Mother's Day

I was so happy with Mother's Day this year. It was low-key and we were able to be together as a family. I came downstairs to this lovely arrangement on the kitchen table:
Not sure Beanie Daddy paid attention or if he was just lucky, but the color of the daisies are the exact color as the spring tea towels and a few other spring decor items I have in the kitchen right now. They coordinate perfectly.

We went to church and afterward had a lovely picnic at Cardinal Point Winery where moms got free appetizers with their tasting. We got a bottle of wine and had lunch on the lawn. It was a perfect afternoon, with the exception of a bit of wind. We came home and grilled steaks, which were super yummy. It was a great day.

Jilly Jam

We are so lucky to live down the road from a wonderful orchard that not only provides scrumptious peaches in the summer but also strawberries. Jilly and I met a friend last Friday to pick a few and were generously rewarded. Last year we had to hunt and pick through several bushes to find perfect berries, but this year, we were able to pull off multiple berries from the same bush and didn't have to move much beyond one small section.

JillyBean had a lot of fun this year, too. Last year she wouldn't pick the strawberries and only wanted to carry the basket around with her. This year she didn't want to stop.
She even ate a few, which was something new. When she was a year old she loved strawberries but I haven't been able to get her to try one since. She loves strawberry ice cream, cake, smoothies, lollipops, etc., but would never eat the actual fruit. She wouldn't stop this time.

We brought home our load and used some to make fruit pops and some to make strawberry jam. I had never made jam before but it was actually so simple that I think we will do more. Jilly had the important task of mashing up the berries and she did a wonderful job.
We made 9 half pints of jam, but two didn't seal properly. We kept one and gave the other to a friend who said they would be able to eat it right away. Jilly has assigned "homes" to the remaining 7 jars so, if you're lucky, a jar of Jilly Jam will be coming your way soon.

Spring Sprung

A friend took some lovely spring/Easter photos of Jilly earlier this month. Thank you to Stephanie Reeder for capturing such beautiful moments.

Party at Three

JillyBean turned three - three weeks ago. There was so much activity taking place that I have had no time to come here to write about it. Plus, I spilled lemonade on the computer keyboard and the keys are sticky, making it difficult to type....

The birthday was great. I made a pink train cake, per her request, for our family celebration and was pretty happy with the result. It was strawberry cake with homemade butter cream frosting. It didn't look professional but it sure did taste great.
She got a new bike - a Thomas bike - as well as a doll house, a cow barn (since Santa forgot at Christmas), and a couple of movies from mom and dad. Grandma gave her a softball glove and a few other fun things.
The big shindig took place the following Saturday. We hosted 12 kids and their parents and it was a great time. The weather was beautiful, so the party stayed outside much of the time. Daddy brought home a tent that we set out in the back and placed a long banquet table under it so the kids could decorate their own mini train cake. We used it again to stage the food while the kids sat at little tables that we placed around the tent.

Guests were greeted with a sign that Daddy had made and we placed bunting and balloons on the front porch, giving it a festive look.
The kids had a blast decorating cakes and were pretty creative.
I made a train game for them to play and it was a huge success, but for the most part the kids had fun running around and playing outside. Jilly wore a cute little dress that a family friend made with Thomas material. It was a tad bit big, but Jilly HAD to wear it. The party concluded with a Thomas cake that I had made. It was chocolate and was soooo fresh that I can still taste it. It was honestly one of the best cakes I have ever had and it came from a grocery store. They did a fabulous job with it.
The kids loved their Thomas hats and wore them the entire time. They liked that they had their name on them and I think the parents appreciated not having something that made noise or more candy to take home, though they did have the cakes. It was a great party and now we can take a bit of a breather before planning for next year.

Easter

We were all pretty worn out from Easter activities so this is the first chance I have had to come in and talk about it.

I have always loved Easter. I have vivid memories of dying and hunting eggs and receiving a special dress each year. Apart from the religious aspect of the holiday, I always felt it was one of the more special events of the year. Most of those memories include my Grandmother and New Mexico and I found myself looking back at family photos of us preparing for Easter and celebrating and a rush of wonderful memories flood my mind. I want Jilly to have that same feeling and memories as she grows older.
We did not get the chance to hunt or color eggs last year so we made up for it this year - threefold. It was almost overdone, but JillyBean had such a fabulous time that it was worth all of the jellybean- and chocolate egg-induced sugar highs she experienced the past two weeks.

