We love the Zoo!

When writing about our life, it has become a common theme that the zoo is one of our favorite places to frequent. Lily loves the animals from afar, and Marco likes them period. Mommy and Daddy like walking, so it's a win-win situation for the both of us. 

Every time we go to the zoo, we find fun new things to do and some animals, who we've never been able to see before, come out of hiding for us. We've never seen the pink flamingos before. They are always hidden whenever we stop by their space. 

Plus, the frogs came out to play. Can you spot the blue frogs in the picture below?

And right as we were crossing the bridge, a bird ran out right in front of us and jumped down under the bridge. Lily wanted to go in after it, but was hesitant to get her shoes dirty.

And this time the Lemurs came out to play. They are so hard to find because they are camouflaged so well with their surroundings.

But really, what's more fun than climbing on the railings?

And jumping around on the crate?

Sometimes I wonder why I travel over an hour to the zoo if I could just go five minutes to let the kids jump and bounce and climb. 

We always have fun and can't wait for the next time that we are able to go before our passes expire. 

Neighborhood Friends

Lily has discovered some new neighborhood friends that she has quickly become fond of and often asks me if we can go on walks so we can go by their house and wave hello.

These new neighborhood friends are Lily and Olivia Connor. They are sweet girls who have the kindest hearts and really are so thoughtful and caring when it comes to taking care of Lily. 

At a Baptism, at our local church meetinghouse, they made sure to take her hand and lead her around so that she wouldn't get lost. They were great examples of what a loving older sister is.

And every time we see them when walking, we invite them to come along with us. Lily immediately jumps out of the stroller and insists on walking with them. She holds their hands tight and won't let go - and wants to be just like them. 

They do a great job of making her feel special. And I hope that Lily grows up to be as kind and as thoughtful as they are.

 One of my greatest joys, as a mother, is watching my children when they are happy. And for that I am indebted to the kindness of other children who are able to bring such happiness that I cannot. I hope that as Lily continues to grow older that they will remain her friends, and if not, that she will find girls who are just as kind to include her and make her feel special. 

Thank you Olivia and Lily Connor!

Easter Egg Hunts

For Easter, we felt Lily was finally old enough to grasp the concept of an Easter Egg Hunt. We wanted her to really have fun finding easter eggs, even though she would be a lot slower than other kids surrounding her to get eggs. And thankfully, we were fortunate enough to be invited to several Easter Egg Hunts.

Center Grove:
Allie Tucker (and Titus) invited us to their Church Easter Egg Hunt. It took Lily about 15 minutes to get a dozen eggs, while the others probably found that many in two minutes.

Lily didn't care, she just had so much fun finding surprises and making sure to show me what she was finding. 

What warmed my heart the most is that when Lily found a "broken" or "open" egg, she stopped gathering eggs, to bend down and fix the egg by putting all the surprises back in the egg and closing it up. This was no easy task, but one she was determined to do. 

Afterwards, Lily and Titus showed us their loot. They were pretty proud of their findings and accomplishment and couldn't wait to get back to the car to open up the eggs and see what they contained. 

Lewisville Town Square

Lewisville had an Easter Egg Hunt that was age appropriate. I thought it started at noon, but it really started at 1:00 so after freezing for a couple of minutes, I came home and got Lily dressed really warmly, and traded so that Daddy could take her and see how much enjoyment she gets out of gathering eggs. He was really grateful that I came home to put her in some warm clothes because so many of the kids there were complaining about being cold because they weren't properly dressed. 

Since the hunt didn't last very long, there were other attractions to see. Lily was brave and climbed up into the Fireman's truck and sat in the driver's seat. I think that she's too cute to be a fire-fighter.

Ridgecrest

Our neighbors at Ridgecrest were kind enough to invite us over for a special hunt that their neighborhood does. We had to bring a dozen pre-filled eggs and the Parano Stevens are over hiding the eggs. Everyone gets 12 eggs and once they gather 12, they are done. The kids there were the kindest of all the hunts because they left the eggs that were in the grass and easy to spot for the little kids, while they ventured off into the forest for the harder, more exotic egg finds.

Lily had so much fun at this hunt, but wanted to keep on stopping and showing us her colorful collection.

When all the other kids got done, they formed a semi-circle and began to eat all their eggs. Instead Lily wanted to arrange them from her favorite color to least favorite color.

During the sugar-high Marcia came around and surprised us with her confetti filled eggs.

The kids loved this hunt, and I hope that we get invited to come back next year. It would be a great Easter surprise!

At home:
Finally, we concluded our Easter by doing our own hunt at home. We put baskets out for Lily and Marco and let them go around the house finding eggs filled with chocolate, stickers, and chewy gummy candies.

Marco just wanted two eggs to clap together and make noises with. 

And Lily was okay with that unless they became two of her eggs.

Easter is so fun. But it really is fun because I get to re-exprience the anticipation and the magic through the eyes of my children. The more effort we made in making this hunt special for the kids, the more they enjoyed their Easter experience. As they get older, I can't wait to see this light continue to grow and I hope that this magic never dies.