Easter Weekend Part 2!

Sunday morning Ruby woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30. That was not what I was wishing for, especially after the long day I had on Saturday! I opened her door to her smiling face saying, "good mornin'!" just like she always does. I thought the next thing out of her mouth would be something about her Easter basket, but instead she went right on past her basket to the bathroom as per her usual morning ritual. We went passed the full basket just waiting to be noticed at least 3 or 4 times. I was starting to worry she just wasn't into the Easter thing. I was just going to have to remind her. That part of her must be from her father because I would have NEVER forgotten about my EASTER BASKET! Being born on Halloween, I pretty much came out of the womb looking for candy.

I asked Ben, who of course was sleeping in because it was his actual birthday, if he was ready to do the Easter Basket. He climbed out of bed to help me make a BIG deal of our discovery of the Easter Basket. FINALLY, she noticed the basket and came over to look through her gifts. She got a new bathing suit, two books, some swim shoes, and a few treats. Ruby pulled out the books without hardly even noticing them, looked at the bathing suit for 2 seconds before she discovered the very small amount of candy we had put in the basket. She had one of those malt ball eggs in her mouth faster than I could tell her we would have one treat after breakfast. Ahhh!!!!  There's the Mommy side of her shining through! I knew it was in her!

I took the basket away because she was fast headed for a second which, of course lead to a full out two year old fit. UGH! HAPPY EASTER! In order to divert her two year old mind off of the delicious treats, I offered for her to try on her new bathing suit. She agreed but, surprise surprise, then she refused to take it off. So, she ate breakfast in her new bikini. Pick your battles, right? Breakfast in a bathing suit was not one I was going to fight about this particular morning.

After breakfast, I was finally able to pry Ruby's bathing suit away in exchange for her pretty Easter dress. Ruby loves going to "Baby Jesus' house" so getting ready for church wasn't too difficult. I got myself looking Easter pretty and Ben, in his new pink shirt to match his ladies, was looking handsome! We were ready to head out the door and off to church.We made a stop at Starbucks for my caffeine fix, headed to pick up his mom and finally to church. We made it!And sort of on time too! Woo hoo!

Next, we headed home to attempt a a quick snack and an early nap time before we headed to our next destination of the day. Ruby's been struggling with naps lately, but luckily I actually got her to sleep by laying down with her. I fell asleep too! It was GREAT! I LOVE NAPS! Ben had to come in and wake me up to get ready to go. We waited until the last possible second before we woke our little darling up. She woke up pretty refreshed and ready to see her cousins. This was going remarkably well!

Our 3rd destination of the day ( I don't count Starbucks and the stop to pick up Ben's mom because it was on the way.) was my brother-in-laws mom's house. Scott's mom, Carol, always does an amazing job at family functions. Her house and yard are just beautiful (which makes for great pictures) and the food is always delicious. Every Easter, she does and Easter egg hunt for the kids who can come. This year, we were down two cousins due to illness, but we still had a great time.

Mac, Lou, and Ruby scoping out some eggs hidden up high! Good thing Mac is such a tall young lady!

Beautiful Lou with her VERY full basket! YAY!

Ruby and Lou counting up their loot!

I love that Carol doesn't put candy in her eggs. She puts change in them. Which mean no temper tantrums over candy and no melted chocolate on pretty Easter clothes! YAY!

My brother-in-law Scott looking VERY pooped! I was feeling that way too, but we still had pictures to do.

Awe! Aren't we cute! I love Ruby's face in this picture.

Nannie and Ruby!

Us!

Ben and Nannie

The happy couple with our fashionable shades. Hey, it was bright!

I mean, come on! Does it get more perfect than this?

That didn't last long.

Silly faces!

Ta da!!!!

Daddy and his little girl.

Me and my sis Holly sitting pretty.

The Princess and her ladies.She looks ready for a parade doesn't she.

My mom and dad were there too, but mom has just had foot surgery, so they didn't hang around for too long and weren't in many pictures.

But at least I got this one!

Pictures were done, lunch was great, and the egg hunt was a success. It was time to head back home, our 4th destination of the day, to do Nannies basket and treats for all of us. It was a quick trip and then we were back out to take Nannie home for her to rest up after an already busy day. We were beyond pooped too, but we still had a 5th destination. There is no rest for the weary!

