Happy Easter! Easter Dinner

We were disappointed our original Easter plans were significantly altered.  Denise's family, who worked so hard to plan and prepare a wonder dinner/Easter egg hunt/fun adventure fell ill with the ick-crud.  What was to be a great gathering (bordering on controlled mayhem) turned into a quiet and intimate family gathering at my parent's table with Mom, Dad, Sandi, Amber and myself.  Denise was generous to supply the lamb and bunny bread in her stead; Mom provided the corn casserole, Dad provided the wine and we brought the salad. 

 

 Amber really enjoyed the lamb (the broccoli, not so much).

 

After dinner, we went outside for Amber's Easter Egg hunt.  Sandi 'hid' the eggs on the grass in plain view.  We all wondered what Amber would think and do.

 

the hunt....

 

I think she thoroughly it. 

Again, in her thoughtfulness, Denise provided the perfect hunt for Amber.  Her eggs were full of fun finger puppets and fish.

 

Enjoying the spoils.... 

Happy Easter! Easter Morning

 

We began Easter morning with a yummy breakfast of eggs, sausage, fruit and cinnamon rolls.  What a perfect way to begin a day of celebration!

 

We waited until the last possible minute to get Amber dressed in her Easter dress. We enjoyed going to church and then visiting Janet.  It was a good morning!

Amber and Sheep (and mommy)

Amber and Sheep

Amber and Sheep

Amber's new kitchen

Amber started out with a little picnic basket.  It served 2 very well and packed up very neatly.  It even sangs songs if you asked it to.  That was so last month and Amber has moved on.  Now she wants a kitchen.

roasting the strawberries to perfection

Sampling her mac-n'-cheese before serving

food-prep kind of got away from Amber

putting dishes away

Already, she has made mac-n'-cheese, croissants, salads and burgers.  They're pretty good too.  Next time you are over, you'll have to stay for lunch.  Amber can't wait to make you something yummy.

March Madness

Sandi and I fill out our NCAA Men's Basketball Championship bracket every year. We wanted Amber to participate too. Since she doesn't quite understand the concept of March Madness we fill it out for her. Amber criteria is very simple: follow the seed values to pick the winners. This works great until you are left with the final four seed one teams playing against each other.  I chose Gonzaga over Villanova and Sandi chose Kansas over North Carolina.  That leaves Gonzaga vs Kansas. 
We wanted Amber to choose her own  winner so we set out her favorite two blocks; the blue clover and the green star. Which ever she chose is her championship pick.


As Sandi pointed out, Amber didn't just pick the blue block, she smashed the blue block on top of the green.  Pretty strong feelings about this tournament at such a young age...

Rock Chock Jay Hawk!

Shoe Shopping

Amber doesn't wear shoes.  She won't even keep her socks on most of the time.  Time for drastic measures: Nordstrom Shoe Department.  Sandi and Grandma took Amber to Nordstrom this morning for her first shoe shopping trip.  Sandi was a bit nervous as her least favorite activity is shoe shopping - how would her own daughter (who hates wearing shoes) react?  Turns out, quite well.

our star shopper

Amber chose silver 'Mary-Janes' with a velcro strap, no heal, just flats.

testing out the feel; kind of weird, but they might work

browsing for more options

Isn't this shoe cute?

 

She was proud to show me her new shoes and loved walking around the house with them this evening.

Side note: I asked Sandi to send me a photo of Amber whenever she wears a dress - makes my heart melt at work.

Testing out gravity

Amber was testing out gravity using two balls. Turns out, if you drop them at the same time, they hit the ground at the same time.

Helping with Groceries

We made a grocery shopping trip Sunday evening.  Amber did quite well considering she was both wet and hungry, though she did sound like a siren through the store towards the end.  Amber and I went to find pesto while Sandi was looking at olives.  Sandi just followed the sound of Amber yelling to find us.  Fortunately, everyone at the store was in good humor (probably glad she wasn't crying or mad).

We got home and began unpacking our grocery bags.  Amber loves helping and quickly began unpack the bag on the floor.