Memorial day beach trip

Memorial day wknd was a fun one. Well, for the most part! Saturday was cold so we started it out the Chick Fil A way with breakfast chicken. Yum! Kids got to play and we weren't subjected to the 55 degree outside weather. Then off to Sam's for our bi-weekly trip. Ha. I went to bed Saturday night pretty sure I was headed into another round of mastitis (basically it's an infection you can get while breastfeeding...even though I hadn't had it at all in my previous three years of breastfeeding!) so I went to bed super early and tried to knock it out. Woke up and it was obvious it wasn't going away. We headed to urgent care to get more meds but they wouldn't treat me because it was recurrent. So they sent me to the ER. That's seriously the only time as an adult I've had to go there. It was kinda lame because they just gave me another (stronger) prescription for meds (and not an IV like the urgent care doc thought.) Whatever works. That night our friends came over to BBQ and the kids made a cake. Kabobs. Yum. Cake. Yum.

We didn't have plans for Monday but we woke up and thought "hey, we should go check out one of the beaches near us." So we did. It was still chilly out so we didn't plan on swimming just walking along the beach and looking at the water. When we got to Chesapeake Bay, North Beach the kids were ready to get out and play. Well, they charge non-locals a fee to get onto the beach. Which we wouldn't mind paying if we were actually going to *use* the beach but since we just wanted to play in the sand for a bit we decided not to. So we walked the pier and looked out at the water. Morgan of course found a way to get into the sand anyways. Ha. We had some ice cream and ran around a bit. It was a fun little adventure and we all can't wait to go back when it's warm enough to actually get IN the water instead of just look at it :) (we felt kinda bad for "teasing" them with the water being right there!)

Owen was not happy about sharing with Morgan so he took over my ice cream! Raspberry with chocolate chunks. Yum!

Rust nature sanctuary

So I was searching for a park one day and up popped this nature center in Leesburg. I looked on their calendar and they had ONE preschool storybook/nature walk activity left scheduled for the Spring. So we set up a play date with our friends, packed a picnic and set out to learn. Of course that day it was cold. It's the end of May and in the 50's. Where do I live???

The first part was free time in the preschool room. The teachers had gone down to the pond to get back swimmers, tadpoles and baby dragonflies for the kids to look at. Then they read a book about the differences between ants and humans (although Morgan and Owen didn't do much listening since they were trying to get their friend's attention! I swear I read to them at home!! Ha!) and asked the kids questions. Then they got to each pick a musical instrument to play and sang a few songs together. Then we headed out to the pond. The walk there was gorgeous. I still can't believe I live in such a beautiful part of the country. We're just surrounded by trees and green (green!) grass.

The teacher stopped along the way and pointed things out to the kids and when we got the pond the moms got turns with the net. Carolan was the best little animal catcher of the group :) All the kids took turns trying to catch things to look at and talk about. It was so much fun (I think I might have had a better time than they did!)

Afterwards we headed back up to the house and had a picnic outside. The kids ate the obligatory bite each and ran off to play. Little Peyton slept in the baby wrap the entire time of course :)

see the tiny tadpole?

so gorgeous there!

Carolan and her netting skills!

 

Fire house

We went to a fire station open house this weekend. For as much as we talk about fire fighters we've never been to see a station. When we hear sirens at home or while driving Morgan will always ask where they are going. I say they are going to save somebody and then we say a little prayer that they make it to whoever they need to help in time. It's really sweet and I think it teaches them (because Owen joins in on the prayer too) to think about others and also know how important our public servants are to us.

Needless to say the open house was a blast. You kinda can't beat fire trucks to climb on, ambulances to tour, getting to use the actual hose from a fire truck and free food (hotdogs, tacos, cotton candy and ice cream!!) We met up with some friends from the play group and let the kids run wild. We went to all the "safety stations" they had to set up to help teach kids the importance of water safety, stranger danger, calling 9-1-1, ect. Morgan got to actually call 9-1-1 which was great since we had just been talking about that the week before. She responded exactly how we practiced. Hopefully she'll never need it but it was good to do anyways. The girls got their face painted, all the kids got balloon swords and of course at the end found water to walk through. Perfect family fun day!

Oh and how perfect that Owen just happened to have a fire man rain coat! Several people commented on how adorable it was and he really looks the part, right? Ha!

Fire chief Owen

learning about Stranger Danger

Driving of course

this was the best group pic I could get

family pic (you think it was humid out or what? ha!)

Morgan and daddy saving someone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Party, party, party!

We had a weekday play group birthday party to celebrate M turning 4. I really am liking these weekday parties because they are so low key which means less stress for mommy :) Jarid dropped the dogs off at doggy day care so we'd have even less stress to deal with! My awesome friend Jenn (and M's godmother) made the sweet Golden birthday decorations. I loved the way they came out and made the party so festive!

When I was taking pics before everyone got here Owen insisted on being in them too. ha. Better not tell that boy it isn't his birthday too! I let Morgan choose if she wanted to wear a pink "party" dress as she calls it or her 4 yr old shirt. She chose the dress. And looked stinking cute in it!

We had "gold" fish, "golden" oreos and "gold" coins as well as fruits and cupcakes. Jenn made a glittery gold "M" to put on the table which Morgan is totally obsessed with!

The kids all had a fun time. Although for whatever reason playing "sleep" (as in laying in the bed pretending to sleep) was the big hit. Who knew. Guess I should play that game more often! Her friends made her sweet cards which we've hung up in her room. Even Peyton had sweet Ellie to play with. All in all it was a great day!

Here's my friend's site for party decor (and more!): www.bellagreydesigns.com

it says "thank you for making my party golden" so cute!

 

big sisters looking at the babies