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

 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Ah, full weekends. 

Ah, December weekends. 

Ah, full December weekends. 

....is there any other kind? 

This weekend was jam-packed, quite busy, and I'm quite exhausted. Especially because the weekend ended with a 10-hour plane ride. #oy

So this picture wasn't really from the weekend, but I have to give a shout out because it was SUCH an amazing experience. 

On Thursday morning my team at work volunteered at the Salvation Army here in Dallas. I've adopted "angels" before, but have never seen (nor honestly really thought about) what happens next. 

Let me tell you - the people who run Salvation Army's "home base" are angels in themselves. And their process completely blew my mind. And I secretly wished my life was as organized as that warehouse. 

These precious workers send the gifts you buy through about 4 different quality checks before they get to the respective family. They care about each and every kid. Even if they serve over 50,000 kids in the Dallas area alone. And they need volunteers. Even if just for 3 hours. Everyone has three hours.

I promise you - it tugs at your heart strings and gets you in the Christmas spirit. 

....and I walked more steps in 3 hours than I normally do in a week. 

Which is why on Thursday night...

I had some down time. 

I'd been working late nights all week, it was sub-zero outside (okay, so like forty degrees), and I knew it was going to be a jam-packed weekend. SO I did what I really wanted, and needed, to do. I turned on all the Christmas lights, crawled in bed at 8, cuddled with Char (and Roger the raccoon), and watched a Christmas movie. 

There is something to be said for quiet Christmas nights :)

Friday night was Kristie and Jordan's 3rd Annual Christmas party! And something we look forward to every year. Because...

...hello. They know how to throw a party. And are the sweetest hosts ever. 

Plus I always love getting a chance to catch up with these lovelies!

And this year, Kristie's nephew joined us, and we bonded way hard. He is just the cutest little guy ever. And he chased me around the house so I was basically in negative calories by the end of the night. 

OH, and he loves him some snap chat. 

PS - what did babysitters do with kids before snap chat? Hours of entertainment right there.

Saturday morning I woke up early, baked monkey bread, figured out how to dye deviled eggs pink (no, really), and then headed to help shower our lovely Lauren and baby Hazel!

See those pink eggs on the left? Yeah my fingers were that color, too. Pinterest didn't tell me that. 

HCC - Miss Hazel Cate Campbell :)

We love this lil mama to be! 

Which speaking of, these are two of my besties and their matching (but two months apart) bumps....

I feel like this is also about 80% of the people in my life right now. And I'm all over here like, "yeah but but but look at my new china patterns I picked out!" (insert wide eyed emoji)

Saturday afternoon was supposed to be the annual Christmas card pictures, but I got my haircut on Friday and homegirl kind of butchered my bangs. Like they barely pass my hairline. So we're just going to do them next weekend and you can all have virtual e-cards this year or something :)

Saturday night I crossed another item off my {30} Before Thirty list! So I've always said that when/if I ever made manager at our firm, I would treat my parents to an over-the-top nice dinner. Well, this summer I was promoted, so this past weekend, I treated them to a fancy-pants dinner!

Plus it's just really fun hanging out with these two. I drove home that night and just couldn't be more proud to have these two as my role models. 

And we grubbed SO hard. Like, we had to decline dessert. And we just don't do that.

On Sunday, a little handsome certain someone turned ONE!!

And he was so happy about that :)

We took pictures (only after having to completely undress him and dry his clothes because he crawled into the dogs' water bowl right before.. #boys), and then came time for the revered smash cake. PS - why do these stop after the first birthday? I feel like watching an 80 year old smash cake all over their face could be fun, too. 

Here's the smashing progression...

I mean..... I've never seen a smash cake this successful. ALL. BOY. 

I took a picture of the aftermath while my sister and mom were hosing him down. Good thing that bib has a time stamp cause it will never be the same. 

So if you haven't yet gathered, this was a buffalo plaid birthday. Everything was red/black buffalo plaid. The tablecloths, napkins, cups, banners, aaaand...

...the women.

Because when we rep a theme, we rep it hard. 

And then there's also the instance where your future wife also forces you to match and your future sister-in-law puts you on video duty. WHAT a lucky guy this one is :)

  After the party I had to run home and pack, cause later that night it was wheels up to London town! Sometimes my job sends you on impromptu trips. And sometimes those trips are in London. And sometimes the plane has an entire section devoted to Christmas movies and it makes your entire.world.

And that was the weekend! LESS THAN TWO WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!! And I have zero presents purchased. Bless. I am so off my game this year.

