Easter Weekend

Ila is content with a teething ring; Eden is watching her two TV shows of the day... Let's do this quick quick quick!

First Eden and Ila's Palm Sunday pictures.  Because
A. my dad and Susie bought their dresses in Ireland so they're special to me
B. this is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Eden ever (and I take a lot of pictures - y'all may have noticed!)

Okay - on to Easter weekend!  Last Saturday and Sunday were completely jam-packed and completely wonderful!

On Saturday morning we took Eden (and Ila) to the community Easter egg hunt.

so excited on the way there!

We went home for a quick lunch for Eden and a quick nap for Ila.

awwwww...

Then we headed over to my dad's cousin's house (she lives across a pasture from us).  My second cousin, Meredith, was in town for the weekend with her little girl, and Nancy and Meredith invited us over so that Eden and Savannah could play.  They had stuffed a piñata with Easter eggs and stickers and toy jewelry and bouncy balls, and it was so sweet, so cute, so fun!  Eden and Savannah loved it!

We went back to our house, and Eden and I dyed Easter eggs while Ila watched us from her bumbo seat.

Later that evening, Dustin's parents came over.  Eden and Dustin's mom dyed more eggs, and Dustin set up his fryer on the deck, and we had an outdoor dinner feast of fried fish, fried shrimp, fried soft-shelled crabs, hush puppies and french fries.

I love going to my grandma's church for the big services like Christmas and Easter.  So much so that I found it worth it to wake up at 4:45 to get everything and everyone ready to leave our house by 6:45 to be at her church for the 8:15 service (though I really REALLY think we should consider going to the 11:00 service next year!).  We don't do the Easter bunny.  Partly because I think he's super creepy (LIKE REALLY!), and partly because I don't feel he adds much to Easter the way Santa Claus adds so many fun things to Christmas.  Eden got her little pink golf clubs that morning (so cute, pictures of her playing golf coming soon!), Ila got a giant stuffed rabbit, and Eden knows the presents are just from Mommy and Daddy.

I was a little nervous about how to explain Easter to Eden.  Christmas was easy - Jesus's birthday!  Great!  She understands birthdays and babies being born!  Easter is definitely trickier, and I knew anything about Jesus dying was going to be way over her head.  So I told her that Easter is when we celebrate that one day we will all get to go live in heaven with God and Jesus.  She seemed excited about that, and she asked cute questions like, "Does Daddy get to come with us?".  We talked about it every night during her bedtime routine.  I was pretty proud of myself because she seemed to really understand what I was telling her each night (we talked a lot about heaven).  She thought that we were all going to go to heaven at the same time, but I just let that slide.  It wasn't until about a week before Easter that I realized she thought that we were all going to heaven ON Easter!  Oops!  I explained that we weren't going to heaven on Easter, that's just when we celebrate it (although I did tell my mom that maybe she knew something we didn't!), but even after trying to explain it better, on the way to church on Easter morning, Eden said, "I'm excited to see Jesus at church!"  Hmmmm.... guess I didn't do as good as I thought.

Ila was the most precious thing EVER all dressed up for her first Easter!  (Dustin said, "Why is Ila dressed like it's the 1800s?")

An attempt at a picture of them both after church:

not so much

Eden just hanging out at the tomb of Jesus:

After church we had lunch at Babin's (which happens to be where we had lunch for Eden's first Easter too!) with my grandma, my mom, Mark, Jacob, Marshall and Audrey.  Then we spent the afternoon and evening at Pops and Granny's house with my dad's side of the family, and Eden got to hunt more eggs with her cousins.  (Eden knows that I'm the one who puts the eggs out, and that's cool with her as long as she can put them in her Easter basket and then eat whatever goodies I put in them.)

We tried to get a picture of the four cousins together.  Three out of four is pretty good!

It was a happy, happy Easter!  Maybe by next year, I can explain it better to Eden!

Ila - Five Months!

Annnnnnd we're back!

So Ila is five months old.  I seem to be "How the heck is she already five months old?" and "Really? Only five months?  It seems like it's been longer..." at the same time.  It's flying by, but it seems like she's been with us all along.  Weird.

This month Ila learned how to roll from her back to her tummy and found her feet.  The feet thing is especially cute, and she spends a good portion of the day chewing on them.

She's chewing on everything actually since she's teething.  Those bottom two teeth are soooooo dang close to being in.  I've been able to see them for weeks, and I keep thinking, "They'll be in by tomorrow for sure!", and then they never are.  But that's fine by me.  They can take their time.  Gummy smiles are my favorite!

She likes to be up now so she can see the world.  You go girl, it's a beautiful world to see!  While Eden and I play, I put her in her bumbo seat so she can see what's going on, and she loves that.

