Easter Memories (and Meltdowns)

My first decoration made from my new Silhouette SD:

Yeah, okay-not perfect, but it was a fun first project.  Loving this new machine!  It cut out all the Easter eggs, flowers, and letters.  I just glued them together and attached them to ribbon to make a banner and voila!  A fun little decor for the house, which I actually took to my mom's.  She'd mentioned she didn't get to put out a single decoration due to fighting cancer and what not ;) so I thought a little color might perk her up!
We were lucky to have three days off work on top of the Easter weekend, so it was the perfect time to travel to St. Louis for a long holiday weekend.  We picked MJ up from school on that Wednesday and headed south!  It still seems so strange to me to "head south".  I became so accustomed to referring to everything as "up north" or "up there". 

First stop was Mat's parent's house where we enjoyed a nice dinner with the family.  Mema and Papa had a birthday present waiting for MJ-cars of course, so he was quite happy.  He loves jeeps and even got to take a ride with Papa and Daddy in the jeep!  We got to see our sweet niece, Lily. She's one cuddly and easy going baby!!!  Lots of family members think she looks like MJ!  I never saw the resemblance, but I am starting to.  What do ya think?

Then, it was headed to my parents house.  It was great to give mom a great big (well, more of a soft and gentle) hug finally!  MJ had hardly napped the whole day and was still going strong, but quickly crashed when we put him to bed.  The next couple days we were able to visit Mat's Gma. and Gpa. Immekus, our friends Jill and Daniel and their sweet Grace, and I even enjoyed a lunch with my best friend, Meg.  I can not even remember the last time the two of us enjoyed some quiet kid-free girl time just the two of us.  It was a treat!  We also attempted to do a little egg dyeing, which lasted all of about 5 minutes before MJ threw one of the eggs.  And, of course MJ let us know that he would like to ride in PopPop's jeep as well!

With Grandma and Grandpa Immekus

MJ's first attempt at egg dyeing  (Note to GiGi:  buy white eggs next time :) haha)

I'm ready to drive this Jeep, guys!

I was really excited to prepare MJ an Easter basket this year since I felt like this was the first year he'd kind of get it.  I've totally been that mom in the past that thinks people go waaaay overboard on Easter stuff, but yet found myself getting sucked into it this year.  So many cute little things I wanted to get for him, but had to draw the line somewhere.  Mom and I had fun sitting up one night putting his Easter baskets together.

On Easter morning, MJ found his Easter baskets and enjoyed all the goodies!  He also got to hunt for a few Easter eggs around the house. 

 Dressed and ready for Easter while savoring some Easter basket goodies!

 Exploring his Easter Basket from GiGi and Pop

 Of course there were cars in his Easter basket!  Showing PopPop his new Lighting McQueen car.

 Collecting eggs in his basket.  Wow, what a difference a year makes!

Stopping to look at his eggs and pose for Mommy.

 Our little family on Easter morning-2011

After our Easter morning fun, it was time to pack up and head to Grandma Keyes' house for the Keyes side of Easter.  MJ was excited to see another Easter basket (and a whole box of cars) waiting for him from Mema and Papa.  This little boy's not spoiled or anything, is he? 



More Easter goodies!

Unfortunately, this is about where all of my picture taking stops.  MJ was super happy, maybe slightly clingy, but quite excited when we first arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Keyes' house, but before long meltdown city began!  His worst ever meltdown had happened the night before.  We'd went to my parent's church for Easter service and put MJ in the nursery there.  We hadn't been in church for 15 minutes even, before I was paged to come get him.  I'd never seen him scream and cry the way he did that night.  I had to leave the entire building because he was so loud!  Then, the next day it began happening again while at Grandma and Grandpa Keyes.  It's a bummer, because it makes it extremely hard to visit with our family, and then he doesn't get good quality time with them as well.  We finally had to call it a day and hit the road and head back home to Iowa.  He wasn't a very happy guy in the car either.  I think it all boils down to not sleeping well while traveling.  He did not nap at all really for the entire trip, and after a couple days it catches up with him.  He doesn't sleep much in the car either, and his lack of sleep combined with being a two-year old makes for some big and ugly tantrums.  Oye!  

Between the Easter eggs and the tantrums, it's hard to always keep the true meaning of Easter as the main focus, but it truly is such a special and beautiful holiday.  I hope that as MJ gets older, I can instill that within him, and that he realizes that he is so special and loved by Jesus!