Our first hunt took place two weeks ago with our fabulous MOPS group. I think that Jilly had more fun gathering eggs than she did trick-or-treating.
We hosted an egg hunt at our place for our mom's group. A dozen two- and three-year-olds came to our place and we scattered eggs throughout the courtyard behind our house and the kids went crazy. It was so much fun watching them charge out to pick up eggs to place in their baskets. Afterward they munched on cupcakes and fruit and played together. It was a great spring gathering.
The Easter Bunny brought Jilly a basket filled with gear to explore the great outdoors. She received a butterfly net, a bug house, flashlight, binoculars and magnifying glass - all from a super cute line called Sunny Patch, a division of Melissa and Doug. She also received some toy snakes because, for some reason, she's obsessed with the creatures.
She also got some more lip gloss and a color book of her beloved Wonder Pets. The candy was kept to a minimum - just a chocolate bunny - since she had plenty by this point.

This year's Easter dress was a custom frock that had her monogram embroidered on it. It was a sweet little pink and green apron dress that looked so dainty on her, in spite of her newly skinned knees and elbow. I had wanted to experiment with sponge curlers (another childhood Easter memory), but I never bought them. Still, I thought that she looked adorable.
We spent the afternoon at our good friends' house where we enjoyed a lovely after church brunch and, yet, another egg hunt. The kids had a blast. You would have thought they would have been done with hunting eggs, but I am pretty sure that we could do it again and they would be just as excited.
This was the best Easter that we have had since Jilly has been with us. Well, that's not exactly true. The BEST Easter was three years ago when she was born. She is the best gift the Easter Bunny has ever brought me and I doubt that gift will ever be trumped.

Big Girl Bed

We made the transition to a big-girl bed a little earlier than planned. On Wednesday Daddy took the front off of Jilly's crib, transforming it into a toddler bed. I was not expecting it and neither was Jilly. He did it before he went to work and we were downstairs finishing breakfast and received the surprise when we went up to get dressed. Jilly was excited. Me, not so much. I couldn't believe he "uncaged" her at a time I would be home alone with her - for nap time. Thankfully we had a play date that ran late that day and Jilly missed her nap. She did spend some "quite time" in her bed when we got home, because she was so thrilled to have a "real" bed.

So far things have gone well. She stays in bed and we haven't had issues many parents have with wrangling her to stay in her room. It's still all new, so who knows if that will change...I am happy that we are trying this out as a toddler bed instead of the twin that will be her bed. She has fallen out of bed twice so at least she doesn't have far to go.

Real Life or The Legend of Ricky Bobby?

Breakfast conversations are usually pretty interesting around this house. This morning was no exception.

Me: Jilly, do you remember what we celebrate at Christmas?
Jilly: Baby Jesus' birthday.
Me: Exactly. Do you know what we celebrate at Easter?
Jilly: Nope.
Me: Well, Easter is a time for us to remember that when Jesus grew up and was big like daddy, he made a promise and he kept that promise.
Jilly: Oh. Well, Jesus lives in my heart.
Me: I know and that's very special, isn't it?
Jilly: Yes. But it's not big Jesus. Baby Jesus lives in my heart.
Me: Really? Well, that's fine. I'm sure that Jesus doesn't mind that he gets to stay little in your heart.
Jilly: Yes. He will grow up when I grow up. I like baby Jesus best right now.

Her desire to keep Jesus a baby reminds me of the scene from The Legend of Ricky Bobby where the fictional race car driver explains that he prefers to pray to the Christmas Jesus.

I have wondered for a while how to teach the Easter story to Jilly. The birth of a baby is an easy one, but I'm not certain that an almost three-year-old can understand death and resurrection. That is why I am focusing on the promise of new life that Christ gave us. Jilly's favorite book right now is Horton Hatches an Egg and Horton's mantra, "I meant what I said and said what I meant; an Elephant is faithful 100 percent," is one way to teach the message that God is always faithful as well.