Easter {2016}

Another Easter has come and gone... I know I say it *all the time*, but I seriously can't believe how fast time goes. It's just crazy. I went back and read my blog posts from the last two Easters {2014 | 2015} and it's such a reminder of why I wanted to do this blog in the first place! So many sweet little memories I would have probably forgotten. I've got to make more time to document our little everyday moments. They really are the most precious. 

Anyway! I need to move on before I turn into a puddle of tears.

The day before Easter, Emery got to go to a sweet friend's birthday party! It was a pajama party and Emery loved it! She's still talking about it! 

Making a Fruit Loops necklace! Emery loved eating the Fruit Loops straight off of her necklace!

Sweet little friends.

That afternoon, Nana and Poppa came over so we could go see the baby chicks at Tractor Supply. They also brought Emery her Easter basket with these silly glasses in it. 

She got to pet a baby chick! She looks upset, but she always makes this "it's so cute I might cry" face when she sees something cute! It's hilarious.

After we saw the baby chicks, we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream! {Or "ice chume" as Emery calls it!}

Easter Sunday was an early one for us! I had to sing and Daniel had to greet people, so we were all there by 7:00! Emery woke up happy, though! After church, we headed home so Emery could take her nap and then went to my parents' house for Easter lunch.

She is always on the move!

This was the best we could get for a family picture! She was squirming to get away from me!

We did get a couple of cute pictures of these sweeties in their Easter dresses. 

LOVE this one! 

Emery was *very* into the bunny ears this year {unlike her very first Easter}! She loves to go "hop! hop! hop!" and jump around. She also got this adorable bracelet from Nana and Poppa for her birthday and she was *so* proud of it. Her teacher at church said that Emery showed it to everyone that came in the room that morning! 

Emery *loves* Poppa's truck so much, so when she saw it outside, she wanted to get in. This picture of her in the back of a truck in her Easter dress just makes me laugh.

It was been a really rainy week, so we had to do our Easter egg hunt inside. Emery totally got the hang of it and had so much fun collecting eggs!

She had been playing with the empty plastic eggs at home for the whole week, so when she realized there was candy inside of them, she was super excited!!

We were all laughing so hard at these next couple of pictures! For some reason, Emery wanted to wear her tutu skirt like this. 

She also played a few songs on the guitar. "Jesus Loves Me" and "Oh How I Love Jesus" are a couple of her favorites. Of course, every time I try to get it on video, she stops. 

We were hardly home at all on Easter Sunday, so we gave Emery her Easter basket a couple of days late. The same thing happened last year!  In a couple of years, we won't be able to get away with that!

I loved doing her Easter basket this year! It gets more and more fun every year, I think! I actually had her basket done in February! Someone on Instagram mentioned how great the dollar section at Target was, so I went right after Valentine's Day. It was full of tons of fun spring and Easter things that weren't all disorganized yet. Yay!

Here's a list of everything that was in Emery's Easter basket this year and where I got everything:
 - candy in plastic eggs, of course 
 - Easter bunny stickers, Target
 - I Love You Honey Bunny book {It's super cute!}
 - The Story of Easter book {I feel like this is a very age appropriate Easter book!}
 - Flower and butterfly lacing blocks, Target
 - Cookie Shapes and Opposites books, Dollar Tree
 - Paw Patrol notebook, Target {She loves to draw and color!}
 - Play-Doh Chick and Bunny Stampers, Target {This was a great way to introduce play-doh! Emery loves it!!}
 - Stuffed chick, Home Goods
 - Bunny bubble wand, Target
 - Light up wands, Target {I got her two of these because she likes to play with things like this like they're musical instruments. }
 - Monogrammed hat, Etsy

She was definitely excited about those M&Ms! And she's making her "It's so cute I could just cry" face with her new baby chick stuffed animal.  The picture of her in the hat is just too funny. Emery pretty much refuses to smile if we say "smile!" so we say "show us your teeth!" and that's the face we get! 

Click here for Easter basket ideas for a baby!

Click here for Easter basket ideas for a 1-year-old!

  

Easter Weekend {2015}

Emery celebrated her second Easter this year! It's just so amazing to look at pictures from her first Easter and see how much she's changed. Last year, she slept most of the day. This year...not so much. ;)

We went to the Good Friday service at church on Friday night. It is such a serious service, but a beautiful one. It's just so overwhelming what Jesus went through because of His love for us. Daniel and I pray all the time that we are able to teach Emery how much Jesus loves her and that she will be able to truly understand it!

I realized that Emery wore a polka dot dress last year, too. Just look at that teeny tiny baby!! I remember she was so sleepy that night. She slept through us taking her pictures and then slept through the whole church service, too. Not this year!! :)

On Saturday morning, we went to an Easter egg hunt. My parents' neighborhood does one every year and Emery got to be part of the craziness this year. Seriously, there were *tons* of eggs and they were gone in about 30 seconds!

Daddy helped Emery get her one pink egg. She seemed pretty happy with it!

Sweet Vanna shared some of her eggs "since Emery doesn't know how to do it". What love!! Just so sweet!

We tried to get a family picture, but Emery was much more interested in the eggs inside her basket.

