Easter!

I love Easter, there is something about spring, rabbits and eggs, nature and life that just really appeals to me. Unfortunately this time of the year I have to work extra hours including saturdays so the holiday always creeps up on me and before I know it, I am never properly prepared for it, at least not as much as I want to be. This year we had hoped to take Maddie to an Easter Egg hunt, the idea of her all dressed up running around a field with a basket searching for eggs just seemed so cute. Since Daniel and I are not religious and I had to work on Saturday, we were forced to narrow our hunt for the elusive Easter Egg Hunt to a non-religious Sunday egg gala and that proved to be a bit difficult, pretty much impossible. Perhaps next year... So this year we kept it low key. Had a nice pancake breakfast, got dressed up, presented Maddie with a basket that we "hid" in the backyard full of eggs filled with chocolate and candy, cute garden tools because she loves to play in the dirt, a pink dinosaur stuffed animal(since they come from eggs), stickers, a bird headband, a glass flower hanging thing, and of course a chocolate bunny. After playing a bit outside, we decided to take a drive to Smithfield and stop at a church that I had read about that is the oldest gothic structure in the nation. We were just hoping to walk around the grounds for a little while to enjoy the wonderful sunny day. The church was lovely and so were the grounds, I was hoping to get some good photos of Maddie but unfortunately the combination of too much sugar and no nap didnt make for good pictures. So after a few attempts, we left and had dinner with my parents. All in all a great day. Maddie fell asleep in her dress which didnt surprise me because she loved that dress and refused to let us take it off. I rarely dress her up because I think children should be comfortable, perhaps we will have to dress up a bit now and then.
Next year I am not going to let Easter sneak up on me. We are going to decorate eggs, make cookies, decorate the house, have brunch and go to the best darn easter egg hunt around. I better start planning for this now.

Maddie digging through her Easter basket. She loved the gardening tools and found the egg with the candy bracelet in it right away. Just like last year, she loved the plastic grass that filled the basket just as much as she liked the toys and candy, maybe even a little bit more.

Maddie looking out the front door, wondering why Daniel is outside and why she isnt.

Maddie and Daniel looking at images on his camera. She loves cameras, soon she will be shooting her own photos. I see albums full of Cooper pictures in our future.

On the porch looking very happy.

Here is a photo of Maddie at the church in front of these really cool wooden doors. The church had this little building with sort of a bell tower on it. Everything was closed and locked up except for a little space that was open with a cool round window and heavy wooden doors. We tried to get Maddie to sit on this wooden bench that looked really old but she definitely didnt want anywhere near the bench. She was cranky and I think a little bit scared but we were able to get her to go up to the doors and knock on them to see if anyone was home. She loves to ring doorbells so we figured it would work and it did. She knocked but there was nobody home.


And here she is with two of her three cousins. I just loved her in that mask. It was cute but it borderlined a little on the creepy.