Random Easter + Birthday Thoughts

So, the funny thing about my girl having a springtime birthday is that she does not celebrate Easter every year of her life. She was born 2 days after Easter in 2010. She was already one by the time Easter rolled around in 2011. She had two Easter's at the age of 2 but she won't have one at all when she is three. Regardless, she is a pretty awesome little springtime flower. She even picked out her Easter dress herself this year. (She tries to throw clothes in the cart EVERY time we go into a store now.... my little fashionista!)

Holidays that operate on different calendars than the traditional calendar used in the USA are kinda fun.

My New Favorite sandwich!

My new favorite sandwich. It is a knock off of a sandwich that my husband and I both LOVE from Panera Bread Co.  This kind of came together earlier this week after a lovely find of Chipotle Pepper Sandwich Spread.  Sorry I am not some sort of fancy food blogger with step by step photos of the process, but mostly I am documenting this for my own personal documentation.

Ingredients:
1 Chicken Tender, grilled
Butter
Costco Torta Roll
Hidden Valley Spicy Chipotle Pepper Sandwich Spread
Cheddar
Bacon (Optional)
Tomato (If you want to be true to the Panera original, but since we aren't tomato eaters in this house, we don't even think about it.)

Take some salt and peppered grilled chicken and slice it thin against the grain
Butter the outside of some Costco Torta Rolls (like a grilled cheese or panini)
Spread some Hidden Valley Spicy Chipotle Pepper Sandwich Spread on the inside (seriously my new favorite grocery store find!)
Slice some cheddar then put the cheddar, cooked bacon, and grilled chicken inside and grill it up like a grilled cheese or panini sandwich!  Once the cheese is melted, enjoy! It is delicious!

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BONUS DAY! The beauty of a leap year, right? 

 We hit up a a NYE game night with some friends, but we bailed around 9 or so due to the little one's sleep needs. Once we got home we broke out a bottle of martinellis in IKEA kid cups. We tried to take a family photo, but I am not very good at getting all 3 of us in the selfy. Here are two of our best attempts. Happy New Year! Let's now see if the 2nd time is a charm for watching the ball drop on TV. (They cut out just before midnight here for local news and then showed the ball drop again, in theory, at midnight. Weird.) It has been a great year! I hope you enjoyed our day by day photo journey!

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Punkin stole my post church nap today. My bed. My blanket. That little thief!

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 Wha? An alpaca puppet? How randomly awesome. We found this crazy little toy store during our adventure downtown today. Don't be surprised if you have a kid that we buy a present for if it comes from this randomly awesome store.

But more fun was probably our family outing for dinner and games. We decided to try to teach our girl how to play some arcade games. Her best was probably whack-a-mole but she preferred to ride the mini carousel.

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I love my snow bunnies! Punkin was a little nervous about heading up the hill herself. I, on the other hand, got stuck carrying the sled back up the hill.

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 Car fatigue while running errands today. I love sleeping munchkin photos. I have to take them to remember how angelic she can be when she is a terror. (Um.... like tonight. Ouch for everyone!)

Punkin wanted to play wii with Daddy. So, I found her her own balance board so she wouldn't try to dance and jump on a little chair! It was super fun!

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Sad that there weren't any more presents to open. (Ironic since she got present fatigue and refused to open any more yesterdday....) So she made herself comfy under the tree to fill that void! Goof!

 Speaking of being a goof, she also decided to try on the super potato's mouth for size. I wonder where she got that idea.....

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 Christmas Photo OVERLOAD! Punkin playing with her Santa presents as she discovers each one! It was pretty magical.

 Punkin and KC trying out the new playdough kit while I make Christmas breakfast.

Punkin asked for Santa to bring her snow for Christmas. He delivered! Thanks Santa! Too bad we didn't have time to go sledding as we hoped we would be able to do.

 At Nana and Pop's house for Christmas afternoon.... Punkin decided to do Pop's hair!

 And skyping with one of KC's missionary brothers!

 And traditional holiday bowling took place on Christmas this year! Here is Aunt B helping Punkin push a ball down the lane.

Pops being a good sport with Punkin and her toy as we all return our shoes and figure out which family was the champs. (It wasn't us, despite KC's best efforts!)

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 I am sad my flash got messed up here, but, I couldn't NOT include this photo. Look at that excited face! How awesome is it to get to open up an "under the tree" gift a night early!

 My loves in their new Christmas jammies! Too bad Punkin's pants are so big that they fall off her as she walks! Looks like I am going to have to tack them up before she can wear them again.

 We got to skype-open presents with N and N! So fun! Too bad we couldn't see them in person at all this year. Let's not let that happen again, okay?

And... of course, my Birthday Party for Jesus cupcake. I need to finish food projects before dark to get better photos. Some day I'll learn.

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Of course, I failed to get a photo of Punkin in her super cute blue and sparkle Christmas dress. Instead, I captured her playing with this funky pen and little pad of paper that she got from her 12 days of Christmas presents today. Girlfriend was OBSESSED with this for a good 20 min. Thanks for the successful gift G-ma and co!