Hello Ocean City!

This weekend we took off to Ocean City for a chance to relax together. We met up with our friends Jackie & Andy and had a great time! Caleb & Lyla were quite apprehensive of the ocean at first, but by the end of our trip they loved it.













As always, Daddy made something awesome out of sand. This time we were awarded a crawl-through sand tunnel! He crawled through a few times first to make sure it was safe for the kiddos, and I'm happy to report it did not collapse at all!







Jackie also showed us some awesome sand art..... drip castles. They look like an awesome forest to me!


We did a fairly good job keeping sand out of Caleb & Lyla's faces..... until Lyla face planted. Funny thing is I was sitting right there with the camera pointed at her before she did. Lucky mommy, not so lucky Lyla....



We cleaned her up pretty well though and everything was fine again. After we left the beach we headed back to our hotel in Somers Point to clean up & grab dinner and not even 5 minutes after we left Matt and I discovered this in the back seat......



They we EXHAUSTED! And oh so cute! Once we cleaned up and rested a bit we headed out to Andy's concert with the Philadelphia Boy's choir which was AMAZING! until some grumpy old people in front of us complained about Caleb asking questions and Lyla singing along... so we left (with our blood boiling) and took off to the boardwalk for the night. We started off Sunday with a Suri ride and the kiddos got to ride in the basket up front! They loved it!





After our ride we headed back to the boardwalk for an amazing late breakfast. The food was GREAT! We'll definitely go back to that place!









We enjoyed our trip so much! Matt and I can't wait to take the kids back at the end of the summer for a week!

Of Popsicles and Parks

We love popsicles. Like seriously love. They posses a magic than can turn my two littles into the sweetest, loving siblings. Not to mention they're cool on a hot day and they taste so good. This certainly won't be the last post full of brightly colored stained faces.









Yep, totally magic. Thank you sugary sweet messiness.





We also love Daddy. More than popcicles. He's even more magical. The kids both are so consumed with him.... its amazing. I love the way they run through the house screaming "DADDY!!!" as soon as the door opens. We went to the park Saturday and the kids had an amazing time feeding the ducks and playing with Daddy.









I love to watch him teach our kids how to "do things" at the playground. He's a great teacher and a wonderful dad. Thank you, Lord, for such an amazing husband and father. :)

Wonderful Wednesday, Wonderful Weekend

Wednesday was Caleb's last day of "school" (if you want to count 1 1/2 hours for 2 days a week as school). It was sad and exciting all at once. The baby gal and I headed to to dollar store to stock up on some summer essentials while he finished up. I just love the way she is when we shop together... so calm but yet wide eyed and excited. She just stays with me drinking it all in... so many colors and things to look at. And the way she says "thank you" (thaaa tu!) when I hand her something to put into the cart? Well, that's just heavenly. After we picked up the big boy we all headed to the new Sonic for some celebratory milkshakes. I'm so proud of them... they shared so well! Caleb is such a good big brother. He is usually quite concerned about Lyla getting her part too... It just makes my heart melt. :)





Once we got home it was nap time for the kiddos and play time for mommy! Of course I had to test all our goodies just to make sure everything was in working order... after all, you never know! Turns out everything is fine... I had a good time though. :)



I also found the kids cute matching aprons for when we bake, a new bathing suit for Lyla, a giant jar of rainbow sprinkles, and a bunch of other goodies! I love the water shooters and so does Caleb. Lyla- not so much when he has them....



but when it's all hers? THAT'S fun!





Mmm the yummiest part of the day was the finger painting... bring on the pudding! The kids had a great time smushing, smashing, and smearing globs of chocolate and vanilla into squiggly lines and shapes. Lyla and I enjoyed the clean up (after all we're not going to waste good pudding!) while Caleb ran back to his Cars goggles and water squirter.







We all had such a great time. There is hardly anything I enjoy as much as spending a whole day just hanging out and playing with my Monster & Peanut. The only thing that comes close enough is my amazing husband. Friday and Saturday we celebrated our anniversary. Four wonderful magnificant, beautiful years. This man is seriously incredible. Grama and Grampa offered to take the kids overnight for us so off we flew! We started off at T.G.I. Fridays and completely split our meals because (as usual) I could not make up my mind. After an amazing meal we headed off to play mini golf then catch a movie, but it was mini golf which ruled the night. It was just so enjoyable to get out and goof around together without worrying about anything except the whether the ball is gonna get lost somewhere or if the group of teens following us thinks we're nuts. Actually that thought never crossed my mind until now. Ha, oh well! We had an amazing time together. Oh, and did I mention I won?! By 1 point if you look at the scorecard... or by a landslide if you count all the "do-overs" and penalty strokes... haha. I truly think there is something so incredibly sacred about going out alone with my husband. Yep, I'm in love more deeply than ever with this man.



Saturday was more one-on-one time for us... breakfast then shopping at Lowe's for the house! We FINALLY found blinds we like for the bedroom. I love 'em. Sunday we headed to a family picnic and had another great day. Caleb had a wonderful time playing ball with Pop Pop and Great Grandpop. It truely was magical watching them play together. I feel like we've been working with Caleb and catching a ball for some time now but as soon as his Great Grandpop tossed him the ball he was a pro at catching! He didn't drop a single one!



And as for Memorial day? Caleb went to the parade with Gramma and Grampa then we worked on the front yard. All day long. It looks really nice now though! Matt did an incredible job laying out the flowerbeds with the cobblestones... I'm so fortunate to have him. There's still lots more to do but its looking much better!



I just love my family.... and I love our home :)