Easter Weekend 2017

I love Easter weekend. 

I love what it represents. I love the church service. I love the time with family. I love dyeing eggs. I love Easter baskets. 

I seriously just love Easter weekend. 

So today, just like years before, I'm recapping the aftermath of Easter 2017!

Easter 2015 // Easter 2016 

For three years now, we've started the tradition of going down to my sister's house the Saturday of Easter weekend for several egg-cellent activities. See what I did there? I think you did.

Each Saturday kicks off with Easter baskets - which is basically my very favorite part. I don't know why, but I absolutely love making these kiddos some Easter baskets. And this year was Easton's first one! I love walking into the house with them and seeing the excitement on their little faces. Partly because I know it won't be too much longer that the $5 and under section at Target/Michaels will keep them this excited :)

This year they both got bunny sippy cups, new shoes, Rangers ball caps (heck yeah!), and bubbles. Brooklyn also got a new little sundress, some egg chalk, Easter-themed play-doh, peeps, and then eggs filled with skittles and Reeses' cups. Then little Easton got a football, animal crackers, and since he can't have candy yet, his eggs were filled with mini Nilla wafers :) 

Seriously - I just had too much fun with these. I adore those kiddos. 

 

After basket time, we start the egg dyeing process. Now, if you've read in years past, you know that the egg dyeing process for us was a bit of a learning curve... :) But now we've basically mastered the art of the eggs. 

Egg station - ready to go!!

She was SO excited for the festivities!

When you're standing on a stool but still too little to see over the counter :)

Jeff and I also love the festivities. Well, actually we love any chance to do kid-like activities. Overgrown children FTW!

But sometimes you're too young to dye eggs, so you just ask people to hold you while you eat your crackers.

All done! She was so proud!

And that pride lasted for about 23 seconds before she was ready to move onto hunting eggs. I hid the eggs for Brooklyn, and Amy hid eggs for Easton. And how do you hide eggs for a 16-month old, you ask?

You just drop them in plain sight all over the ground. :)

And then he hunted. 

He searched high....

He searched low....

And then he searched inside the eggs. Just in case there were any more Nilla wafers. 

Love that little boy. And this little girl. Except she's not so little anymore. How is she four months shy of being FIVE?! I just can't handle it. 

Oh and then this guy figured out if you fill up the basket with eggs and then dump them all out it's basically the greatest time ever.

Crazy kid :)

Speaking of crazies.. I love this other (not so) little crazy of mine..

And then after several rounds of hunting and finding, we were pretty much over anything egg-related. 

The struggle was real.

The hunt was just too.much.pressure. 

We continued to play around for the afternoon, and these two boys never left each other's side. Easton is infatuated with his Uncle Jeff. More often than not, E would see Jeff and stick out those little hands for Jeff to pick him up. And my little aunt heart melted. At first it was a tad jealous, but they were just too cute to hold resentment for too long :)

We ate dinner and ice cream, laughed more (mostly at the expense of yours truly), and I smiled the whole way home. Traditions are the best!

Sunday morning we headed to my second favorite service of the year. The Candlelight service at Christmas is my absolute favorite, but the Easter service is a close second. I actually started attending what was Jeff's church (now mine too), three Easter's ago. I church hopped for years in Dallas, and then after he invited me to Easter at Gateway, I stopped looking! 

We actually had Sandi Patty and Larnell Harris sing at this year's service. And let me tell you - that church was ROCKIN. Jeff had no idea who she was, but I grew up listening to Sandi, so it was pretty special to be able to see her one last time on her "farewell tour."

Our church crew! Not pictured: those who went to the 9a but didn't wait afterwards to be in the annual group picture :)

After church we ran back to Jeff's and got to open Easter baskets of our own!! If you're new around here, Jeff's mom makes us "holiday baskets" (Valentines, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving) and they basically rock my world. I love making the niece/nephew Easter baskets, but it's pretty exciting to open one of my own, too :)

This year, my basket had all kinds of goodies, but my favorite was - get this - the deviled egg platter that I registered for :) How perfect is that for Easter!? Sometimes I love adulting. 

We then met his parents and the rest of the Smith crew for a family fish fry. We ate, hunted eggs, cracked confetti eggs, mingled, and I got some serious baby fever. 

This was me for about two hours. And I have the sunburnt arms to prove it. Jeff's cousins just recently had this sweet little bundle (the bundle is named Brayden), and Brayden just really needed a place to sleep (where he could simultaneously hold onto hair). So I offered my services and fell quite smitten to this little guy :)

After we left the fish fry, we noticed everyone was posting pictures on social media with their kids, so we stopped by Petsmart, picked up 27 different treats, and bribed our pup into taking this family picture. 

