family fun.

We don't seem to have much time these days for family time. It seems like Taylor and I are always crossing paths....I'm heading to work when he gets home, he's heading to work before we even wake up. Our time together as a family of four seems scarce these days, at best. So when we have an entire day to spend together, we're all on Cloud 9. Last Sunday, we headed to Atlanta for the day and took the kids to the Aquarium and to eat at the Varsity. I just LOVE me some family time.

A few pictures of the fish.



A few pictures of my babies.




And a few pics at the Varsity with the signature paper hats. This was EK's first visit, so I had to get some pictures.

My pretty, happy girl.


My handsome little man.


It is impossible to get a decent picture of the two of them. This is how they are together. I think they love each other. What do you think?


I wish life moved a little slower and we had more opportunities to spend time together as a family. I'll take what I can get, though, and enjoy every minute.

berry pickin'.

It's strawberry season, so of course we had to head over to our favorite farm for some local, fresh-picked berries.

This was Emma Kate's first strawberry picking experience and she had a great time!



P helped pick out the ripe ones, but in typical three year-old fashion, he lost interest after ten minutes.


EK didn't want to be left out. She tried to pick a few. And eat a few. We sat the bucket in the wagon with her and before I knew it, she had a juicy strawberry mashed up in her little hands and was licking the juice off her fingers. She keeps us on our toes.


My little cheese ball. These are the camera smiles I get out of him these days.


After slaving away in the hot sun picking berries, we decided to enjoy some strawberry treats from Mimi's kitchen. This hunk of strawberry shortcake was P's choice.


Emma Kate settled for the homemade strawberry ice cream.


I had a little of both.

tommy turns 2.

We had so much fun celebrating Tommy's second birthday. Amy threw a little family-only midweek party at her mom's cabin in the mountains. It was the perfect setting for his bug-themed party and all of the games, decorations, and food were so cute!

Here's the birthday boy making his way through the spider web.


Bumblebees versus ladybugs in a fun game of hide-and-go-seek.



Sweet Allie enjoying her fifth gummy worm.


Tommy with his bug-catching net. Amy made goody bags and put them in these nets. So creative and the kids loved them.


After the little kids went down for their naps, we headed down the mountain to the lake to fish. P was in heaven. I'm telling you, he's hooked.


John David's fish. He was the only one getting any bites.


A crazy rain shower sent us all running for the car. We were soaked for our drive home, but it was well worth it. We had so much fun at the party and hanging out with family. We love them so much.

tea for two.

As boyish as Phoenix can be, he didn't hesitate to share some tea with his sister whom he adores. Not sure wellies will fly as proper attire at EK's tea parties when she's older, but for now, Emma Kate is not too picky. After all, P did give her the last piece of cake.


Melts my heart.


Love this sweet girl.




Love this sweet boy.



I feel so blessed. I thank God for these children every day. My tea cup runneth over.

first fish.

Our lake house flooded last summer and this is the first time we have been down there since the repairs were complete. I just love Heron Hill. (That's my "oh-so-creative" name for our little cottage on Lake Sinclair, closely resembling Martha Stewart's moniker for her previous home in Connecticut, Turkey Hill. I'm such a wannabe.) P has been talking about fishing for months and months. I think he has a sugar-coated idea of the sport in his mind after watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode about catching red gooey fish. I have tried to explain to him several times that the fish in Lake Sinclair are not, in fact, rainbow-colored, stationary little creatures. But, I figured he would have to discover this himself.

We got to the lake house after dark, so P had to wait until morning to give fishing a go. He could.not.wait. He woke up at 4 am begging to go outside. We told him he had to wait until the sun came up, so he stood by the window until the sun peeped over the horizon, then drug Taylor down to the dock with his tackle box and fishing pole in hand. So cute. Taylor put a plastic worm on his hook, gave him a few short casting lessons, and P was set. He was a casting pro from the start. I wish I had videotaped this, but I was still snug in the bed. He casts, reels as fast as he can, then flings his line right back out. He's a speedy fisherman, if there is such a thing. Two or three casts later, his line is spinning, the pole is bending, and Taylor truly believes P has caught a log on the bottom of the lake. Nope, not our little angler. He caught a 1-pound bass, instead. This was all it took. P is hooked. Literally. He caught at least 10 more fish that day. Thank goodness the fish were biting for our little man's first fishing experience.

Not his first fish, but the first one I was awake for.



The rest of the weekend was spent on the boat, which also has been out of commission since last summer.

The captain's first mate. He loves to navigate.


