kara

Great Grandma gave me a pretty red Easter basket with a bath toy in it.

There were pretty daffodils on the table.

I had the best meal.

Nini made me the softest bunny rabbit.

I climbed the stairs over and over and over …

… and made funny faces in my pretty dress, which Grandma bought for me.

I played with the buttons on Nini’s shirt.

And I found out that I really, really, really like homemade whipped cream.

I sat on Great Grandma’s lap for a long time.

I also sat with my Great Uncle Roger and …

… Sam, too (sorry I was so upset, Sam).

Grandpa let me play with the remote (which Mom and Dad never let me do).

Mom tried to get me to sit still—without Cheerios—for a family photo. Maybe next year.

“Fancy cream puffs so soon after breakfast. The very idea made one shudder. All the same, two minutes later Jose and Laura were licking their fingers with that absorbed inward look that comes only from whipped cream.” —Katherine Mansfield

A hidden basket.

She found it!

Plastic eggs …

… filled with sort-of-weird-but-turns-out-she-loves-them-freeze-dried yogurt.

Good day.

“Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin’ down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity,
Easter’s on its way

Bringin’ ev’ry girl and boy
A basketful of Easter joy
Things to make your Easter
Bright and gay.” —Water “Jack” Rollins

Saturday Sophie, Nini and I walked to Tower Park in Fort Thomas so Sophie could participate in her first egg hunt—she just made the cut-off.

Twelve thousand plastic eggs filled with candy and slips of paper guaranteeing a prize were placed around the park. Thankfully there was a 1 to 3 age group so Sophie didn’t have to battle older children for eggs. Children expectantly held onto their baskets, barely able to wait until the “go” siren rang from the nearby firetruck. And some didn’t wait! Every few minutes you’d see a small child make a break for it, clutching her basket, smiling so big at being alone in a field full of plastic eggs for the picking. And then you’d see her harried (but often laughing) dad running after her, camera bobbing around his neck.

Here’s Sophie, holding her basket.

Her first egg!

We tried to put her down on the grass, so she could pick up an egg on her own, but she was a little overwhelmed (and to be honest, once the siren rang, I was, too!).

Sophie ended up with two eggs, filled with candy that made a wonderful noise when she shook them, like a homemade rattle.

“If you put out 8,000 eggs, you’ve got a huge Easter egg hunt. The eggs will probably be picked up within five minutes. It’s like a vacuum.” —Bob Hall

“And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven’t yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?” —Bill Bryson

“I doubt whether the world holds for any one a more soul-stirring surprise than the first adventure with ice cream.” —Heywood C. Broun

Check out this belated birthday present I got from Grandma and Grandpa! On it my name—Sophie Olivia—is a puzzle. And it’s a stool!

Look, Mom! No hands!

“There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.” —Deepak Chopra

Sophie, Nini and I took advantage of a beautiful spring day to walk around Dudley Memorial Park. Days like these remind me of how lucky I am to be able to stay home, to take advantage of good weather, to spend time with my mom and my daughter. And although I sometimes struggle with my decision to stay home, yes, thinking back to days like these, I am grateful.

“When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing—just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?” —Ralph Marston

Our dinners with Marty and Angel are getting bigger.

“Condiments are like old friends—highly thought of, but often taken for granted.” —Marilyn Kaytor

“Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.” —Pearl S. Buck

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. ‘Pooh,’ he whispered. ‘Yes, Piglet?’ ‘Nothing,’ said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. ‘I just wanted to be sure of you.'” —A. A. Milne