Easter and a fun visit

I thought I was all caught up on pictures, but I forgot Easter!

My sister Ashley and her husband Tyler came to visit us for their spring break. Ashley wrote about the visit on her blog and she took lots of great pictures of the trip. They came while Jeff was writing his Ethics paper (which turned out awesome, he's working on submitting it for publication right now and is presenting it at a conference next week!) so Jeff was able to join in the fun. The highlights of the visit were going to the beach, and to an Astro's game. On one day Jeff had a dentist appointment and some meetings, so I forced Ashley to craft with me (I make all people who come to my house do some sort of craft... beware) while Tyler did his own "crafting" (playing Star Craft) Ashley embroidered some really cute baby clothes she has pictures here

Ashley and Tyler got to spend Easter with us during their visit too. So they got to join us in a little Easter egg hunt. Christine LOVED finding Easter eggs. We had our first egg hunt at play group and Christine picked up on the concept really quick. It was such a hit we had daily egg hunts around the house every day for two weeks after. But for Easter Sunday we had our official egg hunt.

 We hid the plastic eggs in the courtyard of our apartment complex and let Christine run around and find the eggs. As her little bag filled up with eggs I would sneak them out and hide them again so it was a continuous round of egg hunting.

 After Christine had her egg hunt, we did the adult egg hunt where each spouse hid one egg for the other. Guys went first, then the ladies. I thought it was going to be really easy, but Jeff had me stumped. Ashley's egg won for best hiding spot. She put it up in a little tree, wedged between two branches and camouflaged by wrapping leaves around it. When Tyler shook the tree to make sure there weren't any eggs hidden in it, I thought for sure it would drop out, but it stayed! We were all laughing pretty hard watching our spouses rummage through the bushes.

Ashley is pregnant with a little girl. We are so excited for another cousin! She is due in July, but I'm betting she comes this month.

 For Easter dinner we made a delicious dinner of pork chops, mashed potatoes, monkey bread, fresh fruit. and asparagus topped with hollandaise sauce.

Hollandaise is my new favorite thanks to Pioneer Woman who taught me how to make it in a blender. I threw out my old recipe after I tried PW's version. It's delicious for Egg's Benedict yummmm

Thanks for spending your spring break with us Ashley and Tyler!

Where did the bows go?

My sister-in-law Ali gave me this bow holder for my baby shower (2 years ago whoa!) and I hung in on the wall between the crib and her dresser. Unfortunately, I didn't foresee this problem.

It's her new favorite "supposed to be sleeping" activity 

A Picnic in the Park

We live really close to a little park. I call it the bike park because there are a ton of bikes and toys at this park. I like to go here with Christine because it is close enough to walk to. Christine loves to get out of the house and run around playing with the cars and riding down the slides.

 On this particular day Jeff was working a surgery rotation and he had gotten off early that Saturday (before 6pm is "early"). To enjoy our evening with Jeff, we took him to our favorite park.

 We made up some Hoggies and grabbed a blanket so we could enjoy a little picnic.

 Christine ate mostly chips...

 then she headed off to play on the slides.

 She has absolutely no fear of the big tall slides.

 Then she insisted on being pushed around in the little cars.

Christine's smile says it all. We love playing at the park with daddy!

I want to do it myself

 Christine is now quite adamant that she pick out her clothes (usually something purple) and she prefers to put the clothes on herself. She doesn't like mom and dad to help.

This is what a typical Christine outfit looks like. Pajamas still on. Green bloomers. Blue dress, inside out. Yep, definitely ready to go out on the town!

Buckles

Christine has a new favorite activity: playing with buckles.

 She takes her stuffed animals and buckles them into her high chair. Usually she asks "Mommy Mommy Buckle Buckle! pleeeeease"  and I come over unbuckle Doodle Bear or Tangie bear from the high chair and she rebuckles the straps and this keeps repeating until Mommy gets tired of unbuckling. 

 Occasionally if Mommy is still cleaning up from lunch the animals get fed snacks, like this unnamed bear who got fed yogurt.

This activity is not limited to her high chair. Anything with buckles will suffice. I babysit our friends' little girl Claire during the week, and every time an animal or baby doll gets strapped in to Claire's car seat. I still laugh every time I unexpectedly find a stuffed friend in the car seat all buckled up and ready to go!