We’re pretty sure Clara has a new favorite holiday (although it could be that Easter is just the first major holiday that she’s finally old enough to really enjoy). Either way, someone had a fantastic Easter weekend.
Her love of Easter could also be skewed because as far as she knows, the festivities stretch over at least 5 days. We actually kicked things off last Wednesday with an egg hunt at a local park with her older cousins Jake (who turns 13 today! Happy Birthday Jake!) and Olivia (age 10), since they’d be spending Easter weekend with their dad’s side of the family this year.
She found two eggs (aka, Sherry and I handed her two eggs that my dad had left out in the open for her and her 18-month old cousin Emanuel to find). It was love at first sight. Literally, she couldn’t take her eyes off of them.
She refused to put down her beloved eggs as we continued to play on the nearby playground. Apparently the only thing better than swinging is swinging while holding an Easter egg.
That was Clara’s first of three Easter egg hunts. On Saturday we happened to be at the grocery store while they were hosting one (in the paper towel aisle, no less) for kids under seven. Clara left with one egg, a balloon, and a giant smile. But that of course was only another warm up for the official hunt that ensued on Easter morning.
The scene: the yard around my parents’ beach house in Delaware.
Clara’s mission (which she happily chose to accept): collect nine eggs.
Since her love of Easter eggs was still fresh from her previous hunts, we actually let her do some of the grabbing this time around (though most of the eggs still needed to be pointed out by Sherry and me). And since she has recently become fond of putting things away, dropping the coin-filled eggs in the basket came pretty naturally (though one egg always stayed in hand most of the time).
Her egg-huntin’ bucket was actually her Easter “basket” for the day. It was a tin from Target that we found for a few bucks and not only does it fit in with her nursery colors, it also fits in with her love of buckets (which probably slipped down a notch thanks to her newfound romance with Easter eggs).
You can read more about how we assembled a baby-friendly Easter basket right here on BabyCenter today (complete with details about those wooden Easter eggs that Sherry dyed with food – no kidding).
We also tossed in a bunch of Clara’s other favorite things (from cheerios to a big pile o’ ribbon, which always ends up exciting Clara more than the actual present that it comes with) so you can check out all those deets and some more pics here.
Oh yeah and of course we remembered to snap her weekly fabric-background picture, and we couldn’t resist giving it a bunny-esque slant. Yes that’s a real carrot. The girl loved it.
But as much as Easter baskets and egg hunts and bunny ears rocked Clara’s little world, perhaps the number one reason that Easter takes the cake for her is sand.
Since we enjoyed the weekend at my parents’ house near Bethany Beach, Delaware and we were graced with 80-degree temperatures, Easter involved an impromptu trip to the ocean (on both Saturday and Sunday, actually). Though the breeze on the beach meant it wasn’t quite bathing-suit weather, we definitely still had some good old fashioned beach fun.
Saturday’s trip got Clara reacquainted with sand, of which her only previous experiences involved being six weeks old and completely unaware of it and then having it blow in her face on our Valentine’s Day trip to Rehoboth Beach (which she didn’t like at all).
This time it was straight up sand love at first sight. There was lots of pinching it between her fingers, throwing it in the air and, yes, even a bit of “what does this taste like” going on (luckily the verdict was “not good” so that ended soon enough).
Sunday’s trip was a bit more dynamic (since it was already established that sand = friend, not foe). So there was a sandy crawling session…
…a hunt for seashells and apparently surfer boys (though neither were quite as exciting as the hunt for eggs hours earlier)…
…a brief fashion show (involving her new sunglasses from the nearby outlets, which were tolerated for about 10 seconds)…
…and spending some quality time with her mommy (who ditched her usual uniform of black shirts) and her fellow baby cousins (Emanuel and my sister Emily on the left, John and my sister Katie on the right). And yes, this was the most flattering picture of three babies on a windy beach that we were able to achieve. They’re squirmy little things.
Of course, all of adventures that made Clara fall in love with Easter also meant that it was a pretty darn good weekend for us grown-ups too. In addition to all of this, our cousins/BFFs Cat and Travis (who we mentioned here last week) had their baby! The Easter bunny stork dropped off Edison Dean on Sunday afternoon, so we were even able to swing by the hospital on our way home on Sunday night for a brief meeting. Everyone’s doing well by the way, including new big sister Elsa.
Oh and after all of that what-does-this-have-to-do-with-your-house stuff, Sherry and I were actually able to make some progress on our next big project all the way from the beach: patio planning. My dad is also planning to add a stone patio to the back of their beach house, so we helped him brainstorm a few shapes to choose from and even sketched out a general plan for the one that we’re going to tackle momentarily on the side of our house behind the carport (it’s accessible from the sliders in the living room and the sunroom). I’m sure we’ll be blabbing a lot more about that as we go, but we’ll leave you with these photos of the side yard where we’ll be adding some fencing (for privacy) and a paver patio (for a lot more outdoor living space while keeping some of the green stuff around for shade/beauty):
Here’s our little sketch of the plan – at least as it stands today (Sherry had some Photoshop fun):
It’s only early days though, so who knows where we’ll end up with it. All I know for sure is that Clara’s party is less than three weeks away and my charming-but-sometimes-a-bit-too-optimistic wife thinks we’ll be done by then. Should be interesting. But enough about us (at least until this afternoon’s post) – tell us about your weekend. Were there egg hunts and Easter baskets and bunny ears and prop carrots involved? Are there other born-on-Sunday babies that you know of?
Adorable!!! Looks like you all had a memorable 1st Easter with Clara…many more to come.
OMG — Clara would have loved our Easter surprise!
Adorable! Yup Clara would have loved her. But she would have called her a “dogie” since every animal is a dogie. Haha.
xo,
s
Sherry, our 18-month old daighter calls everything “puppy”–including horses, cows, rhinos, the family guinea pig, etc. so funny!
Aw, such a cute little Easter bunny! :)
Looks like you had a great family weekend, love all the photos!
can’t wait to see what you’ve got going down outdoors!
Looks like you guys had so much fun!
Can’t wait to hear more about the patio(s) one day!
Clara makes a super-cute bunny! Looks like a blast!
Clara is the cutest easter bunny I have ever seen! Glad you guys had a great weekend!
Sherry,
I love the naturally-dyed Easter egg idea. They’re beautiful and would be fun in grown-up table centerpiece, too.
You look great as well! Have any tips on losing postpartum baby weight? :)
Aw thanks! That’s so sweet of you to say. I’m not completely the same as I was BC (before Clara), but she’s totally worth the new body. Haha. Breastfeeding seems to have helped a lot for me when it came to getting back into my pre-prego clothes! Other than that it was just a bit of portion control (which I’m no good at but I try) and being active (I hate the gym so we go for long walks with the baby and the dog around the neighborhood). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Clara gets cuter ever week. I love those bunny ears!!
I am a Sunday baby, I was born on Father’s day, he said I was the best give he ever got :D
How do you handle all that cuteness?! Her bunny weekly photo has to be my favorite, so adorable!
Where’d you get the wooden eggs? Would love those for my Easter decor too, AND I just was given great info on naturally dying eggs too!
They’re from Michael’s. Pretty cheap too I think (around $1 each).
xo,
s
Your family is so cute!
I’m a weirdo lol, I don’t like the beach. Well, mainly the sand. And the dirty water. And the people. And um…never mind :-p
LOVE the yard plan. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with our yard & a summer of entertaining fast approaching. Any landscaping diy how-tos or book suggestions?
We have a bunch of outdoor tips and projects on our Projects page (we have an outdoor ideas category) and we also love bhg.com for the landscaping plans (free to download!) and the ideas. Good luck!
xo,
s
OH! Is it incredibly selfish that I want you to hurry and build your fence? Probably. I will be building one if it ever quits raining (pretty sure it won’t) and I am nervous about it!
Oh, I would love to have a finished patio. We’ll probably tackle our kitchen next, though, so after that, I’ll probably want a renovation break. Can’t wait to see what you choose.
Oh, and Clara in the bunny ears, so cute! I love little kids in those. :)
Clara’s Easter dress is adorable! Love seeing all the pics.
We love going to Rehoboth during the off season, too. It’s so much less crowded (especially at the outlets). Have you guys gone to Agave in Lewes? Their guacamole is possibly life-changing.
Never been but now I’m craving guacamole! Must. Go. Next. Time!
xo,
s
Oh my gosh — the cuteness is unbearable! :D Her grandparents must have had a wonderful Easter too!
Too cute! Looks like a fun five days! Can’t wait for the patio!
For future reference… baby powder gets sticky sand off of kid appendages.
That sounds pretty cool. We’ll have to give it a try one of these days!
xo,
s
Aww Clara looked like she had a blast!!!! I love busy family weekends!!! We had a great one too!
Your patio is going to be a great space!! Can’t wait to see it!
You guys always look so happy! It is so refreshing:-) I was looking at the pictures you posted that show the carport. Are you still planning on converting that into a full garage? The carport doesn’t look awful.
Yes someday we’d still like to convert it just because we can picture how much charm the right garage door could add to the whole curb appeal situation. But it’ll probably be a ways down the road since we always like to wait a while when it comes to big changes like that – just to be sure we don’t rush into anything and make decisions that we regret a little later into home ownership.
xo,
s
1. I can’t believe how incredibly happy Clara is in all of these pictures? Does this child ever have a bad day?
2. No bunny ears, candy or egg hunts for us. Lots of time at the church for services and volunteering followed by lunch with the family.
3. I’m a Sunday baby. Not that I’m biased or anything, but I’m pretty sure Sunday babies are the coolest.
Good luck tackling the patio area. I’m with Sherry, you can totally rock this our before Clara’s party!
Love the photos! I have been copying (err… imitating) your week-by-week photos. I too added the ears to my little man this past Friday for his 29th week photo, but I don’t think it’ll make the final cut as his smile was better in the ear-less photos!
We fled the country (literally) for Easter. Don’t get me wrong, we love our families, but having to go to 7+ different Easter meals was too daunting and would have made for too much holding, poking, hugging of the baby, which we all know means a cranky baby… and cranky baby = cranky Mum… you know how it is. We had a great weekend just the 3 of us!
Aww, looks like Clara have a great time at the beach. She’s getting so big! :)
Is that all of your yard? I’m having a hard time orienting myself to the outdoor areas of the house. Or is that just the soon-to-be patio portion? My husband and I (but mostly him!) DIY’d our privacy fence last year; definitely a doable task and a huge money saver!
That’s just one small area on the side of our house. We live on almost an acre of land so we have a big post about our whole lot coming soon!
xo,
s
awww look! it’s baby JOHN! she is soo cute CUTE! and in these pics she looks just like her gorgeous daddy!!!
Love ya’ll! the perfect family! and burger too!!
Clara is absolutely adorable! That first pic with the bunny ears and the ear to ear (no pun intended) smile is the greatest.
Also, wanted to see how the cloth diapers are working out now that she is getting older. Curious if its still going smoothly.
Yes! We love our cloth diapers. We still use the same 12 that we purchased in the beginning (never needed more and those original 12 still look mint and do the job). Best money we ever spent!
xo,
s
Awww looks like she had an awesome time!
Love that baby–(almost as much as my own 11 month old) she is always smiling!
Hi Guys,
I have been meaning to tell you about the unbelievable meal we had on our Annual Richmond trip. It was at Balliceaux at 203 N.Lombardy. Delish !! I was the one that posted about the Picasso event at the VMFA.
Great pics of Clara…such a beauty.
Linda
Mmm sounds amazing! We’ll have to go!
xo,
s
What a fun time! Here is a tip that I don’t know if you have heard yet, but I have two girls and when we go to the beach I bring a BIG bottle of baby powder. When you are finnished playing in the sand, put some baby powder on the babies legs, hands, feet,ect….and the baby powder wicks the moisture out of the sand and it will just wipe away! No more fussing with the water hose and sticky wet sand :) Just thought I would pass on the fun facts!
Love it!
xo,
s
Good luck with all the patio goodness! We’re in the midst of doing the same!
Um. Is Clara wearing Baby Jeggings in one of those beach pics? OH. EM. GEE.
Haha, yes they’re the best. They match everything and they’re comfy and not too heavy for warmer weather. We’re huge baby jeggings fans at our house (we have three pairs).
xo,
s
Where to start?! Those pics are ADORABLE and I love your plans for the patio. I had a VERY productive weekend…. built a 5’x12′ raised cedar garden bed, built my VERY FIRST piece of furniture… a bench for my bedroom… and martha’d (aka sewed) a quilted pad for the low shelf under my coffee table where my dogs love to nap. I need a vacation from the weekend! :-)
You guys are giving me serious beach envy! Looks like so much fun. And Sherry- you look great in yellow, and I love that grey/yellow tank underneath! I wonder if I could turn it into a pillow? ;)
You probably could! Haha. It’s from Old Navy. Very comfy too.
xo,
s
Um, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing cuter than a baby in jeggings!!!!
That’s stinkin’ adorable.
Clara is the happiest baby ever. So adorable. This may sound weird, but am I the only one who thinks Clara looks like she has a french pedicure in her weekly photo?……..Okay, maybe the cheese stands alone. LOL Her little toes are just the cutest. Okay, that’s enough weirdness for one day.
P.S. Love the yard plan! The hubs and I are currently working on something similar for our yard. Good luck!
Haha, she totally does!
xo,
s
This has to be my favorite weekly photo ever. She makes a pretty adorable rabbit. :)
Clara looks like she had a great Easter. We had about 40-45 people at my mom’s house this year. The egg hunt had around 15-20 kids hunting. The rule is that the smaller kids get a few minutes first then the big kids join in. My 4 year-old son didn’t not want to go with the smaller kids. He held up his 4 fingers & said “I’m 4. I go with the big kids. I’m not little.” So he went with our daughter (8 years-old). Clara will soon tell you that she’s not little. Enjoy these moments of sand-eating.
Easter is always a special time (other than for the obvious) because my daughter (1st born) was born Easter weekend 8 years ago.
Great Easter pics!
I know the feeling of trying to get a project complete before a big family get together – good luck.
I think you have said before but I have forgotten…..the patio will be paver stones? Are you guys doing it yourself? (is that a dumb question???? :-))
Yup the plan is to do the entire thing ourselves (well, we might also call in an electrician to extend some wiring so there’s power on the far side of the patio). We hired a crew to create our last patio because it went in just about a week or two before our backyard wedding (so we couldn’t stand the time pressure of trying to DIY it) so we actually look forward to tackling it ourselves this time!
xo,
s
Sherry, I know you’ve said before that nobody thinks Clara looks like you…..I have to beg to differ! After seeing the pics from your weekend, I think she looks EXACTLY like you!!!
Glad y’all had a good holiday! :-)
Aw thanks Jessica! There have already been a few votes for John today, haha. So it’s nice to hear that!
xo,
s
I agree, I have always thought Clara is a mini sherry! :)
I feel your pain….EVERYONE says my little one looks just like her daddy too…. :-(
She’s adorable!!! I bought 3 of those same buckets yesterday at target. They were half off. They are great for organizing craft supplies in my kiddos bedroom.
Every time I see pictures of the outside of your house I’m so lost. Your yard must be huge! Also, my daughter has the first two dresses Clara was wearing. Our girls have style!
We’ve been meaning to share a post with a ton of yard pics to hopefully orient everyone! Soon!
xo,
s
Clara is just adorable!
Gosh, Clara is a cutie-pie! I love, love, love the (faux) denim leggings, too. Looking forward to yard updates. We’re in the process of trying figure out how to manage/change/fill in our large, sloping backyard. A couple of terraces maybe? The trick is making it playable for our toddler.
I loved hearing about your trip & projects, don’t get me wrong – you are a huge inspiration for projects around my house. The question I can’t seem to get out of my mind today is what is the name of the font you frequently use in your banner, your photoshop work, etc.? Is it a free one? Can I get my hands on it?
Yes it’s free with Photoshop I think. It’s called Eurostyle. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
OH I LOOOOOOOVE THIS!! I just realized how much Clara looks like you Sherry!! My daughter Julia had some bunny ears like this too, they are sooo much fun!! I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this post, it was like a giant gust of Easter sweetness :)
Yay! Two votes that she looks like me! That never happens. Everyone says John! Haha.
xo,
s
We love our patio that we installed post-renovation. It will be great to have your patio accessible from the sunroom and the living room. It also looks like it will be pretty shady which is great. Can’t wait to see the results!
Clara’s outfits= So cute!
Looks like a great Easter weekend!
I also traded in my usual black/brown attire for my ‘Easter best’ this weekend!! I went with a pink sweater (and black pants, of course!)!
Love her jeggings, love her sweet little teeth, love her happy little mouth, love her sunglasses, and love her sweet curled up toes. (Can you tell I have some serious baby fever?)And yes, Sherry, she is you made over.
Have a giveaway on my blog today! Happy Tuesday!
http://www.amandadovewells.com/?p=260
My niece turned four on Friday, so she now thinks Easter weekend is ALL ABOUT HER! And actually, we call it her b-earthday, since every year…it’s Earth Day. :-/
Family party with Minnie Mouse cake on Friday night, breakfast with Minnie and the gang and Disney World on Saturday, and church in her new Easter dress and Minnie Mouse lunchbox as a purse on Sunday. (The girl LOVES Minnie Mouse!)
Great weekend, great weather! Only thing home related I did was scrub out the inside and outside of my kitchen garbage can LOL! (It needed it…bad.)
Haha, that totally counts! It’s a dirty job and you feel so much better when it’s done. Wish I could say I tackled that! But other than patio planning we were “off.” Haha.
xo,
s
Can’t resist posting photos…
http://alturl.com/9khf4
http://alturl.com/5uyjy
So cute! But where is the gator paraphernalia?
xo,
s
And those are photos of my niece…not my kitchen garbage can!
Now you’re just issuing a challenge! Here she is AT A GAME! Complete with Tebow jersey, Tebow button, and Tebow eyeblack! LOL!
http://alturl.com/xqc5r
Haha, yup. There it is.
xo,
s
Being held by an NFL Hall of Famer, no less. ;-)
Such a cute little bunny baby…babies dressed up like animals gets me every time! :)
Also, you’ve probably already heard of this, but Better Homes and Garden has a pretty spiffy FREE, interactive Plan-A-Garden online tool to help you easily design a layout for your garden.
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/design/nature-lovers/welcome-to-plan-a-garden/
Yes it’s totally amazing. I love it.
xo,
s