Morning with My Girls

A few weeks ago, the girls and I went to one of our favorite places together - the Georgia Aquarium.  Usually, we go with friends, but couldn't make it last time b/c of a brief Hand, Foot, Mouth scare.  That stuff is the WORST.  Thankfully, all was well, but we had to miss the Aquarium because of it.

And of course, this is AFTER I told Elle & Kate we were going, so they were none to happy to be going to the doctor instead of to see the fish.  Mommy FAIL. 

So we loaded up a few days later and braved it ourselves.  It was such a fun, lovely morning with my girls. I so often associate outings like these with chasing, herding, feeding, dodging crowds, cajoling, etc., and this was quite the opposite.  I think we were just all glad to be together and it was so nice to just relax and enjoy my girls.  Note to future Mommy:  Remember this time.  Stop being a stress ball when you don't have to be.

Kate loved making friends with the giant penguin walking around.  Elle kept her distance, but would smile and wave at him.  This is actually a pretty dead-on illustration of their different personalities.  The actual penguin exhibit?  Both the girls freaked out a bit in the penguin tunnel and thought they were trapped!  We spent a lot of time watching the otters swim around and play and then we sat in the big tank room (yes, that's the technical term for it) for a long time where Elle kept exclaiming "There's ANOTHER whale shark!". 

My girls.  Love 'em.

Mesmerized.

Penguins are cool.  Literally.  ZING!

This was a spontaneous hand-hold.  So sweet.

A whale shark & his posse.

Elle thinks the whale sharks are amazing!

Derby de Mayo

We celebrated the Derby and Cinco de Mayo in style this year.  Can anyone else not watch the Derby (or any horse race for that matter) anymore because of what happened to Barbaro?  I have to wait and make sure all the horses are okay and then I'll watch the replay.  But I digress.  Derby de Mayo - we got to hang out with some good friends, have margaritas, and swim in an ice cold pool!  The girls were not deterred by the iciness, however, and swam until their lips turned blue.

Sidenote:  Do you want to know the best invention ever?  Puddle Jumpers.  I can now take my girls swimming and not frantically run around in 2 different directions trying to make sure they don't fall in the pool.  Because the puddle jumpers are AWESOME. (Thank you, Kristin. You are my hero.)

Kate totally means to wear her hat like that. 

Elle was fascinated with being able to see her feet.

Despite how it may look, Kate really is enjoying herself.  That's her "I'm having fun, but trying to keep water out of my ears/eyes" look.  :)

Taking a break for a little Mexican fiesta.  Ole'!

Berry Pickin'

The girls & I had fun picking strawberries this week with some good friends and some new friends.  They probably don't want to hear me ask them if they want a strawberry for a while, but heavens, were those strawberries delicious.  The remaining ones are in the form of muffins made with the assistance of my super helpers and some frozen for later.  Something nice about picking your fruit from a nearby farm.  The girls had an excellent time sleuthing out the ripe red strawberries amidst the unripe green ones.  I can't tell you how many times I heard "THIS one is ready!  THIS one is ready!" Elle was deemed master berry picker and Kate wanted me to carry her approximately 5 minutes into the picking.  :)  To her credit though, it was dang hot and after we discovered the fire ants, I would have wanted to be carried too!  Nothing a little water & snack couldn't fix!

Strawberry picking requires intense concentration.

Hard at work

This was about 2 seconds before she was done and ready to be carried!

The group shot attempt

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Time for the Easter post!  We had a great one.  Leading up to it, the girls were big fans of their Peter Cottontail Book from Mimi & Grandbob as well as the jumping and singing Peter Cottontail toy their Gabby gave them. 

Breaking news:  Surprisingly, this toy did not drive me crazy!

So, when Easter rolled around, the girls were ready for the Easter bunny and all the chocolate bunnies he was going to leave them.  We also read the actual Easter story, but hey - apparently chocolate and Easter eggs are way more exciting at this age than the Resurrection.  I'm just being honest.  Though when we asked them what we celebrate on Easter, they would say "Jesus was born!"  And then we'd say "No, that's Christmas.  What do we celebrate on Easter?",  and that would prompt "Jesus is Alive!".  So, they kinda got it, right?  :) 

Anywho - we headed to Huntsville for the weekend to celebrate Easter and lots of family birthdays in April - 2 of our super fun cousins and 1 of our sweet aunts.  Cake and ice cream?  CHECK.  Easter Egg hunt?  CHECK.  Quality time with the Burns' fam?  CHECK!  We had a great visit and the Easter Bunny did not forget the chocolate bunnies.  Or peeps.

