The Hard-to-get-a-degree's: First Birthday/Easter Texas Visit

April was an absolutely crazy month for us, so of course, I got behind. As May should be much slower for us, I hope to use it to catch up on our busy, but awesome April.

We spent Easter weekend in Texas. Poppa and Gigi used their vouchers to fly us down to celebrate Lottie’s 1^st birthday and Easter together. And, of course, to get the obligatory baby bluebonnet pictures.

Texas, or I should say God, did not disappoint. It is a banner bluebonnet year. There are very few things in the world as beautiful as a field of solid Texas wildflowers or as sweet smelling.

We flew in Thursday night and began the weekend by eating Tex-Mex to get into the true Texas spirit. Friday morning we left early for the Aero-Bee Ranch, my family’s lake house on Lake Buchanan. The whole drive was graced with Texas wildflowers.

My heart was so happy. As beautiful as South Carolina’s spring is, my heart misses the awe-inspiring Texas wildflower season. At the ranch, we were joined by Paw-paw & Nana (Chris’ parents), Great Gran & Great Papa, Uncle Brian, Aunt Sarah, Luke, Uncle Chuck, Aunt Karen, and Uncle Chris. Friday, we hung out, baked, crafted, played, and just enjoyed each other’s company. They also sweetly gave me a cake for my birthday that night.

The pics on the right are what you get when Chris cuts the cake.

Saturday, we celebrated Lottie’s birthday in the afternoon, so Sarah and I spent the morning prepping. I had a lot of stuff ready, but it took a shocking amount of time to finish things. The hardest part was decorating the cake. It took twice as long because of my runny nose (thanks Texas pollen), which made me stop about every 5 minutes to wash my hands, wipe my dripping nose, and wash my hands again, as well as, the broken A/C unit in the kitchen, which caused my icing to melt. I never understood why the Cake Boss freaked out over the cake melting until trying to ice a cake in a hot kitchen. It is next to impossible. Despite all the set-backs, everything came together for a wonderful party, which I will share in another post.

That night we enjoyed the traditional ranch meal of pork ribs, pork tenderloin, and Uncle Chuck’s beans. We always eat like kings at the ranch.

Sunday, we celebrated Easter as I shared on Easter here. We also took baby bluebonnet pictures.

My fellow Texans, is there anything in the world sweeter than a baby in bluebonnets?

Poor Lukey didn't know what to do with all the activity and flowers and such

It looks like Lottie is throwing down a mad rap in these

After all of that, we started the crazy process of packing up, which is a much more difficult and long process with a 1 year-old. It was an incredible weekend with a lot of quality family time. We could not have asked for a better first birthday weekend.