Easter...

...better late than never....annnnd moving on. 

This is definitely a favorite verse of mine for the Easter celebration well, and always actually:). 

John 3:16-17
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him"

 

Soooo, Easter was super busy because not only did we go to church but, it was also Daisy's 3rd birthday (Happy actual birth day boo boo!) and we had lots of family in town.  It was a wonderful kind of busy.  Daisy looked adorable in her Easter dress Sunday morning and she was actually excited about going to church to celebrate Jesus in her pretty outfit. I'm bummed that I didn't get a nice picture of Daisy outside with my DSLR camera but, these days I'm not surprised.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to get all the pictures that I'd like to get! lol Plus it was really windy and cold that morning and I was wearing a dress that I had to hold down pretty much constantly (not fun)...taking a picture outside would have been a bad idea if you get my drift. haha

I think that this is the first holiday that little things are starting to really click for Daisy.  She was pointing out crosses around this time and saying, "tank you to Dejus for da cwoss. I wuv you."  The other day I was wearing a cross necklace and she pointed at it and said, "Mommy you are wehing Dejus cwoss cuz He wuvs you so much wight?"  Man, I tell yah I just about wept with joy.  So she is listening!  She does hear and take things in even when it doesn't seem like it!  Praise the Lord. haha.  

I am not a big fan of doing over the top Easter baskets but, I also don't want Daisy to not get one at all because I remember as a kid how much I loved the little goodies my mom put out for us each Easter morning.  My mom was always diligent about incorporating goodies that focused on Jesus into our baskets and honestly my favorite goodie each year was the new bible or devotional she would get me.  I literally couldn't wait to see which one she got me and I loved reading them!  I'd like to try to do something similar for Daisy and this year I got her the Berenstein Bears Bible storybook.  It's still a little mature for her to be honest but, we've been able to read a few of the stories together and she enjoys them.  I think the yellow wind up chick stole the show this year though.  She couldn't get enough of that thing hopping around.  It's the simple things in life..seriously. haha

  And can I just add that I love Daisy's cheerful outfit and I wish it came in my size:). Thanks Auntie Jess for her pink pants!  

And Daisy had just woken up from a nap so she was a little sleepy faced and groggy but, she was SO happy to wake up to her basket after her nap.  My mom also gave her a birthday present and that princess microphone has been a favorite of Daisy's since that day.  It gets LOUD....thanks mom, haha. but, it's a blast to sing into a mic that actually works!  So happy that my mom was here to celebrate with us this year.  It was such a treat to have her around.

the starbursts kept getting stuck in her teeth but, she seemed to enjoy picking them out. hehe

Shortly after this we went to the grand parent's house for an Easter egg hunt and dinner...she requested the Easter egg hunt three separate times and she really didn't care about opening the eggs at all.  Just wanted us to repeatedly hide them.  I thought that was pretty funny. We had such a great time visiting with all of our family...more pictures from that to follow if I ever get around to it!!

 "yeah! I got one!!"

 Unfortunately it had rained quite a bit and the yard was like a squishy swamp so we had to do most of our hunt indoors.  She didn't mind though:). 

Our Easter morning attire and Daisy being a silly little peanut as usual.  I do have to give her props though because between her birthday the day before and Easter she was being requested to take way too many pictures and she was a champ through it all...silly but, a champ nonetheless:).  Proud of you Daisy bean:).

And in closing I just want to say how wonderful it was to have my mom here during this rather busy season.  She helped me shop, watched Daisy while I shopped, decorate, food prep etc.  I couldn't have pulled the weekend off without her!  She was literally Daisy's personal slave for a week.  And I love going to church with my Momma.  We both enjoy talking after the service about our thoughts on God, life and stuff and that's always a blessing.  She's my best friend hands down.  Love you to pieces Marme!

Her 3rd Birthday Princess Party Part 1

After my little one's party was over I wanted to smack myself. I really dropped the ball from a photography standpoint. I didn't capture the decorations, the cake (thank you mom for saving me!), the food table, the balloons outside, the ceiling or floor swarming with colorful balloons etc. I didn't get a single posed picture with my little girl at her party...that made me sad.  On the other hand I was present in the event.  That is always the challenge for me.  Do I want to get swallowed up by picture taking or do I want to sacrifice getting the pictures that I'd like so that I can enjoy my daughter and her party more.  I could have asked a friend to photograph the event for me but, I didn't think I would really care.  Well, I guess you live and you learn:).  hehe.  

I still managed to get some great pictures and I am thankful for what I do have and far more important than pictures is the fact that my little one had a great time and it was a wonderful day of celebration with our friends and family.  

