Easter 2012

We had a fun Easter weekend as a family.  It was a jam packed weekend, but fun.

This little sweetie had so much fun celebrating Easter this year and was quite the little competitive egg hunter!  

The celebration started Thursday at her Mother's Day Out class.  She was ready to go with her basket, Gigi, and Pink Blankie in tow!

 Saturday, we went to Sawyer's birthday party to start the day off.  I will post pics later.  Then we headed to the Egg Drop that was just down the street from our house.  I wasn't sure how Cilla would react to the mass of people, but I guess the motivation for candy was her drive!  She loved it!

 The helicopter dropping eggs.  Then they were off and running!  Adults and kids both!  It was crazy!

 We saw some of our friends.  

Brody, Jillian and Cilla showing off their treasures!

 We managed to squeeze in a little nap then we headed off to Saturday evening church service.

I love this little girl so much!  Melt my momma heart!

 Easter morning was a much needed relaxed morning since we went the nontraditional route and went to church on Saturday evening.  We woke up and had homemade pancakes!  My two little lovebugs' favorite!

Then we thought we would take advantage of the beautiful weather and our love for Razorback baseball so we headed to the Hogs' game.

 The RBI girls are still top-notch in Cilla's book.

 And she is growing quite fond of Ribby, surprisingly.  The Easter basket of candy helped!

After the game and a little afternoon rest, we headed over to some of our best friends' house to celebrate and let all of our crazies play together!  It was mass chaos!  Before dinner, we had a little egg hunt for all of the "big" girls!  

Cilla's "sisters" as she sometimes calls them!  These four love like sisters, but fight like sisters.  

Paige, Avery, Laci and Cilla- all together equals one big mess!  

Ready to hunt eggs.

But not without hearing the story of Easter, first!

And they're off!

Paigey was on the GO!

In the midst of all the craziness we found ways to teach Cilla what the true meaning of Easter!  She was a little sponge this year and took it all in.  That is rewarding as her mommy! 

Cilla has a little book that I think perfectly tells about Easter.

"He had to die upon a tree

To save us from our sin.

But he was only dead three days,

And then he rose again.

Now, that's what Easter really means!

It's quite a special day.

Jesus our Savior rose again.

Hooray!  Hooray!  Hooray!

Today he sits right next to God

In Heaven up above.

He wants to live inside you too

And fill you up with love!

Okay, now I get it.

The Easter Bunny is okay,

And Easter eggs are fun.

But Easter's not about that stuff...

It's all about God's son!"

I couldn't say it any better myself!

A Good Friday

With so much going on in Harris house right now, it has done my heart good to take a step back and remember why we are even celebrating this Easter season.  Today is Good Friday and a good Friday it was!

We started the day by going to Cilla's gymnastics class.  She loves it and is really doing well.  Makes this momma proud!

Then we headed off to a little Easter party at our friends' the Kaundart's.  The kiddos had fun hunting eggs, eating lots of goodies and playing together.  I am so thankful for our little playgroup.  I love how Cilla loves her little friends and I love that I am walking the same road as the other mommas.  It is good to have a support system and other gals to reaffirm that we are not crazy!

Such sweet friends. 

Jillian, Hannah and Cilla

I sense a lot of trouble in the future with these two!  They got into the stamps and were showing off their work!  Holy moly!

We ended the evening with decorating Easter eggs.  Cilla has been so excited to make her "sparkly" eggs!  It was a fun time as our little family.

Cilla and daddy

Daddy showing off his decorating skills!

The finished products.  

Cilla was so proud of their work and had so much fun!  I have such fond memories of decorating and hunting eggs with my family growing up.  I love starting new traditions with my own family.  I hope Cilla has good memories, too!

Most importantly, today we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.  None of this matters without HIM!  Not the eggs.  Not the candy.  Not the family time.  Not traditions.  NOTHING!

Thank you Jesus for loving us so deeply that you gave your life for us.  

So Blessed

Spring Break has come and gone and we managed to go from a low key restful week with no plans to a jam packed, fun-filled, crazy week.  But, apparently this Harris family wouldn't have it any other way!

We enjoyed playing outside before cooler weather rolled in.

 Cilla is starting to look like such a big girl to me and I am not so sure that I like it.  This is the norm these days.  Our three year old in motion.  She DOES. NOT. STOP!

We had a little play date with our sweet friends Sydney, Stella, and Emerson.  Kelly, Harper and Hollis.  And Jennifer, Brody and Jillian.  It was crazy fun!  There was lots of lip gloss everywhere (poor Brody) and my bedroom was completely sanitized with Wild Berry flavored hand sanitizer, but we loved our time with our friends!  Afterward, I requested a Girls' Night Out so we could actually visit!

In this picture these four crazies were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!  Not sure why we all make the effort to get together to watch TV?!?!  But, hey, it bought us about 7 minutes of peace, calm and conversation!

