Egg Hunt, Holy Saturday & Longest Mass Ever

On Saturday we woke up and took the kids to a park for an Easter Egg hunt.  They had face painting and the Easter Bunny was available for pictures while we waited for the egg hunt to start.

The cutest little bunny I ever did see. 

My mom met us there to hang out and watch the big egg hunt.  Ollie absolutely adores his MawMaw, anytime he sees her he wants her to hold him. 

The last egg hunt Elle did was at the Rascals stadium and it was a nightmare.  This one was so much more organized!  They had a field with eggs scattered and had all participants line the edges of the field so everyone had a fair start.  It wasn't a mad dash like the one at the baseball field.

Elle would walk around and look for the pink eggs to pick up.  At times she was walking past eggs of other colors! haha

Ollie decided to join the fun. 

My girl.

Successful egg hunt!

We gave MawMaw kisses goodbye and headed to Von Maur for some last minute Easter outfit shopping.  I had bought Oliver's outfit at least a month ago thinking he would surely fit in 18  month clothes by Easter...well, he doesn't. So I was looking for a last minute outfit in 9 or 12 months. 

These two love the upstairs of Von Maur!

I had no luck in the outfit department so I ended up washing his original Easter outfit in hot water and drying on high heat in the hopes of shrinking it. I also buttoned the interior elastic on the tightest setting so it would fit my babe.  It worked!

Home for naps.

We decided to go to mass Saturday night.  We both knew this mass was longer than normal (I assumed 1.5 hours) so I packed lots of snacks, drinks, crayons, etc. in the hopes it would hold my little loves attention. 

It didn't.  Mass was 2.5 hours (for us, we left after communion), it was way past Ollie's bedtime and they were completely restless. As we were leaving Eric commented that we will never go to that mass again.  Now that I'm a few weeks away from the night and I know how nice and casual our Sunday morning was I'm thinking the craziness was worth it and we should go again next year!

I wanted to save their Easter outfits for Sunday so Elle picked out this dress for mass.

Back home and setting out water and carrots for the Easter Bunny!

She fell right asleep because she was nervous he would skip our house if she was awake.

I always say this but I looooooove this age!! Holidays are so so so much fun!

Easter Eggs

I realized I had soooo many pictures from celebrating Easter this year I decided to break up my posts because otherwise one big Easter post would have 1,000 pictures and that may be a bit much. :)

Also, I recently changed my blog to private after reading a terrible article on kids pictures being taken from blogs and social media accounts and posted on a super inappropriate site. All of my social media is set to private so I actually felt so silly that this blog wasn't.  Especially since so many more details are shared here.

Back to Easter eggs...

On my way home from work Good Friday I picked up some Imo's and headed home to dye Easter eggs!

Elle had fun with dropping the eggs in all the colors but did not understand why the white crayon wouldn't show up when she would write on an undyed egg. :)

Oliver was trapped in his highchair the entire time because his little hands would have been in the dye...or he would have tried to drink it.  I had no trust in Oliver. 

The finished product!

Random tidbit...Eric was so upset we didn't put the eggs in the fridge after coloring them so he could eat them. We never did that growing up!  He also told me his egg hunts were never with plastic eggs, they hide the dyed eggs then put them back in the refrigerator after the egg hunt! I could not believe that!

Uncle Alex had stopped by earlier with Easter candy for everyone since we wouldn't be seeing Eric's family over the weekend.  Ollie was a happy guy!

Easter Bunny

We headed to Bass Pro to see the Easter Bunny the Monday before Easter. Mary's family was getting ready to head to Disney World for vacation so wanted to see the Easter Bunny together before the were off on vacation. When we pulled into the parking lot Elle said "the Easter Bunny comes to the fishing place?"...she seemed so surprised and a tad disappointed.

We got there about 30 minutes before the bunny came out so the kids had time to wait patiently run back and forth from the fish tank 500 times and grab everything off the shelves.  Henry and Elle still see each other quite often but not nearly as much as they used to.  With Hens in school and Elle only going to my moms a couple days a week they normally only see each other on weekends, except for some random Thursdays when my mom has all 4 kids. #blessher  So when they get together they get so excited. Sometimes a little too excited. :)

The bunny finally came and Elle was so excited to see him!  She kept waving and telling him hi.

When it was Elle and Ollie's turn Elle went right up to him to tell him hi and sit on his lap.  As I handed Ollie over he had a tight grip on my shirt and seemed nervous but he did great! I think his courage came from having Sissy at his side.

Elle wanted a picture with this big bear before we left. That is Henry next to her with the hat over his head. :)

Mary and I took the kids to Panteras for pizza where the craziness ensued. We let Elle and Henry sit together at a table (which is where I think we went wrong). Oliver and Bear were little angel babies and their older siblings were wild animals. At one point Mary said "let's pretend like we're not with them." haha! Our exit was quick due to the two older crazies and Ollie wasn't quite full as I was loading pizza in a to-go box. This sweet babe grabbed a piece out of the box and kept eating.  I could just eat this little boy up!!!   His cuteness just kills me. 