Our final stop was a visit with Coakey, Ben's dad.. Coakey has M.S.and due to his medical condition has been in a nursing home for the last year. It is always great to see him, but the nursing home isn't always easy for a two year old. Luckily, it was beautiful day and we were able to visit outside in their little garden. Nannie gave Ruby a bubble maker for her Easter gift.  We took it with us to keep her happy and entertained so we could visit for longer than 5 minutes.

 

Yay bubbles!

After a VERY wonderful day, we were finally able to go home. I was sooooooo tired. Two days of places to be and parties to throw, I was ready for a relaxing week at home. Woooooo saaaaah!

Ben's Birthday!

It Began on Friday morning and continued through Sunday night.This weekend was... THE EASTER/BEN"S BIRTHDAY MARATHON!!!! I am still tired this morning from all of the weekends comings and goings. All in all though I think it was a success. I know Easter is busy for a lot of people, but throw in a birthday and we got straight up nuts on our hands.

Saturday morning began VERY early. I wish someone would explain to Ruby that Saturday's are supposed to be sleep in days. I've tried to tell her, but she just doesn't care.UGH! Usually Ben and I trade off who gets up with her, but being that this was his birthday weekend he pretty much took both days. Oh well, such is life and it WAS his birthday. I had a lot to get done anyway. Watching my daycare kids doesn't exactly give me the flexibility to go shopping for a birthday present during the week. I have a hard enough time just hitting a few stores when it is just Ruby.

That being said, I was hoping that once my darling birthday boy rose from his wondrous slumber, I could head to the store kid free and get to business. That didn't happen. He had other plans to finish some yard work and get and get a keg for the weekend happenings. Ruby was "helping" him with the yard, but it wasn't going too well, so I swept her into the car and off we went. We had a lot of ground to cover and I knew we were on a tight schedule before she needed a nap.

Needless to say, it wasn't the best experience. When I got back, Ben asked me if I had a good time. HA HA HA! UHHHHH NO! It had been a battle of the wills since we left the house. I spent the entire time listening to Ruby try to dictate what we were going to do next. " No, all done shoppin mommy! I go playground! I sooo hungry! I go potty!" It was NOT fun people. Not fun at all! I pushed the issue and I got all of my check list accomplished. She fell asleep on the way home. At least I didn't have to argue with her to take a nap!

Next we were off to Ben's moms for a great dinner. She had a fabulous spread. The best part was, all I had to do was bring some store bought potato salad. Ruby, was the star of the dinner. She showed off all of her tricks and big words. Ben got his key lime pie for dessert instead of a birthday cake. Ben is not a lover of sweets, but he LOVES key lime pie!  We had a great time visiting with the family, but we needed to head on home for party number 2 of the day at our house.

Ben mentioned earlier in the week that he wanted to have people over to watch the basket ball games that were going to be on that night. I thought from the conversation that HE had already talked to the folks he wanted to come. THAT was NOT the case. I was supposed to do it. SO, on Thursday night I was frantically Facebook messaging people to beg them to come. We had a few takers, THANK GOD! So, Ben got what he wanted and I wasn't in the dog house.

Ben had a great time. Tuxedo t-shirt and all! 

 

There he is in all of his glory! Yes, he is wearing a tiara. I forgot to get plates, so we had to use Ruby's princess plates. DUHHHH! He had to wear the crown to match the plates! He was such a good sport!

There's the spread! Ham biscuits, potato salad, fruit, chips and the only other type of sweets Ben likes...CARROT CAKE! Notice the LACK of clutter! Ohh yeah! I've been working hard on the clutter front. Pictures and post are coming soon!

In case you lost track, we are only on Saturday. We still had ALL DAY Sunday! I'll be posting about Sunday in my next post. I've got a million pictures to go through first. And right now, Ruby is begging to go to guess where... the playground! It's just Ruby and me this week because it's spring break, so it SHOULD be a nice relaxing week. Now, if I could just get her to sleep in tomorrow, THAT WOULD BE PERFECT!