The Hunt

Saturday was a big day for Lily Bird.  Our church hosted an enormous community-wide Easter Egg Hunt, including one just for special needs kiddos.

When we arrived, Lily quickly ditched me in favor of "Auntie Sharon", one of her all-time favorite blondes and one of my best friends.

Sharon has lots of energy (need evidence? see the flying ponytail below.) which comes in handy when hanging out with the Bird.

Lily was especially social this particular day and happily made the rounds, catching up with all her favorite people, including "Uncle Steve". 

After some socializing, it was time to get to work.  Those eggs weren't going to hunt themselves.

Lily did a great job picking up eggs and putting them in her basket.  Of course, she did it on her terms - picking up a couple plastic eggs, then running off to say hi to someone, and then coming back to pick up a few more.  Good thing it wasn't too cutthroat in the special needs area!

"Uncle Clay" (Sharon's husband) helped the Bird crack open a couple eggs to see what was inside.

Then the two of them settled down for a little snack break.

Watching her during the festivities, I couldn't help but think how far Lily has come since last year.  

She knew to pick up the eggs and put them in her basket.  She knew there was something good inside the eggs so she got some help getting them open.  While she may not win any awards for speed or bulk, we were just so happy to see her having fun and enjoying herself.

It was a really great day.