In the afternoon we did the egg hunt. Arya didn't really care much about putting the eggs in the basket.  She found one and just wanted to see what was inside.  Casen loved it though.  He said it was his favorite part of Easter.  We had a pretty nice day weather wise so we got to stick around outside to test out the bubbles Casen got in his basket.

We had a nice Easter and hope you did too!

Easter Morning

First off, I need to post of picture of my babies on Easter last year.  Uh when did they get so big 

"Easter Eve" we made some Jello Beans.  They are a big hit!

Easter morning the kiddos woke up and went through their baskets and we had a french toast, eggs, and sausage breakfast.  They were pretty excited.

 The goodies

Casen

Arya

And of course Dad needs one too

Easter Pictures

I plan on getting some outdoor pictures on Easter, but they usually run wild and crazy outside, so i'm not sure i'll be able to get any nice ones.  So we did a little indoor Easter today.  They sorta kinda cooperated...best I can hope for at this age.

this ones blurry, but I couldn't pass up the face

she was giving kisses

and my favorite :)

He's now got the C and the A down.  And let me tell you....I was not meant to be a teacher.

He recognizes all his letters and can is 95% of the time right on the letter a word starts with is.  But sitting down and having patience to actually write the letters is a whole other story.  He can tell you exactly what an A is, "a circle with a little tail on the side,"  but it somehow was getting completely lost in translation when it came to writing it on the paper.

But alas, I think something finally clicked.  And he makes some pretty cute A's.  Although, i'm a little thankful for teachers who do this for a living because i'm not sure I could it the next 15 years.

Casen's finished room

Casen's room was actually painted long before Arya's was and I just realized I never posted the finished product.  I've made a few changes from what most people have seen and it works for now.

He was set on painting his room orange.  I was really hoping for green to match some things we already had and we asked him daily for over a month thinking this orange would just be a phase, but alas, it was not.  He loves it and that's what matters.  He changes his mind daily about what his favorite thing is character and toy wise, so we have hesitated to buy any specific bedding.  For now, he has what we already had here on hand and he says it is, "wonderful."  His room is a bit smaller than Arya's, but we let him have first pick when we moved in and this was his choice :)

this door leads to a funky little random closet, bonus storage, yay

I don't know about anyone else, but I am a serious clearance shopper.  Groceries (if it's the only option) are pretty much the only thing I pay full price for.  It doesn't matter what store we go to, my first stop is usually where the clearance section is.

Our master has been done on a budget.  Since we had been living with white walls I chose bedding and decorations accordingly.  When we changed it to bold teal walls, the decor had to change as well.  Since none of our stuff was technically very old, I didn't feel right spending a ton to freshen it up.  Thankfully, I was able to score deals through the trasition.
     -Comforter set originally 100 on clearance 15
     -84 inch curtain panel originally 40 on clearance for 5!
     -63 inch curtain panel (a little trickier because it had to be special order)  originally 30 on sale for 20
     -Art above our bed originally 40 on clearance for 11
     -and lastly the new rug originally 35 on clearance for 20



I was debating what kind of rug to put it our master.  I knew it needed something to pull it together a little more, as a finishing touch, but I love our wood floors and was hesitant to cover it up.  I wasn't sure what color and pattern I wanted, so, even though the rest of the room was finished, we remained rugless.

Lucky for me, this rug found me in the clearance section.

Before

 After

Since we chose bold wall colors everything else in the room is neutral colors (except for the slight accent color of bright green.)  This rug fits perfectly for me because it sticks with neutral colors without being boring because of the bold pattern.  It's the perfect combo of traditional and fun and it's just the right size to pull the room together without covering up too much of the wood floor.

Our room (i think) is now completely done.

My grandpa was one of the funniest men i'll ever meet.  He passed away in May of 2010, just a month before Casen was born.  

When we were growing up for a lot of holidays he would make handmade gifts for us.  He was a carpenter.  He's made me a hope chest, a sitting bench, a foot locker, and even a jewelry box.

When I was younger he also made these beauties

Morgan and I had countless hours of play time with these treasures.  They're the perfect accessory for any doll or stuffed animal :)

This past week my sister came to visit and was able to bring them down for me.  I'm so thankful to have a daughter to get to pass these down to.  She'll never meet my grandpa, but she gets a little piece of his big heart every time she plays with them just like I did.

And hopefully sometime soon i'll be able to bring down the rest of all the goodies he made for me!

Also, while i'm thinking of Arya

We finally were able to go to Arya's one year check up.  We were late with her 9 month because of the move to Virginia so we were a little late with her 12 month check up as well.

She's perfect, of course :)

She weighs 20lbs (45 percentile)

And height is 29.5 inches (38th percentile)

She's right on track or ahead of schedule developmentally and loved strutting her stuff around the doctor's office (stripped down to her diaper.)  She is quite the social butterfly, so the opposite of shy Casen.