Beautiful Day

In case you've been living under a rock, we had some pretty severe weather around here earlier in the week. We were spared any damage and I don't personally know anyone who dealt with the devastation from those storms on Wednesday, but I have been emotionally affected by this event. This feels like it was very close to home for me. And in some ways it was. My home state, Alabama, is a mess! My heart aches for those destroyed communities and the families that lost loved ones. Please, just keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

All of that to say, that today's beautiful weather was not taken for granted. I had a few errands to run this afternoon. We went to the bank first to make a deposit and on our way from the bank to Kohl's (so I could make a return), I made a last minute decision to take Etta to the park. We were only there for about 30 minutes and I didn't get to make my return to Kohl's today, but it was so worth it to be out there in the sunshine with my kid!

(she put her glasses on her head like Momma. *love* her!)

After we got home, I started to make dinner. Then Keith arrived home and we made the decision to dine al fresco. It was a pretty perfect day.

Easter 2011

Happy Easter!

This morning, we went to Nashville to celebrate Easter with Keith's parents, grandparents, and uncle, Stanley. Keith was so excited to be in charge of the ham (thanks to Publix) and the cheesecake (thanks to Sara Lee). He was also excited that he'd have to opportunity to drive the Odyssey again. ;) When we arrived we saw that the Easter Bunny came and "hid" eggs at Keith's parents' house. Bunny took his job seriously! In the yard, on the deck, in the living room, eggs were EVERYWHERE! Etta didn't really spot them right away. We spent some time visiting inside and waiting for Granny and Pop to arrive with Stanley. Once they got there, we let Etta hunt for eggs in the yard. Then, we spent some time visiting before having lunch (where we spent some more time visiting, of course).  We headed home around 12:30 and Etta slept in the car for about 20 minutes.

Once we were home, we tried to transfer a sleeping Etta from the car to her bed, but she woke up. So, we let her out of her room. When she walked into the living room, she saw that the Easter Bunny had also visited our house and left a basket! Yay!

DSAMT Egg Hunt

This afternoon our local Down syndrome Association held an Egg Hunt in Nashville. So, we hopped in our MINIVAN an cruised on up. The weather could not have been more perfect! We hung around and visited with other families for a little over an hour before the actual egg hunt started. Etta carried her basket around the whole time, which was really cute!

Etta and Lake

Owen, Suzy, Jude, Lacy (not really a great shot of faces, I just liked that they were chatting)

Those two ADORABLE girls in yellow just came home from Ukraine! Saved from orphanage/institution! Johannah on the left and Ellee is on the right. Momma Jennifer (red hair) keeps a blog- http://jlane-journeywiththelanes.blogspot.com/

Annabelle, Ellee, and Owen

of course, a picture of Lyla!

When the egg hunt actually began, Etta caught on pretty quickly and was even trying to pick up rocks and trash to put in her basket.

Sweet Lake in the background

Emma is stealing something out of Owen's little cup holder...

and now Emma is running away from the scene of the crime and Owen is just trying to figure out what happened! (Of course, Lyla slept through the whole thievery)

Delaney

Brewer and Cooper

Brewer and Cooper (playing with the tag on the bucket. Aren't tags the BEST?)

Delaney's big sister, Ellie looking like a model!

Hmmm... What about that Easter Bunny?

This is as close as she wanted to get. She was nice enough to wave back.

We left as soon as she was done hunting for eggs. It was 2:30 or so and she had not had a nap. At. All. She passed out in the car for about 20 minutes. She was wide awake as soon as we got home though. I see an early bedtime in the near future for a certain tiny human.