EK just loved to ride.




I love our boat rides, too. Something about our boat puts my babies to sleep. Instantly. Never fails.

I wish we had a boat in our backyard for nap emergencies.

neighborhood egg hunt.

I forgot to post pics from our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. My mom and I took the kiddos down to the lakefront park for the annual shindig. (Taylor had to work. Boo.) We enjoyed hot dogs and chips while listening to some serious rap music playing at 8 million decibels. Not quite sure what that was all about. It's a children's function, people. Anyhoo, the hunts were divided by age, with ages 2 thru 4 hunting together. P did much better this year. He managed to pick up 8 or so eggs in the 0.6 seconds it took the kids to reach the other side of the field. Hilarious. It went so fast, I couldn't even snap a picture. He was quite proud of his success.


Emma Kate had a great time watching.


I tried to get a picture of my two angels when we got back from the hunt. Not much success. No halos on these kiddos. Already fighting.


Sibling love. EK can definitely hold her own. Look out P.


She's gonna reach out and punch him one day. He picks on her so much. But he only does it because he loves her. They are so sweet together.

easter.

I think I win the Worst Mom of the Year award. I am ridiculously behind in blogging, despicably tardy in documenting some of my babies' most important milestones and achievements. Gosh, I have to do better. Okay, where do I start?

Emma Kate is pulling up! Less than 7 months old, she's a little spitfire. She chose an interesting night to start, for sure. During those awful tornadoes last week, we got the babies out of bed, put bicycle helmets on, and took cover in our closet under the stairs. It is the only room in our house without windows. The news was showing the tornado on the road up the street from us, maybe a mile or so from our house. My friend Jill called me in a panic and told us to take cover. My sister continuously texted me with storm updates, and my mom called to check on us just as we heard the strong winds pass us by. That was the scariest day of my life. I praise God that we were spared, but I feel so bad for those that were hit by the storms. The sense of urgency to protect my children during the critical 10-15 minutes of the storm was overwhelming. I'm just glad we are okay. Anyway, after the storm had passed, I put EK back to bed, came back downstairs and checked her on the monitor. There she was, standing up in her crib and leaning over the crib rail. OMG! Her crib mattress was still on the highest setting. The rails of the crib hit at her knees. Needless to say, we lowered that crib mattress as low as it will go.

And guess what else? We moved P to his big boy bed! I know I swore he would be sleeping in that crib forever. I even threatened to cut holes in the end for his legs when he got too long for it. But I Taylor finally decided it was time. He has done so well adjusting to his new bed. I"m so proud of him (and me).

We also started EK on solid food. I began giving her one feeding a day at dinnertime the day she turned six months old. She loves her baby food! So far, her favorites are carrots, sweet potatoes, and apples. Unlike P, let's hope this little girl likes meat and veggies. (P is a vegetarian fruititarian. No meat since he was one. (His choice.) Doesn't like veggies.) I have a feeling EK won't be too picky. She likes to eat. I love my big girl.

Here are some pictures from Easter. We had a great day with our families.

The Easter bunny was smart this year. No candy. P gets enough candy from his grandparents, so our bunny only put candy in a few of the eggs. Don't worry. He got his candy fix elsewhere.





I love playing Easter bunny. It was so much fun this year getting to hide the eggs in more difficult-to-find locations. P had a blast hunting.


P finding eggs in his playhouse at Beme's.


EK in her sweet dress from Beme. Doesn't she look darling? And tired? It was a long day for her.


EK and her favorite aunt.


We played horseshoes and cornhole toss at my mom and dad's. It was a gorgeous day to be outside.


Another pic of EK and aunt Jenny.


Just look at those sweet rolls. EK and I have heart-to-heart talks about this. I tell her, "This is the only time fat rolls and cellulite are cute, so enjoy it while you can." I think she hears me.


EK and uncle Zac. He is the best uncle ever. He loves my kids so much. He will make a great dad one day. (Again, look at those legs. I could squeeze them all day long.)



What are they looking at?


TADPOLES! Mom and dad have hundreds, maybe thousands of them in their pond. We took a few off their hands.


When I was young, I found a puddle of tadpoles, took one home and put it in a fish bowl on my dresser, and watched it morph into a frog. (I was such a tomboy.) I thought it would be so cool to let P learn about the life cycle of a frog, too.


The only stage of the frog life cycle P learned about was the tadpole stage. RIP, baby tadpoles.

It was a great Easter spent with our wonderful families. I'll try to do better with the blog.