As I've mentioned a thousand times, she's pretty much always happy.  Though she's a feisty little thing and doesn't hesitate to YELL at us when we're not doing exactly what Her Majesty wants.  She has the cutest little giggle.  She has the prettiest little smile.  She has the BLUEST eyes I've ever seen.  It's the first thing people always comment on about her, and sometimes they actually appear to be a violet color.  And at five months, this tiny girl is just starting to outgrow her 0-3 months clothes.

Her favorite toy is a squeaky sheep, and I'm so looking forward to the next few months when more favorites emerge and more of her personality starts shining through.

Also, she still fits on my chest to sleep, and that's the most important thing.  Because it's my favorite thing in the world.

She's actually sound asleep in my lap right now as I type.  :)  Annnnnnd we're moving to the couch!

Cowgirl Up

Ila turned five months old yesterday.  To celebrate, Dustin and I took Eden and Ila to the rodeo.  Or I'm just telling myself that because Ila turned five months old yesterday, and let's face it - the day was mainly about Eden.

Ila, Mommy and Daddy love you lots and lots, and I promise I'm going to take your five month photo and write about how much I love you really soon!  #secondchildprobs

All Ila really did at the rodeo was LOOK AMAZING!  Are you ready, are you ready?

Oh my goodness, cutest thing ever!  The girl's rodeo fashion is on point!

So, I originally had Eden's hair all fixed with a bow, but when we got to the rodeo, she asked for a cowgirl hat.

Why sure thing, my little cowgirl!

We went to the petting zoo, and Eden fed and brushed all the animals.

She wanted to brush the chicken too, but I told her that she couldn't use the brush and needed to be verrrryyyy gentle with the chicken.  This apparently meant to walk up to the chicken in slow motion, poke it, and then jump back as fast as possible.  She did it over and over.

Then a little deer came up to us and started nibbling on Eden's hat.  And I was all, oh, hahaha, how cute, let me take a picture of this sweet little deer trying to eat Eden's hat.

Then I was all, okay deer, that's enough now, and I nudged him away.  So then he started eating my boot.  Like kinda viciously.  And I was like, "DEER!  STOP IT!"  And he didn't take too kindly to that and he went after my camera!  And I was literally sitting there playing tug-of-war with this deer over my camera strap.  I finally won, but then I was like, "We have to leave, this deer is being mean to me."  So we went and rode a pony.

Eden didn't just wave to us.  She waved to everyone all the way around the circle.

She was big enough to ride some rides this year!

And then some rides she was only big enough to ride if I rode too.

And that's cool, I was having fun riding rides with her.  Except for this one water ride.  Where you got splashed at the bottom.  And I wasn't really thrilled about that because I thought it was too cold to get wet.  But she, of course, LOVED that ride and had to ride it multiple times.  And Dustin was a slacker dad and refused to take his turn.

It looks like SHE'S there to support ME.

And then she played some games...

...and we piled all the stuffed animals she won around sleeping Ila.

It was a good day.  Because Eden was so happy.  And also because I ate corn dogs and curly fries and ice cream.

Then this morning, Eden got to dress crazy to go to story time at the library because they had a birthday celebration for Dr. Suess.  And that has nothing to do with this rodeo post, but I thought she looked super cute.

Now I have to go paint a number 5 on a onesie.

The End

a few little things...

Life has been slow lately; we haven't done much.  And I am definitely not complaining!  I'm enjoying this slow part of the year that comes after the busyness of the holidays and before spring and summer when we always seem to have something to do and somewhere to go.  Also, it's frickin' cold outside, so I am more than happy to spend the majority of my time at home in my sweat pants.  Stay-at-home mom perks.

So I don't have too much to report.

Eden got her first haircut last week.

It was time.  Her crazy hair was getting even crazier as evidenced by this picture of her with my dad (she helped him shred one Sunday).

That's after I brushed it!  Her hair was so many different lengths and going out in so many different directions!

And now:

Such pretty little curls!

We've been learning numbers and the ABCs.  We do a number and letter a week, and we're up to 5 and E.  I've also been working with her on writing her name, and she signed her name for the first time on a birthday card last weekend.

some photos of Eden from the birthday party:

She LOVED miniature bowling and got VERY excited when she knocked down pins.

Dustin had a blast at this party too.  I'm actually not sure who had more fun - him or Eden!  He was running around like a big kid and won Eden over 4000 tickets to spend in the little store.

Check out this beautiful table that Mark made for Eden (and eventually Ila)!  I love it so much, and Eden is so happy to FINALLY  have a little table to eat at.  I could never find a little table that I liked, so a couple of months ago, I called my mom and asked if Mark could just make one, and voila!  It's gorgeous!  And exactly what I was wanting for my little old house.

The princess likes to drink her afternoon tea there.

Ila continues to be the happiest baby that ever lived, and her big news is that her bottom two teeth are allllmmmoossssttttttt in.  I can see them, but they haven't poked through yet.  Even with that, she isn't fussy and continues to sleep all night.  I swear.

and some sister love: