Just Eggcellent: Baby's First Easter

If the girl could talk I know she'd be shouting from the rooftops:
"HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!"

Hallie checked another first off of her list this weekend. Easter weekend was just as it should be...peaceful and full of God, family and fun. Of course my first order of business was to start traditions...it's become like a hobby to me. Thankfully my little family was nice enough to put up with me this weekend!



Riley spent Saturday working at his second home (the hospital) and putting in some time on his Mustang. Hallie and I entertained ourselves with running, shopping and some mommy/daughter time at the park....

Her form of running

Hallie made plenty of friends at the park including this new little puppy...

"Hey there little buddy"

The rest of the afternoon was spent baking a pineapple cake for Easter dinner. Hallie was a big help by grabbing everything from the counter and dragging it to the floor...as long as it wasn't the bag of powdered sugar we were good to go. I steered clear of letting her gnaw on a stick of butter that she has her sights set on and instead plopped her down on the floor for some exploration. Oh and explore she did! She was free to roam because the floor was freshly mopped and the dog bowl was empty. So what could she possibly find to make a mess with???

After the messes were cleaned up, the cake was done and Hallie had snoozed for awhile we headed over for egg coloring and an egg hunt at Nanny and Papa's house. I wasn't sure how this would go over but I wanted to give her a chance to try. Try is a good word for it. Although Easter egg hunting isn't her expertise at this age she had a great time with Papa and Aunt Kylie.....

We spread a few plastic eggs around on the carpet since it was too chilly outdoors and she's not a fan of the grass on her legs. Sissy girl, I know. She chased down a few eggs and quickly got bored and chewed on the ones she had already claimed....

Next up was coloring eggs. Hallie watched as Aunt Kylie and I had all the fun....

"Let me go dad, I can stay clean"

"So when do I get to play with those cups of water?"

Pretty soon we had some real eggs for Hallie to play with. When I first laid the egg in her hand she acted offended by the weight of it and dropped it on the floor. I think she soon realized she was being a drama queen and decided to give them a chance....

"They are edible right?"

"I thought so"

It wasn't long after she ate the eggs that she was then laying eggs of her own.... 

After the excitment of the eggs wore off she practiced her walking skills for everyone with a little help and took advantage of the free Golden Retreiver rides....

"Giddy-up"

We went to bed with lots of anticipation of the holiday upon us...okay maybe just me, but I knew she'd be excited in the morning when she saw her Easter basket. :)

Easter Sunday!

Let's start with the most important part of any great Easter celebration...Easter service. We gave it a good go and let our girl stay in the service as long as she could last. It started out promising being that it was her very first time to sit in church instead of the nursery. There was always the scream room (as I like to call it) but we gave her the benefit of the doubt. She was pretty harmless and entertained the kiddos around her as she got warmed up for the big moment....

Excited for big girl church

"I'll save the seats on this end dad"

"Excuse me? I can't scream for sixty whole minutes!?"

But it turns out that church is no fun if you can't crawl on the pews and chew on the wood, so off to the nursery we went. Nanny arrived just in time to swoop her up in her arms and get a bit of Hallie time as she carted her Easter baby off to the nursery. What a wonderful service we had!

I can't forget to share how our morning started out. I went in to pluck our babe from her bed and found her standing up and flashing me her big morning smile. We greeted her with a "HAPPY EASTER" and quickly brought her into the living room to open up her Easter basket. It took her a couple minutes to really wake up and see what was in front of her....

"It's soooo early"

Before she ripped into her basket Dad remembered to give her an extra special gift from Aunt Heather. Her very first $2 bill....

"I'll take that!"

We helped her open her basket piece by piece and loved watching her reaction to each new surprise...

"No way! I have been wanting these!"

And we couldn't forget our very first child...Miss Emmi Lane....

"So this is what I've been sniffing all week?!"

The Easter basket fun continued until Emmi had a bone in her mouth and Hallie had uncovered all of her Easter treats....

"Are we spoiled or what, Emmi?!"

After church we hurried to Enid for lunch at Uncle David and Aunt Lisa's house. We were joined by Lisa's brother Lonnie and sister-in-law Cristen and their little girl Cayden. My dad and sister were there of course and it can't be a holiday without cousin Dara to round out the crew. Hallie had several more goodies waiting on her when she arrived. The girl was definitely spoiled by our family on her very first Easter. She opened a snack-packed basket from Lisa, David and Dara....

"This looks like it will fit me now"

"See"

Gman and Bailey fixed up an adorable basket complete with a huge furry bunny who had layed a few eggs in the basket down below. We thought it was a lot more fun to put Hallie in the basket though...

Cayden hunted down some loot-filled eggs and Hallie "helped" as she emptied the eggs and counted her earnings....

"Empty. Awww schucks!"

Enid had drizzly and very cloudy weather and I think she was almost as bummed as her momma was about the crummy conditions outdoors. I was having visions of a nice, sunny afternoon with my babe on a big blanket in the grass hunting down eggs....

I guess she was too....

"Can't we hunt the eggs outside?"

After lunch she was Eastered out and fought sleep for a solid hour until Gman performed some sort of magic and she fell asleep in his arms with bunny for some snuggling time. I don't think Gman minded one bit when I told him he was stuck in that chair until she woke up from her much-needed nap....

Oh my, the cuteness is too much

"Oh Gman, all of this celebrating has me wiped out"

We spent the afternoon joking around, Skyping with cousin Garrett and just relaxing. When I told Hallie it was time to go she just didn't seem ready....

"Ah, come on mom?!"

We left town and headed out to the cemetery to say "Happy Easter" to a very special lady. Turns out I wasn't quite ready for the feelings that would be drudged up as we pulled in on this gloomy day. Not that I hadn't been out there numerous other times, but today seemed different. Today marked two months since the day we said goodbye and our first holiday without her. Her presence was definitely missed today...especially her laugh! I was encouraged by Sunday school this morning though...I love being reminded that we will meet again someday...soon and very soon! Until then I will love this little girl enough for the both of us....

love.

 HAPPY EASTER BABY GIRL! YOU MAKE EVERY HOLIDAY A LOT MORE FUN!