Baskets full of goodies.

My two bunnies.

Sweet Elle

CHEESE!

Silly Kate

This picture is very indicative of the weekend.  Kate following Bo around saying, "Hey, Bo!" A lot.

The ATL Burns

The Cousins.  Subtitled:  What happens when you say "Make a silly face"

My little mermaid*

And my Stinkerbelle.*

There are so many things I enjoy about this picture.  Not the least of which are Kate's face and Elle's nose-picking.

*Ariel & Tinkerbell costumes provided courtesy of Aunt Wissa.  Kate is ALL about Ariel now. 

Fuzzy Math

Math has never been my cup of tea.  I was a Liberal Arts major.  Mainly because I love reading & writing, but I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't also (kind of a little bit) because I only had to take 1 semester of math.

However, I'm pretty sure the below equation is some of my best work yet.  Look out E=mc2, behold:

IHOP x Funny Face Pancake = Bliss with a remainder of Hilarity
              Toddlers

I could not adequately capture the joy of eating the pancakes as there were chocolate chips and whip cream everywhere, but I did manage to snap the before pic. 

Field Trip Friday: Botantical Gardens Edition

I have lived in Atlanta for 11 years (um, whoa) and had never been to the Botanical Gardens until last week.  I'm a sorry excuse for an Atlantan.  However, the girls and I were able to go along with some friends on our weekly "Field Trip Friday" jaunt and had a great/exhausting time running around.  The gardens are beautiful! 

AND - I discovered that Kate may be over her aversion to sand.  We started with baby steps at the Children's Museum where they have that cool Moon Sand that doesn't stick to anything.  She loves it.  They had a sand area at the Gardens and she actually played in it.  And didn't scream.  She wanted to wipe it off pretty quickly, but she actually had fun!  A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.  The true test will be at the beach I'm sure, but call me cautiously optimistic. 

Despite the exhaustive work of chasing around toddlers - be they running in glee or running while screaming because they don't want to ______ (*insert anything that mommy says here*) - it really is fun to see them experience all these cool trips.  We are so thankful for good friends to share said experiences with and a city that has so many excellent, learning adventures for us to go on.  Not to say that picking up rocks in our backyard is not equally entertaining.  :)  Pics below!

I really could just eat her up sometimes.  The pigtails are too much.

Me & my girlies

Fun times at the waterfall

You jump, I jump.  (into grody looking dark water with giant goldfish)

This girl likes to be on the move.

Riding in style. 

Yes, we're still here!

We have definitely been busy and therefore have not been keeping up with our blogging as much as we should.  And by "we", I mean "me".  Though if I could pay Elle & Kate to blog for me, I totally would.  It might be jibberish, but it would be heartfelt jibberish.  They love them some computers.  More specifically, "Daddy's iPad". 

Here are some pictures of some recent fun times out and about.  First up, birthday party time!  If the girls could go to a birthday party everyday, they would.  They know it means ice cream and cake.  And Elle asks me to "sing Happy Birthday to me, Mommy" at least once every few days.  The most recent party was extra fun because not only was it at a bouncy place (the biggest one I've ever seen!), it was for one of the girls BFF's - Charlotte.  They had an excellent time bouncing and playing in the ball pits and snacking and yes, having cupcakes and ice cream.

Yes, that is Tyler next to Elle in the ball pit.  He's like, the funnest Daddy EVER.

Mom, I need my space.  Stop hovering.  I can handle myself in this giant indoor playground with lots of big kids running around.

Elle & Daddy taking a break from the action.  Having come off a recent bouncy house injury, Elle preferred to stick to the sidelines, aka, ball pits.

They look like so tiny at the big table, but they also look like such big girls.  Sigh.

And hot off the presses from today - a fun play date with good friends!  Where there are bubbles, there are happy (and soapy) toddlers. 

Thankfully, there were enough bubble wands to go around.

Kate loved this particular bubble blower. 

Rolling down the hill will always be fun, Elle.  Even when you're 32.