A Visit To Hershey

 Last weekend Ben had Friday off for some strange reason, so we decided to visit Uncle Scott and Aunt Ashley!  They have been good to make the drive a few times for Thanksgiving, and we've made it once for a family vacation, but it was time to do it again.  As I've told them, they were very brave to host our thundering herd.  (A term borrowed from my childhood when we'd pile out of the mini-van and my dad would tell us to act like fewer people than we were.  There were only 5 of us kids, but we learned how to act like 2 1/2 kids.)

We headed out Thursday afternoon and made it there right after Uncle Scott had left for his ER shift at 11 pm.  Poor guy had 11-7 shifts the whole time we were there, AND caught some stomach bug from one of his patients the last night.  He was a good sport and was lots of fun even though he was sleep deprived.

And what did our normal boy do once we got there?  Why he made himself at home under the ottoman, of course.

 This picture is so wrong, but there are so many great things about it.  The fact that he has morning eyes, the fact that he looks like he's trying to wake up with his morning coffee, the fact that he's wearing penguin jammies, and oh, the fact that it's an I Heart Intercourse mug.  What can I say?  They live in Pennsylvania.

 On Friday after Scott had slept for a few hours, we headed to Baltimore.  Ashley had to head to work, so we missed her.  There is this neat place called Inner Harbor where they have a bunch of historic boats, a children's museum, and an aquarium, plus lots of shops and restaurants.  We spent our time creeping up on seagulls.

 Also posing by big old boats.

 We also gawked at the ocean life at the aquarium.  It kicked Newport Aquarium's bum.  All I can say is, those fish were lucky they were safely sequestered behind that glass, because my daughter has lightning fast reflexes and surely would've grabbed one of them mid-swim.

 Emerson liked the fish, but he REALLY liked laying on the little platforms and got super excited about the escalators...Also, the prospect of getting more fruit snacks.

 Being pals with Uncle Scott

 Dad and Sammi being pals

 Sitting for a spell before the dolphin show.

 I would've taken pictures of the dolphin show, but there was nothing to capture really.  It was quite laughable.  They warned us we were all sitting in the "splash zone", and that turned out to be a bunch of crap.   There wasn't nearly enough entertainment going on to produce droplets of water that could actually fly out of the tank.  I wanted those dang dolphins to jump!  Jump, dang it!  And throw in some of that weird wiggling through the water on your tail while you're at it.

We then headed to Noodles 'N Company for some sustenance and rode the elevator to the top of the World Trade Center there to see the view.  We hit Charm City Cakes from the show Ace of Cakes on the way out, but they were lame and are open by appointment only.

That evening we had some great spaghetti made by Scott, and Ash and I headed to the store for probably the funnest store trip ever.  Seriously, so many laughs, and way too many treats.

The next day, we headed to breakfast and were regaled with stories from Scott's ER shift.  They were too graphic to go into detail here, but there may or may not have been a girl that had a braid in a weird place.  And it's probably not the weird place you are thinking of.  Cryptic enough?  Gross enough?  Yes.

E heard through the grapevine that we were heading to a place called Chocolate World, and promptly took to calling it Chocolate LAND.  He corrected anyone who said it otherwise.  Did you know there are many trains to spot at Chocolate Land?  I didn't either until I went with E.

 Very pleased to have discovered a train.

 We tried to get a picture of the kids in front of Chocolate World (LAND!) but it was one of those awkward moments where your kids won't cooperate and there are lots of people standing behind you, trying to be polite but are a little annoyed you are taking so long.  This was the best we could do.

Sammi fascinated by the cows on the ride

E "choo-chooing" as he spotted another hidden train on the ride.  This was just after he proclaimed that the chocolate mixers were actually traction rods.

Aunt Ashley helping him hold the World's Largest Hershey's Bar.  It was very heavy for a 3-year-old.

Taking a picture with the "chocolate clown" as Emerson called him.  He said he was a clown because he makes people laugh.  Fair enough logic, except clowns make me nervous.

Now off to enjoy a Reese's sundae!  So good, I'm still fantasizing about it.

We rode the ride twice to appease Emerson, and they got to go with the cool people in front.

One last stop at the trolley for E

After attempted naps that afternoon, we headed to a fun park called Cocoa Castle where Scott and Ashley have been wanting to go, but didn't have any children to take with them so as not to appear creepy.

