Sticky elephant ears

Found part of Owen's class project stuck in a silly place. 

Love this kid's creativity.

Breakfast for dinner!

I surprised the kids with pancakes in the shape of their names tonight for dinner.

Just because.

Spring-like weather!

Since this was what our day looked like, we jumped in the double stroller and I got to push the kiddos to the library, the playground, the grocery store, and home. I got an awesome workout!

"Come on, Vivi! Let's make pineapple (pinecone) hamburgers for dinner!"

I LOVE days like these. Makes me even more excited for spring. Today was such a tease, but we took full advantage and made the most of the short-lived warmth. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Owen will still ride in the stroller come Spring. If not, our days of walking (30 minutes each way) to the playground may be over.

My husband the baker

maybe we should open up a little bake shop???

Coloring

is so fun with a buddy.

Owen just recently started staying within the lines with his coloring. Such a neat milestone to see develop.

The things he says

 Me: Owen, please pick up all of your train stuff. I can't walk in here!

Owen: "Mommy, I'm going to give you to another kid!"

Well if it were only that easy, my love. I'm afraid you're stuck with me. At least for the next 14 years anyway.

My healthy eaters

"Mommy! This broccoli is so good that I'm going to finish all of it!" said no kid ever. 

 

Except mine.

Snow day?

This afternoon as the kids were finishing lunch, I got a call from preschool saying they were cancelling school today due to the impending snow and also because Loudoun county had called an early (1-hr) dismissal.

I looked outside. There was no snow. But the forecast did say that it would be starting around 2pm.

Vivi took her nap as usual, and I had a deskmate keeping me company for the next 2 hours. :)

I love my Owen

Walking in to preschool Owen stopped and wrote his name in the snow using his finger.

So proud.

I go to pick them up at 1pm and we're rushing to get to the car because we need to be at Vivian's cardiologist appointment by 1:30pm and it's already 1:15. I'm buckling Vivi into her carseat when I notice that Owen has stopped to make a snow angel. 

He's not wearing snow pants.

I finish buckling Vivi in, race over to grab him and put him in the car. As I'm buckling his seat belt, I ask him in a frustrated, slightly annoyed tone: "Owen! You don't have snow pants on, and now your pants are going to be all wet. What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking I wanted to make a snow angel, Mommy."

I love when he does/says stuff like this because it just makes me stop and smile.

I love this kid.

Our last day in Florida

was spent enjoying time at home with Grandma, Poppy and GiGi coloring, playing with toys, and practicing our putting on the course when it wasn't occupied with golfers passing through.

It was a gorgeous day to end our trip. Someone was worn out from all the activity and fell asleep on the way to the airport:

We had a pretty uneventful flight home and the Little Miss was fast asleep:

Looking forward to settling back into our old routine, but missing everyone already.

Pool time!

Mike & Lindsey went back to work today, so after breakfast we headed over to meet Grandma at the pool. The kids had a blast swimming around with Ben and I, and we had the entire pool to ourselves. The lifeguard even gave them a huge box of toys to play with which made our water time even more fun.

Happy Birthday Mike!

This morning we drove out {in our snazzy rental minivan!} to a farm that Mike & Lindsey like to visit. Owen went into the petting zoo and took pictures of the animals. We picked strawberries and green peppers and then headed home to feed the kids.

Ben made salsa and the boys watched some football while Lindsey and I gave ourselves manicures and the kids napped. Then we piled into the minivan to meet up with Mom, Dad and Grandma {and Uncle Rich and Fran who stopped by for a quick visit!} at The Salt Life Food Shack for Mike's birthday dinner.

We had cake {2 kinds! - both with chocolate} at Mike & Lindsey's house after dinner. Such a fun time celebrating another birthday with my family.

Love you, brother! 

Now we get to be twins for the next month.

The WOW Factory & belated Christmas

Today we went to Mike's new favorite hang-out, The WOW Factory. But before we even had breakfast, Owen was hard at work on this masterpiece:

Then it was off to P-L-A-Y!!!

