!

We spent an afternoon with Grandmamma Lowry!

We took home a ton of her beautiful camellias for our house!

Grandmamma found some lilacs in her yard too!

Addie and I enjoyed the Leprechauns that came to our house and did some very mischievous things on St. Patrick's Day. They turned our milk green and our pasta green too.....

Addie and I were thoroughly surprised...and excited! Thank goodness it didn't affect the taste of Cheerios!

Addie enjoyed more dress up! We celebrated Aunt Winnie's birthday in March too but for some reason I only have pictures of Addie and Granddad at her birthday celebration...sorry Aunt Winnie!

We had more craft time.....Notice how neat my dining room table is when we are having craft time...the floor..even worse! Thank goodness for our Swiffer! I couldn't exactly tell you what we made here...but we started with paper towel rolls and a toilet paper roll....then of course some hand print wings....then just kind of did what we were feeling I guess! Love it!

I also ran the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston with 40,000 other people! The picture below is a picture of me after the 10K holding two waters, a banana and a bagel.....this was after I had already finished off a banana and some ice cream at the finish line!

The picture below was just something I thought was funny........Probably the Historic Charleston Foundation told the demolition team, or the termites, that the door had some history behind it and it had to stay.......

Last but not least we celebrated another birthday for Addie's good friend Mackenzie. You can always tell a party is a success if Addie falls asleep in the car about 1 minute after leaving....I can still see a tiny bit of my "baby' girl when she is asleep. What a March we had! The little things..camellias...outside play time....cowgirl hats.....hugs....smiles...and tiaras! I love them all!