Easter Fun

Easter in Texas. The weather was beautiful, both of my nieces were so precious in their new dresses (made by their mother), and I had a wonderful time celebrating life with my sister and her family in Dallas. I took some pictures of the girls outside before heading to church. The expressions of the girls cracked me up - I vaguely remember being photographed with my new dresses on many Easter mornings as a child.

Little baby Violet - such a sweetheart.

*big sigh* "When will you be done with the pictures..."

"Ditto," says Violet.

And then after church, the hunt began! We went over to a friend-of-my-sister's house for a massive Easter egg hunt... what fun! Grace was one of the older girls there (please note how full her bucket was that morning) but she still had a blast. Violet kept herself busy taking other people's eggs out of their unattended baskets. :) Haha...

Princess Ballerina Grace

In an attempt to commemorate my taking care of Grace last week, I decided to be a fun aunt and take her to Build-A-Bear as a surprise one day. I gave her the opportunity to pick out whatever stuffed animal she wanted and dress her (or him) however she saw fit. So this is what we got: a pink bear (with pink eyes) dressed in a pink ballerina outfit with pink shoes - accessorized with a crown, wand and a Hello Kitty purse. Grace was so pleased with herself! At first the bear was named simply Ballerina - but alas, when we got home and started playing with her, the bear's name just would not do. Therefore, she was renamed Princess Ballerina Grace - how cute is that? Hopefully Grace will enjoy cuddling with the bear and will think of me and my love for her when she plays with the fuzzy pink bear.

Grace

My beautiful niece - Grace. I was lucky enough to be able to go to Texas to take care of her (and the long-time family dog, Abby) while my sister and her husband and the still-nursing baby went looking for jobs and houses in New Mexico and Utah. Grace and I had a wonderful time. We haven't seen each other in quite awhile - especially considering how quickly little girls grow up. She was such a joy and such a cute young girl. I took her to school, we played at the park, I heard the Resurrection Story about two hundred and three times thanks to the fun Easter Story Easter Eggs she got at church on Sunday. I feel so lucky to not only be able to fulfill this need for my sister but also to spend such quality time with Grace. Hopefully she will have a few fond memories of Aunt Emily and the fun few days she got to spend alone at her house.

Silly girl - with her bright painted toes.

Oh, and she got to wear my necklace (which was sooooo exciting) and play with my fun pink purse. In all seriousness, though, I think anything pink would have been fun.

A Study of Rust

In my exploration of my new town, I found this rundown gas station (I think). I so enjoy the pictures I got of a rusted pole! I think they are so interesting - between the different colors, shades and textures; all from a rusted pole. You can see the pole weathering away one layer at a time. You can even see that the opposite sides are being worn down differently. Such intriguing effects of destruction...

These are a few pictures taken of the actual gas station - look how the vines have totally taken over.

I also found a very old fire truck on the side of the road - it had a large water tank in the bed of the truck. Very cool...

Welcome to Missouri

Well, Michael and I have made it to Missouri. We have unpacked all of our stuff and made our new house into our home. I finally made it out into the little towns around us to take a few pictures of the new surroundings. This area is a little more rural than our old neighborhood in North Carolina (and definitely more so than my old stomping ground in Dallas). It is beautiful, though, and I'm enjoying the quiet. I do still miss the big malls and fantastic grocery stores of my days in Texas but am loving the extreme quiet and darkness that comes with this small town.


These pictures were taken a few miles off of I-44. The ranching land can be so beautiful in the early hours of the day or right before sunset. I plan on setting aside an early morning to go back and take pictures of the land in the flattering lighting. In the meantime, these are just a few shots I got while driving around one afternoon to see what I could see. :)