Saturday, May 26, 2018

Nature Hike

Was feeling a need to get out of the daily rut of errands, errands, errands. So I wanted to do something fun with the girls. Decided to hit up google images for a nature scavenger hunt and printed one off Wednesday morning. We got out some bags and set out on our way. Love being able to stay in the neighborhood but have so much to explore. The girls had such a blast too! Mary called it our 'field trip'. Proud mom moment. I don't always have the patience to be creative but I'm glad it doesn't take much to make fun memories that they will remember. 

This was our corner, collecting a green leave and watching the bird walk by. 
 We took the wood trail down to the lake. I love that part of the walk, our typical after dinner walk, which looks like I didn't get a single photo of! I took a short video I shared on my Instagram stories. I also spotted a DEER! We see deer a lot in our neighborhood, but it's still always super exciting. We don't usually see them on this forest trail but I was standing quiet for a moment sharing the above video I mentioned then I heard him run off to my left.

We made it to the water and sat for a bit, listening to the birds chirping, watching the ducks swimming and just being outside.


Tried to get a photo of the girls together, Emma kept pushing Mary aside because she wanted a photo by herself ::eye roll:: sisters!





We walked along the water path to a grassy area with a dock. We went out on the dock and found a spider web, then we had a little snack while Thomas took a snooze. Oh the other reason for wanting to get out was Thomas had a fever, poor guy and I knew he'd enjoy resting in the stroller.

Our fav: Ants on a Log. Emma lined up her chocolate chips and I thought it was funny how she squeezed as many as she could.






From there we traveled up to the porta-potty for a pit stop. Love that we go for a walk from our house to use the porta-potty. Then I got a call from a cub scout leader (I had inquired about cub scouts for Isaac) The girls dilly-dallied in the grass while I chatted on the phone with the guy. Collecting more things for their bags.


Our list was pretty well complete except a few things. Here's a few items we need to add for next time that we saw on this walk.

Baby buddy munching on some veggie straws after his nap.

We went out on another dock, then Mary needed to poop so it was time to walk straight home. We saw ANOTHER deer and a tiny baby fawn! The photo isn't that great because I zoomed in to try and see them but if you can see here the fawn was SO tiny!


We got home with almost finding everything.

Then we went to the curb to wait for Isaac to get off his school bus. The girls had a fun conversation while waiting <3 p="">

Puppy Love & Summer

We've been doing a movie night about once a week and the past two weeks we are working our way through Ghostbusters. Probably not the best idea... but they like it and we are educating them on real and make believe. And praying when we're scared. 

Anyway Harpo was getting some cuddles the other night, it was so sweet. He lays low most often these days but comes out for attention every once in a while. 




And summer is officially here! Pulled out this timeless toy! Which prompted all the kiddos to immediately get undressed, haha!

Loved this capture, Emma and Isaac doodling some drawings and Thomas chomping down on veggie straws.

Birthday Celebration continues (part 2 of 3)

We wanted to do a special date with the girls because we've never been alone with them. We've taken them one at a time on errands with either Kyle or myself, but we had never been together just the three of us. So we had a babysitter come to watch Isaac, Thomas, and one of the girls - while we took the other and had a special date. 

With Mary we went bowling. She was so excited and kind of onry at first. As if she was acting our for attention but realized we were so patient with her and were giving her all our attention no matter how she acted. She was so excited. It was also a special treat to ride in 'daddy's car' they love riding in the beamer and there isn't room for everyone so they don't get to ride in but once a week or every other week maybe. Kyle and I got to enjoy some delicious coffee at Bryant Lake Bowl. 





We went back home, I nursed Thomas and got him down for a nap and switched out girls :-P We weren't sure what to do with Emma and of course she wanted to do what Mary did... but we didn't really want to do a whole other round of bowling so we gave her the option of paddle boats or min-golf (both in the same place). We did two holes of mini-golf and she says "okay I'm ready for the boats" ha! It didn't work that way, but she dealt with it and had a good time.






She prefered to take her ball and putter closer to the hole and put it in. Kyle and I had a nice game and kept our score. It was almost like a date with just one kid along, :-P

A few days later I overheard Emma in the car "golfing is hard".



It was lunchtime and we hadn't planned that out yet... Emily had already fed the kids back home when we texted so we just ran into Whole Foods to grab ourselves some lunch. Emma enjoyed this nice big pretzel.


Our final celebration will be their party, but the place we're having it at didn't offer May parties so we had to schedule in June. To be continued.... (they sure are lucky to get so many celebrations, but I will give them the fact that this is the first year we actually celebrated. Last year we did a small thing just family and the year before that we were selling the house and had professional photos done of the house so I couldn't even decorate for them. And their first birthday.... HA no one remembers a first birthday with twins. Luckily I blogged about it) :-D

Birthday Celebration - the girls are 4!

(**again I got actual photos with their age blocks on my nice camera but getting this posted before I got them off that. Will add those later)



Mary is kind and thoughtful. She has a mothering instinct and is always looking out for others. She LOVES babies and her baby brother, borderline smothering her Love is so great for him. ☺️ She is sensitive and stubborn which makes her strong and opinionated. She stands up for her wants and desires. She is my most strong willed but at the same time probably the most sensitive of all my kiddos. She loves to play independently, ride her bike, read books, and paint. She loves Mac and cheese and her strawberry daily sunshine. She loves to swing and sing. Mary is such a joy to our family. We love her so much.
Mary 4 years-1




I made the girls a special cake for their birthday!

Emma has a free spirit. She is bursting with joy, enthusiasm, and spunk for life. She loves to be loud and happy. She loves singing and squealing; when I think of pure joy, Emma’s face comes to mind. She can be demanding and high maintenance but that makes her strong and decisive. She loves helping and making things good. She is a night owl and loves to sleep in. She’s a chatterbox and silly. We love the spice of life she brings to our family.

Emma 4 years-9

Emma 4 years-5





Thomas took an amazingly long nap, I let the girls watch a movie and I got their bed put together! I was really wanting to get it done so they could sleep in it the night of their birthday :-) And I did!

I got it finished and Emma says "Where's my bunk bed?" She wasn't keen on sleeping on the bottom at first, but we made it fun how it would be like a little cave. She likes it now.

One goal for doing the bunk (which it's a low bunk) is to try and separate them a little to make bedtime or naptime go smoother. Emma likes to chatter and stay up and Mary likes to sleep. So hopefully this way Mary can get her rest without Emma bugging her. Not sure it's working as well as we'd hope but I think it is better.

Here's there cake, it was amazingly good, well in my opinion and Isaac's. The girls weren't as in love with it as I had hoped. They each wanted a separate color of frosting of course so I did both.


We did some presents before dinner:








Then we went for a walk to Yum for dinner. A little bakery/restaurant in our neighborhood.

They are so gorgeous!



Then back home for cake and candles!



So I ended up putting one of the foot rails on wrong and it cracked when I screwed it in. So the next day while they were in school, Thomas and I went back to Ikea to get a replacement part (and light bulbs). I got the step replaced and got their lights up the following night. They LOVE having a little light to read by and since there are two they aren't yelling at each other to turn the light off.



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