The kids loved it (once Vivi was finally able to tune out the loud sounds of the ball blasters) and we totally wore them out for the Grandparent's big babysitting adventure.

After dropping off all 3 kiddos at Grandma & Poppy's house, we headed out to lunch and to the movies - the girls saw Les Mis and the guys saw Django. It was a nice treat since we hadn't been to the movies in years (literally).

On the way home we stopped at Pizza Heaven to bring home dinner to the hungry Grandparents and children waiting patiently at home. We all ate together outside at the big wooden table and then went back in to unwrap the presents that Santa had left behind. The kids were so cute tearing through all the gifts. Santa was so good to everyone. Probably the kids favorites were the real kiddie digital cameras, purple for Vivi and green for Owen. They couldn't wait to take pictures like Mommy. It was so cute to watch. Once we download their pictures I'll post some to the blog. Owen is quite the little photographer!

Thank you Mom, Dad, Lindsey and Mike for such a wonderful Christmas. The greatest gift of them all was having the week to spend time together. Grandma being there too was the icing on the cake. :)

Young at Art Children's Museum

Mike took the day off work today, so we met up with our good friend Dotty and her grandsons Wyatt and Grant to play the day away at the Young at Art Children's Museum. It was so fun!!

{I'll let the photos speak for themselves.}

Thursday in FL

(WARNING: picture overload ahead.)

We got to take Max with us this morning since Mike and Lindsey both had to work. We got a tiny taste of what it would have been like if Vivi would have had a twin since those two are only 3 weeks apart.

We had breakfast, then loaded the children up for the drive over to Grandma & Poppy's to go swimming.

Pool time was fun! Owen and Vivi kept Daddy on his toes, while I held onto Max and helped him get used to the water. He laughed at Owen jumping in and landing on his belly. We (obviously) didn't get any photos of them in the water since we had our hands full, but while they munched on snacks I took this pic:

Vivi went "au natural" since I forgot to pack her swimsuit. Luckily, I remembered her swim diaper and diaper cover.

After snacktime, we dried off, changed out of our suits and back into dry clothes, and headed over to Grandma and Poppy's house for lunch and naps. 

The kids all took great naps (even Owen!) and then we hung out with Grandma, Poppy, and GiGi for the rest of the day.

We decided to go to a playground since the weather was so nice. The kids had a BLAST!

This is my attempt at getting a cute shot of the kids laying on the ground with me standing above them:

On the ride home, we all enjoyed Max's skills DJ'ing on his iphone. 

Not sure what was so funny, but these two were having a great time being silly.

Once we got home, Vivian and Max drove the Jeep before dinner. :)

(I'm a little nervous for 14 years from now.)

Off to Florida!

This evening we hopped on a 5:35pm flight to Florida to celebrate belated Christmas and Mike's birthday. Grandma came along with us for an extended stay.

We were able to keep the kids entertained (and quiet) on the flight with coloring books, the ipad/iphone, and of course, lolipops. :)

The kids did surprisingly well on the flight, and we landed on time at 8:15. Grandma and Poppy were there to meet us and let us borrow a car for the week. We headed over to Mike & Lindsey's to settle in for the night.

So happy to have the week with everyone!

Owen's early morning picnic

Owen was up before me this morning and when I went downstairs to the kitchen, he said he had a surprise for me in the dining room.

He had set up an incredible picnic for me so I didn't have to cook breakfast! He sure knows the way to his mommy's heart. :)

Scootering and Tricycling

Had some fun outside in the brisk winter air this afternoon. Owen tried out his new-to-him Lightning McQueen scooter (with his snazzy matching pads and helmet), while Vivi raced around on his trike.

Vivi stole a sip of my decaf chai tea latte

while Owen demonstrated what would happen if he were to fall off his scooter

 good thing he had the pads and helmet on, huh?

What?

You mean you don't watch Backyardigans while sitting in wooden boxes?

Vivi is definitely an animal-lover

She had a new best bud in Annie when we woke up this morning.

A huge Thank You to Sarah and Mark for hosting such an amazing New Year's Eve celebration! They are the hostesses-with-the-mostestes! :)

Love you guys!

Happy New Year!