EASTER PICS

In your easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it,
You'll be the grandest lady in the easter parade.
I'll be all in clover and when they look you over,
I'll be the proudest fellow in the easter parade.
On the avenue, fifth avenue, the photographers will snap us,
And you'll find that you're in the rotogravure.
Oh, I could write a sonnet about your easter bonnet,
And of the girl I'm taking to the easter parade.

- Mr. Irving Berlin

Evie didn't have an Easter bonnet, but she certainly had an Easter basket. Two Easter baskets to be exact... and she filled them both to capacity quite a few times this weekend!

 

Coach Neal giving her pointers on hunting
strategy, the importance of maintaining a serious game face,
and how to outwit/outlast the other toddlers.

Good form, little lady!

  

The hopping bunny was captivating.

But not captivating enough for this guy.
This bunny was a tired little bunny.

Is it sad when the toddler outlasts
the adult in managing to keep her dress clothes on?!

Look, no hands!!

I have no idea where she gets it from.

Hmmm.... let's think about this.

All cleaned up and looking sharp.
This happens about once a year, so you better believe
we grabbed a picture of it while we could!

IT'S A CHOCOLATEY WEEKEND

We have quite a collection of chocolate bunnies in our house right now.  Some have already met their demise and have been gobbled up, some have a few parts missing, and others are still safe in their packaging.

And no, we haven't waited till Easter to open them.  Oops! 

There is a cute Peter Rabbit bunny on our kitchen table that I'm hesitant to open, simply because I love the Beatrice Potter story and I'm slow to decapitate such a friendly little bunny face.

Right now, Evie mainly associates Easter with the idea of egg hunts and chocolate goodies. The concept of Christ dying and being resurrected is an almost impossible topic to convey to a 2 year old. (I'm not sure I'm doing the best job of it.)  

We had a quick discussion about the meaning of Easter a few days ago.  Like most toddlers, she loves a good story and enjoyed listening, but I'm pretty sure it will be a while before she truly grasps the idea. I'm open to suggestions if you have any!

I did a bit of research online the other night and stumbled upon a French Easter tradition that I thought was not only fun and appropriate, but might open up a door to other biblical stories that she would enjoy. (This tradition may not be only limited to France, as I have seen some other European countries have similar confections.)

Unlike the typical chocolate shapes sold in other countries, the French have quite a diverse selection of goodies -  including church bells, hens, and little Easter Fish called “Fritures de Pâques” that all have roots to a biblical story in some fashion. 
 

The “Fritures de Pâques” are called “fritures” (fried whitebait) because of their fishy shape and are often filled with friture - a mixture of little chocolates shaped like seafood like mussels, oysters and shrimp/prawns.



Of course, the fish symbol is one that we associate with Christianity. You would think it would be easy to find chocolates in a fish shape here in America. Nope, not so easy, as I have found out recently!

Bells are also immortalized in chocolate of various kinds, especially for Easter. Tradition dictates that no bells are rung on Good Friday or Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil. 

Legend says that the reason for this is because the church bells went to Rome to be blessed by the Pope and returned, loaded with eggs, on Easter Sunday. The eggs were then scattered in gardens, which explains why Easter egg hunt tend to take place outside on a lawn or garden area. 

I wish the chocolate fish and bells would catch on here in America. Or maybe they already have and I haven't found the right place to purchase the chocolates? I'd try making them myself, but that could be quite the unholy mess!

Either way, I'm inclined to make chocolate fish and bells a new Easter tradition in our house.... if I could just find some!

   Up from the grave He arose; 
 with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; 
 He arose a victor from the dark domain, 
 and he lives forever, with His saints to reign. 
 He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!

I have a feeling we'll be singing this during the Sunday service... since it's already an Easter tradition!  

HAPPY SPRING!

I think we can declare Old Man Winter officially gone. It has been downright summer-y around here lately!

The azaleas are poppin' around here!

But pain is beauty and beauty is pain, right?
The pollen has been KILLER this spring. Momma had a sinus infection that
kept us inside for a few days..

That's okay though... because while avoiding the pollen, we've been checking out the new gypsy tent that Momma made for Evie.

