Easter!

So this is the last of my blogs about our big Easter weekend. {It's taken me all week to get this done -that's how we've been playing catch up.} We were lucky to be able to fit this all into one weekend and so happy to spend Easter with our family this year. I can't remember the last time we did. We went to church with my parents and afterward there was an Easter egg hunt. Ryder knew exactly what to do. I don't think he really even knew or cared that anything was in the eggs but he did go after them, pick them up, then drop them or the whole basket, and repeat. Here he is waiting to GO!

my sweet Paisley girl, just taking it all in.

His "surprised" face.


not sure what he's doing, "quacking," maybe?!?

with my little easter bunnies!

proof that I still wear HIGH heels... even while egg hunting ;)

We went to have lunch with Mimi & Poppy & the grandmothers. Ryder's helping:

Paisley & Grandma

And with Grandmommie

lunch together.

Then we headed to the egg hunt with Daniel's family. Their egg hunt is serious business. It's what I like to call "all-terrain!" It was starting to drizzle by this point, but Ryder & Tyler didn't seem to care!

Where are the Eggs?

Paisley & Grammy!

And with Auntie Sarah


Pause from the hunt to hug Grandpa - so sweet.


With the Aunties Rachel & Sarah! Ryder did NOT want to sit.

Paisley & Nana

And a we try for a family pic again... 3rd day in a row.


It was a good Easter. Glad to spend it with our loved-ones. The weekend was busy & hectic, but great and worth it all.
Headed back... this was just after we'd gotten on the highway!

Ryder's 2nd Birthday!

Ryder's 2nd Birthday party... Elmo Extravaganza!
Yes, due to the recent obsession, we gave in to the little furry guy and had an all out Elmo party. We got to have Ryder's party with family on his actual birthday. I don't think we can say it enough, but we are SO grateful to our family & friends for loving our little ones and celebrating their life with us like they do!! We had at one point over 40 people there. This year, Ryder was not afraid (like he was last year), he was in his element- bouncing, playing with cousins, hugging & blowing kisses to the grandmothers! I didn't get pics of all the decorations, but here are a few.

his cute little invite below

our greeter :)

The cake. Yes, I did an Elmo cake. Was a little stressful when after adding much coloring elmo was 'salmon' colored! It turned out cute though:


As soon as the cousins arrived they headed out to BOUNCE!


Ryder & Trapper doing a little jigg I guess.



sweet baby Cash!

friends. katey, melissa, michelle

Paisley was passed around all afternoon, here she was relaxing with Grandma Williams.

Cooper with his "joker" face... fruit punch anyone?!?


CAKE time! Again, we attempted a family shot. Everyone was wondering why Ryder was screaming during the cake... I'd placed the Elmo hat on his head and he was pulling at the tight rubberband like string that holds it on. I said, "Don't pull that it's gonna pop you..." And what does he do? Pulls it as hard as possible and popped himself in the cheek, and thus the picture below:

A little better, a candle is lit...


What's funny is about half way through cutting the cake Ryder realized that half of Elmo's face was now missing and looked down, pointing to half eaten Elmo and said, "Uh Oh, Mommy, Uh Oh!"

Giving High Fives!

And they're off! We were attempting to sit them down to take a picture! Ryder's 3 cousins all within 5 months of each other (Tyler, Ryder, Cooper, Trapper) all played together and are at such a CUTE age together!

Pinata! We gave them all a few swings, then helped it along. I don't think Ryder had any idea why we were hitting the poor thing!! Tyler attempting...

Ryder - hitting it like a drum!


Presents! The kid made a haul again. Checkin out his lawnmower.

A wagon!

cooking stuff from Mimi of course.

Super cool new bedding for his bog boy bed from Grammy & Grandpa!

And he's cooking in the wagon. why not?

He got lots of Elmo stuff, new summer clothes and swim stuff, a pool, a tryke, new books - all kinds of fun toys! Couldn't be a happier little 2 YEAR OLD!

ZOO trip!

This past weekend we went to Dallas for a big fun Easter/Birthday weekend! We'd planned to take Ryder to the Zoo for the first time on Friday. Well, we woke up to a big ole' thunderstorm! We loaded up with Mimi & Poppy and headed out mid day anyway and fortunately it cleared up and by the afternoon it was nice and beautiful. Some of the animals still didn't want to come out, but for Ryder's first trip he got to see more than he could process for sure!

my little penguin:



On our way to the monorail through the wilds of Africa...


Paisley enjoyed it too! Especially while riding with Daddy:



The sun came out! So cool.

Feeding the ostrich - see he even liked the fake animals!

and hugging the monkeys...


This was the coolest part of the day: One of the gorillas had come down to pay everyone a visit at the glassed in area and Ryder literally got to stand eye to eye with that beast!

The best family shot - we are learning that getting a family shot with a now 2 year old is next to impossible. He was perfectly happy a second before this, and who knows what Paisley sees over there!

All in all we had a fun little first trip to the zoo. Ryder was intrigued and it was cool to see him connect with the "amimmals" he's been reading about in his books :)

TWO!

Ryder Marcus is TWO today! Our little baby is now a little boy and it happened so fast! Everyday is a new adventure right now. He's so inquisitive- learning more and more every minute! It's fun for us to watch him just experience life. He's definitely all boy and super active, but still has his sweet little side that I hope we can keep. We had our well-check doctor visit this week and he's measure in at just above average for height & weight. He's almost 35 inches and 28 pounds. He's actually lost a few pounds since the last check up, but the doctor said that's good for his age- just means he's active and not eating junk!! We love you so much sweet boy. You've changed our lives in the most amazing ways - may each year be blessed even more.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY!