An Egg-celent Birthday Weekend

The year Jolie was born, Easter was at the end of March. I think I was secretly hoping she would have been born after Easter so she and Mierae could have matching Easter dresses and she would have her first Easter early in her first year. This year as we prepared to celebrate Jolie's 2nd birthday, I wasn't counting on Easter being two days later! It's kind of like when you have a birthday near Christmas--the birthday is more of an afterthought. But, we tried to incorporate Jolie's birthday celebration into the Easter festivities.

We tried to start out the Easter season right, coloring eggs. This activity did NOT go very well for us, though. Jolie was crying almost the whole time, upset that she couldn't just play in the colored water or bang the eggs on the table. Maybe I'm just a strict, uptight mom, but I was not happy about the prospect of trying to clean dye out of the kids' clothes and the carpet!



Friday night, the night of Jolie's actual birthday, the zoo was having it's member preview night of "Eggs, Paws, and Claws." Both girls fell asleep on the way home from another one of my rehearsals, so I knew they wouldn't fall asleep on the way up to the zoo, and we'd need some evening entertainment because they wouldn't be going to bed early! So just before 5:00 we headed up to the zoo. The rain had just let up, and we ended up having good weather, despite the chill.

They had rides from Jungle Jack's Landing for free that night! It was like a mini-Magic Kingdom for the girls as we soared with Dumbo...



...chugged on the train...



...and whirled on the Teacups (well, Eric and the girls--NOT me).


They had also set up some holes for miniature golf. The club seemed bigger than Jolie, but she gave it her best shot.



We spent most of the time in the zoo at the aquarium and the reptile house. We were nice and warm inside, and the girls enjoyed being able to set their own pace.

On the way home, we stopped at Wendy's for Jolie's glamorous birthday dinner. :) We could have gone somewhere else, but it was hard keeping the girls under control as it was. And since our kids are such big eaters (haha--Jolie ate about half of a hamburger bun and some ketchup), we decided to go with the cheap and easy option. :)


Saturday morning was the annual Duckling Day at Whetstone Library. They had an Easter Egg hunt a half-hour before the duckling parade started. I dropped Eric and the girls off just in time for the gun to go off. After that, the crowds zoomed past the yellow police tape and the 10,000 eggs on the meadow were gone in about 2 seconds.



We made the trek back up the hill to the library as the girls tried out half of their duckling costumes (wings, but no mask). They got their blow-quackers and goodie bags and made the march around the library.



We ended the morning with a fun duck puppet show inside the library.


That afternoon was crazy as Eric took several hours replacing the brake pads and rotors on the van, and I tried to get Jolie down for a nap and entertain Mierae. You'd think it's just what I do everyday, but because Dad was right outside the window, Mierae wanted to open the window and yell out at him. And when I was in the bathroom after Jolie finally screamed herself to sleep, Mierae got a stool and undid the chain and deadbolt on the door and went outside to be with Dad. Grrrr. I was much happier after Mierae sat down to watch a movie and I was able to calm down. We had a walk outside after Jolie's nap, and then had dinner and Jolie's "birthday party."

We had been looking online at different cakes for weeks, Mierae showing me which ones she wanted for her birthday. :) And we chose a castle cake for Jolie. It was really simple to make, and I think Jolie was very excited about it.





Jolie was also excited about all her gifts (as was Mierae!). Jolie has been carrying her doll around everywhere lately, so when I was at Target and found a doll that sucked on a bottle, laughed, cried, and cooed, I knew Jolie would love it.


I also found a Little People boat with stackable shapes that Jolie can play with in the tub (she loves bath toys). She also got a new ball, a Princess play cell phone, and a Barbie movie.



Easter morning the girls woke up to another egg hunt and baskets with chocolate eggs and a wrapped Barbie movie for each of them. (Can you tell we have GIRLS at our house?!)





I also really wanted to help the girls understand the real Easter story. We have been talking about it, but this Easter Cookie recipe seemed like the perfect way to introduce the story and have the girls experience in a small way the joy of the resurrection of Christ. You're supposed to make the cookies Saturday night, but because we had birthday cake and a crazy night Saturday, we did them Sunday morning, and discovered the "empty tombs" when we got home from church around 5:00 that evening.


Eric and I both sang in our ward choir's Easter program at Church, which went beautifully. Thanks go to our friends Jeremy and April for watching our kids during sacrament meeting. (Poor April had to go up to get Mierae from the stand where she had run after coming back in the chapel after a snack!) Eric humored me and helped me prepare a traditional ham Easter dinner, which everyone loved. And after several fights over Jolie's new toys, the girls were both asleep by 8:20. :)

Saying my prayers and then lying in bed last night, I was so grateful for my children and the beautiful family that I have. Because of the Savior, it is possible for my family to be together forever.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16