fun with hannah

One of my favorite things about my sister and her fam living in NC is that we get to see them WAY more often!  Auntie Janne and Miss Hannah came out to our house for a weekend of fun-- which clearly includes lunch at Chick-fil-A!

We always go wander around Target when they're in town-- the girls have so much fun looking at clothes and accessories.

We celebrated Auntie Janne's birthday while they were here and the girls helped me make her birthday cupcakes.

They had fun pouring and mixing but their favorite part was definitely licking the beaters!! 

Happy birthday, Auntie Janne!!

Such a sweet and silly girl!

These two play hard and fight hard and I'm so glad that they're growing up close to each other.  Cousins really are your first best friends!

Hannah (3) and Ellie (4)-- these two always make me smile!

end of the year

My sister and her family weren't able to be here on Christmas, but they came out a couple of days later to do Christmas with us.  The kids were excited to see Miss Hannah and for more presents and it was so fun being able to watch Hannah enjoy the fun of a big family Christmas!

While they were here, the girls had their very first slumber party-- they did surprisingly well!!  And we obviously went to Target.

We had lunch at Chick-fil-A before they headed back home so that we could see Christopher in action and have a delicious lunch.  The little girls were excited to play in the play area after they finished their lunch.

Ellie often has sleepovers with Chris but really wanted to have one with Nick, too.  He did a great job and let her pick out a movie to watch but as soon as it was over, she ditched him and slept in her own room.  At least Nick was a good sport about it!

Her favorite song from her school's Christmas program.

Her all-time favorite song, the Preamble.

march fun

A glimpse of normal life at home: Ellie with her yogurt and granola for breakfast and Nick playing his DS.

Ellie is going through a stage where she wants her picture taken with random things so she'll stand next to something and say "cheese" until I take a picture.

We drove down to Charlotte to try out Chopt and had the most delicious salads!  I love that for their kids meals you can pick out any three salad fixin's-- Ellie was in heaven with her white cheddar, chicken and black beans!

Season Pass Preview Night at Carowinds

Ellie LOVES the Target dog and wants a picture EVERY time we go-- sometimes the other kids get in on the fun, too!

Ellie has figured out how to take selfies and thinks it's hilarious to fill my phone with her silly faces!

Our neighbors have a teeter-totter and it's one of the favorite toys in the neighborhood.  We practice safe teeter-tottering by wearing helmets!  ;)  (Really, they rode their bikes across the street and didn't want to take their helmets off and then put them back on)

march fun

Ellie LOVES her swing!  She sits by the backdoor and points at it until someone will take her outside and push her.  Luckily, all of the kids are able to get her in and out, and push her, so she doesn't usually have to wait too long.

Some"bunny" spends a lot of her time at Target....

Fun in the tub!  She likes pretending to wash her hair and playing "where's Ellie's belly button?"

The kids have school fundraisers at Chick-Fil-A and while we can't attend every time, we try to go to some of them.  Ben loves mixing all of the sauces (and usually adds some Texas Pete) in order to make his special sauce.  Ellie REALLY wanted the cow to come over to her-- she kept shrieking and waving to get his attention-- but as soon as he came over she burst into tears!

Ellie thought the brownies at Cici's were so good that she would sign "more" while she still had the fork in her mouth!

On the night before St Patrick's Day, the kids each leave out an old pair of shoes and the leprechauns come in the middle of the night with new shoes and candy!

We attended the first annual Charlotte WeatherFest with our budding meteorologists.  They were very excited to learn all sorts of weather-y things.  Nick especially liked this tornado simulator.

Sweet Ben.  The kids learned about water safety and search and rescue at the WeatherFest, too.

Now that it's starting to warm up, the boys love playing roller hockey out front.

A few of Ellie's favorites: Playing with whoever's phone she can get her hands on, reading, sleeping late, and baths in the sink.

8: shopping queen

Today Lexie and I went shopping at Target. It was just the two of us which was a nice change!! Since I didn't have other people to chase I let her hold the cart and walk. She did a great job and was enthralled with the Christmas trees- so much so that we HAD to buy another one! :)

We were looking at flannel sheets and she was trying to pull the sticker labels off of the packages. I told her to stop and then continued looking at the sheets. She started saying "Ta-Da! Sticker!" When I looked at her she had a sticker proudly affixed to her dress- and it was all too fitting that it was a "Queen" (sheet size) sticker!

target and the tornado

On Wednesday we headed to Target with my mom. It was just like any other trip to Target except it started raining on the drive over. She ran into JoAnn's (next door to Target) for some thread to fix Zebra. As soon as she got inside, the tornado sirens started and a tornado warning was issued for our area......

She found the thread and got in line. When Jo-Ann's announced over the intercom that everyone needed to make their way to the back of the store, she left the thread on the counter and ran out to the car. We drove over to Target and then we all ran inside and to our beloved Starbucks. Miss Kerry quickly made our drinks and Miss Dana ran to get cookies before Target announced that everyone needed to proceed to the back of the store.

So, with our Misto's in hand as well as round one of cookies, we went to the back of Target.

Christopher, Miss Kerry, Nicholas

Now let me tell you, there is absolutely NO better place to be than Target during a tornado. Not only are you in a big building (which in my head is MUCH safer than our basement), but you have lots of things to play with and are surrounded by loved ones (in our case at least!).

Ben and Lexie with round 2 of cookies

The kids with Miss Kerry

We were in the back of the store (near the storage ottomans and end tables) for almost an hour. The boys ran around and played, Miss Jenny took pictures, Miss Hannah played games, Miss Kerry colored, and Miss Dana turned into the tickle monster.

Grandma paced around the back aisle while getting weather updates from Grandpa

Lexie was content to sit in the cart and play the whole time. She ate a few cookies, played with a paper towel, and entertained everyone that passed by.

Ben is going to miss Miss Dana when we move. I think she's his favorite!! And I think he is her favorite too!! :)

In the end, the tornado never made it up to where Target is. But we had a fun afternoon playing at Target with all of our friends!!

starbucks

So we go to Target fairly often. And when I say "fairly often", I mean daily. Because of this, we know the ladies (and new guy) that work at Starbucks rather well. In fact, as soon as we walk in the door, the kids run over to Starbucks to talk to the girls while I get Lexie situated in the cart.

They help themselves to samples (sometimes a whole tray) if they're available. Then they get one of the girls to take them to the bakery for cookies-- because who would pay for a Starbucks cookie when you can get free ones in the bakery?!

While Lexie and Ben eat their cookies in the cart, Christopher and Nicholas go make drinks for the four of them. They're allowed behind the counter to get their own ice and water. Then they borrow markers and decorate their cups, as well as color all over stuff to hang on the walls.

And after about 20 minutes, we're finally ready to leave Starbucks and start our shopping. So for $2.43 we're able to get a Venti Cafe Misto, 4 chocolate chip cookies, 4 cups of ice water, 4 cupholders, and various stuff from Target employees (hair-ties, old Starbucks giftcards, markers, coupons, etc). We're really going to miss this Starbucks when we move.....

Ben, Lexie, Miss Dana, Chris, Miss Mel, Nick