March Happenings and Easter Weekend 2013

 

A couple of random favorite pictures from this month:

 

It is so hard to believe that Eleanor is already 5 months old!  My baby is getting way too big too fast.

 

 

 

Alice spends about 70% of her time in dress-up clothes imaging that she is anything from a superhero to a princess.  She has quite the imagination and I love catching her in the middle of a story line.  Here she is "Super Alice" and is about to "fly" off to the rescue.  I made her get off the coffee table when I saw her, but not before I got a picture of this!

 

 

Alice was so excited this year to have an Easter Party at her school.  Here she is all dressed up in her Easter dress and later that afternoon enjoying the festivities with her friends.

 

 

 This year we went to the Easter Egg-stravaganza at the zoo.  Here are a few of the highlights from that trip.

 

 

 

Daddy spent a lot of time holding Alice up so she could see the animals...

 

 

Alice and Eleanor visiting with the Easter Bunny

 

 

 

 

Alice loves turtles and was very excited to get up close and personal with this one. 

 

 

 

Umm, I don't know what kind of bird that is, but Alice loved it and asked if she could have her picture made with it and hold its nose.

 

 

 

We waited in line for a very long time because someone was dying to get her face painted like Hello Kitty.  The result was so cute, but it was only this perfect for about 2 minutes so I am glad I got this picture!

 

 

 

Just the girls

 

 

 

 Here are a couple of shots I got of early Easter morning at our house.  Alice was ecstatic to find what the Easter Bunny had left for her.  If you ask her, there is just nothing better than Peeps and sidewalk chalk!

 

 

 

Daddy took a few minutes to show Eleanor her loot too.  Finally some bath toys of her own!

 

 

 

Later that evening we headed to Nana and Pops house for a family dinner and egg hunt with cousins Kendall and Kaizer.  Alice had a pretty bad cold, but she definitely made the most of it.



 

 

Eleanor was too small for the egg hunt, but she enjoyed playing with her new baby chick.

 

 

 

 A confetti egg mess!  The kids loved this...

 

 

Alice enjoying some cake....er...frosting!

 

Spring Break 2013: Visiting With Family

 

     During Spring Break this year, we decided to take a trip to the Metroplex so that Eleanor could meet her great-grandparents.  It was amazing how beautiful the weather was during our entire trip, considering it was just mid-March.  It was a wonderful trip and it turned out to be a very meaningful one too. Paw Paw passed away the following week, and these pictures became something very special that we will always treasure.  I am so glad we got to visit him and that he got to meet the newest member of the family. 

 

Jeff was so proud to introduce little Eleanor to his grandparents.  Here is a picture of him holding the newest member of the Merrell family.  There is something really awesome about seeing four generations of a family, and I know that we are both very glad that we were able to bring both the oldest and newest members together for a visit.

 

 

 

Here is my favorite picture of Jeff and our girls with Maw

 

 

 

Alice enjoyed a little chat with her Paw Paw.  She really thought his moose was something special, and she insisted that he hold it.

 

 

Jeff with his little ladies and his grandfather

 

 

 Here are a couple of shots we were able to get one of the caregivers to take of all of us together.

 

 

 

Two very special people

 

 

 

This was also the first time Papa Gene got to see Eleanor.

 

 

 

This is one I took of Papa Gene hanging out with his "Funny Number".  Alice got such a kick out of being called this name that she is still reminding us to this day that she is a funny number! 

 

 

 

Eleanor got some good snuggles in with Maw

 

 

 

Daddy spent some time "goofing off" with the girls before we left Maw's house

 

 

 

After we left Hurst, we headed for Albany to visit Mimi for the weekend.  Here are a few shots I got of us at the new City Park there.  Alice is a real playground aficionado, and she thought it was fantastic!

Eleanor and her Mimi

 

 

 Ready for church!

 

The whole trip was really great, but boy were our little ones tired by Sunday afternoon when we finally headed home!