Just another perfect seester/cousin date. :)

Truman Trip

Last year we took Elle to Columbia for a Mizzou basketball game right before Oliver was born.  We had so much fun we decided to (hopefully) make this an annual trip. 

We left on Saturday afternoon, arrived and checked into our hotel.  Elle was so excited to pack her Frozen suitcase she got from my mom and dad for Christmas.  How adorable is this girl with her suitcase, purse and lovey. 

I am such an OCD germ freak...it killed me to watch Oliver crawl on the floor. I mean it was a nice, very clean hotel...but still.  I also always pack a ziplock baggie for the TV remote.  I once read those are the most germ infested items in a hotel room. 

After we checked in, dropped off our bags we went for a quick dinner at Steak N Shake then headed to the basketball game.  Before the game I raced Elle court-side so she could see Truman.  As she was hugging him and taking her picture they started the announcements for Senior Night so we made it just in time to tell him hello.  I later joked with Eric that we basically go on this trip for that 1 minute Elle is able to hug Truman and tell him hi. :)

Ollie's first Mizzou game. I picture these two at many many more games in the future. 

Eric wasn't too happy about Ollie's binkie for the game (thanks Aunt Mary!!). He was even heckled by an extremely over zealous fan. I mean this lady was screaming at the top of her lungs to the players how worthless they are. #classy It was much better that he was sitting in Eric's lap and not mine because I only caught on after the fact. I may not be my father or sister but we share the same blood...and Oliver is my baby so....Mama wouldn't have been as nice. :)

Cheering on her team.

At one point during the game Elle and I ventured out to find Dippin' Dots.  Elle ordered cotton candy (holy sweet!!) and Ollie and I shared banana split. I loooove Dippin Dots, by far my favorite ice cream. This was Oliver's first time trying it and he loved it just as much as I do. 

She ran into the grocery store with Eric after the game and came out with this necklace shot glass/whistle. 

All ready to hit the pool!  They had about 45 minutes of pool time before it closed for the night. 

Eric and Elle went to the pool while I stayed in the room and put Oliver to bed. 

The next morning Elle and I went to the pool while Eric stayed back in the room with Oliver.  I wanted Oliver to swim but Eric convinced me the water was way too cold for him.  After going to the pool I realized Eric just wanted to lay in bed and watch ESPN because the water was perfectly fine!

Once Elle and I got back to the room we were packing up and getting ready to head to breakfast.  She wanted privacy while changing in the bathroom so I stepped out and not 1 minute later I heard the worst scream ever.  I had left my straightening iron plugged in and she reached up and touched it.  As soon as I heard her scream I knew what I happened.  It burnt her thumb but thankfully her hand must have just brushed it because it could have been so so so much worse. I knowingly left the bathroom with the thing still on which was stupid.  She has been around it at home and I always talk about how hot it is but still my fault for leaving her alone in a bathroom with it on. 

After I held her hand under water and she finally settled down I started crying because I felt like the worst person in the world.  I kept apologizing to her and her only concern was making sure I wasn't sad anymore.  She is just the sweetest little thing. 

After the burn incident we finally headed out the door to breakfast, Elle didn't feel like eating and I still felt so terrible that I didn't push anything on her. She could eat, not eat, order 100 chocolate milks. Everything was fair game. 

Oliver on the other hand stuffed himself silly.  We ordered 2 plates from the kids menu, he ate almost all of both plus all my eggs and some of my hash brown casserole. 

We had a birthday party to stop at as soon as we were back in town.  Elle had fun with the mustache theme.

All the kids with the birthday boy.

 And that was this years fun Columbia weekend!  Another great trip...minus the burn...totally could have done without that part. 

Elle's First Haircut

We made it three years before Elle's first haircut.  Honestly she didn't even truly need one yet, the back was a little uneven but she seemed excited when I mentioned it so away we went one Monday morning.  Eric happened to be off work so he stayed home with Ollie so we could have a girls day. 

When we got there she immediately started playing with the train table and then we walked to the back where she picked out her shampoo flavor (strawberry).  She was the most timid about lying on the table to have her hair washed.  She hates having water poured over her head and she was sure it would get in her eyes.  After some convincing she lyed down and did great.  She was a bit stiff and nervous but did great!

Next she was able to pick out the car she wanted to sit in while they cut her hair and then they asked what she wanted to watch on TV, Peppa Pig of course!

Elle listened to everything the hair stylist asked her to do (look up, look down, etc.).  I decided on a length with her, short enough to even out the back and they cut away.

At the end Elle picked 2 red butterfly clips to go in her hair. She was loving the braid they gave her!

The place did such a great job making Elle feel comfortable and since it was her first haircut I got a certificate with the date, a picture of her new haircut and locks of her hair as part of their 1st haircut package...I also shopped the bow section before checking out. :)

Look at my beautiful girl!!

We continued our girls day with some lunch at Jersey Mike's and then a trip to the grocery store.  I love one  on one time with Elle and I know she does too.  She absolutely loves having my undivided attention. I'm hopeful that one on one dates with each of my kids is the norm for them growing up. Ollie's first haircut date won't be a few years, I'm hanging on tight to those blonde little curls that hang over his ears!