I think this picture is so hilarious! Headfirst into the Easter basket!

An egg in each hand {and the basket behind Mommy} kept her entertained for a few seconds. :)

First picture with the Easter bunny!

I was surprised that she wasn't scared of him {her??} at all! After her first experience with Santa, I didn't know what to expect. I guess she was a little more daring since Mommy was still holding her! :)

That afternoon, we played for a little while in what will be our play room. Just last week, Daniel cleaned out one of the empty bedrooms upstairs and we put some of Emery's bigger toys up there. We also got her a tunnel for the playroom and she got to try it out on Saturday. She was a little hesitant at first, but after I crawled {more like did "the worm"} through, she went for it!

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting things ready for Easter Sunday. I made bunny ears cupcakes and baby chick cupcakes. I forgot to take a picture, but of course I got the idea on Pinterest. :) They were really easy...especially the bunny ears ones!

That night, we headed over to my parents' house to drop off some of the food so we would have less to take on Sunday. {Seriously, now that we have a baby, we are loaded down with stuff everywhere we go!!} Emery also got her Easter basket from Nana and Gampa!

She didn't know quite what to think of this little walking and barking puppy at first.

It didn't take her long before she was reaching for it, though.

We were planning to go to dinner, and my parents told us to go and they would keep Emery! Yay for a date night! We went to Superior Grill and then decided to try the new frosted lemonade at Chick-fil-A. Sharing one was a big mistake. This is definitely going to be our go to summer treat. It tastes like lemon pie!!! He was not so quick to hand that over!

Emery wore her bunny pajamas the night before Easter. Sometimes you just need to play with an empty Boogie Wipes pouch!

She's doing so much better with her sippy cup.

Although we still have to do things like this sometimes to get her to tip her head back far enough! Ha!

I had to be at church early on Sunday morning, so Daniel was on his own getting Emery ready for church. She really gave him a run for his money. He texted me this picture that morning and it said "Good morning, Mommy". It's funny now, but not so much in the moment!

I didn't want oatmeal!!!

They made it, though, and he did a great job getting her ready as he always does. :)

Once we got home, we took a quick family picture outside. Love my little family!

Then we headed to my parents' house for Easter lunch. Vanna was so excited to give Emery her Easter basket!

Anna and Elsa shakers!

Vanna showed Emery her new talking book. Emery *loves* it and dances when the music comes on!

Trying to get into those mini M&Ms!

Emery and Uncle DJ!

We tried to get her to take a nap, but she wasn't having it. We tried everything...at one point, Daniel and I were both laying on the floor beside the crib trying to get her to go to sleep, but nothing worked. There was just too much going on. So we gave up and let her hang out with everybody else. She was tired, but for the most part, she really was good considering she was running on the 45 minute nap she took in the nursery!

Her cousin Cole helped her out with her second Easter egg hunt!

She got the hang of picking up the eggs!

Emery loves Daddy! <3

Then we headed back inside for a game of Pin the Tail on the Bunny! :) Emery thought the box was pretty fun!

Vanna won the game with surprising accuracy! ;) And yes, she's wearing bunny ears. :)

Cole and Zach played, too, but just didn't get as close as Vanna.

Emery and Uncle Steve. She's fascinated with hats!

Then she decided to go make her own fun and crawled off to the toy closet. :)

Emery was so tired by the time we got home that we decided to wait to give her her Easter basket. We fed her dinner and she was asleep by 6:30!

Here's what her Easter basket looked like this year. :)

Right now, one of her favorite things to do is take things out of containers, so she had a good time unloading her basket. :) I love how she has two of her Wubbanubs. <3

She loves anything that's shaped like a ball right now, so this egg was one of the first things she pulled out. :)

Then she spotted Yogurt Melts! She loves them! I don't buy them that often because they seem to be so much more expensive than a lot of the other baby snacks!

She crawled right over to me like she wanted me to open them right then!

Then she checked out the books in her basket! They were all flap books or touch and feel books.

She kisses all her stuffed animals. They get way more kisses than Mommy and Daddy!

She didn't know what to think of the bunny ears!

Especially when Daddy put them on!

I think she started to like them. :)

Checking out one of her new books. She said "moo" when she saw this page...even though it's a lamb, I thought it was pretty smart. ;) {Of course I did!}

We also put a couple of those mini balloons that inflate themselves into her basket.

She was fascinated with it!

I got this cute little bunny bank on clearance at Target a couple of months ago for $4!! It looks so cute on her bookshelf!

I know I love idea lists for these kinds of things, so here's a list of everything that was in her Easter basket this year:

- Gerber Yogurt Melts
- Annie's Bunny Grahams
- Wind up hopping chick - Dollar Tree
- Princess Easter egg - Target
- Egg shaped marshmallows - Walmart
- Animals touch and feel book
- That's Not My Lamb touch and feel book
- Baby Loves Spring! flap book
- The Story of Jesus board book
- Bunny ears - Target Dollar Spot
- Bunny bank - Target
- Lamb stuffed animal - Hallmark
- Mini self-inflating balloons - Dollar Tree

Click here to see her Easter basket from last year.

And that was our second Easter together as a little family! I'm so thankful for these precious blessings!!