St. Patrick's Day Easter Party

We decided to celebrate Easter with my family a little early this year (and completely forgot St. Patrick's Day...Oops!). We went to Tampa for a weekend of fun, good company, and delicious food (as usual).

In preparation for the main event, the big Easter egg hunt, we have been having practice egg hunts with Presley for a couple of weeks. She caught on right away and loves it! We tell her to go in her room and wait while we hide the eggs, and she does! Then she races around, holding my hand, finding her eggs and the treats inside. It's been a lot of fun!

The weather in Tampa was beautiful so, we spent a lot of time outside. P was especially excited by the fun bubbles that her cousins gave her for her birthday. Although, the blowing utensils are a little questionable in their form--I suppose P doesn't know they resemble drug paraphernalia so it's okay, right?

 

Grammy and Grandfather gave her a fun Easter basket and we've been having lots of fun playing with all of the "monkeys jumping on a bed"

After Jeff and Jay got home from an event with Tim Tebow (Tim touched Jeff's shoulder and it was healed miraculously. I touched Jeff' shoulder and felt the magic, even secondarily), we had the big hunt. We dressed in our Easter finery (P has the cutest sandals to go with this dress but, who like walking around in the Florida crab grass in sandals? Not I!) and we were off!

P was so excited she was reluctant to put her loot in her basket.

But, once she realized she really did need her hands to collect more, and especially to eat the treats inside, she filled that basket right up! You'll notice that in many of these pictures her cheeks are full of treats---she's a Tobler, when there's food to be eaten, there's no need to wait!

We sure had fun celebrating Easter on St. Patrick's Day! Now for a couple more weeks of egg hunting before the real big day arrives!

Spring Break with Gramma and Grampa Tobler

We were happy to have Jeff's parent's visit for his (last) spring break (ever)! To celebrate this momentous occasion, we took off for a two day adventure in Savannah, GA. Savannah is our kind of place. Beautiful scenery, fine accommodations, and you pretty much stroll around until you've digested enough to justify another delicious meal and/or snack.

Presley seemed to really enjoy it too. Lots of street performers to dance to.

And plenty of stairs to climb!

 

She was also impressed with the food. (I think she was really excited about the size of my meatball pizza)

 

"More, please" (or meeese, as it sounds)

 

 

There are many beautiful parks to explore.

 

And lots of fun people to watch (even the ones that came with us)!

  

 

We had an unfortunate flat tire. But, with a quick call to AAA we were soon on our way to Goose Feathers for brunch. I may, or may not, have eaten a Belgian waffle with vanilla frozen yogurt on top (my, oh my).

While we waited for AAA, we explored the fountains in the park. Too bad it was chilly, I'm sure P would've loved to run (naked) and play in them!

 

She never let Grampa get too far out of her sight. We try not to encourage favorites but, she really thought her Grampa was special!

After so much food and excitement, she passed out in her stroller en route to the big playground, which she missed entirely.

The fountain was dyed green in preparation for St. Patrick's Day. I think we were the only park-goers not wearing green!

  

 

 
We spent some time monkeying around and getting our wiggles out before driving back home.

The next day, Jeff and our guests spent the day exploring the Rainbow River by canoe and feasting on some fried, Southern delicacies (frog legs).

And after church on Sunday, we had a lovely dinner with the Draney's. The Draney and Tobler families are long-time friends from Pasco, WA. It's fun to have a family here that has so much history with Jeff's family!

 

It was a fun, but quick, visit and we are excited to have them back in a couple of months for Jeff's graduation. P was especially sad that her Grampa left! And we are all a little sad that after 10 spring breaks, Jeff will not have another one! It's now a sprint to the big finish!

Catching Up

 It's time to do a bit of catching up on my long-neglected blog! We had a few highlights in February worth noting.

First, my mom and sisters came to Gainesville for a weekend of estrogen-fueled fun and Ashley surprised us with some fun news! She and Jay are expecting a little boy! Hoorah! We can't wait to meet their little man. I'm sure he'll arrive wearing loafers, just like his Daddy ;-)

We spent the weekend eating way too much, shopping for Ashley's maternity wardrobe, and getting hooked (or re-hooked for me) on Downton Abbey. Jeff, Presley and I had been stricken with a nasty stomach flu just before their visit and despite us all feeling better, and a thorough house cleaning, 100% of our house guests went home with our stomach bug. Aren't we great hosts!?! At least it gave the girls an excuse to lay in bed for a day or two and watch more Downton Abbey :-)

February is also peak strawberry season in Florida and we ate our fair share! We even shared some!

 

Presley continues to become more and more independent. She now mostly feeds herself. It's messy at time but, she's getting the hang of it!

She's also starting to help us clean. Jeff was wiping up the floor after dinner one night and P ran to her drawer, picked out this little shirt, and started to help.

We also gave her what has been hands-down her favorite toy to date...a little doll stroller. That little thing goes with us everywhere!

We started taking P into the nursery at church. She's not quite old enough to go on her own yet but, we stay and play and we all really enjoy it! Snack time is, of course, her favorite. She also likes to do her silly laugh during lesson time and get all of the other little ones going too...such a big personality for such a little body!

We also had a scary experience that led to some food allergy testing. P had the tiniest bit of peanut butter one Friday evening and immediately she had red spots around her mouth and her voice went hoarse. She didn't have trouble breathing but, we dosed her with Benedryl and kept close eye in her while her symptoms went away. The next day we started carrying an epinephrine pen with us every where we go. A couple of weeks later, the allergist confirmed what we suspected...no nuts for our little P!

We got a little antsy at the allergists office so, we turned on a little Taylor Swift and got our grove on. Like all little girls under 12, P loves T. Swift and she really loves dancing too!

And since February is one of the months that we love living on Florida, we spent a lot of time out on the patio playing and practicing sitting in our tailgate chairs.