Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend!  We played and played until we couldn't play any longer!  The weather was great and the company even better!

Meme gave the girls a membership to the Zoo for their birthdays - we decided to kick the weekend off with a trip to the Zoo.  Little did we know that everyone else in the five county area did as well - ha!  It was packed, but still super fun.  In addition to animals, the zoo has a merry-go-round, two splash pads and a Dinosaur exhibit - we hit them all!

We played in the splash pad first - Caroline wasn't so sure in the beginning, but she warmed up to it.  Catherine Ellis loves water and a splash pad - she was in heaven!

The merry-go-round was next - always super fun:

Then we headed off for our zoo experience - animals galore and the weather really was perfect for trekking around in the sun - first we saw the elephants, next up the giraffes, then all the lions, tigers, etc.  The kiddos were super excited to see them all in person - up close!

Sometimes it's tough being the Big Sister

Big making Little laugh - she knows all the tricks of the trade and it works

This doesn't even need a caption ....

Mesmerized by the tall dinosaur greeting us as we entered the exhibit!

Caroline making her best roaring face back at the dinos

William and CE with one of the smaller dinos

This is the best we could get - ha!

Next on the agenda for our long weekend was our first official trip to the pool!  Caroline loved the water last year, but needed to warm up to it again.  She and William had a great time hanging out on the steps and playing with the noodles.  Catherine Ellis was VERY excited about "swimming" again.  She had to warm up a little too and David worked with her a lot - she's now a fish in the water and super close to swimming floatie free!

Cat needed to pout a bit about having to wear her floaties ..

All in all it was a great trip to the pool and a wonderful long weekend with friends!  We certainly kicked the start to summer off the right way - nothing better than great weather, great friends, fun activities and good food:)

Sweet besties riding in style!

Well-Visits - Four Years Old and Two Years Old

Catherine Ellis and Caroline both had their well-visits in May!  Catherine Ellis for her four-year and Caroline for her two-year.  They've gotten to be such pros at visiting the doctor and both love Dr. Farr.  He's the baby whisperer fo' sho!

Caroline is big enough how to be measured for her height on the wall and can step on the digital scale all by herself - where does the time go?!?  No more baby scale weight and height for this one!  As you can see she was very curious about how they were going to measure her!

Caroline's two-year-old stats are ... drumroll please.....:

Height: 33 1/2 inches - 50th percentile - we moved up from the 25th percentile - go Caroline!!

Weight: 31.2 lbs - 90th percentile - apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, sweet girl!

Catherine Ellis has been standing on the scale for weight and against the wall for height for a few years now, but the big difference in this visit was that she could comprehend every thing they were saying/asking - the questions they asked to see how she was developing - lots of hopping on one leg, skipping, balancing (following commands) and she just couldn't wait to see Dr. Farr.

Catherine Ellis's four-year-old stats are.... drumroll please....:

Height: 40.75 - 90th percentile (obviously she gets this from her 5 ft 5 mama, ha!  All daddy here!)

Weight: 38 lbs - 90th percentile 

Catherine Ellis is long and lean - I was surprised that she weighed as much as she did, but it's her height that contributes to her weight.  I hope she's tall like her Daddy and plays women's basketball since her Daddy loves it SO much (I kid, I kid; he strongly dislikes women's basketball).

We then preceded to tear the room to shreds waiting on Dr. Farr to make his appearance - bless that staff for cleaning up after us!

Washing hands - we did this about 25 times!  Little has to do everything Big does!

We always have such a great view - counting all the cars as they whiz by!

Chewing on the tongue depressors Dr. Farr gave us

(Caroline is cutting her two-year molars)

Peek-a-boo

Who could this be?

While we were playing our little hearts out I should have been preparing my "don't miss a thing, I must know everything that is about to happen" four-year-old for the FOUR shots she was going to receive.  Ugh.  Mom of the Year right here.  I went into this appointment thinking that Catherine Ellis was done with shots until next year and boy was I wrong.  She got four big ole' shots and Caroline got two.  Let's just say the shots didn't go over well at all.  Catherine Ellis was mad as fire at me for not telling her - but we hung in there and I had two screaming and crying babies within seconds (I now know why Dr. Farr said when he realized David wasn't coming "Smart guy that one!").  So we left the office not being able to walk - because when you're four shots paralyze you.  We made it to car and I promised ice cream - we went from this:

To this - a much better mood in minutes - thank you Micky D's drive-thru:

We are SO very thankful for our healthy babies - God is so good!  May they both continue to grow, develop and prosper!

Frances Grace comes to town!

One of my dear Camp McDowell friends, Caroline, and her daughter, Frances Grace, flew in from Charlotte, NC for Caroline's birthday party weekend and it was SO much fun to have them here with us. We don't get to see them nearly as often as we'd like, but when we do, it's life-changing.  The girls hadn't met Frances Grace yet - I went up for her baptism last April - so they were very excited to meet a new friend.  Frances Grace is five months younger than Caroline so our house was perfect for her - we had all the toys and things you need for an almost two-year-old.  

When they planned their trip back in March I didn't know that we would have our school fundraiser (for the girls' child care center) the night they flew in, as well as Caroline's birthday party, but it worked out beautifully.  It was a packed to the brim, full weekend - but when you have three little ones you keep them running so when they crash they crash (so the adults can have some good catch up time too!).  It was also Pentecost and our annual church picnic.  Lots of opportunities for running and playing outside.

We sure love the Flory ladies and look forward to many more fun visits!  Thank you for coming to visit us and joining us in our full weekend-o-fun!  We love y'all!

Caroline, Frances Grace and Me (can you tell we just all woke up from naps!?)

Backseat fun on the way to church Sunday morning!

Pentecost picnic fun in the gardens at church with the other "Caine ladies"

Sunday afternoon we headed to Railroad Park to show off some of our wonderful green space downtown and meet up with a few other Camp McDowell friends.  It was the perfect afternoon and the park was having a Neighborhood Block Party - music, food trucks, and lots of good people watching!  Caroline got a bouncy ball for her birthday and it provided hours of entertainment.

 Frances Grace trying out the big girl bike

  A little help from Mommy

 I love this picture - two wee ones working hard to go up the hill with balls as big as they are!

I have to brag on myself - since I'm famous now, ha! The above photo was one of my favorites I took Sunday afternoon and shared on Instagram.  I tagged InstagramBirmingham and they picked me up!  We were featured that night as one of the photos of the day - woot, woot!  I was so proud of my social media self:)  The city scape is so pretty and the picture looks like the girls are having a blast, but really what's happening (not to ruin it for you) is CE is running full force away from Caroline and Caroline is screaming MINE MINE MINE.  Good times!

Caroline with our two "wanderers" - they had ventured over to another quilt and 

woke up some poor guy who was trying to nap - pardon us sir!

 Yep, MINE MINE MINE - you can totally see it here, right?

Leaving Railroad Park and heading home after a wonderful weekend!