Easter weekend and more

Long post ahead!

I have to start with congrats to three of my closest girlfriends from college all having babies within a couple weeks of each other! Just the coolest thing ever. Congrats Natasha (baby girl Caroline), Adrianne (baby boy Collier) and Leslie (baby boy Davis). I love you girls, and cannot wait for our little ones to play together! Here is the last time we were together at Natasha's baby shower in Nashville back in February.

Me & P, Hurt, Adrianne, Leslie, Natasha, Bev, Candice and Meg.

I don't know if they called each other and planned this, but either way it's pretty exciting for them to be so close in age ;)

So, onto Easter...

I'll start with Palm Sunday the weekend before, because P was dressed in an adorable outfit. It was Brian's when he was little, and had the sweetest trains on it. He also really enjoyed playing with the palms from church. :)

The palm immediately turns into a weapon.

We had dinner outside that night :)

Friday, Preston had the day off of school and I had the day off of work, so we enjoyed the morning with his godmother Robyn, and his future wife Avery and her mom Michelle. Brian had to work - boo.We took a nice walk on the Greenline, Preston ran around Robyn's house trying to break her nice things, and got THRILLED when John Michael walked through the door for lunch. It was hysterical! He took JM toys and books. JM would just look at Preston, and Preston would belly laugh. It was great.

Firiday afternoon we got the great news that my brother and his girlfriend were officially engaged, making Easter weekend extra exciting! They are really so perfect for each other. To be honest, it's kind of weird when your little brother gets engaged - I mean, how did he grow up?!?! I guess that is just the big sister in me :) We are thrilled for them!!! It's really funny how excited Brian is. When Mark ordered the ring, it took like 6 weeks for it to come in, and everyday Brian would want me to call or text my brother or parents to see if it arrived. Haha! Also, my youngest brother is in the final stages of buying his first house. I made me feel so good when he wanted to go look at houses with me, and wanted me opinion in it all. I think we picked a good one ;) There is so much to celebrate this Easter season, and the Chando side is feeling very blessed!

We celebrated the engagement and Easter with my side on Saturday. Of course, poor Melissa had gotten no sleep, was in a t-shirt and Mark was moving out of his apartment, so they were not very prepared for my impromptu photo shoot. I think we got some good ones though, and her ring is SO beautiful!

Preston was really good this year, so the Easter bunny stopped at our house and both grandparents houses. Here are a few shots of him at Mimi and Mook's (my parents). Yes, the Easter bunny Mimi brought our son a broom and dust pan. He LOVES to clean!

Mimi has lots of toys.

The Hess truck that belonged to Mark and Joe.

Telling people about the engagement!

He really wanted my dad's drill.

Best family pic of the day! That's what you get with a squirmy little boy.

/

"Did I do something bad?"

Playing the piano with mommy.

He walked around their backyard with his toy wheelbarrow and picked up eggs. Mimi and Mook were also a huge help in watching him for a couple hours while Brian and I finalized everything for our bathroom remodel. Woo hoo!

Sunday morning, we got up and got ready for church. Preston immediately discovered his Easter basket and  immediately pulled out the MOO book. If you have a child (preferably a little boy) you've got to get these books. P is obsessed with his DOG book, and had a fit over MOO. He also got an Etch-a-Sketch and another book he loves at school called The Greedy Python. He loves anything with Eric Carle illustrations.

Sweet outfit my mom smocked!

We hurried out the door to get to church, because that is always how it is at our house. We decided to go to St. Francis to see my mom perform. I knew we could just leave P in the church nursery so all I packed were some diapers, food and water. When we got there, much to our surprise, the nursery was closed! Apparently, the nursery had become the outside the church near the fountains with a bunch of parents "technically" at church, but really chasing their children. I mean, what?!?! Of course, my family is sitting at the front of the church. At least they were on the end of the pew. Brian and I thought, okay, we can do this, we'll just take P in with us. He did great for the first few minutes, but by the end of opening song "Jesus Christ is Risen Today!" P was already wanting to run up and down the aisles. Brian snatched him up and stood in the back with him. I turned around and they were gone. A couple minutes later, I heard my phone (which I thought I turned off!) make a beep. Here's what my text said:

I showed it to my dad and we cracked up! The door to the nursery was open, so Preston and Brian helped themselves to the toys. Before communion, I left the church, walked outside and found them playing. They came back and sat with us for the last 10 minutes. My dad took Preston and sat him on his knee. Our wild child was bucking his legs, squirming all over the pew, and eating Goldfish. We had lost control, and by this point, it was just funny. An Easter Mass we will never forget!

That afternoon, we headed over to the Fields for more Easter celebrating. The Easter bunny left some goodies over there for him in the form of a jack-in-the-box and a toy lawn mower. They are both awesome and hilarious at the same time! P loves them both! You should have seen him going up and down their hallway pushing the lawn mower. They had a great dinner, and we played over there until it was time for Preston to go to bed. He did a lot of egg hunting over there, too!

Opening his lawn mower with daddy and aunts Britt and Mal.

Mimzie and Mal helping Preston. 

Look at that stance!

Can you believe this was Preston last year? Where does the time go?!

Easter 2011

Brian was out of town most of the last week and working extra on top of that, so I was a single parent for the majority of the time. I don't know how they do it! I have to say, P is at the point where he is pretty easy. It really wasn't that bad with him. I do not sleep when Brian is not home or traveling, so that was more of my issue.

While B was gone, we played, P celebrated a friends birthday at school by devouring a cupcake, and he played with one of his fav toys at school. An African American baby doll. He loves her!

We rounded out the week with a 7 p.m. trip to the night clinic because there was some gunk in Preston's eyes. I thought maybe it was just allergies, but my "mom instinct" radar was going off, so better safe than sorry. Brian (who had just gotten back into town) came with us, thank goodness, because the doctor walked in and immediately said "classic pink eye!" Great. So, my mom got a sub and staying home with him while I did this...

Well, actually I had a meeting at channel 3 and maybe pretended to do the weather. :) Thanks mom for taking a day and staying with him, so I could work.

Anyway, B's home, P's sleeping, so our family is complete again. Here's to an eventful couple weeks, surrounded by family!