Last Easter Post and the Evolution of the Ornery One

I had everything set up perfectly. Hidden just well enough that she'd have to look, but would be able to find it easily. And the baby, oh the baby. I've been so excited to give Nora this baby for weeks. She adores playing with the babies in nursery and I knew right away that would be the perfect Easter gift.

So we went into her room and woke her up early from her nap so we'd have time to celebrate as a family before heading to Grandmas......

Not a great idea. This girl needs her rest, and prodding and pushing her to a hidden basket just set her off. Nora's upset, Mommy's crushed. It's just not a great scenario.

We end up going and pulling the basket out to calm her from her catastrophic meltdown.

Alright, this stuff is pretty cool, maybe I'll stop crying.

 

Mmmmm, treats. Treats will definitely help me stop crying. It's not like I haven't eaten my weight in treats over the weekend.

Books, I love books, almost as much as I love treats. But not quite.

What's in here? Any more treats in here?

And mom scores! She finally realizes the baby and pretty much hasn't put it down since.

Isn't it so funny how it seems like little girls are born with the innate ability to mother? She'll hold her baby, and say "Baby, here's your baba" "Wanna drink baby?" "Here's kinky (binki) baby"

As long as she doesn't carry her real baby by the foot upside down, I think she'll make an amazing Mommy one day.

Easily my favorite picture.....

from Easter weekend.

I adore this little girl's smile and laugh.

After the city egg hunt she fugured out that eggs usually hold treats! She was so excited to find lots of eggs laying in the grass at Grandma's house.

So excited that she didn't even mind eating the spilled ones out of the grass.

Do you ever look at a picture of yourself and wonder when you started looking so run down? Ugh.

I think Nora ate more candy Easter weekend than she has in her whole life combined.

We're still recovering from the sugar high.

Everything's more fun.....

I remember before I had Nora the thought of going to a city egg hunt or anything similar was nauseating. I mean, the massive amounts of people, the millions of snotty nosed kids shoving to get some lame toy or treat. I'm kidding...kind of.

 

 I knew there had to be something special about them or why would so many people brave their way through the crowds?

I figured it out. 

It's nothing to do with the event itself. I could buy Nora a bag of treats and let her eat them all by herself without having to fight a 3 year old for it. I could take her to the dollar store and let her choose 10 things that she'll probably play with for longer than that stuffed frog she found. No, none of those things are what makes the event worth going to.

It's the look on my sweet daughter's face when she sees that plastic egg laying in the grass. It's the humor I find in her when she picks up an egg with one hand, a treat with the other, and realizes with anxiety that she doesn't have any more hands. It's how cute she is when I tell her to put her items in the basket so she can pick up more, and instead she attempts to grab something I've already put in there.

All these things bring me such joy that I would do them every day. Having a kid brings out the kid in you. It makes every holiday, every event, so much more exciting. It makes you remember why, as a kid, you anticipated all these things for so long. 

Her excitement makes me giddy.

And, how awesome is this homey g hat we scored? We ended up giving it to cousin Logan, but I couldn't resist a picture.

eggcellent.

Coloring eggs with Darin's family is always fun. It's a contest to see who can come up with the most creative and funniest eggs.

And then when we're done we search (and I mean search) for all the eggs around the house. We've done this since before any of us had kids. I mean, who doesn't love an egg hunt, young or old?

Evil bunny, nice bunny.

Even Adolf Hitler made an appearance.

But no doubt that the kids are always the stars of the show.

Roll around much?

She finally has enough hair that it can be messy after a night's sleep.

Really messy.

I've never seen this girl's hair have so much volume.

There's no way she could be any sweeter.