Easter 2011

The Saturday before Easter I decided to take Caroline to the zoo for an Easter Egg Hunt. Daddy thought he had drum practice so it was just the two of us out and about on a gorgeous spring day. When I first pulled out this dress to put it on her (first time ever worn) I said "Do you want to wear this pretty dress with Pooh and flowers?" She said with wide eyes "Yeah! Sure!" She likes to show off whatever she's wearing or about to wear to whichever parent is not dressing her (actually, she's taken to a dramatic, slow prance out of the bedroom to show off her style. Pretty hilarious.) When she showed the dress to Kev she said "Look! It's Pooh in a field of flowers!" No idea where she even heard the phrase "field of flowers" before... ah the mysteries... Anyhow... LOTS of other people had the same idea as us and we sat in traffic for a LONG time and missed the first 2 year old egg hunt. So we had lots of time to wander the zoo. While wandering we ran into some friends of friends and had some company for awhile. In the first pic here C is with that friend of a friend. Others were taken during or after the egg hunt. There was also a bounce house/slide set up which thrilled C... until she got in... and discovered the pain of hot plastic under bare feet. She went back in in socks a bit later, but that was the first meltdown in an entertainment venue resulting in removal from said venue that we've experienced. I remember once screaming in a haunted house at the state fair until someone came to take me out. It reminded me of that moment.





The next morning C opened a bag of goodies from Mamie and an Easter basket from us. In the Easter basket was a large egg with a small stuffed bunny, a lightning mcqueen toy cell phone, several jelly beans and small malted chocolate eggs, and a reeses peanut butter egg. There were also many small eggs each with a few jelly beans and one chocolate egg each. Our hope was that she would enjoy the contents of the large egg on Easter and then one small egg a day until they are gone. I wasn't at all sure that such self-restraint would be possible for her. But... we figured it was worth a try. And guess what? She is GREAT with it. She didn't consume all the contents of the large egg on Easter and the next day she took several small eggs and placed them back in the basket each time saying "This is for later..." One egg even split open and spilled and she restored its contents, put it away saying "This is for later..." She even put the clear ziplock bag with jelly beans (from Mamie's bag of goodies) away saying "This is for later..." She then pulled out the large egg and finished the half reese's peanut butter egg and other candy she hadn't finished the day before. And left the rest for later. And she has been GREAT about just having one egg a day ever since. Last week she got home from school and I was in my office, where her Easter Basket is stored, she came through the front door saying "My egg! My egg! My egg!" And came into the office with Kev, retrieved the basket, and chose her egg for the day... and never noticed I was in there... (Oh, and she LOVES her new cell phone... it makes sounds like it is taking pictures and she has been making us say "Cheese!" a lot!)





And lest it seem like we forgot and suggested Easter is just about eggs and baskets, we did attend two church services on Easter (and services Thursday and Friday as well!) And here she is just before church... hat and purse courtesy of good friend Ella! The bunny was in her Easter basket and the little notebook she's carrying was in her basket as well.






Easter evening we went to Brad, Heather, Ella, and Alistair's house, joining several of their other friends, for a lovely meal in their backyard. The kids had a blast together. Here's Caroline with a little boy who is very close in age to her.