Daisypath - Personal pictureDaisypath Happy Birthday tickers
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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Easter, etc.

Holidays are so much fun with Olivia right now. She is at the age where she is starting to get it. She understood Santa at Christmas and the fact that he comes down the chimney to leave presents. She knew that hearts were a part of Valentine's Day and she quickly learned that Easter egg hunts were a major part of Easter. We practiced hunting for eggs in the weeks leading up to the holiday. It quickly became one of her favorite things to do. Needless to say that when Easter finally arrived she was a seasoned pro at finding eggs.

Easter weekend was a lot of fun. My Grandma Cleo and Uncle John came down from Michigan to spend a few days with us. Olivia loves them both so much and spends the entire time trying to show them all of her talents and tricks. Olivia also attended a birthday party for her cousin Brendan. This was no regular birthday party. It was held at Gymnastics in Motion!

Although most of the kids at the party were 8 and older, Olivia was still allowed to participate and test out all of the fun gymnastics equipment. She immediately eyed a pit full of soft, foam blocks. She spent most of her time throwing herself into this pit, squealing with delight each time.

She was a bit small to do some of the activities but the instructors did help her try out the rings and the uneven bars. She was a little unsure about the rings, but took a liking to the bars. I was very impressed with the amount of upper body strength she seemed to have. She was able to pull her legs up while holding on all by herself. There was also a trampoline and a huge spring floor that the kids could play on. She mainly ran around like a crazy girl, going from one activity to the next. One thing is for sure...she had a blast.


Next it was time for presents and cake. I am so impressed with the way Olivia handles herself at birthday parties. You would think it would be impossible for a two year old to sit still and watch someone else open presents, or wait for everyone to get cake before being able to dig in yourself, but she does great. She watched with enthusiasm as Brendan tore through his gifts. In fact I think she was as excited as he was and they weren't even her gifts. And as far as cake goes, I think that Olivia would wait forever if it meant she would eventually be able to enjoy a piece of cake.

Before the party was over the kids got to participate in an Easter egg hunt. This would be the first of three egg hunts Olivia would do during the weekend. The birthday party was beyond fun. That was evident in constant smile Olivia had on her face. Having it at Gymnastics in Motion was a great idea. I will have to put that one in my back pocket for the future.

That night we headed to my Mom's for some dinner and for Olivia's second Easter egg hunt. Here she is in action...

Easter Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous, sunny day. The weather tends to be iffy this time of year, so we were thrilled to see the sun shining. Olivia got all dolled up in her adorable little Easter dress and we headed off to church. Just look at her in this dress...what a doll.

She had a beautiful pink coat to go over her dress, which made her look entirely too grown up! We asked her to model for us so we could take a few pictures. Here are some of her poses...

Every Easter we have dinner at the home of our close family friends. They are kind enough to include us and include Olivia in the festivities. The first order of business...another Easter egg hunt in their huge backyard. Olivia was searching for the purple eggs and she needed very little help to locate them.

Her favorite part of the egg hunt? Finding out what is in the eggs. Well this year she was thrilled to find cold hard cash. After opening all of her eggs she walked away $6 richer. Not bad for a two year old! She also entertained us with her beautiful piano playing. She just can't resist...every time she sees a piano she get super excited.

After a very long day we headed home and took a nice relaxing walk outdoors with my family. It was much needed, considering the amount of food we consumed at dinner. I had to struggle with Olivia to get her to change out of her Easter dress into something more suitable for a walk outdoors. I never thought I would be arguing with my daughter about taking off a dress. I always thought that I would have to fight with Olivia to get her to willingly wear a dress. I guess I was wrong! She did end up taking it off, but only after I promised that she could wear it again soon.

We ended the day by giving Olivia her Easter basket from us. After the craziness of the day, and the fact that she had already received three other Easter baskets, I almost forgot that we had one for her. I am not a huge fan of giving candy so we opted for little toys instead. When I asked her what she wanted in her Easter basket this year she, "Just M&M's Mommy!". So I did break down and buy her two little eggs filled with M&M's...what Olivia calls her "favorite special treat". Nothing wrong with a little chocolate once in awhile, right?

It was a great weekend. We were able to celebrate the holiday with friends and family, attend a really fun birthday party and enjoy some great weather! Now that it is starting to warm up we have been spending more time outdoors. We took our first trip to the zoo last weekend. It was opening day and Olivia's school was having a picnic. We were brave and decided to walk around the zoo for a bit. Olivia was brave and decided she was ready to ride a horse. Words cannot explain just how much she enjoyed that! Of course the memory on my camera was full so I was not able to take any pictures. But since we have a zoo pass (thank you, Aunt Sue Sue), we will be going back countless times, I'm sure. I will wrap up this post with a few more pictures from our Easter weekend. I think it is safe to say, Spring has Sprung!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What beautiful pictures. Her Easter outfits were gorgeous...I am so happy to see that she enjoyed herself so much. She does have a lot of fun and it shows....

Love Aunt Sue Sue

Wormie said...

What a pretty Easter dress!! Sounds like it was a great holiday!!!!

You need to go back to the zoo! I want a photo of Livie on the pony!!

Love,
Aunt Delia

Anonymous said...

Olivia just made Easter so special...in fact, she makes everything very special. What did we ever do without her?
Love,
Nana

Erin said...

Jess she's so cute and growing up so much! I love the pic of her in the foam pit- a gymnast and a model in the making for sure!

Tiffany Leininger said...

Olivia looks so beautiful in her dress and pink coat! I am glad you had a nice Easter. Thanks for sharing the pictures with us! I always enjoy seeing pictures of Olivia.

Tiffany

Aunt Chris said...

Another M&M Lover!!! Just like her cousin Jake...looks like I know what I need to buy for the house :) I'll bribe her into all kinds of good stuff!! LOL