Here we are, at the close of our Easter weekend, and what a fabulous weekend it was. Not only was the weather great (we had some rain off and on, but the temperature was gorgeous) but we had a great time having our whole familiy together and doing lots of fun activites. It sure made for a very memorable first Easter for Tessa. Kyle, Amy, Kyleigh, Karissa, and Keaton came home for Easter this year. They got here on Friday morning and we went straight to Auny Nancy's for a Bunny Party for all the kids. We played games, did a bunny hunt and had lunch. Plus, there was a special appearance by Buster the bunny. After that, we went back to Grandma Vicki's to color some Easter eggs. We took everything outside (to avoid the mess inside) and had a great time. Tessa tried to eat the eggs, she even broke the shell with her teeth. So then we peeled an egg and gave it to her so that she could eat it, and she tried it, but really didn't like it. At one point I believe Jack tried to drink the green dye, (which was the only color he was using to color the eggs) and Keaton gave up after a couple minutes and went to take the (stuffed) dog for a ride on the John Deere. Kyleigh and Karissa worked very hard to make some pretty eggs and they did a great job. After getting all the eggs colored (and most of them cracked) the girls all piled in the van and went off for a little pampering. We all got pedicures done, it was so wonderful. We left the babies and the little kids home with the dads and just enjoyed some girls time out. When we got back from our pedicures and a little shopping, we had our Easter egg hunt. Grandma and Grandpa hid Easter eggs all over the backyard and each kid had a different color to look for, Tessa's was purple. So we got our basket and went off searching the yard for all the purple Easter eggs. She really seemed to be enjoying herself. She loves to be outside (as long as she doesn't have to sit in the grass. Lastly, we opened our Easter baskets from Grandma and Grandpa. They sure do love to spoil their grandkids! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!
On Saturday morning, David and I colored Easter eggs with Tessa at home. We wanted her to have memories of that tradition at home as well as at Grandma's. Then we spent the rest of the day down at Grandma and Grandpa's house just hanging out and playing with all the cousins. It was a little cooler on Saturday and it rained off and on, so we didn't spend as much time outside as we did the day before.
Then came today, Easter Sunday. What a glorious day to celebrate our Savior's resurrection! Our Easter began with a pancake breakfast at home, just the three of us. I made pancakes in the shape of Easter bunnies for each of to have, I only ended up making one for each of us, becuase they were a lot harder to make than I thought they would be. Then David went to church because he was leading worship at Calvary West. Tessa and I joined him along with all the rest of our family for 8:30 service. It was so much fun to get Tessa all dressed up in her beautiful Easter dress and it was so sweet that all 6 of the cousins matched. After church, we went down to Grandma Marge's house for a big, family, Easter lunch. I took some pretty pictures of Tessa in the backyard. It was such a nice day out. I can't remember the last time we had such good weather for Easter. When all the kids got down there, we took some pictures of all 6 of them together. (I don't have those to put on the blog today because we took them with Alissa's camera, I was there to get all of their attention in one direction. I'll upload them at a later time when I get them off of Alissa's camera.) Grandma Marge had a fun Easter egg hunt all around their house, then we had lunch and spent some time playing in the afternoon. We wrapped up the end of our weekend just relaxing at home, which was so needed. We played with Tessa and gave her our Easter basket for her. She got some bubbles, some toy cars and Yogurt melts. The bubbles worked really good and she had fun chasing them and trying to pop them. Happy, happy Easter to you all!
Wow, I never thought we would be here. We are one month away from celebrating our first year with Tessa. It is unbelievable to me how fast the time has gone by. This has been such a wonderful month. We have so enjoyed the nice spring weather and getting to go outside and not be bundled up all the time. We've had fun wearing some new spring clothes and taking some nice outside trips. We celebrated Tessa's first Easter this month and had a great time doing it. We had the whole family here and got to do Easter egg hunts and color Easter eggs, and of course, getting all dressed up in her beautiful Easter dress was definitely a highlight. Tessa has become ultra-mobile this month. We have started having to push our ottoman up in front of the tv when she is awake so that she won't pull up and bang on the tv. It's a constant battle to pull her off of the end tables as she is attracted to them like a magnet and wants to pull everything off the tables that she can reach. She just wants to be "on the go" all the time. She has really started eating so many more foods too. She still eats some baby food, but loves to try all kinds of new table food, sunbutter & jelly sandwiches, grapes, grilled chicken, scrambled eggs, Gerber Lil' Crunchies, etc, and let's not forget all the inedible things that she has been trying to eat: her books, her crib, and any other little thing she finds on the floor. She has definitely turned into our little beaver. She'll chew on everything and anything that she can get a hold of. She is our sweet angel from Heaven and I could not imagine my life without her. In some ways, I look at the last 11 months and think, holy cow, time has gone by so quickly, then in other ways, I look at 11 months and think, "is that all?" It just seems like she has been with us forever. I don't remember what life was like before she came and changed us forever! Love you baby girl!