I had been hoping that we could have an outdoor party because kids love running around in the sunshine and it is nice to have a bigger area to set up but, it just wasn't quite warm enough in the morning to put everything out.  By the end of the party it was beautiful out and the kids went out back and ran around which was nice.  We ended up setting up the entire party in our living room. I moved all of our furniture as far out as possible and created a nice big play area in the middle.  It was wild and loud but, a good kind of loud and wild.  And yes, the carpet got dirty but, I was anticipating that also.  We have a carpet cleaner so after the party was over, we pulled that sucker out and whalah we got our carpets back in working order. lol

Party favors for the girls consisted of a lot of cute princess things; wands, necklace, bracelet, ring, hair clip, stickers, candy and bubbles.  The boys got totally different goodie bags with cars, bubbles, stickers, candy and little boy toys. The goodie bags are from Wall-Mart and they worked out great.  It was cute to see how excited the kids got about their goodies bags which we handed out at the end of the party as each child was leaving. 

My hubby's Aunt volunteered to make the cake and I am so happy that she did!  I absolutely loved her Princess cake creation and Daisy did too.  So girly and cute and it tasted delicious.  Thank you so much Kathy!   It gave me one less and very huge thing to think about and plan for.  Thank you Mom for actually getting a picture of the cake.  What would I do without so many wonderful helpers:). I love how this little craft table turned out.  This was one of our activities that I thought would be really fun but, not too many of the kiddos spent a whole lot of time here.  Mostly because they really are so young and they don't have the attention span for a lengthy craft yet.  They did all enjoy the stickers and the jewels though.  That's all that matters.  I was dying to make my own crown or shield but, didn't have time.  Someday! :).  The shields are not shown in these pics because we hadn't finished cutting them out of a brown box yet.  My mom made them and they turned out great! I thought a tea party would be a great activity to have out for the kids.  I sanitized the set the night before (just thought you all might like to know that haha) and set everything out in the morning with a pitcher of water (yes it spilled all over but, I was okay with that) and a plate of mini muffins on the quilt.  The kiddos loved this activity! They would run around and play and then come back to the tea party to sip some tea and gobble up another muffin.  The cutest thing was that Daisy kept going to the food table and piling more muffins onto a little paper plate to restock the supply at her tea party station.  Her little hosting skills are pretty precious!  We also had some princess music videos on the TV above this station and the kids would watch the video a little bit while sipping tea.  So sweet. I bounced back and forth on how I wanted to decorate for Daisy's princess party for a little while. I spent hours looking at beautiful princess parties that didn't actually have the Disney Princesses in the decor on Pinterest and the web but, I concluded that Daisy wouldn't enjoy a princess party unless the actual Disney Princesses were present.  I don't like character parties very much but, I am getting softer and softer the longer I am a Mom.  Whatever makes my kid happy, makes me happy.   So with that motto in mind, I sacrificed my "party decorating pride" and bought simple posters and decorations from the party store and Wall-Mart and kept things very low key.  Unfortunately because I didn't capture the decorations very well I don't even have any pictures of the posters and signs that we got but, basically there were a lot of Princesses all over the walls in our house.  My mom and I made the tissue poms during two nap breaks.  They always add a nice pinch of color and sweetness to a party.  I got the castle below because I wanted another activity that the boys attending could enjoy. I didn't want the party to be so girly that the boys were neglected. lol  In fact I think we had more boys in attendance than girls.  Only one little guy actually scribbled some color on the castle but, they all seemed to love running in and out of it and playing with the musical instruments that I hid inside.  I would say that the castle was a hit and was worth the investment.  I bought it on sale from Amazon but, I've heard that Wall-Mart sells these periodically as well.

I didn't capture the food table but, basically we served fruit on skewers to look wand-like, finger PB&J and cheese sandwiches, chocolate, banana, and pumpkin mini muffins, individual chip bags, capri-suns, waters and cake. I kept the food super simple. I wanted all the foods to be finger foods and it turned out just fine.  The mini muffins were a big hit as were the fruit wands.  Though I cautioned the parents not to let their children run with the sharp skewer spears! lol.  

Daisy LOVED helping Daddy blow up the helium balloons in the morning before her party started.  I even caught her blowing a balloon up by herself after Daddy had gone to the store. lol. She was actually helpful with a lot of little tasks.  She went outside with me while I tied 3 balloons onto the mail box and I didn't even pay much attention but, evidently she remembered what colors they were (pink, purple and white) because one got taken by a neighbor kid and Daisy knew exactly what color was missing later in the afternoon.  Pretty smart cookie if I do say so! :). 

 Though Daisy will probably never remember this party aside from reading this post in a few years in our printed blog books, I do want her to know that a lot of love goes into her parties and she is so worth it:).  Her birthday brings so many people together that I don't get to see nearly enough.  I am thankful for that! 

My mom was such a tremendous help this year in many ways.  It was so much fun to prepare goodies bags, cut out crafts and even prepare food the day of with her by my side.  I am SO thankful that she was here to celebrate with us this year.  Such a treat for us all.  Thank you Mommy for everything!  The only reason I am in a picture is because my mom likes to capture things as much as I do:).  Below I am cutting out lots of little paper shapes for the kids to stick on their shields and crowns....while texting evidently? Don't remember that. haha Good times. hehe

Well, stay tuned for part 2.  A Princess Party in action!