Park

Today the weather was in the high 70's so I took the opportunity to walk the kiddos up to a local playground.  It's the first time Brody's been to any playground and has actually been able to use the equipment!  He was very excited.

He's looking so big these days!

Logan attempted to be brave and go down the big slides but backed out when she realized just how high up she was.

Back to the toddler slide for her...it just didn't seem to give her the satisfaction it used to, though.

Her fearless little brother wanted to show her a thing or two about big slides and bravery.

After he went down the big slide happily (making sure it was safe for his princess sister, of course) she went down and the continued to go down the remainder of our time there.

He wasn't too thrilled that I wouldn't allow him to continue to follow her up to the bigger slides (only because it meant I had to climb up after him and make sure he didn't jump from the heights to prove his manhood...because he would.)

The toddler slide was plenty high for him, though, and he had a lot of fun climbing up it and going back down.

And I had to throw these two pictures from this afternoon in because he just looks like such a little boy in them!  Where is my baby going??  

And yes, he's wearing a completely different outfit.  I change his clothing at least once a day after he destroys the first one eating or climbing or smearing substances (dirt, grass, food, you name it) all over them.  The difference between boys and girls even at this age is astounding!

Ohio

My sister in law had a baby a couple of weeks ago and I just couldn't wait to get my hands on her so we hopped in the car and drove up to meet this little sweetie last Friday!

It was a nice distraction for the kids while daddy is away.  We had 4 kids under 4 in the house, though, and it did get a little crazy.  (3, 2, 1 and new...whew!)

The kids L-O-V-E-D the front porch swing.  I think we could have spent the entire trip out there and they would have had 0 complaints.

Nana, Papa and Aunt Kim drove out, too, so that we could all spend some time together.  

There was a lot of story time...

Nana and Papa had a pool at their hotel and we took full advantage of it while they were in town.        

Logan loves the pool, but Brody isn't quite as sure.  He spent a lot of time cuddling Nana while the others swam.

Though, he did want to check it out after a while.

The boys bonded over video games.

We had fun dressing them all up in matching outfits and taking pictures.  I'm sure one day they'll all mock us for this.

Getting them all to look at the camera was impossible.

Memorial day was spent outside in the pools.  The kids ran back and forth from the pools to the house, where they "painted" the side of it with water.  

 They took amazing naps that day.

Here is a rare moment where all three older kids were happily playing together, quietly:

Sweet Abby Mae just took it all in.  She seemed perfectly used to the chaos.

We also spent some time in IKEA.  I think I could move in there and be happy.  Logan could, too, as long as she had free reign over all of the toys/tents/tunnels.

The drive was long, but the kids did FANTASTIC.  We stopped only once on each leg of the trip (a 9 hour journey).  It was fun to get away!

Beauty and the Beast

Leading up to his time away Mike wanted to make sure the kiddos got some good one on one time.  With Brody it was just hanging out and playing while I took Logan out.  But when he heard that the Carolina Ballet was performing Beauty and the Beast he knew he had to get them some tickets.  One of his former employees is actually in the ballet and scored them a set on opening night for free!  What a blessing and wonderful memory for them!

Here they are getting ready to go:

Waiting for the show to start:

And fast asleep after it finished (if you notice, she's actually sleeping with her ticket):

Of course, none of this would be complete without tired snuggles the day after:

Last MOPS

It's been several weeks now since it's been done, but we finished off our year at MOPS earlier this month.  I took a couple of pictures but none are very good.  The kids were in matching seersucker outfits (which I love).

The kids really love each other, but seem to want to love on each other at totally opposite times.  If one wants a hug, the other doesn't...it creates tension.  :)

And this is incredibly blurry because I didn't have anyone around to take it, but here we are on our last day of MOPS and right under it is our first.