First camping trip!

Last night Matt & I took Anna & Abby on their first camping trip. Years ago we targeted Burke Lake Park as the perfect place to take kids camping for the first time. There is a great camping area there geared toward families and it is only about 25 minutes from our house. We previously thought we were going to wait until Abby was a little older to give it a try, but recently she has just seemed like such a big girl that we thought she would be ready for it. It ended up being a wonderful trip and we are all looking forward to our next camping adventure. On our trip we went on some short hikes around the lake, played lots of frisbee, cooked our dinner over the fire, roasted marshmellos, played on the playground, and went canoeing!

 

 Now where did I get off the trail?

Did Anna prefer the slow roast like Mommy or the blackened quick cook like Daddy? the blackened quick cook. Oh well, I have years to convert her.

Yum!

 a morning snuggle

I loved my first camping trip!

A sweet and salty Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day that started and with Anna & Abby crawling into my bed to wake me up. (I know sleeping in until exactly when I want might sound better to some people, but it is HUGE that they were actually up before me.) Abby put both hands on my cheeks, put her face right next to mine and said, "It's your Mother's Day, Mommy!" in her cute little 2 year old voice. Then Anna reminded me that it was actually also her and Abby's Mother's Day as well since she is a Mommy to Anyb (pronounced "Abid," but this is how Anna spells it) and Abby is a Mommy to Julia (both baby dolls).

Besides getting to spend Mother's Day with my sweet little girls and my sweet husband it was sweet with strawberry shortcake :) On Saturday we went strawberry picking. Anna & Abby were excited to put together their sweet treat after dinner:

For Mother's Day Anna gave me a cookbook that she put together at school consisting of all the recipes that she made with her class this year. Today she requested that we try making the homemade pretzels. We did and they were great!

Last weekend we were busy as we had 2 friends birthday parties to go to, Matt raced in a 5K (he got 3rd place for his age group!), and we went to Burke Lake park:

Go Daddy!

 All aboard!

 dinner at their new picnic table :)

Happy Birthday Grandma, Anna, & Abby!

This past weekend we celebrated Grandma's 60th birthday, Anna's 4th birthday, and Abby's 2nd birthday. We had a fantastic weekend. The celebrations began on Wednesday when Nana arrived:

On Friday Uncle Pete, Uncle Dan, and Aunt Bridget arrived and when Grandpa and Grandma arrived, Grandma was greeted with a surprise: we really were making a big deal of her 60th birthday. She had thought Pete, Dan, & Bridget were all arriving late Friday night. But really, they arrived in the afternoon and we all went to Luciano to celebrate her birthday!

 

I like spaghetti!

On Saturday we celebrated Anna's 4th birthday:

 

decorating her cupcakes the day before

we started the party with a scavenger hunt:

listening carefully to the directions

Abby & Teagan enjoying treats from the hunt :)

 ready for lunch :)

The weather warmed up enough for some rope swing rides:

 wee!!!!

 

"Happy Birthday dear Anna..."

 

On Sunday we celebrated Abby's 2nd birthday!!! 

dressed up in some new birthday clothes!

 time to eat!!!

 

decorating her cupcakes with sister :)

  

Abby could not stop giggling while we sang "Happy Birthday" to her:

 

 

Happy Birthday Grandma, Anna, & Abby! Thank you Nana, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Pete, Uncle Dan, & Aunt Bridget for traveling so far to celebrate with us!! We had such a wonderful weekend :)

Egg decorating

A video of our egg decorating:

funny quotes

Two night ago in the tub:
Anna: Don't wash my knee that I hurt today.
Mom: Which knee is that?
Anna: I don't know. It doesn't hurt anymore.

At naptime today:
Mom: singing Abby's lullabye song
Abby: "Don't put me on that side." (pointing somewhere inside the crib)
Mom: still singing, but confused. I put her in the crib.
Abby: "I said not to put me on that side!" crying, crying

I guess "that side" meant "that side" of the crib railing. A very creative second attempt to skip her nap. Yesterday she just requested not to have a nap.

Play dough playdate!

Right after we moved into our new house are old neighbor, Janie, came over for a playdate with her grandkids. Play dough ended up being the big hit of the day:

Pigtails!

These pictures are a few weeks old - back from the old house. I just didn't get a chance to post them before now: