Easter 2011
We had a beautiful Easter this year. Easter happens to be the only Sunday all season without a baseball game, so we enjoyed a wonderful day having Andrew home and being together. Andrew's mom, dad and brother also came down for the day and it was another one of those times when I think about just how fortunate we are to live a couple of hours from some of our family. It is so special and I love sharing so much of our lives with them. Thanks for coming down!
Amelia pretty much loved Easter. Lots of attention from Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Joe, fun presents, an egg hunt, and c-a-n-d-y. She had multi-colored jelly bean drool on her chin throughout the egg hunt and she was pretty happy about it.
She really enjoyed the fun presents from Grandma and Grandpa Asay. Especially the new sunglasses.
Andrew's dad came down a few days early and with his help, we were able to get our garden started. And when I say "we" I really mean "Andrew's dad." He weeded (our waist-high weeds), rota-tilled, planted, sweated and worked so hard to help us put it in. Thank you! We could not have done it without you.
Of course, Amelia was right in the middle of things being very helpful.
Planting peas
And strawberries
And Andrew was even able to get in a few rows of rotatilling this year. Can't wait to see what grows this year!
And here is a lovely family picture on Easter morning. Ignore that Andrew's eyes are closed and that I have a big belly, but do check out that smile on Amelia. She is really starting to turn from a baby into a little girl!
And here is a video to prove it. This video was supposed to be of her sitting on the hearth "reading" Time magazine. She was sitting there jabbering and very intently "reading" to herself, until I pulled out the camera, that is, and then she got silent. But when I watch this video I am struck by how grown-up she looks! Even though I still call her "the baby" all the time when I am talking about her, she really is turning into a little girl! And not a moment too soon...in 2 short months, when I say, "the baby" I am not going to be referring to Amelia any more! Hard to even imagine that. In fact, I think I'll just hang out in denial for a couple more months. Anyway, don't wait for anything exciting to happen in the video - it doesn't - just notice how grown-up she looks!
Other random photos
HATS
Amelia loves hats and she can usually be found running around the house in one hat or another. Here are just a few of the ones I've caught on camera over the past couple of months.
She is also likely to be wearing her sunglasses. She is really very matter-of-fact about wearing them and it cracks me up. She puts them on when it is sunny or she notices every one else is wearing sunglasses and she will keep them on for 20 minutes or more. Pretty funny.
Dad's running hat and gloves are also a favorite combo.
Here's a little video of her running to go and meet Andrew as he was walking home from work. She pretty much runs wherever she goes and she detests being strapped into the stroller, so our walks are a little more spastic these days.
JAPAN
Thanks to our kitchen map, we learned a little bit about Japan a couple of weeks ago and so for dinner we had edamame, mango-cucumber salad, homemade sushi and homemade mochi ice cream! The sushi and mochi were a little misshapen, but it was a fun and delicious dinner nonetheless. Amelia loved the edamame and kept asking for more "emamameme." Of course, she also liked the mochi ice cream. Lisa, I missed your help in making the mochi...brought back some fun memories :)
Here she is watching Elmo on the laptop before church so I could put her hair in bows. She saw an Elmo video once somewhere and has been asking for him by name ever since. Seasame Street must have done their research on early childhood development, because they had her at his first goofy "hello" (just like every other kid out there). I'm okay with it though. It's nice to have a trump card every once in a while!
Amelia helping me use the screw driver to change the batteries on her car. She had to have her hand on the screw driver the entire time. It's pretty impossible to get anything done without having her right in your lap the entire time. She likes to see how things work.