Happy Easter from the three of us :)

And, to close, I will leave you with my very favorite Easter picture:

"And then on the third at break of dawn,
The Son of heaven rose again.
O trampled death where is your sting?
The angels roar for Christ the King
O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God"

-Hillsong: O Praise the Name

Until next time,
Katy

 

Peek at the Week

I haven't done one of these posts in forever! Quite possibly because no one really wants a significant amount of pictures of me and my dog curled up in bed watching Gilmore Girls on a nightly basis. Which is what the past month of post busy season weekdays would have looked like... 

And honestly, these "peek" posts are probably your least favorite (like hello - why should you care what I do on a daily/weekly basis?), but I always love going back and reading old ones. It's like a social media deposit box for all of the instagram photos I would really love to post...but won't because I've already posted 3 in the past 24-hours. #overgrammer

Let's get peekin.... 

On Friday night, Jeff and I went on a double date with Ben and Caitlin to Brio Tuscan Grille - a restaurant in Southlake's town square. You know if they spell "grille" with an e at the end - it's going to be good. 

We were there for 3 hours and treated ourselves to a 4-course meal - all of which were incredibly delicious. This is one of my new favorite restaurants. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a treat! 

..................

Saturday afternoon Jeff and I "parented." For six whole hours. 

....I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

Babysitting Brooklyn is one thing. Babysitting Brooklyn AND Easton? That was a whole 'nother helping of an enchilada. Easton is technically still breakable at 4 months old. That's a lot of responsibility for an aunt. Thankfully he came with instructions. 

Took this right after mom, dad, grandmama and grandaddy left. My sentiments exactly, little man. 

Listen here - diapers need "front" and "back" labels. Pants have tags in the back - why don't diapers? We could not, for the life of us, figure out which was the front and back of the diaper. We put it on one way, decided that didn't look right, took it off and flipped it around, but that didn't look right either - rinse and repeat approximately seven times. Jeff, Brooklyn and I were cracking up, and Easton just rolled his eyes. #amateurs

Feeding time. Note the hand on the fingers. Melt my heart. These two became pretty good buds. 

Easton preferred entertainment to nap time, so we showed him what Aunt Katy and Uncle Jeff do best - ice cream sundaes! 

My sweet parents went by the store and grabbed us 4 pints of ice cream and all the fixins. So we had ourselves a little ice cream social!

This is why we get along. #fatandhappy

He and Brookie had a little bit of everything. Me? I had vanilla and chocolate syrup. Duh.

Easton started getting sleepy, so I started walking around singing Itsy Bitsy Spider (his favorite song, apparently), and trying not to laugh as he completely conked out with his hand in his mouth. I couldn't look down or I'd laugh. So I essentially had to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider to the ceiling. 

While Easton slept, Brooklyn fed me gummy bears. We basically let her eat an entire bag of gummy bears and container of Oreo minis by herself. Being an aunt rocks. 

And yes, Amy, I'm sitting on your counter. Cause she asked me to.

The rest of the babysitting gig was pretty quiet. Easton woke up just as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse came on, and both kids were entranced. So we got in some good snuggle time. 

I think Jeff is pretty smitten with Easton :)
#boysunite

Then I went home and crawled in bed at 7p. No wonder parents keep saying they're exhausted. That ain't no joke.

..................

Sunday morning I was supposed to head back down to Mansfield for Easton's baby dedication at church, but there was a giant storm hovering over the metroplex, and we decided it wasn't safe. SO, I put back on my jammies, brewed some more coffee, and curled back up in bed with this one. 

Rainy Sunday snuggles are my favorite. 

I lasted SEVEN years without letting Charlie on my bed. And now it's like my favorite thing ever. 

.....................

Monday night after work, Char and I headed over to Jeff's for dinner and Dancing with the Stars. And since my dog has FOMO and cries if we sit on the couch because he can't get close enough....we sit on the floor with him. :) 

...................

Last night was my first Rangers game of the season!! 

I love baseball season. Oh so much. In fact, I love it so much I wrote an entire post last year on the reasons why I love it. Baseball is my favorite. 

We went on a double date with Toby and Chanel and had a grand ole time. It was such a great night for a game - clear skies and 70 degrees. 

 

Group Selfie for the win. 

Not to mention it was dollar hot dog night, Blue Bell was back (last summer was rough without it), AND my husband boyfriend favorite pitcher Cole Hamels was on the mound. He's just so beautiful. 

The more I drooled over Hamels, the more Jeff proceeded to share with me the similarities between him and Hamels. For the entire game :)

  
 I think it's safe to say I'd take this cutie of a pitcher over Hamels any day. But don't tell him that - I like to keep him on his toes :)

And that's a peek at the week! 

Almost Friday! Hang in there everyone!

Until next time,
Katy 

Easter Weekend Wrap Up

I LOVE Easter weekend. We all know how much I'm obsessed with Christmas, but Easter weekend is a close second. I love what it represents, I love the church service, I love colorful Easter eggs, I love making baskets, I love the family time. I just love Easter weekend! 

