Easter Weekend and Other Updates

Yesterday was Easter, and I must say I had a great long weekend spending some much-needed special time with my family. On Wednesday, my granny Greene (my mom's mom) and my great-uncle Bob (my granny's brother) came down from Wisconsin to visit for a few days. On Thursday, I made taco soup and had my mom, dad, sister, granny, uncle Bob, and cousin David over for dinner. Unfortunately my brother and Jordan both had to work, and my aunt Jackie (David's mom) already had plans, so they weren't able to join us. We had a nice evening visiting, and my taco soup was a hit with Granny and Uncle Bob, neither of whom had ever had it before. Here are some pictures that Uncle Bob took during our visit on Thursday:

Rylee was a little shy... she still needed to get used to Uncle Bob

Rylee wanted Uncle Bob's camera

On Friday, our power company had to cut off our power for a few hours to do some maintenance on some nearby power lines, so Rylee and I went over to my parents' house to hang out and visit with everyone until our power was turned back on. Early Friday morning, my uncle Kenny (my mom's brother), aunt Donella, and cousin Kenneth arrived at my parents' house from Florida to visit for a few days as well. On Friday evening, I invited everyone over to my house for dinner again. My mom and I made "Chicken Stuff" with mashed potatoes and other sides, and my aunt Jackie baked a yummy cake for dessert. Thankfully, Jordan got off work in time to join us, and my cousin Erica and her family came as well, but unfortunately Seth had to work again. Here are some pictures from Friday:

Rylee with her great-great-uncle Bob

2 generations

3 generations

4 generations

my mom, my granny, me, and Rylee - 4 generations

4 generations

Rylee and her great-aunt Jackie

On Saturday, I had to work my usual four hours at Coffee & Co., but Jordan was off, so he got to spend some special daddy/daughter time with Rylee. Shoal Creek Baptist Church had their annual "Great Eggsit" Easter festivities, so Jordan took Rylee to that to have some fun. When I got off work, I met them there to check out all the activities, and then we headed home. When I got home, I checked the mail and found that Rylee's newest book from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library had arrived. It's called Where's Spot?, and it's a lift-the-flap book. I was so excited... it may sound silly, but I love lift-the-flap books. Anyway, later Saturday afternoon, we went to Jordan's aunt Tavia's house to visit for a little while and have some burgers for dinner, and then we went over to his dad and sister's house to visit with them and color Easter eggs with our nephews. Here are some pictures from our busy Saturday:

Rylee "hunting" Easter eggs at the "Great Eggsit"

Rylee and Daddy at the "Great Eggsit"

Rylee's new book from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Rylee, ready to go visit family. Saturday was her first day riding in her big girl car seat!

Rylee's very first colored Easter egg

the colored Easter eggs Jordan and I made

Sunday was Easter. Jordan, Rylee, and I went to New Home Baptist Church to be with Jordan's family, and after church, we went to his dad and sister's house for Easter lunch. After lunch, we hid Easter eggs around their yard for our nephews to hunt. I enjoyed watching the boys run all over the yard (and in some cases, running around the yard with them to help them) in search of the hidden eggs. Shortly after the hunt, we went home. Later in the afternoon, I called my sister to see if she wanted to come over to our house for a little while to hunt some eggs that Jordan and I had filled with candy. My mom brought her over, and she decided she wanted Jordan to hide the eggs so that she and I could hunt for them together to see who could find the most. It was fun to run around and feel like a kid again. After Amanda and I found all the eggs Jordan hid for us, Amanda decided she wanted to re-hide all of the eggs so Jordan and I could hunt them to see who could find the most. Well... she hid them a little TOO well, and it took us FOREVER to find all of them. We decided that, if we ever have an Easter egg hunt again, Amanda isn't allowed to hide the eggs. After we finished hunting the eggs here at our house, we all went over to my parents' house to eat leftovers and hang out for a little while. Eventually, we came back home, put Rylee to bed, and went to bed ourselves. And that was the end of our lovely Easter weekend full of family time. It was a great weekend indeed. Here are some pictures from Sunday:

Rylee's first Easter basket

Rylee checking out her goodies from the "Easter Bunny"

our little family, ready for church

Rylee and Daddy, dressed and ready for church

Rylee and Mommy, dressed and ready for church

Rylee with her cousins Levi and Spencer after church

In other (quick) news, the Disney movies that we ordered from the Disney Movie Club came in the mail today. We got The Aristocats, A Bug's Life, Cars, Finding Nemo, Monster's, Inc., Toy Story, and Toy Story 2 - ALL for less than $22 BRAND NEW! I am so excited that we're getting our family movie collection started. I can't wait until Rylee is old enough to watch movies with us so we can have family movie nights. I think those nights will make for some special memories over the years. Also, Jordan and I stopped by the Boy's Store really quick today and bought Rylee her very own Slapout t-shirt. I really wanted to get her a pretty purple one, but I decided to go with a gender-neutral color instead and bought her a green one so that if Jordan and I have a boy someday, he can wear it as well. It's a 12-month size shirt, which is perfect, since Rylee is quickly outgrowing her 9-month-size clothes. I can't wait to try her new little t-shirt on her soon. I know she'll look so cute! And, last but not least, I would like to announce that Rylee's first tooth has FINALLY broken through her gums. I've been keeping an eye on it for the last few days, because I could tell that it looked like she was really close to cutting one, and yesterday while I was feeding her dinner, I stuck my finger in her mouth, and there it was! - a new, sharp tooth. No turning back now! It's just starting to come in, so I can't see it well enough to take a picture yet, but here are pictures of Rylee's new t-shirt and our new family movies:

the front of the t-shirt

the back of the t-shirt

our new movies!