Everyone loves Daddy!

Joseph loves his Daddy!

Anson loves Daddy

Ella loves Daddy too!

Tanner loves Dad!

And I do too!

Peek-a-boo!

I see you!

xoxox!

Prepped...

I was baking. Joseph was eating in his high chair. Ella was eating at the table. Everything was going so nicely. I stepped out of the room for a minute. Came back to my work. Laughing. Giggling. Oh, what a wonderful day!

 To be floured and prepared for baking!

When I had "stepped out" for just a sec, Ella must have seized her opportunity to grab my flour shaker. She then proceeded to flour up Joseph! He thought it was a blast! Into the tubby he went! What a fun sister he has! So creative!

Precious Boy!

Window shopping?

Joseph loves to stare out this window. He walks along the window sill, pausing to watch birds, bugs, or whatever will come within eyeshot of him. He LOVES to watch airplanes, and points them out whenever one's flying overhead.

I didn't notice until after I took these pictures, that he had a little bloody nose! I can only image how he got that. Actually, when the weather started changing, several of us had problems with spontaneous nose bleeds, especially Tanner.

 

Those EYES!

Although not every picture turns out the way I want, and sometimes pictures I love are out of focus (mainly to my constantly moving subjects and a lens that is sometimes too slow to keep up...) I just had to share this boy. He's always making me smile, just by being there. I love him so much! You can just see & feel his amazing spirit! A special light in his eyes.

Then of course, there is this goofy girl. She is always trying to get a laugh. 

So funny! Gotta love it!

Goodbye's...

It was the day the kids had NOT been looking forward to... the day all our company, the 2 sets of grandparents, would say goodbye and fly back to Washington. I think the grandparents were ready to head to cooler weather. --{I guess it's good they came in April, rather than HOT July!}--

As the grandma's and grandpa's readied for departure. The kids enjoyed hanging out with papa Bob, playing UNO, putting together puzzles, and just relaxing before dropping off 1st one set of grandparents at the Columbia Airport, then heading up to Charlotte to drop off the other set.


Overall, we loved having family here to visit. We miss you all! xoxo!

Historic {Spring Break Day5}

We spent the day going to several spots in the heart of Columbia. First, we drove passed the largest fire hydrant (it's actually on record!) It is part of Columbia's art walk. They have several outdoor art exhibits, which are compiled into a walking tour. We couldn't fit it in this trip, but maybe next time.

 

Ella loved posing for pictures. Such a cutie, crazy haircut and all!

We though a historical stop in Columbia was necessary. Being new to the area ourselves, and each of us having a parent that was particularly interested in history, we thought the Capitol Building was a good stop.

After the video inside, we walked around to see how many cannon ball shots we could find. They are marked by these stars on the outside of the building. It was really cool to look for the stars, then to see the actual damage that was caused by the cannon. The kids were astounded. They wanted to touch this one that was for the most part, at a perfect height to reach. (Tanner & Ella are actually standing on a wall, My mom isn't really that short, she's standing next to the wall holding up Anson. Only so many kids could balance on that wall at a time... and of course they all needed to try touching it at the same time)

 Once we returned home from our site seeing tour of downtown (we drove passed other places, as well as walked through one of the riverwalk parks, before heading home) we of coursed needed to cool off in the pool!

Random happiness. Gotta love it!

We cleaned up and headed to meet Devin for dinner.

Since our parents were all heading back to good ol' Washington the next day, we had to find some place to eat some famous Carolina BBQ. It was good. My favorite part might have been the freshly made lemonade, it was really good.

Does Joseph look scared or tired? He was actually pretty tired after such a long day. He wasn't shy with the cake though, he went right for it. First he tried a strawberry, THEN he took a nice big handful of cake. YUMMM!

 This wasn't his actual birthday, but since the grandparents were all leaving the next day, we celebrated a couple days early with them! Who wants to miss the opportunity to eat cake anyway?!
 

The BIRTHDAY BOY!

I can't believe my precious baby is now 1 year old! Time sure does fly. I sure love this boy! He is such a sweet, loving and patient baby. He can light up the room with his bright eyes, smile and infectious laugh. What a joy!

Z'Outing {Spring Break Day4}

Spring break you say?! Yes, that's how far behind I actually am. It's amazing how little time one can have for wonderful things like blogging when... well, life gets in the way. We have been very busy swimming, getting out of school, Primary, work, canoeing, running here and there, swimming some more, scout day camping, camping, and soooo much more. Now, back to spring break...

We started the day off with a little of this...

Then we headed off to the Zoo. We saw LOTS of new animals & played, played, played. I love the zoo here! It was so much fun to have the grandparents here to share it with.

It was quite a hot day. So much so that the glue on my Dad's long loved burkenstocks melted. He was able to rig them and carry on... but unfortunately we were standing a little too close to these beauties at the time. They STINK! Definitely a look from afar exhibit.

 The Grandma's decided that hats were a must for the heat of Columbia, so off to the gift shop they ran. When they caught up with us, we just had to get a picture. So cute!

Next, while the Grandparents were in line to order lunch (thanks! yumm!) The kids and I headed to the pony rides. They LOVED it. I don't think I have ever seen Ella sitting so still, AND so happy at the same time! It might be worth it to buy one of those things. Do you think we could get away with stashing one in our backyard?

I love seeing the tigers. Such beautiful animals.

The boys thoroughly enjoyed the climbing wall, and coconut trees. I think Anson went up the wall a dozen times. He would have kept going, but we drug him out of there so we could move on. Maybe that's what I should put in our backyard!

Joseph, though hesitant at first, loved the carousel.

We shared an icee! Best I ever had! Might have been the heat talkin', but that thing was good.

Gotta love this boy! Melts my heart.

Isn't this adorable? They were hugging just moments before.

Back to the climbing wall

I even took a turn on the wall this time. I spared y'all from the nice booty shots my parents and in-laws so graciously took while I was climbing. I'll save those for another time, or not. It was actually a lot higher, once I got to the top. Made me feel even more proud of my boys that just shot up there without a problem.

Looking at the animals

It was a great day. Hot! But lots of fun. We saw all sorts of new animals that we hadn't seen before. I'm not sure we even made it through half the zoo. There was so much to see and do!

After walking around all day, we were ready to end the day with a nice chilly dip in the pool. Perfect end to a perfect day.