Our Spring so far + Easter

Spring has sprung! We have welcomed the warmer weather along with the opportunity to get out of the house. Mia loves outside, so she has been anxious to get out as well. Spring is a nice "season," (as if Texas has seasons), but we know all too well that it will turn into miserable 100+ summer far too quickly. So we have been enjoying this 70-80 degree weather while we still can! So this is how we have been enjoying our Spring so far.

{One} We have been taking walks in the evening...before the mosquitoes come out. Mia chills in the stroller, points and says "dag" every time she sees a dog. Sadly, Mia is outgrowing the desire to just "stroll," because she always wants to walk! 

While we walk I listen to a podcast. Right now I've really been into TED Radio Hour. I devoured Serial and wanted something else to listen to. I also listen to This American Life.

If you haven't checked out the podcast Serial you should give it a chance. It's about a murder case from 1999 that seems to have been mishandled in court. They investigate the trial and the case in the podcast. It's an interesting case and extremely addictive...like a good book you just can't put down. Do you guys listen to podcasts? Any suggestions?

{Two} We go to the park. Mia usually plays with the dirt or walks around in the grass picking up leaves. She does not like the swings and is still unsure about the slide. Her preference is definitely playing with the wood chips.  

Her hair blowing in the wind

Aunt Samirah and Mia

{Three} We are attempting to be good home owners this Spring and we have done some landscaping. In the Fall, we planted 5 trees, 2 hydrangea bushes, and some flowers. Unfortunately the flowers didn't make it. 

So the past week or so, Mike has taken on the overgrowth in our other flower beds. We have a neighbor who is never home and their shrubs pollinated in our yard and went crazy in our flower beds.

Our neighbor's yard...the bane of our existence

Before:

Our front yard flower bed overgrowth/weeds  

During: 

We didn't get a "before" picture of the backyard flowerbed, but it was worse than the front yard

After: 

{Four} Mia went to the Zoo for the first time with all of her cousins! My oldest niece had a cheer competition in Ft. Worth, so we met up with my brother, SIL, and nieces to visit the Ft. Worth Zoo after her competition. 

Unfortunately, Mike had an open house that day and had to miss it. Mia did not appreciate the long drive, but had fun at the zoo. She was pointing at all the animals and really liked walking around. After all of that fun she slept the whole ride home.

Pointing away

My baby niece slept most of the time we were there

Cousin Love

{Five} With Mia always wanting to be on the go and getting into everything, it has become more difficult to get her to sit down and eat. Especially in the morning, when playing is on the top of her priority list...not eating. So after letting her play for a while sometimes the only way I can get her to sit down and eat is with a compromise: 

She gets to look outside and I get some food into her belly, it is a win-win. She truly does love outside, especially when the dogs are out there for her to watch as well. 

Speaking of loving outside, Mia crawled out of the dog door this week! She has pulled the dog door up to look out there before, but she kept going this time. I was across the living room and was in shock. I told her No, but she didn't care, she just kept crawling right out the door. What a mess! 

{Easter}

We were all sick on Easter. We had been taking turns all week being sick, so when Easter Sunday rolled around we just relaxed at home. 

We started the day reading some Easter books, including the one she got from her first Easter basket last year. 

Happy Easter, Mouse!

We kept Mia's Easter basket simple this year: 

We gave her some bubbles, a sticker book, a baby chick sippy cup, and some Doc McStuffins snack containers. 

She seemed to really enjoy opening her basket! I wasn't sure she would be old to get it, but she somewhat got it. Holidays are going to so much more fun now! 

Before nap time, we put some Easter eggs out for her to find. We weren't sure what to put in them, so we just ended up going with pretzel sticks.

The Easter egg hunt was a success as well! She would try to eat the pretzel stick faster once she found another egg so she could eat that pretzel as well. Such a funny girl. 

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Easter. I also hope everyone is enjoying this Spring weather as much as we are!