Zoo Trip with Aunt Corinna

Sorry - this post is very late as this trip actually occurred prior to Easter! But we've had a rough week around here with 2 year molars coming in and various other ailments causing a lack of sleep in me that I haven't experienced since Kendall's 1st couple of weeks in my world. Sleep deprivation and I don't get along. At all. And my little oink didn't eat anything but yogurt for almost an entire week, which resulted in even more loss of sleep for me. But we're on the mend and catching up on sleep (Kendall has napped for 3.5 hours the past two days in a row and resisted waking up both times) ... and apparently trying to catch up on lost meals as well. So here are the pictures from our zoo trip with Aunt Corinna during her visit!

Kendall had several "firsts" during this visit. Up until Aunt Corinna asked her to feed a giraffe, she was vehemently opposed to the idea.
But she did it this time! And look at the smile on that giraffe's face! :)

There was, of course, water play. That resulted in a wardrobe change.


And then ..... HER FIRST PONY RIDE!!!! The pony's name was Scout. And I gave him a big kiss for giving my little girl her very first (positive) equestrian experience!


Wouldn't be a zoo visit without a trip to see the piggies, Zoe and Jordan. Yes, Kendall knows them by name and asks for them!
And here's a picture that was actually taken when we first arrived at the zoo, but it seemed like a good "closing" picture to this post. 3 happy girls at the zoo!

Easter 2011

Easter began a day early for Kendall this year. After she dyed her eggs on Easter Eve, we went to Nana's house for supper because, as an added bonus, Aunt Corinna was visiting! Nana had carefully orchestrated a very elaborate, and gift-filled, "scavenger hunt" for Kendall ... for which Kendall may have been a tad bit on the young side. After approximately the 2nd gift bag she found, she had no interest whatsoever in following any clues to look for any more gifts because this one had play dough paraphernalia! Scavenger hunt - over. Play dough festivities - on. When we were able to resume the hunt, I did most of the hunting and eventually was able to herd Kendall onto the back porch where her real Easter present from Nana was waiting for her. Here is Kendall's new water table. It will live at Nana's house.

Nana's Easter Bunny cupcakes were, of course, a big hit!

We got home from supper and had just enough time to put Kendall's (not so) carefully dyed eggs in the basket for the Easter Bunny to hide and to put out a plate of carrots (with ranch, of course) and a glass of milk for the Easter Bunny. Like the scavenger hunt, I think Kendall may have been a bit young for this concept because she promptly ate the carrots and drank the milk. You snooze, you lose Easter Bunny!

Finally, the Easter Bunny came!!! Kendall's basket was filled with a ridiculous amount of chocolate and she had TWO presents (one from the Bunny and one from her parents, but she thinks they both came from the Bunny and that's fine). She got 3 drawers full of dress up clothes and a Mickey Mouse Shoe Garage play set.
Clearly the shoe garage was a MUCH bigger hit than the set of dress up clothes I painstakingly put together! Ah well.

And then the hunt for eggs was on! She did a really good job finding the eggs ... and then throwing them into her basket.

And then it was chocolate bunny time with Daddy!

And then it was time for a dip in the baby pool that had just been filled up the day before ... wearing her new Minnie Mouse bathing suit from Nana, of course! Anyone care to guess what time it was when the bathing suit was donned? 8:30AM. The Easter morning festivities were over and my child was in her bathing suit and completely over Easter by 8:30AM. And I was ready for a cocktail.

Fortunately, like Christmas, Easter comes in waves around here. Nana and Aunt Corinna came over around 11 and then Grandmother and Pops came over around noon so we could all have a nice informal Easter brunch of ham, turkey, green beans, breakfast casserole, potato salad, fruit, and of course cupcakes. Then it was time for the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. I've taken Kendall to this event the past two years but in 2009 it was pretty cold and she screamed the entire time and in 2010 she wasn't yet walking so she just sat on the sidewalk while other kids brought her eggs.
But THIS year, she could participate! And she did really well!

Next year we'll work on the concept of opening the eggs to check out the goodies inside after the eggs have all been gathered because that would be a much more efficient way of ensuring the maximum number of eggs in your basket.

Here is Kendall with her best buddies Liam and Margaret, the 3 year old twins who live 2 houses down from us. They are wonderful kids and these three adore each other!
Then, FINALLY!!! Just before bedtime (most likely as a diversionary tactic to avoid her impending bedtime), Kendall decided to check out her dress up clothes! Turns out she can walk in heels significantly better than I can.
And here is my Easter princess all ready for bed (in her high heels and tiara) after a long and very fulfilling day!

A Chronology of Easters

Easter basket 2009

Reaction to Easter basket 2009. (I wouldn't be too thrilled with cans of formula either!)

Easter basket 2010 (plastic eggs filled with Gerber puffs)

Reaction to Easter basket 2010 ... which was actually more of a reaction to her new ball pit.

1st taste of Chocolate Easter bunny!

Easter basket 2011

Easter "loot" 2011

Reaction to Easter loot 2011

Chocolate Easter bunny connoisseurs!

1st Easter Egg Dying Experience

I suppose it may be horrible that this is Kendall's THIRD Easter and her FIRST egg dying experiencing, but she was 3 months old for her first Easter and received cans of baby formula in her basket. And last year she wasn't even walking yet (oh how much can change in a year!) nor was she eating junk food of any variety, so we hid plastic eggs filled with Gerber puffs. She was allowed to eat the ears off of a chocolate bunny. But this year, boyohboy is this year different! She actually appears to get the concept of the Easter Bunny coming in the night, hiding the eggs that SHE decorated, and leaving "goodies" and a chocolate bunny in her basket ... AND leaving her presents! She's slightly confused between this holiday and Christmas ... which I can understand given the sneakiness of both the Easter bunny and Santa coming while she's sleeping. "Chrismilk" (egg nog) was requested last night. Not sure I could find that in April even if I'd wanted to try. And she's asked more than once for Mick Elf ... who actually sent us an e-mail from the North Pole wishing us a Happy Easter.

Anyhow, here are some pictures of Kendall dying (and stickering) Easter eggs for the first time. We only had 2 egg casualties. And it will come as a surprise to no one that the theme of this year's Easter is Mickey Mouse and friends.

And, honestly, whose idea was it to make egg dye that doesn't wash off hands??? I expected it to stain clothes, thus the smock. But it doesn't come off skin??? Really?!
Here come the stickers!
And here is the final product. I assume the Easter Bunny needs to come in the morning just before Kendall wakes up because of (a) the smell factor of real eggs, and (b) the dog factor in my house. However, I've never done this (real) egg hiding thing before so I don't have all the logistics figured out just yet. This rookie Easter Bunny still has a little over 12 hours to get it together!