little helper

Yesterday Emma Jane "helped" her daddy replace old splintered boards on the playset in the backyard.  She thinks she is quite the expert with the hammer and drill.  Although that may not be true, the girl IS pretty good at climbing up ladders!

hippity hoppity

I've had fun decorating for Easter these past few weeks.  I hand-painted a cute little sign for our front door.  I like to keep the same wreath up and add a little something to it for each new holiday or season.  I also made some yarn wrapped eggs using multi-colored yarn and foam eggs.  I hung these from the fireplace mantle under the Hippity Hoppity banner I made from scrapbook paper.  I ordered the most adorable Easter baskets from Etsy.  They are actually apple baskets with personalized liners.  I think they are really unique and I love how roomy they are inside.  Stay tuned to see what the Easter bunny leaves for the girls in their new baskets.  In the meantime, Emma Jane is practicing her Easter egg hunting skills in our backyard.  Of course, the best Easter decorations of all are the girls themselves wearing their adorable Easter outfits and the many Easter art projects Emma Jane has brought home from preschool!

a night on the town

Last Thursday night we took the girls downtown for The Vista After Five, a weekly spring music event in the streets of downtown Columbia. The weather was perfect and we had fun walking the streets together. Emma Jane was especially excited to explore everything in our path: from fountains to newspaper stands, from a solo cellist to a peek into the art museum windows. She thought she was super-cool since she decided she HAD to wear mommy's sunglasses. I even had a "yippee!" teacher-turned-mom moment when Emma Jane started tracing the letters engraved in the side of the fountain outside the art museum. She correctly named the letters while carefully tracing them with her finger. Now if I had asked her to do this, it NEVER would have happened, but because it was her idea, it was lots of fun for her. Vivi was happy to bounce around in the carrier with Paul as long as she could chew on her hands. By the end of the night, we had two very tired girls on OUR hands!

weekend guest

Ready for our trip to the airport!



A long wait at the airport...






First sprinkler day of the year!





Watching big sis through the window with Aunt Scott.



A day at the botanical gardens and zoo






Sister photo shoot




Both girls were pretty much done with the photo shoot in this one!



Reservations for dinner!



We had a great time with Aunt Scott this weekend. She flew up from Panama City to spend a few days with us and we kept her busy! Emma Jane was so excited to pick her up from the airport. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed and we spent more time at the airport than we had planned. Paul took Emma Jane on many escalator rides (her first time on one) and Vivi was happy to just look around (until she got hungry!). During her visit, we took Scott to the botanical gardens and zoo. Emma Jane also had some backyard sprinkler time. No visit is complete without a photo shoot of the girls. As you can see from Vivi's face, Aunt Scott knew just how to get her smiling. Paul and I were even able to go out on TWO dates while Scott was here! We had such a wonderful time with our special house guest. After dropping Scott off at the airport this morning, I just knew Emma Jane was going to have a breakdown. She was pretty upset during the car ride there. As we were pulling away from the airport, Emma Jane said very cheerfully, "Bye, Aunt Scott! Mommy, we'll just have to find somebody else to play with now!" Any takers?

still blue

Little Viv still has blue eyes. With my dark brown eyes we thought for sure hers would also be brown, but Paul's blue-eyed gene just might win this battle. I guess she has a 50/50 chance to go either way. Only time will tell...

serious concentration

I've always wondered why some people stick out their tongues when they are in deep concentration. This is something I've always done when I'm using scissors or lifting something heavy. I've noticed Emma Jane doing this recently. Is this a trait you're born with or a learned behavior? No matter how she picked up this habit, it's cracking me up! To preface the last photo let me say that YES, she is wearing her bike helmet while helping me replenish Walker's bones. No, it's not a dangerous activity. She just loves that goofy yellow bike helmet and wears it around the house all the time. Why? In Emma Jane's words, "So I can be safe!"

shoes for two

Who doesn't love a new pair of shoes? I recently purchased a pair of Toms canvas shoes for myself and loved them. I'd seen them all over the place and they looked so comfy and cute. Well, they are just as comfortable as they appear to be. So much so that I feel like I'm wearing slippers out and about! The greatest part is that this particular shoe company donates a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes you buy. Since I liked mine so much, I ordered a pair in navy for Emma Jane. She thinks they are pretty cool too!