Easter Joy

"Easter Joy" seems the very best way to sum up the very best weekend!

Here's hoping everyone had a joyous Easter weekend also!

For our family's celebration this year, my parents and brother and his family traveled to spend the weekend here. You wanna know what that means? Lots of eating, fun and spoiling! Maybe not so much eating on the kids behalf, unless you count candy necklaces for lunch and jellybeans for dinner. With this in mind, Colin and Elaina couldn't have asked for a better weekend! The good and the bad of the weekend was that we were able to help my sister-in-law, Kate celebrate her birthday with cake and ice cream. Unfortunately, the bad part was that Eric's parents weren't able to join us for the weekend as we had hoped.

Since my parents arrived Friday night, we were able to enjoy somewhat of a normal routine before a whirlwind of activity overtook our house on Saturday when what is to become known as the "Toddler Tornado" touched down at our house. I'm only exaggerating a lot. Elaina and Colin were as thick as thieves this weekend. They were so good and played so well together as if they see each other everyday. In all actuality, we only really get together about once every 4 months or so. (We need to work on that! *smile* ). When Colin arrived at Elaina's house on Saturday afternoon, Elaina showed little hesitation in greeting him with a hug and soon after, led him by his arm to show him her toys. The rest of us stood in the kitchen melting by how sweet they were to take to one another so quickly. Unbelievably, no one had a camera handy at that precise moment. We learned our lesson and had the flashbulbs ready from then on. (You'll see what I mean soon enough!)

The best and only way to even give you a slight hint of the fun we had is through narrating some of my favorite pictures! (of course!)
(captions below each photo)

After much chasing and romping about the house, the little Munchkins took it upon themselves to cozy up to one another long enough to catch the end of their favorite show, Go Diego!Go! and provide the rest of us a sweetly, excellent blackmail picture for they get older! What do you think of our new living room furniture? Should we keep it here? Or maybe turn it to the face the other way? Hah! I would have never believed that one day we would have an 8x8 foot bounce house in our living room! Enter: Greg and Kate to provide just what we needed to fill that empty corner! Since becoming a mommy, these are the types of gifts that Aunt Kate buys for herself for her birthday to see so much joy and exhaustion overtake her little boy! I believe that she once made reference to it as " a good-night's-sleep-in-a-bag!" The kids loved it! Isn't this slightly ridiculous? Guilty. And how many kids are going to wake up at my house in the morning? 47? Um, no. The answer is 2. Two spoiled-rotten-but-so-much-worth-it-kiddos. It looks like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are in cahoots to fill our homes with toys and rot our children's teeth. Lovely. (Inset: Aunt Kate following the Easter Bunny's instructions to make all of this loot fit into two little baskets. That Easter Bunny must have some kind of magic!)
Colin and Elaina did a great job of finding all of the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid around the house. That bunny was good to both of them! They woke to find that there were Easter baskets awaiting them just outside their bedroom doors and that the bunny had hidden Goldfish crackers in about 3 dozen brightly colored eggs. Let's not forget to mention the fact that Elaina's Grandma and Grandpa W. had mailed out some fun Easter goodies and bunny purse for her basket and Elaina's babysitter jammed loads of goodies and a sweet outfit into yet another basket for her. I think that she got only two baskets this year compared to the three she received last year. Poor thing.
With a little help from Grandma, Elaina was able to reach clear to the top of the clock for her favorite colored egg. Orange. ( Everything is "orr-anj.")"How did that bunny know that my Daddy can't wait to take me hunting in the woods? Now I have my own pink, camouflage hat! It goes nicely paired it with my bunny necklace! I really am a girly-girl!"
Colin's trying on bunny ears for size while Elaina is trying to blow bubbles from the best bubble-blowing cup and wand ever made. It fits little hands perfectly and it never leaks a drop when tipped upside down and the soap doesn't stain, or discolor fabric! Available only in EasterBunnyLand. After all of our company left, we still had plans to go to Cleveland to attend calling hours for a very dear family to us. That would explain our 3 outfit change of the day. When we arrived home, much later in the evening, Elaina still had presents she had to open from the Easter bunny. He must know that Elaina is almost ready to begin potty training. He brought her a Sesame Street potty seat! Finally..... me and my girl! Could I possibly love her any more?