Egg Hunting...with Style

 After getting Caitlin up early and heading to Easter Sunrise Mass at the Beach, we stopped for breakfast croissants wearing her swimsuit, otherwise known as outfit #2.  After a quick bath at home and a change into outfit #3, we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at our local parish. From there we went home and chatted on the webcam to family across the pond and across the country.  By then it was time to head to head to Caitlin’s Great Grandparents’ house for Easter Dinner and more Easter eggs!
(I’m going a little out of order on our Easter Day...I'll get to outfits 2 & 3 soon!)

 

Though she was tired, this toddler was looking good in her fourth outfit of the day!

 

GGB looked after Caitlin and had a little egg hunt for her in the backyard before dinner. She LOVED it!

 

 

She collected all her eggs…

 

 

…then discovered the goodies inside. Cheerios and Goldfish – Yummy!

 

 

Of course that meant she sat in the grass with Daddy and opened each and every egg.

 

 

 

 

When did she get so grown up?

 

We tried to take a family picture, but by this point she’d had LOTS to eat and very little sleep. At least two of the three of us are looking at the camera…

 

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Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Sunrise Mass–Part 2

After Mass we ventured a bit closer to the water…and Caitlin had a blast! She got a little too brave and at one point fell into the surf. There was a look of shock and that moment where you can tell they are trying to decide how to react. The friends we were with cheered her and she decided that being wet in her Easter clothes wasn’t the worse thing that could happen. She loved every moment of it!

Sunrise Mass–Part 1

I’d planned one post with all the photos from Easter Sunrise Mass, but I was afraid of a picture overload, so it looks like we’ll be spreading it out over two posts instead.

As I mentioned in my last post, when we woke up on Easter morning it was pouring rain. The news said that the next city over (where the Mass was being held) was clear, so we decided to take a chance on it. I kept telling the Irishman that FAITH was leaving the house in the pouring rain knowing we we celebrate Easter on the dry beach.

I’m not sure he was convinced, but he decided against arguing with his pregnant wife…

…thankfully I was right!

It was a little windy, but it turned out to be a lovely morning.

It was a bit cloudy so the sunrise was not as spectacular as it has been in past years. (This was our 7th year getting up early for the Sunrise Mass at the beach!)  I can never quite get over the sight of the sun rising as the priest begins to read the Gospel. There is nothing quite like it!

Caitlin was very well- behaved. It is not often that you can play in the sand during Mass!

My fears of Caitlin running into the water DURING Mass turned out to be unfounded.

(Though no comment yet on what happened afterwards…)

After Mass we met some friends by the water to take the annual Easter photos.

But more of that next time…

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Looking back:

Sunrise Mass 2010, 2009, 2008

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A Tisket, A Tasket, An Elmo Easter Basket

Easter morning starts very early around here. Even though it was pouring rain outside, we all got up and dressed for Sunrise Mass at 6:30am. The Irishman and I decided to wait until the last possible minute to wake Caitlin up. The first two pictures aren’t the best quality, but you can see she was more than a little sleepy!

We met some friends at Mass with a little boy a year older than Caitlin. Johnny was SO excited that he got to get up this morning when it was still dark! If only the rest of us could share his enthusiasm for the early start…

Our little girl was tired, but her face lit up when she saw the goodies that the Easter Bunny had left behind.

Caitlin fell in love with the Elmo basket a few weeks ago at Target. She found it herself and carried it all around the store before we managed to distract her and put it back on the shelf. We were sure to pass the message onto the Easter Bunny about her basket of choice!

And of course Caitlin loves to eat! It did not take her long at all to figure out that there was FOOD inside those eggs.

She *might* have had a breakfast of Honey Bunny Grahams for Easter, but that’s okay!

It was so much fun to see her at this age. She is still so young, but she is starting to figure things out…in and out of the basket….open and close the eggs….bend down and pick them up…not to mention throwing! She is SO impressed with herself each time she makes a new discovery, and it is so much fun to watch her as she does!

It was a lovely start to a very full and happy Easter day!

Mommy, Great-Grandma, and Me Monday

To understand the story behind this post you have to know two things 1) For Lent this year I said I would leave school early at least once a week  and do something special with Caitlin. 2) The Irishman HATES hard boiled eggs. They disgust him. He wants nothing to do with the things and the idea of hard boiled eggs in our house? Well, I’m pretty sure he is feeling a bit ill just reading this. Strange but true…

I wanted Caitlin to have an egg dying experience, so it seemed like the perfect solution was to make a date with her Great-Grandma Betty. We had a blast!

Grandma was impressed that Caitlin seemed to know what to do right away.

Knowing that we were not going to take home the eggs, we only dyed half a dozen eggs. Here are our finished products.

I love this photo of Grandpa Boo and Caitlin looking at each other.

After we dyed the eggs, GGB got some sand from her garden. When she was a little girl, they would dye sand with the left over egg dye. They  would leave the sand out to dry and then play with the colored sand. Grandma was disappointed the sand was not the white river sand of her youth, but Caitlin had a BLAST filling the buckets with sand.

When we were finished we dumped out the buckets of sand in the back yard.

Caitlin loved playing with the sand, rocks, and shells. That is one little girl who does not mind getting her hands dirty!

Before heading back into the house, we hosed off Caitlin’s hands and Grandma let her help water the plants. The Irishman looked at these photos when we got home and was amazed that it was Caitlin holding the hose…and it was turned on! She is turning into such a big helper!

Once inside and cleaned up we tried the eggs. Caitlin seems to take after her father when it comes to EATING the eggs, but that’s okay!

She may not like to eat them, but she loved playing with the eggs.  Though she didn’t quite get the “be gentle part” yet...

Her newest thing is to wave, say , “Bye bye!” and blow kisses. It is the cutest thing ever. Add to that a hat made in school and a basket of eggs and my heart just melts!

The Irishman felt bad that we went else where to dye Easter eggs, but I am SO glad we got to share that with my grandparents! It was an afternoon of memories none of us will forget!

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Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Easter Blessings

P.S. These were taken a few weeks ago and not at Easter Sunrise Mass…