Easter 2011

"Cheese!"

Jackson taught me how to check inside the eggs for special surprises ;)

Zoe and Jasmine egg hunting...

David tried to show Zoe a hidden egg that was way up high.

O000h! Lots of eggs!

Checking out the contents...

Is it a bug?

Smile! Happy Easter!!!

The Easter bunny brought pretty cool sunglasses...

Yummy! Papa and YiaYia got me a ladybug cookie in my Easter basket.

Since we were so exhausted from the party prep and celebrating, we skipped church this year. Zoe was lucky to have an Easter egg hunt with her buddies Jackson and Addison. We also invited Jasmine over to find eggs. It is too funny to see the kiddos at different ages and how they go about collecting. Jackson was a very clever little kiddo...he checked his eggs as he picked them up and only went after eggs that contained the bug finger puppets. The girls went about picking up whatever and then I think Addie and Zoe caught on to opening them like Jackson was. They each got an Easter basket from the Easter bunny too! We are so blessed to have good friends to celebrate good times with!!!

Ladybug Birthday Party

Homemade Ladybug Birthday Sign :)

Jumper :) (...the first of many, I'm sure!)

Jackson and Zoe

Addison and Zoe

Looking for bugs :)

Jasmine

Ladybug Goodybags

Kim (Zoe's Godmother) and I made this cake!!!

Fun in the Jumper

Cake Time

Jadyn and Ryder

All the Munchies

YiaYia, Zoe, and Grandma

What a big girl! She blew out her candles all by herself!!!

Cake is YUMMY this year!!!

Ryder, Zach, and Jadyn

Addison

Zoe had such a wonderful second birthday party! I was a bit nervous knowing that we were expecting about 60 people. We realize our backyard is great for entertaining. We just laid sod about 3 weeks ago and it was perfect for the party. It makes our backyard look really big and now Zoe can run around and play on it, plus we have the dirt spot where the jumper was to turn that in to Zoe's little park, including a swingset. And of course the big covered patio...

The whole party was centered around ladybugs...I made the banner, Kim and I made the ladybug cake (that turned out soooo CUTE!), there were ladybugs everywhere, including the goodie bags, Auntie Heather let us borrow tables and chairs with black linens, and some of the food even coordinated! Zoe was thrilled to have a jumper and now she tells us that her jumper went bye-bye. I guess that will have to be an assumption for every party to come :) Zoe blew out her candles all by herself this year and really enjoyed cake time, unlike last year. We had 15 kiddos at the party and they were all 5 and younger. They all had a good time and we had very little tears! What a success!

The whole weekend was so exhausting, but well worth it! One of the best parts is being able to visit with our friends from Blythe. We were able to take the kids to the park, ladies got their pedis, men golfed, we hung out a bit and we loved having their help too! Despite lil' Addie's split open chin (she was such a brave little girl and had it glued and taped by the doctor at the pediatric urgent care)...we had a great time! We also enjoyed a relaxing Easter morning together before the Bayles' headed for home.

A Favor...

This afternoon while I was cleaning up a bit, Zoe came up to me and said, "Mommy, will you do me a favor?" First of all, I was so shocked she said that and I said, "Sure, what is it baby girl?" I was thinking that she must have heard us say that and I didn't think that she would use it in the correct context. Mind you...I am busy and Zoe is just standing right next to me. She responded, "Will you get my cell phone for me?" Holy cow!!! I snickered at her of course then asked her where it was. She said very matter of factly, "In my toy basket." I thought that I would share this story, as I thought it was pretty classic.

Need We Say More?

Zoe is Two!!!

Zoe turned two today!!! She was so excited that it was her birthday. The joke is when she is asked how old she is, she smirks and says five and holds up five fingers. Later she will correct herself and will say two. This morning she woke us, as usual, and we went into her room to sing her Happy Birthday. It was too cute to see her perk up and jump up and down. I think she is really starting to like this birthday stuff. We really started emphasizing birthdays when Daddy had his birthday in January. I asked her this morning whose birthday it was and she said, "Ummmm...Grandma's?" I said, "No, she already had her turn." "Ummmm...Jasmine's?" I said, "No, hers is next month." I told her it was her turn today. She beamed from ear to ear. I told her we had something special for her in the living room and there she found presents, cards and balloons. She is filled with expressions in these pics. We are forever laughing and enjoying all of her expressions. We went to dinner tonight and she blew out her two candles on her special cake. That definitely made me a nervous mommy, watching her get that close to the candles, but she blew them right out! She was so proud, she clapped and said Yay! We are now looking forward to celebrating with more friends and family at her birthday party in two weeks. It will be a ladybug filled day :)