Easter 2009

Has it really been two weeks since my last post? Wow. This has to be the longest span between two posts yet. Sorry. Life has been busier than usual (is that possible?) and I haven't had a chance to sit down and write a decent post. I do have quite a bit to share, so I hope to get the urge to write a lot over the next few days so that I can post about everything that's been going on. Let's start with the most obvious: Easter.

We had a lovely Easter weekend with Stefan's mom, grandmother and sister. They flew down from upstate New York to meet Ian, and for Great Gram McCarthy, it was her first time meeting Ava, too! Ava quickly warmed up to everyone, calling Gram "Grandma Great," and Maura was "Aunt Marmer." Maura was great at playing with Ava, and the grandmothers were always so happy to hold Ian and walk around with him. It was a fabulous visit, but after they left this morning, it occurred to me that we forgot to take a very important picture of Great Gram, Grandma, Stefan, Ava & Ian: FOUR generations. I kept reminding myself all weekend to make sure I took that photo, and I forgot. I'm so sad that we missed the opportunity, but it does give us all a great reason to get back together soon.  As usual, I didn't take a lot of pictures, but Maura did, so I hope to get those from her soon.

Grandma with Ian

It was Ava's third Easter and Ian's first, and neither of them really had a clue what was going on, but it was fun anyway. We started the festivities with a flashlight egg hunt on Wednesday night...
  

Ava hunting for eggs at her first-ever Easter Egg Hunt.

The rest of the weekend was very low-key. On Saturday afternoon, we colored Easter Eggs, which was a fiasco with a two-year-old.  Ava was so excited that she just couldn't keep her hands out of the dyes, and it was a mess.  But I reminded myself that she's just two and had an absolute blast - so what if she got a little messy?  

Ava was so proud of her work.

Daddy helping Ava retrieve an egg from the dye bath.

"OK, what do I do with it NOW?"

Ava and I dipping an egg.

On Sunday morning, Ava and Ian both learned the Easter Bunny had visited them!  Once Ava saw her basket, she said two things.  The first thing she said was, "WOW! Pretty!" And the second thing she said was, "Suh-weet!"  Stefan and I have never heard that come out of her mouth, and when she said it - correction, shouted it - we laughed until we cried.  It was so appropriate for the moment; Ava never ceases to amaze us with her words.  She spent the next several minutes examining her basket (or bucket, as she calls it) of sidewalk chalk, Color Wonder kits, bubbles, clothes, and of course, candy.  The chocolate Gators were provided by Stefan's dad and stepmom.  They're almost too cute to eat!  Almost.

  

And finally, on Sunday afternoon, Ava hunted for eggs in the backyard - our own little egg hunt.  She learned all about egg hunts during the flashlight hunt on Wednesday, so she knew exactly what to do.  We had a great time watching her run all over the yard, yelling, "Look! It's a pink egg! Look! It's a purple egg!" Stefan and I look forward to sharing the story of Easter next year, when she will be able to understand it (in simple terms).