April, Where Did You Go?

Wow, what a quick month! Our calendar was booked this month! I mean, only now am I getting around to sharing our Easter with you! Yikes!

Since Lyla turned 2, she celebrated her 3rd Easter, which to our family is mostly a strange welcoming of springtime that involves finding eggs filled with yummy treats, dying eggs, hunting eggs and eating egg-shaped candies. Oh, and something about a bunny...

Lyla's school had an egg-hunt for each class, which was adorable. I snapped a few pics, of course. These kids are so stinkin' cute! Lyla got duped on her egg-count, however, because she was more preoccupied with the contents of her first few eggs than in finding more.

Lyla hunted eggs at Ghea and Pap's house all by her lonesome self, since Faryn and Rain were across state lines visiting family, and the Wise cousins were busy, too. Grandma made sure to fill the plastic eggs with all kinds of yummy jelly beans, which Lyla promptly opened and consumed, forgetting about all the other "hidden" eggs to be found.

We also dyed eggs, which she found most exciting, apart from the incident when Mommy chased after her as she banged two hard-boiled eggs together like musical instruments.

At the Quattrochi home, it's tradition for the Easter Bunny to hide the Easter basket so that children demanding chocolate and jellybeans for breakfast have to first earn it through use of acute wicker-detection skills. Lyla's basket was very cleverly hidden behind the pillow on her favorite couch, located directly behind her favorite spot to practice potatoism. She initially sought out her goodies where they were when she fell asleep, beside her bed. When they weren't there, she sprinted toward Mommy's room to search, but paused beside the couch, spying the treat-filled container. Her eyes lit up and she gasped in the dramatic manner her Mama so often and skillfully models . It was quite adorable. She didn't care much about the Springtime book for her Leapfrog Tag Jr, or any other non-edible item for that matter. She very much liked the whole concept of finding treats and indulging in them first thing in the morning, and we got to hear about it pretty much all day long!

Papa Sam came to town the following weekend, and treated all his grandkids to a visit to Six Flags. Mama missed out on this one for a much needed Girls' Day with her buddies, but Daddy was good enough to get some photos and video of Little Miss Fearless.

We also celebrated Faryn's 6th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese, which Lyla loved, and Daddy's 28th birthday at home with the annual Meatball Day. Lyla is enjoying friends and family more and more. She was very cute asking the girls at Chuck E. to take her up in the playground, and I spied on her and Haydrienne playing at Daddy's party (and heard her yelling "Haydrienne!" when she wanted her to come back and play... bossy little thing!). It's a good thing I take so many photos, because she loves to relive these fun times and talk about what happened, who was there, etc.

We also went to Emory's 2nd birthday party - she's an adorable friend from Lyla's class. Those 2-year olds together are too cute! And! Aunt Shannon celebrated a birthday, too. So, April was filled with cake and "Happy Birthday to _____!" and lots of talk about cake and re-singing "Happy Birthday" (or Happy Day-Day) to the various friends and family who had a birthday.

May brings the sloooow wind-down of the school year, which is not quite as full of holidays, birthdays, and visitors, but sure to be fun-filled with outdoor activities, as the Texas sky is bluer and brighter every day! I know one little girl who can't wait to get into Pap's swimming pool!

See the rest of April here!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Lyla!

On March 19th, our baby girl turned 2!

Just one year ago...

...we were marveling at all she had learned to do in a year's time. While this year, the change isn't quite as drastic as the leap from gurgling, sleeping blob to walking, talking toddler, it's still remarkable.

Our two-year-old speaks in full sentences that anyone can understand, counts to 20, knows all her letters and most of her sounds, and can even read about 15 words! She loves jumping (as you will soon see evident), sweets, robots, reading, singing, watching Pixar movies while eating homemade popcorn, answering the door for the "pizza man," visiting "Gia" and "Pap-Pap" after school, standing on her head at random, wrestling Maya, carrying Ellie, playing outside, running into walls on purpose, dropping rocks into the creek, naming all her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, school friends and family friends in photos, singing BABY BELUGA at the top of her lungs, demanding to watch home videos of herself, and most recently, telling stories of her 2-year's worth of unique Lyla experiences and adventures. How amazing.

On her actual birthday, we had small celebration at home. I let her pick out a cake at the grocery store and Luke and I gave her a Wall-E robot toy made for much older children, but we knew she'd get a kick out of it, even if it was over-priced and over her head. We ordered pizza and had a carpet picnic in the living room (aka "home"). We sang "Happy Day-day" repeatedly because it was too much fun to blow out the candles just once! Lyla picked the red frosting off the cake and asked for more fire on the candles and more singing... It was a great day!

Her Sesame Street birthday party was scheduled for the next day, however, as Texas weather would have it, snow and icy-cold winds were imminent, so we postponed her bounce-house rental for the next day, upon which there was to be a complete turnaround in climate. However, as sure as Troy Dungan sports a dorky bow-tie to forecast the weather, Sunday proved to be even colder and windier. So, we moved it to the next weekend, much to our disappointment. But we still managed to make the most of it.

It was a good move, however. More friends and family could make it, and apart from the excessive wind, it was a beautiful day! Grandma and I spent the previous evening preparing (ie cupcake and cake duty), and even Uncle John pitched in once the cupcake characters started to wear me out. While we were up to our elbows in colored frosting, Lyla was rehearsing for her jumping debut.

The bounce house was a hit! The sack race was hilarious and adorable! Lyla was beside herself with joy all day long. As Mac put it, "I don't think she stopped smiling all day." With everyone she loved nearby, all the jumping and sliding she could handle, cake and sweets and presents... what more could our girl want? It turns out, she wished the bounce house could have stayed in Pap's yard permanently, but that wasn't really surprising.

Such a happy day for our happy girl made for some seriously happy parents! We are so thankful to have our Lyla in our lives, and grateful there are so many others that want to share in our love and be part of her life!

With that in mind, Luke and I are bracing ourselves for all the other "joys" that being two brings.