Happy Easter

Oh, my goodness! Look at that beautiful Easter dress. You should see how it spins when she twirls around, which was Ellie's favorite activity after getting dressed. She'd sway back and forth, saying "Ooooouu, Ooooouu." Then she'd spin and spin till she was dizzy.

And what outfit is complete without a coordinated purse, perfect for keeping all her important things.

And don't forget to cheese--I mean say "cheese" -- for the camera.

Easter Egg Hunt

Boy, what fun we had with the easter egg hunts this year! We had our doubts whether Ellie would catch on to the objective of the egg hunt, but we worried for nothing. After pointing out the first egg to her, and showing her that it goes in the basket, there was no stopping her. She wandered all over the yard, picking up every egg. As soon as her little fingers grasped one, her eyes immediately started darting around looking for the next.

Unfortunately, it was a little chilly outside, but that didn't stop us. It just meant we had to move the hunting inside. Therefore, this became the process for the next couple of hours:

1. Ellie covers her eyes and "counts."
2. We hide the eggs around the house.
3. Ellie runs around and finds all the eggs.
4. Repeat.
5. Repeat.
6. Repeat.

First Haircut

I finally took Ellie to get her hair cut, or should I say get her mullet cut off. Granted the sides had grown out a fair amount already, so the mullet wasn't that extreme, but she was definitely in need of cut. We had tried once before to have it cut, but she was crabby having been woken up from a nap, so that attempt failed miserably.

This time I tried a new approach and took her to a children's salon, The Hairy Elephant. It is a great place for kids' haircuts. Each station has a car, truck, airplane, etc for the child to sit in, rather than the standard old salon chair. There is also a TV and DVD player at each station, with a variety of DVD's to choose from. Ellie picked out a Dora video, and we were on our way. It was also a little easier on the moms, knowing that this place was used to kids who on occassion don't want a haircut and may throw a fit. Fortunately, Ellie sat quietly and stayed occupied, so the cut went smoothly.

I suppose I may have been a bad mother though, because I didn't keep a lock of her hair from the haircut. They offered it to me, but I turned it down. I just kept thinking, "What am I going to do with a baggie of her hair trimmings? Do I have to keep it in a special box (which I don't have), and pull it out in a few years to reminisce about the haircut?" I'd much rather just look at pictures of her before and after the cut. And I have to admit that it's a pretty darn cute cut.

Let's Play!

As soon as we got a little warm weather, we were out the door headed for the park. Ellie loves to play on all the equipment, and is getting braver with each visit. She'll even go down the big kid slide now, which relieves Jason of having to go down the kiddie slides with her.