Easter Weekend: Sunday

On Sunday the Smith side of the family came over to enjoy Easter dinner and desert. Of course we had to dress up Anabelle, take lots of pictures, spoil her rotten with toys and candy, and eat a huge meal! Aunt Steph and Uncle Mike got Anabelle this cute dress last year and we have been saving it for her Easter dress since then. Of course she looked adorable in all her ruffles and lace, just like a little Southern Belle. My favorite part was the ruffled socks and white shoes!

Desert: Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Our buffet filled with goodies.

John's basket with his favorites- Peeps and Peanut M&M's

Anabelle's basket-Toys for her water table.

Opening her basket from Aunt Steph and Uncle Mike- so many fun things!

Aunt Marena and Uncle Adam sent this basket filled with art supplies-LOVE IT!

Hmmm... maybe we need to do more art around here so that my child doesn't think a paint brush is a hair brush?!

Grandpa & Grandma got Belle a cute Bunny Hello Kitty

Uncle Mike & Aunt Steph

Grandpa & Grandma

Spending some time with her new friends.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter too!

Easter Weekend: Saturday

After a late night Friday John and I were up bright and early Saturday morning to drive to Naperville to go to the Easter Egg Hunt. Naperville hosts a free hunt every year at the sports complex. It is a huge event with lots of kids. The city hides plastic eggs filled with candy (and by "hide" I mean lays out tons of eggs in plain sight on a flat field) I was surprised by how many people show up. They have separate fields set up for each age range, which is really great because I was a little concerned about Anabelle getting trampled by an 8 year old in a big hurry to get some candy. My parents met us at the Egg Hunt with Anabelle since they had babysat her the night before. We all arrived with just enough time to park, snap a few pictures, see the Easter Bunny, and then head over to the one - two year old field.

Anabelle wore a dress, coat, and bonnet that I wore as a baby.

She was not as enthralled with this Easter Bunny, I think she was already trying to get her game face on for the hunt, and was going over strategies for getting the most chocolate.

Notice the "hidden eggs" in the field behind me.

It was really fun to look around at all the kids with their parents trying to help them find eggs.

Naperville doesn't skimp, Anabelle got a Reeces Peanut Butter Egg-Yum!

Time to head home.

Once home it was time for a long nap for Anabelle and for me to get ready for dinner. John's family was joining us on Saturday for dinner, cake and some visiting.

Here is the table all set for dinner.

I made my first bunny shaped cake, spice cake with cream cheese frosting.

John's family brought the eggs, a perfect addition to each table setting.

Anabelle couldn't wait to get into her candy, just like her Daddy she loves Peeps!

It was so beautiful outside, we had to break out the croquet.

Anabelle is ready to play!

I tried out the timer function on my camera to get a nice family photo, love this!

A couple of weeks ago I found this cozy coupe car at a garage sale. I had been wanting to get Anabelle one for quite a while but they run about $40 at the store and so I thought I would wait and see if I could find one cheaper. When I saw this at a garage sale and asked the price the lady said $5! I couldn't believe that, either she was really nice, or didn't know that she could get a lot more for it. Never one to not try for more of a bargain I asked if she would take $3, and she said yes!! Best garage sale deal EVER!!!

Anabelle loves her new car, BEEP BEEP!

Start to finish it was a really great day!

Easter Weekend: Friday (Happy Birthday Joe!)

It seems we just don't know how to slow down around here, so why should Easter weekend be any different? I have so many pictures that I have to break it down by day, so here is day 1. We kicked off the weekend by leaving Anabelle with Grandma and Grandpa so that we could head in to the city to attend John's bro's birthday extravaganza! Before the party we had dinner at Catch 35. John had been given a gift certificate to the restaurant otherwise we probably would not have chosen it. I don't eat any fish, or anything else that comes from the ocean, thankfully they also about 3 other things on their menu and steak was one of them-Yum! So John was able to eat fish and I was able to have steak. It was a nice dinner, but not so fantastic that we would recommend it to anyone else for the price, fortunately we didn't have to pay that much. After dinner we headed over to the birthday festivities, where we continued to partake in some beverages, and sing karaoke.

Outside the restaurant, a layer of fog was rolling in over the city.

3 brothers; Joe, John, Zac

Wait, I need to get in the picture too!

John isn't shy when in comes to singing, he belted out quite a few songs, and did a pretty good job.

I have never been a fan of singing karaoke, although I do like to watch it. Well, apparently if you get enough drinks in me, I will sing a terrible rendition of "Boogie shoes".

This photo is horribly embarrassing, but I am willing to sacrifice my pride for your enjoyment, because it is pretty funny.

Joe helps me out

After karaoke we headed over to another friends birthday bash, Mr. Ekwinski. There is a big difference between a birthday party for a 26 year old and a 32 year old. It was definitely more low-key. We still had a great time catching up with friends that we don't see often enough. Our friends Phil and Liz were kind enough to let us crash at their place. It was a fun night, but after many drinks and staying up till 3am I am reminded that while I might be able to party like I used to, I really shouldn't. It took me quite a few days to catch up on my sleep.

We did have a lot of fun!

The Easter Bunny

Last year I took Anabelle to visit the Easter Bunny while we were on vacation in Texas, at just 6 months old she didn't have much of an opinion about "the Bunny". Although this picture doesn't show it -she mostly just sat on his lap and smiled up at him.

This year we have been talking about the Easter Bunny for a while now, and we even visited him a few weeks ago, although we didn't take any pictures, just to get a little more comfortable with him. I have seen lots of scenarios where children are crying when placed on the laps of the Easter Bunny or Santa, and since Anabelle is at the age where that sort of thing can happen, I thought a preliminary visit might help. Well this only made her love for the Easter Bunny that much greater!

Last Saturday Anabelle took a trip to the mall by our house to make her official visit to the Easter Bunny. We were lucky enough to get there early and have only 1 other child in line in front of us. During our short wait Anabelle was pulling and yanking on my hand to get to the Bunny. She was definitely excited! Once it was our turn she happily sat on his lap and just looked adoringly at him, looking up and smiling whenever we called her name to snap a picture. She did great! We had several good photos to choose from. Once it was time to go she didn't want to leave and we had some tears getting her away from the Easter Bunny! So sad! We were able to distract her pretty quickly and ended our visit on a good note.

It was a fun trip and I hope all of our visits to furry friends go that well!

I put this picture in our Easter frame and Anabelle picks it up daily- pointing to the Easter Bunny and attempting to say "bunny".

The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size. ~Gertrude S. Wister