Fun on the slide

Fun on the swing

Fun in a little boat.  (For Scott anyway)

Cocoa Castle

After the kids went to bed, the adults stayed up to enjoy gourmet chocolate chip cookies made by Ashley, and Maple Hazlenut pie made by Scott while we watched Clifford.

Our last morning there, we had a yummy breakfast made by Ashley while poor Scott was sick. :(  She's the coolest because she made chocolate chip pancakes for the kids, and amazing breakfast potatoes.

Sigh...it's so hard to get a normal expression out of this child.

Sammi was much too engrossed in her pancakes to smile

Thanks again for the awesome trip!  We miss you already.

Snowball Fight

Last week I was feeling the depression of winter creeping in and I had to do something.  The kids were stir crazy and I was desperate.  I pulled out a craft book my mom gave me awhile back and found a tutorial on how to make pom-poms out of leftover yarn.  I had a bunch of white yarn, so I thought of having an indoor snowball fight for FHE.  *Note* Please don't take that as a Seriously So Blessed type of "I have such great ideas and am so spiritual and so so fun!" kind of thing.  I am just desperate for my kids to stay engaged for more than 30 seconds, so I try to keep them on their toes.

Anyway, we had fun.

Big Shoes To Fill

 This girl loves shoes, and discriminates against none.  She actually prefers other people's shoes since she can get them on by herself.  Daddy's shoes were the hot item the other morning.

 Notice Emerson's crabby little face in the background.  Sammi thinks she's hot stuff though, and is more than just a little pleased that she won this battle.  Luckily she's holding in her smile.

If one didn't know my children extremely well, one might think, "Oh, how sweet that he's giving her a little hug."  Actually, he's aggressively coaxing her out of Daddy's coveted shoes.

...And convinced her to wear lowly Mommy's shoes.  I think she may be a peacemaker at heart.  At this moment, anyway.

Daddy got in on the action when he came home and stole E's shoes.  Also, from this perspective, he looks seriously gigantic.  As if he has to stoop so as not to hit his head on the ceiling.  I didn't even know I possessed those photography skillz.  I think it helps that this photo was taken by me sitting on the floor, and that his feet look teeny in E's shoes.

Valentine's Day

 I know it's a little late, but I had to document Valentine's Day.  For some reason, Ben and I both got really into Valentine's Day without consulting one another.  I think there's something about having two precious little kids to love and get excited about things that makes things more magical.

The night before Valentine's Day, Ben brought home these beautiful roses for me,

 and these silly balloons for the kids.

 They were pretty excited,

 and much fun was had.

 Our Valentine's Day table for the morning.

Breakfast before Daddy had to rush off to clinic.

My silly attempt at a festive breakfast.

It's a good thing I didn't take a picture of the pink eggs because they didn't look super appetizing and were more orange than anything.  Oh well.  The kids had lots of fun, especially when they made the assumption that the chocolate hearts sprinkled about were meant to be eaten for breakfast.  I had to quickly gather them up so they would eat a little of their real breakfast because they were shoveling those babies in like there was no tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Color-Color

This girl of mine loves to color-color.  (I'm not sure why that's how we say it at our house, but we do.)  Her older brother has zero interest in coloring unless he has the opportunity to take her writing utensil away and squelch her happiness.  When we were in the car she wanted to hold the receipt from the store and then she motioned with her little hand in the air like she was writing.  I'm amazed at how she can get her point across with so few words and so much body language.  Also, I love when she does that little relieved/pleased chuckle when I guess what she wants correctly.

This has been her favorite spot in the house lately, whether she is feeding her baby doll or color-coloring.

She drags the stool out of the bathroom, and it is just the right size for her to sit on.

She's pretty much got the essentials with her: baby doll, blankie, milk, coloring tools, and one shoe.

You can see why I just kiss this face all day!

Oops.

 I neglected to document Emerson's preschool pajama party.  He requested that I take a picture of him and Bear, and then requested one with their "faces really big."

I know I'm a dork, but I totally planned out which jammies he was going to wear.  I knew if I left it completely up to him then he would pick his raggedy-est pair and the teachers would judge me. 

He thought it was pretty hilarious that they got to lay out their blankets and pretend to be asleep, because after all, (in an incredulous 3-year-old voice) "We don't sleep at preschool!"

