Strolling by the lake

Avery loves going on walks around the lake in our subdivision.  She could feed ducks and turtles all day long.  I usually let her out of her stroller while feeding the ducks.  On one particular day, she wanted to walk instead of getting back in which was taking forever.  I told her to run and had to capture part of it because her arms were cracking me up!

Crawfish Boil

Billy so looks forward to crawfish boils with our friends every year.  I, on the other hand, think crawfish are disgusting so I don't have quite the same enthusiasm as he does but I still always like an excuse to get together with friends.  We invited everyone over the weekend after Easter for this occasion.  

This picture was taken before the little guy met his match in the boiling water.  How does this look appetizing?

Kyle equally loves crawfish boils.  He even made this crawfish table using an idea  from none other than Texags.

When we weren't looking she decided to get right in her sand table

Garrett couldn't have looked any sweeter swinging if he tried.

Landon man was hanging out in the yard watching the crawfish being mutilated.

Luke wanted to get nice and close.  I love that his hand is on Bill's leg for protection.

A little too close for comfort!

The mamas and babies came inside for some pizza.  Afterwards a dance party began to some special Zydeco music.

Shake it!

Chels and Landon

After some good dancing, we came back outside to watch the daddies eat a little more crawfish/ let the kids get out a little more energy before bedtime.

Bill was watering the crawfish and Luke really wanted to help.

Once he figured out how to use the sprayer there was no stopping him!  I love the open mouth!

Gibson was taking it all in!

Of course it wouldn't be a party without a group bath!  We attempted three kids in the bath this time.

Ready!

Sweet sweet faces!

Landon didn't really know what to think of the big kids after a little while so he made an early exit. 

Even though I don't LOVE crawfish boils like Bill does, we really did have a lot of fun.  Bill and all the guys stayed and played poker or 42 or something afterwards.  They live for days like that so I was happy that they all had a good time!

Happy Easter!

On Easter morning, we let Avery look through her Easter basket and do an egg hunt before we headed to church at 9:30.  It was a little crazy but she loved every minute.

One of my favorite things to give Avery is books.  I tend to buy far too many but never feel bad about it because Ave would literally enjoy reading 50+ a day.

Of course the first thing that she went to was the fruit snacks :)

The breakfast of champions

Ready to find some eggs!

At church, I jumped at the opportunity to get a picture of Ave and Luke in their Easter outfits.  They decided to make this castle their own personal bouncy house.  Both proceeded to yell Bouncin bears!  This is their go to phrase for any time they decide to bounce.

That afternoon we headed over to my parents' house to celebrate.

Sophia is getting so big!

Easter basket from Grammy and Grandpa

Steph found the greatest basket- a horse, Ave's fav!  She loved it!

Aunt Kel!

Samantha and Avery were ready to start collecting eggs.  Ave even changed into her crocs so that she could cover ground quicker!

I think this was Avery's favorite holiday so far.  She really loved all the activities.  I hope that next year she can better grasp the reason for all of the celebrations.  I tried to explain how Jesus made a huge sacrifice for us and rose again in very simple terms but that was a little difficult for her not yet two year old brain to grasp.  We got as far as "Yeah Jesus!"  We are so grateful to be able to celebrate such a special holiday with our little girl! 

Decorating eggs

On Saturday afternoon, we decided to dye some eggs with Avery.  We figured that she was old enough to help out and enjoy it.  I had read on pinterest that you can bake your eggs and they turn out perfectly cooked without brown egg yolks.  Well, it definitely didn't turn out like I hoped.  About 3 minutes before my timer went off, I heard cracking coming from the oven.  When I checked, there were cracked pieces of egg shell on the bottom of the oven and brown splotches all over my eggs. Pinterest FAIL!!!  Once I soaked the eggs in some water, I was able to salvage 11 out of 18.  I wish I had a picture to post of how the eggs looked in my oven.  It looked and smelled just lovely!

Nailed it!

Avery was more than eager to start so I let her chose the first color to use. 

That one

Helping to coat the blue egg

Her masterpieces

A few eggs had some cracks so I figured the best way to pretty them up would be to add some stickers!

Having such a great time

The final product- not too shabby!

Now we were ready for Easter morning!

Easter with the Zipps

Since Easter Sunday usually is pretty chaotic, we got together with the Zipps side of the family on the Saturday before for lunch.  It was such a beautiful day that we were able to hang out in the backyard for a lot of the time.  Of course, Ave was absolutely thrilled to do more egg hunting!

Wendy brought some hair clips to put inside some of the eggs, and Avery thought they were great!

Modeling her pink clip

Can I hunt them again, please!!!!

Aunt Laura and Uncle Karl

Sibling shot

Avery LOVES looking behind our fence for cows so she jumped at the chance to do this with Grandpa Z

Silly Uncle Karl

Cheesing it up with Gram Z

We had a great time celebrating with the Zipps family.  It was way more fun to spread out the get togethers so that we could really enjoy them and not feel rushed on the actual day.  We had great weather and great company!