Hoppin Good Time

A few weeks ago we had a fun morning out at Hoppin Good Time with our Moms Club. Its a bit of a hike from our house (south of Dover), but it was reasonably priced and so much fun. Its a large warehouse that is filled with huge inflatables. The best part was that since Emma and Will are still fairly little, I had to go with them and help them climb and slide on most things!

Will heading over a slide

This one was an awesome obstacle course.

Emma and Will siding together

Will was totally fearless going down the huge slide! He went by himself every time!

Climbing up the big slide...thankfully Emma could do this part by herself because I had to carry Will up the ladder. He thought it was hilarious, which basically made him dead weight!

Emma on a climbing wall

One last slide!

We can't wait to go back and take Daddy too!

Fun with friends

We recently got to visit with some good friends who recently added to their family with another little girl! The kids had a blast playing together.

Eating lots of Cheerios. Incidentally, this was the day before Emma got really sick. She was symptom free except for not eating dinner, but we chalked that up to a bunch of Cheerios for snack.

Sweet baby girl.

She was 6 pounds 11 ounces, the same as Will. Holding a newborn is so different than a baby just a month or two old...its crazy how fast they change!

 Cute! We are looking forward to many more fun times together

Sick!

We've been taking turns being sick the last few weeks. Its been pretty crazy, especially considering that we hadn't had much more than a cold until March! Will had croup and pneumonia, then got a rash, then Emma has had a stomach bug that knocked her out Monday especially. I'm mostly over a cold but Martin has it now...we can't wait to all be healthy again!

So while Emma has been down for the count,

Will and I have had some special time together.

While I worked on dinner one night I set him up with shaving cream and a paint brush.

He had a blast, but kept putting it in his mouth! He would make an awful face and we'd wipe it out, but then he would lick the shaving cream again...crazy kid!

And its become obvious how much Will depends on Emma to play with. He's been getting into all sorts of creative trouble, like with the toilet paper...

and chilling on the dishwasher.

I suppose I grabbed the camera first each time instead of getting him down or cleaning up! He's such a stinker.

And he is currently obsessed with Craisins. Totally. Obsessed. This has been happening a lot lately (you can hear Emma languishing in the background near the end):

Emma and Will

As if we don't have enough adorable kiddo pictures...

I've gotten several sweet pictures of Emma and Will together lately. They have so much fun together, when they're not pulling hair, sitting on each other, snatching toys, etc!

Enjoying tiny blue flowers together,

a high school softball game,

after bath sillies (here's one of those unequal enjoyment pictures!),

looking for ducks on the pond,

and quite possibly the cutest picture ever of them together...

When they got down Emma said, "Mommy, we were so brave on the slide!" and Will said "more slide!"

Silly Boy

Will was up early the other morning so I brought him into the bathroom while I finished getting ready. He sat in the sink and with his pal and talked with me for 10 or 15 minutes! Who knew the sink was such a great spot!

Ice Cream!

The warm weather and daylight savings time have given new life to our evenings! Since Martin has been getting home later, it seems like most nights we finish dinner and either have a few minutes to play or immediately give the kids baths and then head to bed because they are beat. 

But last night we decided to take advantage of the day light and the weather and take a trip to Friendly's for ice cream! We left the dinner dishes on the table and walked across the street to get our ice cream.

We were planning on getting 2 Reeses Pieces sundaes (with our BOGO coupon, of course), but while we were waiting in line someone handed us coupons for 2 free kids cones that expired that day. And its a good thing they had their own ice cream! Will especially hoovered his!

It was dark by the time we got home, but everyone had a great time!

Playing outside

This has been such a mild winter! It's hard to believe that we have been able to get outside so much, and especially that this week has been in the 70s. We are really loving all of the time to play outside.

Will getting ready to slide; he says "ready, set, go" 3 or 4 times, each time scooting forward a little further!

Sliding together

Ready, set, go! Will is always a little behind "go" because of his current sliding technique!

Both Emma and Will are loving the bubbles from our bubble machine too! And I love that all I have to do is pull the trigger and we get tons of bubbles instantly! (yay for clearance sales last summer!)

Will sings the ABCs

Will has turned into quite a talker lately. He's also showing us that he has some natural musical talent singing words and tune to several songs. His favorites are definitely Awesome God, Step by Step, and the ABCs!

Here are three clips of him singing the ABCs. They are mostly in order...I could never get a good video of him doing the whole thing.

Fun, fun, bath time!

Last March, this is what bath time looked like!

We mixed up some shaving cream and food coloring for a fun bath recently.

Will and Emma love painting (seriously, what kid doesn't?)

But painting without mess regulation is way more fun!

Right, Emma?

 This picture is us saying "show us your brushes"...Emma raises hers and Will "brushes" his hair!! Too funny!

These last two are so terrific. Emma and Will are truly best friends. She can't wait to get him up in the morning and from naps. And if she leaves the room for something, Will instantly starts asking "Emma? Emma?"

We are so blessed and so thankful!

The South Beach Wine and Food Festival!

Last weekend I got the opportunity to go to Miami, Florida with my mom and sisters! It was an incredible trip, and I am so thankful that we were able to do it. Mom and I flew out of BWI and switched planes in Raleigh where Becca got on our flight! Then Sarah picked us up at the airport in Florida.

Our big plans for the weekend were to go to the South Beach Wine and Food Festival on Saturday! Mom and Sarah went last year and loved it so much they really wanted us to all be able to come.

The event is sponsored by the Food Network and is basically all you can eat and drink for a good portion of the day! We had breakfast with friends of Sarah, who were also going to the festival, and then took a taxi to South Beach. All the tents and booths are literally on the beach!

Even the line supports were made of pasta.

Everyone gets a big bag of free samples (but you have to carry it with you all day!) and they also gave us a lanyard to hang our wine glasses off of!

The weather threatened rain a number of times, but thankfully held off! Here's a look at the tents when you first come in. Each tent had a sample to taste (like Chipotle or Jelly Belly or pork sandwiches) or a drink (margaritas, Illy coffee, and lots of water). Most of them also gave some sample to take home too!

The main event is the Tasting Village...2 HUGE tents full of tables of samples. This was open from 11-5 for non-stop food and drink! Here's a favorite sample...octopus!

These tents were huge and totally packed with people. We had to be patient, but it was so worth it. We literally ate all day.

It turned into quite a beautiful day! Here we were taking a break in between the two tasting tents.

This is the best look I have at the inside setup. The outside of the tent was lined with venders, but there were also booths located at the center of the tents. This is about halfway through one tent on one side. So it looked the same behind me as well as on the other side. Truly amazing!

Another feature was demonstrations by Food Network stars. Mom really wanted to see Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and he was the last event of the night. We all got to see him, though Mom had a much better seat since she got there early.

We waited until they were kicking us out, but she got his autograph too! He was a really nice guy, especially since he didn't let security make us leave after waiting so long!

Here's a last shot before we went to hail a cab. Portable bathrooms...fun fun!

What an amazing day. So, so thankful to get to spend the time with you guys!