Sammi has a hard time when E gets to go to preschool.  She gets her shoes and coat every time and asks to "go-go" with him.  Then she usually puts her arms out for whoever is picking E up for carpool to take her too.  So she passes her time by playing old school Nintendo. (Just kidding.) 

Ben got his old Nintendo out and was playing it with E one night, and the house fairy didn't get it cleaned up right away, (and who else would clean it up?) so the kids had fun "playing" it the next morning.  They are both pretty intent on that demo screen.

Emerson and his cute little copy-cat

Dinnertime Exchange

This was mine and Emerson's exchange at dinner tonight:

"Hey Mom! I bet I can stay up and play."

"I bet you can if you cooperate during bathtime."

"Well...I bet I'll probably just be a little bit whiny while I have to lay down and you wash my hair."

"Yes, you're right.  I bet you will."


At least he knows himself. :)

Dun-Dun-Dun, Dun-Dah-Dun, Dun-Dah-Dun

Star Wars theme song.

So I had this cute post thought out in my head like a week or ten days ago, and it's lost to me.  And I'm tired.  So here's the cute picture of the three of them watching Star Wars together.  Ben's just been biding his time until he thought E was ready, and then he was biding his time until I thought he was ready, and it finally happened.  He actually watched really well and asked questions.  My favorite was when Chewbacca came on and he asked, "Why does the man have a lion?"  He's been talking about it on and off and giggles when his hand gets stuck in his jammies because he thinks he looks like Luke Skywalker.

Since Sammi has to do everything, and I mean everything her brother has to, she watched as well.  Not quite the same attention span, but she did get her cute little pained expression and high pitched giggle when she saw Yoda and Chewbacca.  Seriously, every time they came on she was cuted out.  Love these silly kids and their daddy.

To Nur-ser-y We Go!

 My kids are getting bigger.  This little stinker went to nursery for the first time on Sunday and it was fabulous.  My diaper bag was about 20 lbs. lighter without snacks and toys for the extra 2 hours of entertainment I am used to giving.

The report was that she did great for the first half hour or so, but started crying when the music leader left.  So the leaders went and got Ben to sit with her for the rest of the time.  (To be honest, I think she would've been fine.  Ben said she wasn't even crying when he went in.)  But I'm so grateful for her nursery leaders.  They are awesome.

I'm not one of those parents who coddles their young ones when it's nursery time.  I figure that having an attitude like "Hey, this is a new and exciting thing.  It's going to be different, but it will be great!  See you in a while, have fun!" probably works out better than "I'm nervous about you being ok, so I'm going to hover and make you feel insecure."  We'll see.  I just really believe that kids can sense your attitude about things even if you never say anything.  I've found it to be true with babies that if you are feeling stressed and insecure then they do too and it turns into a vicious cycle.  I'm thinking that makes it true for all little kids.  What's not to love about nursery?

And this little fella started Sunbeams at the beginning of the year, but we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Utah still, so we never got a picture!

He looks so tall to me all of a sudden.

I just absolutely love Emerson's Sunbeam teacher.  Even when he talks in a loud voice and can't stay in his chair with his apparently spring-loaded bottom, she stays calm and cracks up at him at the same time.  I love her.  I think he's adjusting pretty well.  The first week I took him in he looked like he was about to cry for a few seconds, but then realized he was a big boy like the rest of the Primary kids and did great.  I've had to talk to him about being a boy during Primary though because he loves to pretend he's a puppy or a train and that can get slightly disruptive.  So I've uttered phrases like, "Ok, let's use your reverent whistle" or "Trains fold their traction rods for the prayer" or "Puppies have to have their bottoms glued to their seat".  I loved peeking in and watching him pump his arms like traction rods to the tempo of the song.  (For those of you with interests other than trains, traction rods are those bar things that go across the wheels of a train.)  It cracked me up because the look on his face was intense.  Be the train, you are the train.

I wish I could've looked forward in time as a teenager to see all the ridiculous/gross things that are part of my life.  I love it though.  Like sincerely, I do.

Here are the outtake pictures of Sammi.  She's a difficult one to get to sit still.

Here she is, just being a little person.  I don't know why that cracks me up.  I guess it's just so rare that little kids stand still with their arms to the side?  My mom understands me, even if no one else does.