This and That

Aside from all the rain we have been having lately, we are trying to get outside as much as possible.  We have been to the playground, the nature trail, our deck, and played on the driveway.  On our rainy days we are getting creative inside with art projects and fun dinners.  Here's a look at a little of this and that:

 I printed off some pictures of flower and butterflies and let the girls go to town painting.

 Elizabeth LOVES art at school and this activity was her jam!

 My sweet little artists.

 One rainy night, I decided to get creative with our breakfast for dinner.

We do breakfast for dinner every Thursday and I try to mix it up- pancakes, waffles, cinnamon rolls, muffins, etc.

I made this unicorn pancakes (idea from Pinterest) and the girls LOVED them!

 Elizabeth took it all apart as she ate

But she ate every bite of that unicorn :)

 A little art time on the driveway.

One side is a white board and one side is a chalk board.

 Elizabeth checked out an "Elsa braid book" from the library.

Most braids were very complicated, but I did my best with this one before school one day.

 One rainy day, Caroline asked to use a kindle and have rest time.

I said sure.

She then asked for her robe and blanket.

She sat like this for 45 minutes. :)

 We had ice cream sandwiches on the driveway...

See the chocolate on Elizabeth's dress and the ice cream on Caroline's face?

 It was nice one or two days last week and we enjoyed popsicles outside

 And then some art time

 Followed by a short walk to the playground :)

Love this sweet girl!

Happy Thursday y'all!

Riding a bike {updated}

Last week we bought Caroline a helmet so she could start learning how to ride a bike.  Well... then we had eight days of thunderstorms and here we are and it's been over a week.  I finally took her out yesterday to try bike riding for the first time.  I took zero pictures and attempted several videos.  The video I am sharing is the best. :)

The day we bought her helmet, she wore it EVERYWHERE until she went to bed that night.

 Walking around the neighborhood

 Being silly

 

 Relaxing in her chair 

And overall being adorable

 And finally... one of her attempts at pedaling.

We have a lot of work to do, but she enjoyed it and is excited to ride again.

Happy Wednesday y'all!

Mother's Day Weekend

My mom flew in on Thursday, the day after our anniversary.  She came to visit us and the girls, celebrate Mother's Day, and very nicely watch the girls so we could go on multiple dates. #freebabysitter #asmanydatesaspossible #thanksmom

This is us on Thursday afternoon, hanging at home.

 Thursday for dinner, my mom offered to take us to Chili's

Elizabeth wanted a picture with Ga-Ga and her chocolate milk :)

All four of us (Ben had to work late)

Thursday night we watched Black Panther after the girls were bed.

We wanted to see Avengers Infinity War on Saturday night, so we had to see Black Panther beforehand.  We all enjoyed the movie (although my mom had not see half the marvel movies). 

Friday morning, Ben and I played tennis and then I quickly showered because...

Ga-Ga, Caroline and I went up to Elizabeth's school for lunch.

Elizabeth really wanted Ga-Ga to see her school, meet her friends, and see where she eats lunch.

Caroline brought her lunch and sat next to Elizabeth :)

After we had lunch at home, we were off for some mother-daughter pedicures for an early Mother's Day treat!  Caroline sat very nicely on the couch and played games on her kindle while Ga-Ga and I enjoyed the massage chairs with our pedicures.

Mother-Daughter pedicures!

Once Elizabeth got home from school on Friday, Ben and I headed out for the night.

We came home Saturday at lunch time and then we all headed out to Elizabeth's t-ball game!

Batting!

Playing catcher
(her favorite position)

Sunday morning, Ben took all of us to Chef Geoff's for Mother's Day brunch.

The food was really, really good and we (mostly) had a great time!

Sunday afternoon, my mom and I headed to the movies before her flight.

Our plan was to see the new Melissa McCarthy movie, Life of the Party.

Well, we walked into the theater and the manager was in there telling everyone that the light bulb had burned out and that they weren't going to be able to show the movie.

We checked the movie times and ended up watching the new movie from The Rock (hahahahahaha).

We saw Rampage the Movie!!

It was definitely NOT our original plan, but we had a good time. 

After the movie, I dropped mom off at the airport and headed home.

Ben took us out for Mexican food (my favorite!) and we had a nice relaxing evening.

Happy Tuesday y'all!

Nine years of marriage!

We celebrated 9 years of marriage on Wednesday, May 9th!  

We had a fun weekend planned and I didn't take many pictures.

Please enjoy the few pictures I did take. :)

I woke up on our anniversary morning and was surprised with heart shaped pancakes, eggs, and bacon.  Ben really is the BEST!

(And yes, I was totally surprised!)

He also surprised me with roses :)

Wednesday night we took our annual anniversary picture.

In case you've missed the story-

We follow traditional anniversary gifts.

The first year of marriage is paper.

So on our first anniversary I gave Ben a blank scrap book.

Every year on our anniversary we take a picture, print it out, and put it in the book.

Then we fill the page with things we have done as a couple (or family) in the last year.

Wednesday night, Ben made us dinner.

Here I am enjoying some wine while watching him cook.

I was enjoying watching him cook while I drank wine :)

He made an at-home hibachi dinner complete 

with the ginger dressing for our salad

Fried rice

My salmon (it fell apart, but still tasted amazing!!)

Salad with ginger dressing

I grabbed us a piece of cake to share

On Friday, Ben had the day off and we had a few dates planned.

We played tennis on Friday morning.

And that's where my pictures end- whoops!

Friday night, my mom kept the girls and we spent the night out in Arlington.

We went to happy hour and then to dinner.

Saturday morning we slept in and then enjoyed waffles at our hotel.

It was a wonderful extended celebration of our marriage.

I can't believe it's already been nine years and at the same time I can't believe it's only been nine years.  Thank you Ben for the best nine years, I love you!!

Happy Monday y'all!

This and That

I found a random collection of photos on my phone from the first week of May and thought this rainy day would be great day to share them!  The girls played with friends, played outside, Elizabeth is playing sports, and a few other cute things.

I kept Evie and Charlie for an afternoon.

This is Caroline, Evie, and Charlie enjoying snack time.

Do you know how hard it is to get a 4, 3, and 1-year-old to all look at the camera?

I'm not sure it's possible :)

This is generally how I find the girls in the morning.

Curled up together watching TV or reading books.

Caroline is VERY into board games right now.

Candy land is a favorite!

At the beginning of May the weather was comfortable so we went for a walk around the neighborhood and down the nature trail.

Of course no walk is complete without swords, basketballs, and running.

The tree in front of our house drops these pink flowers for two weeks every spring.

I. HATE. THESE. FLOWERS.

They get everywhere- shoes, cars, entryway, stairs.  EVERYWHERE!

Caroline picked a backpack for pre-school and it arrived last week.

She wanted the zebra rainbow backpack from Pottery Barn Kids.

Doesn't she look so big??

Elizabeth played the "pitcher" position a few weeks ago.

It's t-ball so the kids hit off a tee, but she did field just about every ball, so she was busy.

Running to first!

Thanks for stopping by for a little bit of this and that.

Happy Friday y'all!