We had a lunch date with the Richey girls.  Cilla loves her friend, Adeline, to pieces and always enjoys getting to play with her.  Too bad these two wouldn't sit together for a picture....or sit down period, for that matter! 

Here is all I got of Adeline! 

.....and of Cilla!

 We ran to the mall to pick up a couple of things.  What mall trip is complete without a stop on the carousel?!?!  For months and months she didn't realize these things moved, but there is no getting by with that any more.  Does anyone else fight this battle?!?!

 I worked at Bliss one night and Flint and Cilla came up to visit and "help" me.  On our way home we took cupcakes to the firemen and policemen as a small "thank you" for helping keep our community safe. Cilla thought it was so cool to walk into the fire station and see the firemen and the fire trucks.  She even asked where the fire dog was!  They were so nice to her and got her an official fire hat!  Too bad this was all I got of her wearing it!

 Cilla loves loves loves her puppy dogs!  I happened to catch a sweet moment of her loving on Sophie.  This is a rare sweet moment since much of the time she is chasing after their tails!

Our friends, the Scott's, had a perfect little tea party to help conclude our week of fun!  I will have to post more on this later, because it was so so cute!  Sara outdid herself and all our little crumpets had the best time!

We met Hannah and her mommy and daddy for dinner then they came over to play.  These two are a MESS!  But, nonetheless, they had fun dressing up together.

.....and of course, watching a princess movie!

 And the perfect ending to the week.....dinner and TCBY!

I was kind of looking forward to a spring break full of resting and laying around with not too much of anything to do.  But, I am so glad we got to take advantage of our break from our normal routine and see some friends that we don't get to see nearly enough!  I know I say this all the time, but I feel so blessed that God has given us such dear friends who are in the same season of life as we are!  So BLESSED! 

Diamond Hogs

So, this is actually from a couple of weeks ago, but some sweet images I don't want to forget.  We have been taking advantage of this warm spring we have had in Northwest Arkansas and headed to a Razorback Baseball game.  Razorback Baseball is near and dear to mine and Flint's hearts, so it was fun to see Cilla embrace it.  Of course, her favorite things were the "cheerleaders", known by fans as the RBI girls, and Ribby the Razorback and all of the action.  Not, so much the game itself.  But we all had lots of fun!

Cilla loved meeting the RBI girls!

She wasn't sure about Ribby at first, but after one high five, she was a fan!

Daddy's girl!

I just couldn't resist.  I love these little feet!

Such a fun family night!

A Chic Pink Third Birthday

I had lots of fun working on Cilla's birthday party.  It was so girly and pink.  One of my very favorite places was the inspiration- Anthropologie!

I failed miserably at taking pictures.  I was working up to the last minute getting food ready and I really tried my best to soak it all in with Cilla.  So, along with that comes the lack of pictures!  

I can't even describe how perfect the day was.  The weather forecast all week called for cold weather and rain.  But, God answered my prayers far beyond what I even asked Him to.  The clouds parted on March 10th and it was the most gorgeous day.  The kids played and played outside until their little hearts were content.  It was absolutely perfect!

The birthday girl's cake!  Pretty and pink!

And here is our little birthday girl "helping" get ready for her party!

So excited and anxiously waiting on her friends!

 There was an abundance of desserts.

Mini pink Funfetti cupcakes.

Cake balls served on ice cream cones.

 The food table.  

The menu consisted of: Mini Ham & Turkey Sandwiches, Cucumber Sandwiches, Mini Pizzas, PB& J Sandwiches, Homemade Plain Chips (homemade as in made by one of our favorite local dives!), Homemade Ranch Chips, Corn & Avocado Salsa with Pita Chips, and Fruit Cups

Lanterns made out of doilies hung over all the tables.

Some of my favorite Cilla pictures were displayed.  Why is this always one of my favorite details about her parties?!  Only a mommy and a daddy can truly appreciate it!

The little girl favor bags were adorned with handmade flower hair clips....a great big thank you to Cilla's Nana for this contribution!  They turned out so cute!

A "Cilla" banner hung on the fireplace.  It turned out really cute. 

Wreaths hung on the front doors.

The birthday girl all ready to blow out her candles and dig into her cake.  Which, by the way, was as yummy as it was beautiful!  

 

I love this smile!

Sweet friend, Adeline and the silly birthday girl!

Opening presents.  Total chaos, but so fun!  There were LOTS of helpers!

Little Miss Jillian was testing out the new toys!

Fun with friends in the bounce house!  I can just hear the laughter and squealing when I look at this picture!  

Zach, Laci, Cilla and Paige

Reid and Hannah playing on the roller coasters.

 Hair in face.  Check.  Ring Pop in mouth.  Check.  Doggie purse.  Check check.  Ready to ride!  I promise I did not knowingly let her run around with a Ring Pop in her mouth!   

Cilla had so much fun and I think for the first time she really enjoyed her birthday!!!  Thanks to everyone for helping Cilla celebrate.  We are so blessed to have so many dear people in our lives!  It was the perfect day.