I also love having a place to document weekends like these. Last week I went and re-read how we celebrated Easter last year and it made me chuckle all over again. #eggdyefail 

So let's recap: Easter Weekend Edition 2016

Last year I started the tradition of giving Brooklyn an Easter basket, and while it was fun last year (when she was 2.5), it was even more fun this year as a three and a half year old. Watching those big eyes light up as you walk in with a pretty pink basket just makes for one happy aunt. 

This was her basket this year: 

This year I found the $1 section of Target and it was brilliant. I got four different colors of spray chalk and those pink sunglasses all for $1 each. Add a 400-page coloring book and 64-pack of crayons (because who doesn't love sharp new crayons), a pretty pink nailpolish (because Amy paints her nails now and B is OH-so proud of them), peeps, chocolate bunnies, eggs filled with M&Ms, and little chocolate eggs and there you have it! Pretty simple (and cheap!) to make but pretty exciting for a kiddo. 

OH - and the Easter grass. You can't forget the Easter grass. Brooklyn throws it all over the house and Amy curses my name. I'm going to be so sad when she's old enough to keep the grass in the basket. 

Speaking of baskets. Jeff's sweet mom gives me and Jeff a basket for like every holiday. Valentines, Easter, Halloween - you name it. And I must say, I look forward to it each and every time. Care packages and gift baskets have gone out of style, and we need to bring them back. Just a little something to make people special. Cause these make me feel special :)

Saturday afternoon was absolutely gorgeous in Dallas so I headed down to Amy's house for all things Easter. First things first (post-Easter-basket-break-down), was the kite flying. My mom bought Brooklyn a kite (that was less than $2) and it provided that child with the absolute time of her life. 

Look at that face - pure joy. 

She spent probably 20 minutes just running around the yard, staring at the sky, trying to chase the kite. My neck hurts just thinking about it. I captured this video that cracks me up. Make sure you listen for the following phrases:

"Can't make it!"

"Can't get that kite."

"Wait for me guys!"

After the kite chasing, Brooklyn wanted to show us her T-Ball skills. She wasn't quite sure if she was through with her kite, so like a selfless granddaddy, my dad just stood in the middle of the yard holding the kite while B tended to her other festivities. Great man. 

We learned that Brooklyn has better hand-eye coordination than I do. And she's a switch hitter.

And though he can't chase kites or play t-ball yet, this little stud-muffin was certainly outside under an umbrella hanging out!

 

After a while out in the sun, we decided that dad could reel in the kite, and we'd go inside for some egg-dye action. Now, if you read my Easter post last year, we didn't do so hot on the egg dyeing skills. But my sister is quite the quick learner, and this year we were more than prepared! And highly excited :)

First egg in! Rotating the egg very carefully... Though a couple hours later the rotation was not-so-careful and blue dye water was all over the counter :)

Jeff showed up! Both in deep egg-dye concentration.

Dad documenting Amy documenting Brooklyn.

SO MANY EGGS!! 

Brooklyn decided she needed a break to eat a chocolate bunny. And that is why I love Easter weekend. You take breaks from dyeing eggs to eat chocolate bunnies. 

Love my little chocolate covered mouth squirt. 

Then we went back outside for playing and egg hunting. Gotta take advantage of these gorgeous days while we have them!

The big kid wanted his turn flying the kite. Sadly he didn't chase it around the yard. That would have been quite the video. 

Brooklyn wanted to share her umbrella shade with us. So of course we crouched down and obliged. 

Then it was time for hunting. Brookie and I went and colored inside while Jeff and Amy hid the goods. Then it was go time. I tried to be nice and let her find most of them, but then she rubbed it in and told me she had way more eggs in her basket than I did. So next year it's game on :)

 And you can't forget our sport spectators! 

We then had an amazing dinner (my brother in law sure does know how to use a smoker) and hung out. And I captured this picture that just melts my heart. Can't wait to watch these two grow up together.

Sunday morning was an amazing church service and lunch at Jeff's family's place after. And I would love to insert a picture of me and Jeff in our Easter outfits like everyone else and their mama did, but we didn't take one. It was cold and windy. We could take a picture or go get hot coffee. I chose coffee. Picture us in spirit.

Last night I closed the evening with my personal Easter tradition: curled up in bed with my dark chocolate Easter bunny, gnawed off his ears, and saved the rest for later. 

And aside from the bunnies and the eggs and the brightly colored marshmallow peeps, I will leave you with my very favorite Easter picture. 

Cross to crown. Death to victory. 

Do we deserve it? Nope. 

Does that matter? Nope. 

By grace, through faith. That's why we'll get to see Him one day. And quite frankly I can't wait to throw my arms around His neck. 

Happy Easter everyone!

Until next time,
Katy