A whirlwind weekend.

Friday night was Cate’s first birthday party. It was such a blessing to have her in Ohio to celebrate it with her. :) Here’s baby Cate sharing some Grandma love…

My sister wanted a Dr. Seuss theme, so with some online inspiration, we ended up with a super adorable party. I took so many pictures that I’m going to have to dedicate an entire post to the party details. :) But here’s a peak at little Miss “Thing 1” helping me decorate for the party…

Oh, and Cate helped me send a couple emails while I worked from my parents’ place for a couple hours on Friday before the party.

We had a lovely little family party for Cate & we even had four generations in the house…

Cate was pleased as punch the whole evening, that is, until she had to eat her birthday cupcake. Not a fan of the sticky, messy icing!

 

{Love it! }

Saturday was a bit relaxed as my sister and her little family visited my brother-in-law’s side. Baseball double header & a ticket for me. Yeah, a ticket. I got ticketed for “following too closely” because the car in front of me breaked quickly because they saw the cop. We were going a whopping 27 mph where the speed limit was 35 mph {Fabulous. Add it to the list.}

Anyway…

We gathered again for Easter Sunday. They joined Eugene & me in their adorable matching Easter outfits at our church.

I joked with Eugene that I wish I were still a little girl so I could wear such super-cute Easter dresses & hats! I mean, honestly, she is just ridiculously cute!

 

And just cause I love this picture – here’s some real beauties…

We enjoyed some praise & worship together for such a hopeful day {wondrous thing.} And Cate got a little cat-nap in before it was time to take her to our Aunt Jane’s {my namesake} for our family tradition of lots and lots of home cooked food, family visits, and a fun egg hunt for the kids.

 

This is just the desserts. Mmm, our family has some good cookin’!

Cate got into some comfy clothes to be sure she was totally ready to rock the egg hunt.

And she rocked it indeed, just look at her climbing over those barriers!

 

She even took home a kite, all part of the tradition. :)

  

She had such fun with the eggs! I know she probably won’t remember her first birthday party, or her first Easter, but we certainly will. I loved watching my sister smile with pure joy at her little girl laughing at big red balloons, playing with her second cousins, hugging her grandpa & grandma, and enjoying a long-standing family tradition. It’s great to see other people full of joy. {Gives me joy.}