Until next time,
Katy

Weekend Wrap-Up

...It's Monday again. 

Is it just me, or do these weekends go by entirely too quickly? I mean I feel like I leave work on Friday, blink a few times, and then it's Monday morning again. Need a few more blinks, please.

It's been a while since I've wrapped up a weekend on here, but since this past one was a pretty full one, an it's currently monsoon-ing here in Dallas, I thought I'd give it a go!

Friday night kicked off with a GALsgiving!

What is a Galsgiving, you ask? Galsgiving is a bunch of women, a bunch of food, and a lot of yappin. :)

Lisa and her roomies (see the three of them nestled at the bottom of this here picture) invited all the women in their lives for a good old fashioned potluck dinner. Like, think a country Sunday morning lunch after church. That style. 

We ate - no, we FEASTED, we chatted, we met new people, we shared what we were thankful for, and we just....gathered. 

It was fun to meet new people, but also see some old faces you don't see very often!

And it's ALWAYS good to hug those faces you just don't get to see enough of.

Love this little hostess. Besties for a decade and still going strong! (Take note of the unintentional matching...we're just good like that).

Saturday morning, Amy and I woke up at the booty crack of dawn and headed to Canton's Trade Days. We attempted to go mid-morning on last month's trade days, but it was so packed I literally got there and turned around. 

So we drove there way early. Like in the dark way early. Like sometimes earlier than I even wake up for work early.

...that's early. 

We just had so much fun. We don't get sister time very often and so it's just so refreshing when we do! And shopping is also always a win!

Nevermind our lack of makeup. Again, it was early. 

BUT - lookie what I got! This was my one goal of the trip. We all know I love Christmas dishes, and last year I told you how my mom buys me one every year. WELL - this year? This year I wanted a plate with my future last name.

With the name of "Smith," you can imagine just how many example/display plates I have seen this name plastered on over the years. Like....a bajillion. But now that we're all betrothed and stuff, I bought me one. 

I love my new little name plate :)

OH - and speaking of my new little name, while I was at Canton I got pictures of my future husband dressed up like a penguin. At a 1-year-old's birthday party. 

I foresee a lot of fun in my future :)

Then Saturday night we had an Australian party. 

Say what now? 

Yes. An Australian party. 

Kristie's birthday fell while we were in Adelaide, AU (which is like the Napa of Australia). So naturally, we celebrated her birthday by touring a bunch of wineries (this is where I would put a link to that blog post but I'm like ridiculously delinquent on those puppies so you'll just have to read about it later). 

Anywho - so long story short, we had very limited suitcase space. Like. VERY limited. But we wanted to come home with Australian wine because... it was Australian wine. #helloduh

SO, to solve the space issue, we just decided we'd split the cost of the vino, share the suitcase space, and then share the wine back in the states. ..and because we are nice, we decided to share it with the men, too. 

And because we can't do anything without a theme (I mean, remember our Grease watch party?!), we basically brought a taste of Australia to America. 

And I got to bust out my Australian flag shorts. 

What was on the menu? Well....

Appetizers:

Shrimp on the Barbie
Cheese, Crackers, and Chutney
(the chutney we brought back from NZ!)

Main Meal:

Aussie Meat Pies and Chips

Dessert:

TIM TAMS! 
(like, you can totally order these off Amazon, people)

Aussie vino, meat pies, chips and tomato sauce. HOMEMADE. 
Okay the chips were frozen, but that's neither here nor there.

Matching Roo shirts and matching Ugg slippers!

 And the boys in their Rugby shirts :)

Then we forced kindly asked the boys to watch our Aussie slideshow. 

And then I wanted to go back to Australia really really badly. 

But Bailey was having none of that. 

After the slideshow it was time for the TIM TAM SLAM. 

So remember when I told you how to do a tim tam slam? Well I always did it with milk. And apparently that's how the children do it. Adults are supposed to do it with wine. 

So we did. 
Out of Waterford wine glasses. 
And it was hysterical. 

 Like I crack up just looking at this and reliving it. 
Then the boys did it and it was so anticlimactic it's not even worth sharing. 

I loved our little Aussie party :)

Then Sunday I was supposed to go to a baby shower, but the 24-hour stomach bug got me. So I stayed in, snuggled with Char, and watched Hallmark Christmas movies. Getting sick in November/December isn't half bad when you have Hallmark to help you out. 

And that was my weekend!

Happy Monday everyone! And if it wasn't too happy - well, it's almost over.:)

Until next time,
Katy