Happy Easter!

 It's hard to believe that this was already Andrew's third Easter!  

 Since Easter has fallen so close (within 7 days) to his birthday for two of the three years, we included some spring/Easter-type photos in his "2-year" pictures.  Originally, he was not very happy about having these pictures taken, but once he got some eggs, legos, and a basket, we ended up with some adorable shots--ones that I'm sure will be displayed in the house from many an Easter Sunday to come! :)

This year was so incredibly different than his first Easter, 

which was only 5 days after his birth.  It felt so odd, as there was no church service that year--no big family gathering or picnic, just my family at our apartment. Look at how tiny he was then! In fact, my mom bought him an adorable "baby's first Easter" outfit in 0-3 months size and it was so big he couldn't even wear it.  The bunny hat is the only thing we put on him!

Last year he had just barely started walking before Easter (which is kind of funny as I took my first steps on Easter Sunday). 

 

So, wobbling around and a new fascination with plastic eggs was how we spent a lot of our Easter afternoon last year.  

Also, last year, we thoroughly enjoyed the bunny outfit, complete with ears, that he just HAD to wear!

This year we had a lot of fun once again!  The Easter bunny came to our house of course and brought Andrew a few books (my personal favorite is one called, "Bunny my Honey") and an adorable plump, fuzzy chic. 

So, after some Easter basket excitement, we met my parents & grandparents for church.  The service was nice--there was a children's bell choir that Andrew was definitely interested in.  :)  He also liked when it was time to stand to sing songs.  After some outside visiting and fun in the parking lot with grammy & grampy, we headed back to our house. 

 

It was an absolutely beautiful day--an amazing change from the day before as it had been freezing (for here anyway--like 45!) and rainy all day.  But, sure enough, Easter was the most gorgeous spring day.  In fact, it was so nice that we decided to eat outside and enjoy the lovely weather that God had sent our way!

Other than Andrew's birthdays, it is the first holiday event we've hosted at our house. Luckily, I didn't have a lot of prep work to do and I wasn't in charge of most of the "cooking".  I was in charge though of carrying on the old, family tradition of a bunny cake.  My grandmas used to bake them even when my parents were kids!  The hardest task was making the ears out of cake too instead of having the ears be paper as is what the "recipe" often says to do.  

We had such a nice afternoon visiting and watching Andrew play. 

It was definitely a quieter afternoon than his birthday party had been.  Just my parents and grandparents were over, as unfortunately Emily was home with strep (which I unfortunately picked up and came down with that night).

 Amazingly, Andrew was in such happy spirits in spite of not taking a nap all day (and despite our best efforts before everyone came over).  

He was of course excited as the Easter bunny sent Grammy over with a big basket (I know, big surprise, right?!)!!  

I think the 'GG's (great-grandparents) really enjoyed the family time!  Andrew certainly seemed to enjoy their company, along with more plastic eggs and pickles!  

He is a pickle-monger and was one of the few things he ate all day (and yes, he went to the dr. the next day too--sinus infection). 

With a two-year old around, there is always something cute, funny, amazing...going on. But, by far the highlight was what occurred as a result of a present in the basket from grammy & grampy...

the chicken, disguised as a rabbit, that walks around and sings the "chicken dance".  Well, Andrew of course thought it was hilarious (as did just about everyone else) and he kept wanting to hear the music.  Well, you can't just listen to the "chicken dance", you have to DO the chicken dance!  So, I leave you with Andrew's rendition...! Enjoy!