Easter

There are a few random pictures here first, just because. I thought Hazel looked very Springy in this outfit. I think she said she was going shopping. I've always loved this hat. And then she's inviting me to a tea party.

Here are some of our new Easter decorations, by Hazel of course. She loves coloring these black velvet pictures. The bird in the middle was from a Michael's craft day - feathers glued all over a foam egg. That was a sticky project.

For some reason, I'm only able to insert text between certain pictures tonight, so next is a picture she drew of Jesus. And then the two piles of streamers were a great Easter gift from Aunt Trudy. When we opened the box from her, there were four purple "dinosaur" eggs. It took forever to unravel them, and they had candy and little gifts wrapped here and there in the paper. That was a great idea! And then there's an Easter card she made at preschool.

It's been warm enough recently that the ice and snow have started to melt. Alaskans call this Break Up. We've had fun talking about being able to see things like pavement again. Hazel enjoys helping break up the ice and shovel away the slush and snow. While working, she'll make dramatic statements like, "Mom, there's grass here!" This work doesn't make Spring arrive any quicker, but we feel like we're helping it along. And then once we got the street mostly clear of ice, what did it do the day before Easter? Snow big fluffy flakes all day long. We were happy to see the snow, though, because this day put us over the annual snowfall record and made everything nice and white again. Fortunately, while at Home Depot to make a bird feeder with Daddy, Hazel happened upon an indoor egg hunt.

Here are most of our winter tools, sans the ice chopper which is best kept in the garage so little ones don't borrow it and chop off their feet.

Snow or not, we decorated for Easter.Here's Hazel with her little Easter basket from us - John Smith to go with her Pocahontas doll and doll clothes for some of her princesses

And the basket from the Bunny himself.

She's triumphantly holding up her strawberry Pocky sticks, which the Easter Bunny never forgets.

She and Merry all dressed up in matching outfits, right down to the shoes. Merry joined us for church, of course. That's a fading temporary tattoo on Hazel's arm, not a bite mark or bruise. I need to remember to check for such things before taking all-dressed-up photos...

Easter afternoon was spent shoveling a path to the gazebo, which we're somehow going to turn into a playhouse this summer. She does love to shovel.

Which person is in denial about the weather...

Enjoying her Easter bunny, which of course lost his ears first. She was a little disappointed to find it was hollow.Messy face contemplating which part to devour next. Actually, she saved the rest and hasn't asked for it yet. I wonder how long I have to wait for her to remember it before I get to eat it. And the answer to that is a long time, as inevitably she'll remember it in a month.