Harrington Grove

Now that we know that we can walk to Harrington Grove park (without getting lost IN Harrington Grove), this is our new favorite afternoon time-filler. I get 2.5 miles of exercise, pushing the 85+ pound stroller/kid combo, and the kids get a nice ride and time at the park. It's a win for all!

Airplane Fun

The kids, ready to go for a stroll around the 'hood... shades and all!

Brett, the airplane, taking off down the runway

Kate is a much smaller airplane, but just as energetic!

Little airplanes get tired quickly!

You never know...

when a camera may come in handy. For me, it was about an hour ago, when I heard this ear-piercing scream coming from Kate's room. I ran in, and there stood Kate, holding onto the edge of her crib, tears streaming down her face, her jacket off, pants off, arms pulled out of the sleeves so that the shirt was only around her neck, diaper off, with a puddle of PEE in the middle of her favorite blankie, soaked down through the sheet.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried, seriously.

Quack! Quack! Quack!

I didn't have to work until noon yesterday, so I took the kids over to my parents' house to get them nice and worn out for mom. We went for a walk down to the pond to go feed the ducks. (Or were they geese??) The kids had a great time throwing pieces of stale hot dog buns at the birds and watching them fight over the little snack.

Ducks? Geese? I never can remmeber the difference...



Memere and the Munchkins



Some random dog that thought we looked like good company

Craft time!

On Monday the weather couldn't decide what it was doing - one minute it was beautiful and sunny and 72 degrees, and the next minute it started pouring down rain. Rather than risk it, I decided to try one of our new rainy day activities. I'd say it turned out pretty well. The kids loved it because I lost track of time and they got out of baths that night!

Brett even spelled his name for me before I wrote the letters. Yay, Brett! B-R-E-T-T spells Brett :) And he knew that Kate's name was "K-A-umm... you do the rest, mommy!"

Harrison cookout

After the shower at Fearrington, mom & dad had all of the Harrison's (all that were in town anyway) come over for a cookout. Just 30 people, no biggie! Good thing dad just upgraded to a ginormous grill because it certainly got used! Out of those 30 people - 6 were under the age of 4. See below:

Jenn holding Brett, Nicole holding Rocco and Hayden, Auntie Ann holding Izabella and Kate, and Nolan just hangin' out



Izabella and her baby doll - she announced everytime the baby went poop. Beeps (her grandpa, my Uncle Steve) told her that her baby had diarrhea. Classic.



Brett & Nolan strategizing



Hayden isn't so sure what to make of all of this just yet



The 3 Stooges



Hayden warmed up to everyone and started running around like the other boys in no time



Good thing we brought some outside toys!



Kate & Aunt Dithy



Rocco and his Memere (there were a LOT of Memere's that day - very confusing to the little ones!)



Izabella and Kate holding hands - very cute



Auntie Ann and Kate



More swing time - Brett, Nolan, Izabella, & Kate



Can you tell that the swing was a favorite activity?
Todd, Brett, Jenn, & Kate



Todd enjoying the beautiful weather



Rocco is determined to steal Beeps' beer



Brett had a great time watching some Noggin with Uncle Jeff

Fearrington

On Saturday, we had Erin's wedding shower at Fearrington. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day. It was 75 degrees with bright blue skies and low humidity - perfect! The food was delicious, too! Erin and Jeff got a TON of presents, none of which I have pictures of, but that's ok. I was making her bow-bouquet - you can see it in one of the pictures below.

Pretty tables



Erin with 4 of the bridesmaids (left to right) - Heather, Meredith, Erin, Angela, Jenn (missing are Katie and Emily)



Erin and the moms - our mom on the left and Mrs. Liles on the right



The cake was DELICIOUS!



The barn - the picture does not do it justice what-so-ever, but it was beautiful!



The tulips were all in bloom and looked amazing!



I forgot to go back to get a picture of the beltie cows and the cute baby calf, so this will have to do!



Somebody seriously needs to having a wedding here because it was B-E-A-U-tiful!

April showers

April showers make moms of preschoolers absolutely crazy. I've seriously thought about investing in 2 pairs of rain boots, throwing the kids in bum t-shirts and diapers and letting them go splash in the rain, but I haven't gotten that desparate, yet! Not to mention that rain and 50 degree temps would probably make for some pretty sick kiddos. God knows we've had enough of that nonsense the last few months!

Instead, I discovered this - my new favorite thing on the web. I think it should be renamed "Ways to keep your sanity when your kids are going nuts," but, instead, it's titled "Let's Explore." Seriously, you should check it out. I now love it. Some of the ideas are too advanced for our kids, but a lot of them can be modified. This is the one that we're going to try on our next rainy day - Shape Collage. I cut all of the shapes out of different colored paper today, so we're ready to go!

You might have to wait a little while for pictures since the next few days are supposed to be B-E-A-U-tiful and I can't be more excited! Stay tuned for plenty of pictures from various weekend festivities - Erin's shower at Fearrington, family cook out, and Mommy and Munchkin time!

Easter, Part 2

Alright, this got posted all bass-ackwards and everything, but here is the last Easter-related post, I promise! This was the scene at our house at 7am Easter morning. It's the annual Easter scavenger hunt... basically, the Easter Bunny leaves the basket with one clue to find the first gift, which has another clue, and so on. This was Kate's first year hunting, with my help, of course!



Kate loved the bunny ears, for about 30 seconds, and then it was over!



"Where do your babies go night-night?"



"Where does Thomas go around and around?"



"Where do we keep the bowls for quesadilla dippy?"

Happy Easter, Part 1!

Like I said below, our Easter was celebrated in 3 parts, and this was part 1. Grandma & Grandpa Lopez came into town last Monday (4/5) and stayed with us for the week. The kids had a great time being spoiled rotten with their full-time play buddies. Todd & I both had to work a ton, so it worked out well for us too, and it gave my mom a break from kid-duty. I think it was a win-win for everyone :)

Anyway, so we explained that the Easter Bunny knew that Grandma & Grandpa were going to be gone, so he came to their house early. As you can see, the kids loaded up on lots of goodies - from beach cars to Cubs gear and everything in between!



Daddy, Brett, & Kate with their Easter "baskets"



Kate was fascinated by the butterfly eggs



Brett was equally fascinated with the Lightning McQueen eggs



Reading Diego with Grandpa