Lilly's First Easter

For as long as I can remember, I've loved Easter. I have fond memories of Easter egg hunts and my dad getting excited to put together Easter baskets. I specifically remember one year, we were over at his house, and he suddenly came running down the stairs, arms full of baskets, yelling "THE EASTER BUNNY CAME! THE EASTER BUNNY CAME!!" I am excited to hide, hunt for, and dye eggs with Lilly when she's older. This year, I just used the holiday as an excuse to spoil Lilly and Ryan.

I got up early, got the baskets ready, and then took a tip from my dad, and went running down the hall, saying "the Easter Bunny came!!" Lilly got lots of fun, new toys...and a few necessary items. I finally caved and got her a new changing pad cover. I swear, with how often I clean the current one, it's in the wash more than it's actually on the pad. She also got a lace onsie (which matched the orange, lace shirt that I got a while back, so we matched today), a Sesame Street smart phone, a mini Elmo to keep in the diaper bag, some bunny Easter eggs to play with, some books, and 10 finger puppets. She LOVES the two finger puppets that my mom gave her (mostly she just likes to eat them), so when I stumbled on a 10 pack on Amazon for only $1.39, I got really excited. Ryan, on the other hand, got lots of candy. I themed his basket to be Star Wars. I got him Darth Vador Easter eggs, a Darth Vador Easter bunny with jelly beans, and a Storm Trooper chocolate bunny. 

At around 4 o'clock, we headed over to my mom's house for Easter dinner. I made deviled eggs with a secret ingredient. For some reason, adding bacon to them sounded good, and I'm glad I did, because the bacon addition was a big hit. I also made a sunflower Peep cake, and ATTEMPTED, but failed, to make Jello deviled egg jigglers. I'll put up a picture of how they were supposed to look, and we'll just pretend that's how they turned out....Dinner was yummy! Mom made ham, a salad, scalloped potatoes, rolls, and by request, brussels sprouts with bacon for me. I've been craving them like crazy...maybe because I'm crazy! Lilly ate most of a roll, some potatoes, cooked carrots, some asparagus, and, believe it or not, left room for cake. 

Oh, and the Easter Bunny left us baskets at mom's house, too! Ryan got a really pretty Tiffany blue shirt and matching plaid tie, and some M&Ms (which are his favorite). I got a shopping cart/restaurant highchair cover for Lilly (damask, of course). And Lilly got some books, a new dress, ANOTHER small Elmo, an Easter bunny stuffed animal, and some treats. She definitely got spoiled this year...as I'm assuming she will every year. Happy Easter, y'all! Enjoy the overload of pictures. (I have a few more stragglers on my phone, but I'm having a hard time getting them to my email, so I'll post them tomorrow.)

Yay for new changing pad covers!

Playing with her Sesame Street smart phone.

Daddy gave her his Darth Vador Easter bunny

The Easter eggs were filled with M&Ms, so she loved to shake them like rattles

Notice how one is missing? The one missing is the mouse finger puppet. Any idea where it went?...

Junie took it!!

The miniature egg hunt in our bedroom

This is what I attempted to make. Let's just say, I wouldn't even take them out of the fridge, they were so bad.

The reason I had such trouble is because I didn't have an egg mold. So I improvised and hoped that making my own out of Easter eggs would work. I duct taped over the bottom holes and the crack down the middle. Then I drilled holes on the top, for pouring in Jello. Easier said than done....

My peep cake. If you'll recall, last year I made a bunny Peep cake. After I made that one, I saw this picture and vowed that I would make it this year. 

We matched!!