Easter Memories

It seems that as parents we are always striving to make sure that our kid "had a better life than us". It's the common thread that I often hear among parent circles. But, I have no idea how to even go about surpassing my childhood. It was ideal. It was perfect. It was a Donna Reed dream. Easter is one of my favorite childhood memories.

Every year we would go to the Easter egg hunt at the Dallas Country Club. It was crazy! I had what I thought was the most beautiful Easter egg basket in the world. The basket was skirted in pink netting and the handle was wrapped in pink satin. It had plastic bunnies and chicks wired to it. I could fill that sucker up tons of times at the DCC Easter egg hunt. They didn't even hide the eggs. There must have been hundreds of thousands of pieces of candy scattered all over the lawn. You couldn't even look one foot without coming up on another piece of candy.

I remember dying eggs with my mom while standing in our orange lacquered kitchen chair. I'm sure everyone remembers the water, vinegar and little color tablet. I'd always try to hold that little flimsy wire loop just the right way so that I could get one color on one side and another on the other. And, in the "advanced" egg dying stages of my childhood I figured out how to hold the egg in longer to get darker or lighter colors. Ahhh... childhood!

Back in my days people really didn't wear white until after labor day. Now that has all changed. We always had a new dress for church and shiny white patton shoes and white tights. Those white tights were always so uncomfortable. Somehow the crotch would end up closer to my knees than the designated spot. It created a sort of waddle effect. Take a look at 5 year old girls wearing those thick white tights. You'll see exactly what I'm talking about!


My Grandmommie was always so on top of the holidays. She has six grandchildren. She bought everything in six's. We spent many Easter's up at the ranch. Grandmommie stocked the bunny trail for the big hunt. But, this wasn't just a little egg and candy hunt. There were REALLY GOOD finds along the way. My cousins and I looked forward to this every year. It was just like Christmas. Of course there was always a Godiva bunny for each of us at the end of the trail.

So, as you can see, I have a pretty tough act to follow. I hope to build as many memories with Morgan. We are taking him to the Flower Mound Easter festival tomorrow. I'm hosting a luncheon for the family at our house. I need to tell dad and Dan that they need to start clearing a bunny trail at the other ranch for future Bunny Trail hunts!

Look What My Hubby Gave Me for Morgan's Birthday!

Dan is such a wonderful husband. He always gives the most wonderful gifts.

Our family used to vacation in Colorado every year when I was growing up. I rode the same horse, Bo Jangles, year after year. I had one of his horseshoes with the years I rod him painted on the front. My childhood house burnt down when I was in high school and the horseshoe was one of the things I lost. I casually mentioned this one summer when Dan and I went to the livery in Estes Park. That Christmas... he gave me another horseshoe. He is so sneaky! He called the livery and found out the years we were there and they painted another one for not only me... my sister too!

Well, Dan proved to be a great gift giver once again. I of course wasn't expecting anything for Morgan's birthday. But, he gave me this beautiful card and white gold and diamond necklace for Morgan's 1st birthday. You can double click on the images below to bring up a larger image to read the sweet letter he wrote from Morgan.

Morgan's 1st Birthday Party at Petland

Ok, I know that I should edit out more of these photos... but I can't! We took so many photos that day. Morgan had his 1st birthday party the day after his actual birthday because his birthday fell on a Friday this year. We love love love Petland. It is the best pet store in the world. Petland is an actual pet store. It's not just a pet supply store like Petco or PetSmart. Morgan and I often go there to play with the tons of animals they have. And they have the odd animals that you don't usually see... like chinchillas, ground squirrels, monkeys and tons of other unique pets. All of the birds, rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs and small rodents are in open cages. I just reach in and grab whatever I want. They also have little rooms to play with the puppies. We rented out their birthday room for his party. We had 11 babies and their parents. It was so easy. They gave us three staff members to run the party. They handled everything. I didn't even have to serve the cake or drinks. After a tour of the aquarium room they brought in different groupings of animals. The kids had a ball!

Above: Bruce Morgan (dad/grandpa) and baby AJ. Kevin and Amy Smith, Jenna Lummus in the chairs on the left and Scott Heal and baby Wyatt on the right.
Here's Morgan in his 1st birthday shirt with a guinea pig. I forgot his name. But, the staff members had named all of the animals.
Above: Becky Rasdall & Robin Kelm show Eva and Zoey a guinea pig
Above: Julie Kerper and baby Leah, Gaby Wiszberger and baby Natalie, Christi Heal and a screaming baby Wyatt.

Andy Wiszberger (in background). Dan and Grandma Lynn holding Morgan. The girl in tan is one of the event people. She is showing the babies an African Grey.

Yummy! Everyone had blue cup cakes and Morgan had his own white "smash cake". Moms called me the next week with reports of blue baby poop... ewwe!
Grandpa pretends to take a bite from Morgan's hand.
The setup was so cute. Morgan even had his own special 1st birthday hat.

Above: Becky with baby Zoey, Robin with baby Eva and Kimberly with baby Sarah
Above: Andy with baby Natalie
GG with baby Morgan and Dan
Top: Grandpa Bruce, Grandma Lynn and Kevin Smith

Bottom: Mary Kidder with baby Calvin, Amy Smith with baby AJ, Irma Ramsey with baby Ariana, and Dan with baby Morgan

Here's the video of Morgan digging into his cake!

Morgan's Birthday Date... He's THE Man!

Zoey's parents went to the Randy Travis concert on Morgan's birthday. He had a date! No worries... they slept in separate rooms. But, notice the sippy cup in the photos. Yes, that is the same cup. I looked away for 2 seconds!

Rainforest Cafe Birthday Lunch

Morgan's birthday was on a Friday. His party wasn't until the next day. So, we did a mini-celebration on the actual big day. My mom, Laura, Christi, Scott and baby Wyatt met us at Rainforest Cafe. They babies had a blast. That place is LOUD and there is a ton going on. Laura gave Morgan another cute outfit and Wyatt gave Morgan two very fun very squishy Tonka trucks.

Here's Morgan's first birthday cake (he had two more at his party the next day). The waitstaff brought him a cake with a fire sparkler in the middle and then proceeded to YELL the happy birthday song. It was fabulous!


Dan took Morgan and Wyatt for a tour of the fish tanks and all of the animated fake animals. They really got a kick out of the elephants and gorillas.

I like this last photo... IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I'LL CRY IF I WANT TO!!!