April has been one of my favourite months for a long time. The days start getting longer, it’s Mr and Mrs Lighty’s wedding anniversary, if we’re lucky we might get a little bit of spring sunshine, and if we’re very, very lucky, we might even get Easter thrown in to boot! And by the looks of things in our lovely Instagram community, Happy Little Buttons, it looks like you lovely lot have a bit of a soft spot for April, too!

This month I think you’ve all excelled yourself on the happy front. All of your posts tagged with #HappyLittleButtons have been absolutely gorgeous, and I know Dawn from Rhyming with Wine, Annette from 3 Little Buttons and I say this every month but it’s been so. very. difficult to narrow our choices down. It’s definitely one of those times when I’m glad that I’ve got two lovely co-hosts to choose with, so that between us we can cover a whole host of gorgeous photos!

I also tried to narrow my theme down this month too. My first thought was Easter. Then I saw lots of gorgeous spring bloom photos, and thought, “ok, I’ll go with the theme of spring instead.” Then I saw some lovely outdoorsy shots and practically threw all my themes out of the window in aid of “I love these beautiful photos which make me want to get outside and enjoy the world and generally everything that this lovely month has to offer”. And so that’s my theme this month.

With that in mind, I’ll start with my favourite photos from my co-hosts. From the lovely Annette, I’ve gone with this one:

Alway be an explorer.

A post shared by Annette, 3 Little Buttons (@3littlebuttonsblog) on Apr 20, 2017 at 11:24pm PDT

Annette and I share a love of the coast, and I think it’s safe to say that we’d both love to own a beach hut one day. Perhaps one day we’ll give up blogging collaborations and run a beach hut consortium instead?! Anyway, I digress…I went for this lovely photo because it’s got that beach spirit, which I’m sure Annette and I will both be returning to over the months ahead. But have you also seen the lovely photo of Little Button with Nanny Button? You definitely need to check that out too!

From the lovely Dawn, I’ve gone with this one:

Farmyard friends are the bestest! ?? #swithensfarm #rhymingwithwine #happylittlebuttons #pinklinker #coolmumclub #mummyshot

A post shared by Rhyming with Wine (@rhymingwithwine) on Apr 20, 2017 at 10:16am PDT

I love piggies, and Mstr Tot always reminds me of Baby Lighty. I think the two of them would be firm friends if ever we were able to get them together. This is just so cute! I did, however, have to toss up between this one and the super cute photo of Miss Tot feeding a lamb! It’s lovely, so go take a look!

For my own little slice of spring sunshine, I’ve gone with this one:

When you're the last one on the Easter Egg hunt course because you're intent on collecting every. single. egg!! ? We've had such a fab day at @marsh_farm today, beautiful weather and lots of fun. Look out for a review on the blog and a giveaway on the Facebook page shortly! #marshfarm #easteregghunt #toddler #toddlersofinstagram #happylittlebuttons #UkExplore #myhappycapture #mydarlingmemory #perfectandproud #rememberingthesedays #moretoexploreoutdoors #ExplorerKids #wanderlustkids #littlefierceones #candidchildhood #myfamilyadventures #rawchildhood #pinklinker #mycolourfulkids #capturingtheday #coolmumclub #mbloggers #pbloggers #ukparentbloggers #BabyLighty #AllThingsSpliced

A post shared by Nicola – All Things Spliced (@mrslighty1504) on Apr 8, 2017 at 9:29am PDT

I still have a little giggle at this photo, because it was taken after everyone else on the Easter egg hunt had completed the course. It was during our visit to Marsh Farm, and poor little Baby Lighty thought that you had to pick up every. single. Easter egg going!! We did laugh at our funny little chap and his adorable ways!