Whoa!! Flashing some plumber's crack!
That's one side effect of potty training -
the pants don't fit quite like they used to with a puffy diaper.

Double Whoa!! I see where she gets it from!
(ha... Dadda is gonna kill me when he sees this!)

 

I wasn't sure whether I should add a window to the side for Evie to peek out of... I love this fabric pattern, so I didn't want to cut a hole in it!

I asked Abbott's opinion on the matter, but he didn't seem to care.

As long as he's fed, warm, and can find his fist/thumb to chew,
he doesn't really care about much at all!
HAPPY boy!

HAPPY SPRING Y'ALL!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANDY!

Happy birthday, Grandaddy Neal! 

Or as Evie calls him in toddler talk, "Happy Birthday, Dandy!"  She's getting better at pronouncing Grandaddy, but it now comes out more like Gran-Dandy.

For those of you who actually know my father, feel free to laugh at the nickname. We all know that Mr. Winston R. Neal -- although he is a gentleman extraordinaire, a rugged individual, a bona fide cowboy, a licensed aviator, and a few more (possibly unmentionable) things --   he isn't exactly the first image that pops to mind when you think of the dandiest person you know. "Dandy" is so very not appropriate for my father, that it just makes it all the more hilarious that his granddaughter calls him that.

This weekend we traveled down to celebrate Gran-Dandy's birthday. 

And he gave us something in return: our little girl has a fully diagnosed case of airplane fever after taking a ride in Gran-Dandy's airplane.   It's most definitely genetic, although the same fever hit me a little bit later in life.

This may be the first time a frilly pink tutu has been considered acceptable aviator attire.
Or maybe not. You never can tell about those silly pilots these days.

"See, Uncle Battle? I'm going to sit there and you're going to sit there."

Sassy little pilot!

Abbott is so excited about his very first plane ride.
Can't you tell?

"Y'all strap in back there! This could get bumpy!"

"Um, Mom? They do know what they're doing, right?"

A view of the runways after taking off.

We checked out some of Grandaddy's cows.
(The cows would be those teensy little black dots
in the middle of the grassiest area - the light green rectangle.)

Different angle, same cows.
Grandaddy was showing his passengers  the skill
it takes to orbit a plane around a fixed point.

She was silent for a while after we landed and taxied the plane back to the hangar. (I was a little worried that the silence meant she was getting airsick, but she proved me wrong.)  The minute we opened the door, she got out and turned to look at us and proclaimed, "Evie's a pilot!"

Kissing Abbott after a safe landing!!

LITTLE EINSTEINS

Spring is springing, our chickens are laying, and the little people in this house... well, they are getting bigger. Much bigger.

We're going BANANAS around here!
And of course, Momma had to make the silly FEED ME!! face that served absolutely no purpose, since little man wasn't even facing the right direction to see it. His big sister had sweet potatoes for her first food, but our little monkey received a serving of mashed bananas for his first "meal."
Hey, monkey see, monkey do!

Miss Priss decided you're never too old to try to climb in your brother's  exersaucer.
And then she got stuck trying to get out.
So she decided she was too big to climb in her brother's  exersaucer again.

My how time flies so fast and furious. In just a blink of an eye, we've gone from this... 

To this... 

Our little Abbott has been with us for four months now. Although it doesn't sound that long, we can't remember life without him!!

FUN WITH LETTERS

Evie and I sat down to play with her alphabet blocks earlier tonight. After she informed me multiple times that "E" is for Evie ... and for Elmo...  and for Elephant, we decided to spell out Abbott's name just to throw some variety in our all-about-the-E-spelling bee.

This was too good of a photo opportunity to pass up, and luckily the little man was in a happy and very giggly mood... so here are the results!

Not to be outdone by the 3-month old,  his big sister requested her own photo shoot.... but in typical 2-year old fashion, she wouldn't stop talking, wiggling, being distracted, or making faces.  

So, these pictures capture her personality perfectly!!

"It's MY name, Momma!"

"Smile, Evie!"
"No."
"Please? Pretty please?"

"Oh, okay!"

"See momma? It's MY name!"