A day in the life...

Sneak peak at a series of emails sent to Ryan...

7:59am

OMG, I am cracking up. She somehow bit a hole in her paci and keeps looking at it trying to figure out what's wrong. Finally she said "MOMMY, IT'S.......IT'S.......PACI.......IT'S......UHHH.......IT'S BROKEN!" I said, yup, it's broken, and she then threw it on the floor. I'm thinking maybe we should go with this and cut a tiny hole in all her paci's? Guess I'll see how today goes with just this one "broken" paci.

8:58am

Oh boy, we are in TROUBLE!

We are upstairs playing and she keeps putting on her dress up clothes. She just got the whole outfit on again, was spinning with her hands above her head, and said "Mommy, look, I'm a princess!"

This girl rocks. :)

1:03pm

Seriously, she is on a roll today. She was throwing a HUGE fit when I put her down for a nap - I mean, totally hyper ventilating, sobbing, screaming for 15 minutes after I went downstairs. Probably my fault, I let her get too tired and made her eat when we got home instead of going straight to bed. Plus her paci is still 'broken'.

So I let her come back downstairs to sit with me and watch one show. Just a moment ago, she looked over and said "Mommy, I feel better. Thank you."

Seriously? Who is this kid!!! She is such a mixture of both of us - a severe drama queen and a complete kiss up.

2:01pm

Nap number 1 with 'broken' paci....took over 30 mins to go to sleep, but I think she is finally there. We will see how long this lasts!

What time is too early to crack open a bottle of wine? It's been a long two hours :)

3:26pm

Broken paci = 1, Mommy = 0. One hour nap and a grouchy little girl. She asked for Dora and I obliged...picking my battles today and paci is winning!!!

6:00pm

Where the he(double hockey sticks) are you? Get home now!!!

(ok, fine, I didn't really send that last email. But many of nights, I've seriously considered it)

Typical day for a stay at home mom, wouldn't you say?

Easter morning

While we were sleeping, the Easter Bunny paid Lily a visit.

He left a fun filled basket of goodies to be discovered in the morning...

...and some hidden eggs filled with candy

She quickly figured out searching for eggs and was over the moon with each one she found.

modeling a few items the Easter Bunny left

and thrilled with more candy

She might have been on a sugar high - she was hyper all morning.

Jelly beans for breakfast makes for one entertaining hour at church.

After sorting through her basket, she showed off her loot to Nanny via Skype.

"Look Nanny, new slippers!"

We then cleaned up and headed off to church.

followed by Easter dinner and my very first attempt at baking a cake!

(idea stolen from here)

Though we missed our family, we had a very Happy Easter and hope each of you did too!

Easter Egg Hunt

This weekend was the first major holiday away from our extended family. So we had fun creating a few new traditions for our little family. On Saturday, we walked down to our local grocery store which was hosting a small Easter Egg Hunt, with a surprise appearance from a special bunny.

We've learned how to 'smile' on demand. Hence the cheesy grin.

"what the heck are we doing here?"

"and who the heck is that??"

The Easter Bunny!

Not a huge fan, but at least she didn't scream and cry like when we saw Santa.

Heading out in search of eggs.

She kept repeating "I look for eggs. I look for eggs."

She only found one during the actual hunt and was perfectly content with that.

But at the end, she yelled "I see more eggs Daddy, I see more eggs!"

Though she didn't quite understand why she couldn't put these in her basket.

That darn Easter Bunny popped around the corner again.

The best part...CANDY! Not sure who was more excited for the jelly beans...Lily or Daddy!

Next up, the Easter Bunny visited Lily at home!

Wedding day

My big brother tied the knot and I couldn't be happier for him. Growing up, Matt was always on the lookout for me - sharing his Tonka trucks by throwing them into my play n pack, letting me tag along with his buddies as long as I brought my green and brown eye shadow (camouflage of course!), or threatening Ryan if he didn't treat me right. I know he will take even better care of Kristin and their family. As for Kristin, I just could not imagine a more perfect match for Matt - she is calm, witty, patient, understanding, kind. And selfishly, I love her too and am so excited to have another strong woman in the family! :) Cheers, Matt and Kristin, to a happy life together!

Seriously Lily, it's NOT your party!!

This girl LOVES to dance. Too bad she inherited her mother's moves instead of her father's.

Rehearsal Dinner

We enjoyed the fun rehearsal dinner on the gulf side of the bay, outside overlooking a long boardwalk, beautiful views, and a live band. Not only did many family members make the trek to Florida, but also lots and lots of Matt and Kristin's best friends. I had a great time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, and know the newlyweds couldn't imagine their special day without these people!

Ryan, Luke, and Reece

Casey and Auntie

Lily has a bit of a problem. She thinks every party is her party.

She monopolized the dance floor and insisted Reece join her most of the evening.

Maggie was a good sport too!

Uncle Tom and Pam

Uncle Kent and Aunt Donna

Rhonni and cousin Amy

Julienne, Kristin, and Rhonni

Michael, Casey, Jason, Ryan, Jesse

Judi (Michael's wife), Kristin and I

Next, the wedding day is finally here!

Beach Bum

Lily's first trip to the ocean was a success - she loved almost everything about it. Even though it was a very foggy morning, it didn't stop our little beach bum!

Not a huge fan of the sand in her toes. But she loved throwing it!

Next up, rehearsal dinner...