And now onto our wonderful #HappyLittleButtons community:

My first chosen photo is this one from Pink Pear Bear:

Another one from our holiday! Here's me modelling a lovely dress I was sent by @meandiinternational I'm not the most comfortable in front of the lens, much happier taking the photos but this dress is so nicely cut that it hides a multitude of sins! I'm pretty sure the top models don't have to contend with a child waving a massive stick behind them and a mother who can't hold a camera straight though! ??? Beautiful Italy. We're missing you!! #ad #pinklinker

A post shared by Louise Pink Pear Bear (@pinkpearbear) on Apr 21, 2017 at 5:03am PDT

Now Lou is one of my favourite Instagramers, and it was this photo that really blew the whole theme for this month’s Happy Little Buttons out of the window. Isn’t this just gorgeous?! It instantly made me want to go on holiday somewhere warm and sunny, and I love that April often is the start of a promise of sunny months ahead.

My next one is this one from Rachael Kellet:

I always try to out a positive spin on everything. It's something I've learnt through motherhood, otherwise I think I would beat myself up daily about all the things I'm "not good at!" Sometime putting a little perspective makes you realise that maybe you are "good" at things, or maybe being "good" really isn't important! #NEWBLOGPOST up today "We Failed at Easter…" Link is in bio for anyone that wants to check it out ☺️? . #dearphotographer #cameramama #developinglife #rememberingthesedays #WorldofLittles #Ourfamilytoday #littleloves #noordinarykids #ukparentingblog

A post shared by MAMA By Rachael Kellett (@mamabyrk) on Apr 18, 2017 at 10:09pm PDT

I love the yellow. It instantly makes me feel happy, and isn’t that what Happy Little Buttons is all about? Bluebells are always very popular at this time of year, but actually, I think I prefer the yellow of the rapeseed…doesn’t Rachael’s little chap look adorable in amongst it all?

My next choice is this one by Something About Baby:

We had a fab time at Belchamps Scout Activity Centre last weekend doing their Easter Egg Hunt. As you can see Alfie enjoyed his prize and got stuck right in. If you're wondering what to do this weekend in Essex, check out my post of hunts going on around Essex this Easter weekend. #easter2017 #easterweekend #easteregghunt #heatethewholething #notinonego #belchampsscoutactivitycentre #timestotreasure

A post shared by Something About Baby (@somethingaboutbaby) on Apr 14, 2017 at 1:28am PDT

I’m lucky enough to know Abi in ‘real life’ not just in the blogosphere, and I think she’d probably agree with me that this photo pretty much sums up her lovely Alfie! I had to choose a traditional Easter shot this month, and I don’t think there’s a better one than this!!

And lastly, I’ve gone for this pretty shot by Dear Mummy:

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once they grow up." Pablo Picasso – I embellished my braids today with daisies…all by myself. #creative #children #snaphappybritmums @britmums

A post shared by Baby Isabella (@dear_mummy) on Apr 17, 2017 at 11:16am PDT

I have a bit of a thing for hair accessories. It’s no word of a lie that when we moved into this house, I had a whole packing box dedicated to hair bands, Alice bands, hair flowers, clips, slides and anything else you can think of to adorn your barnet. It’s probably going to be the one thing I miss about having a boy rather than a girl. And with all of this waffling, what I’m trying to say is that I love this less obvious spring shot which still very much sums up our lovely Happy Little Buttons community.

And while on this note of our community, we’re having a little Buttons shake up going forward: Dawn, Annette and I all feel that now that the Happy Little Buttons community is now at a point where it’s so big (with nearly 10,000 tagged posts – wow! Thank you!), we’re going to choose fortnightly favourites and showcase them on Instagram only, with a less indepth blog post. We feel like we’d rather focus on showing off more of the images that you lovely lot have produced on a more regular basis, and to do that we need to concentrate on Instagram.

So that’s me and my Happy Little Buttons for this month. You’ve all produced some fabulous shots again, and I can’t wait to see what you’ll tag with #happylittlebuttons as the weather hopefully gets warmer still! I’ll see you all over on Instagram!

*By taking part and tagging your photos with the #happylittlebuttons hashtag, you agree to allow us to use your photos in the featured images round ups and share your social media usernames.

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