Thursday, April 28, 2016

A day of kite flying! A first for the girls

^^ Haddie's favorite trick! ^^

We headed to Haines Point a few weeks ago and a beautiful spring day to fly kites. We had bought kites a few weeks ago so we were super excited to pull them out. But first came a lot of playground climbing and sliding :)


Haddie is becoming a great climber. I remember Taryn going through this stage (who am I kidding, she's still a monkey!) 



Haddie and Taryn took turns running with the kite. Haddie just wanted to watch the kite fly in the sky so she would stop running. She got frustrated fast but was happy to watch us try and fly it. There wasn't enough wind to keep the kite in constant flight but Taryn still loved running as fast as she could to get that kite in the air. She did great! I'll try to post that video (and so many more!) onto our youtube channel- I'm so far behind on that!


Some of our friends joined us for our picnic at the park that day and I loved watching Taryn & Haddie chat it up while eating their apples on the blanket. Just to cute! 
These spring days are the best and I love our adventurous girls who love to play hard! 

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Easter 2016



In their Easter Sunday best! Taryn was gifted that beautiful pink dress on her birthday from her friend and when we saw that Costco still had similar dresses in Hadleigh's size, we got one for her too. If you know Haddie, you would know that she LOVES to put on twirly dresses! We were happy we could find a dress for Haddie to love for Easter so these girls could twirl together. 


While we were taking pictures of the girls after church (which NEVER happens!) Taryn volunteered to take our picture. I think she's becoming very good!


My cuties!



The ward had an Easter egg hunt that we BARELY made it to. We were just a few minutes late and when we pulled up to the park we realized we would have to park far away and maybe miss the egg hunt. Sure enough, right as we pulled up, we could see the group of kids had gathered  and were counting down from 10 to start. I pulled the girls out of the car super fast with their baskets, leaving Tyson to go park the car,  and tossed the girls over the wooden fence, saying, "GO GO GO!!!!" Right as their feet touched the ground, they said, "ONE!" and the egg hunt began. I stayed with Hadde and she found about 4-5 eggs (that's about as much as every other kids got too!) Taryn was off like lightening, picking up eggs faster than the speed of light. That girl can run!







After the egg hunt we went to BonAir park so the girls could ride their scooters and we could enjoy a glorious day. I know I've mentioned that we've taken up birding, so here's an example of Tyson with his binoculars, tracking the sounds of the various birds we have in the area. It really has become a family hobby. I get pictures from Tyson after his walks at lunch of the birds he's seen. The girls will say, "Do you hear that?" when they hear a bird or my personal favorite from Haddie, "You hear that? Dats what birdies say! Tweet, tweet tweet!"


Back to Easter! We had my sister Brittany and her family over and our good friends the Haley's. Ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, fruit, veggies and the most yummiest carrot cake (courtesy of Lynne!)I felt bad for Tyson who lost his voice the night before and basically said "Hi" and "Bye" the whole time. You could hardly hear him when he spoke and it was more frustrating than anything for Tyson. He looses his voice really badly once every year. He was sad it happened over a holiday. But besides that,  it was a great Easter Sunday with family and friends :)

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens with my sister and her twins


We decided to visit the Kenilworth Aquatic gardens right around the tim the Cherry blossoms were blooming in DC. There were some beautiful trees and plants blooming but a lot of the gardens were still in winter mode. We saw tons of canadian geese (the Scott family bird) and the girls got a huge kick out of all the loud honking noises they make. 



There are a few geese behind Taryn above. They didn't seem to mind us, so much so that I was worried the girls were getting to close. Can't trust a goose, so I've heard!






I love those moments where the girls will spot something I didn't even see when I walked past it. They were hooked on this caterpillar trying to cross the boardwalk safely. 


We went with my sister, her mother in-law who was visiting, and my twin niece and nephew. Taryn and Haddie  love their cousins so much. Taryn has definitely entered the "loving on every baby" stage. She's a lover for sure and can get any baby laughing. 




I'm glad my sister lives close. I never thought I would live close to a sibling so I'm going to soak this time up as much as I can. 



Not the best picture of us all but this if real life :) Balancing babies, trying to get kids to look at the camera, and having fun altogether. 

We can't wait to return to the Aquatic gardens in June when the lotus flowers bloom!!!!

Thursday, April 21, 2016

We just keep scooting along with life





Tyson always makes sure that his girls support ASU. Sometimes Taryn gets a bit confused and says "U. S. A." and chants it when she sees the maroon and gold. :)





Haddie is just growing up too fast! She potty trained herself almost 3 months ago! We think it started because of her desire to wear big girl underwear. I thought she was a little too young but she mastered it so quickly!!

We also got rid of her crib- like tossed it in the trash! She has loved her new twin bed. She can now get in and out of bed by herself and the girls have jumped between the beds several times, always giggling when doing so. 

If she is the first to wake up or needs water in the middle of the night, she gets out of bed and just starts knocking on the door until we open it. It's kinda creepy!

We woke up one night to her crying and kinda screaming. Tyson went in to find her wedged between her bed and Taryn's (they are about 4 inches apart- perfect for her little body to get stuck in-between.)  She kept saying to Tyson, "I stuck!" She fell right back to sleep, thankfully!
Oh the adventures of big kid beds! 



Tyson told the girls that if they got dressed in their jammies quickly after baths that he would let them wear his glasses. They LOVE wearing his glasses so it worked like a charm. That Haddie likes to come up with different facial expressions for each picture she takes now. She thinks it's so hilarious :)





Haddie is a determined little chica and wants to do everything Taryn does. She took on this rope stairway all by herself (Tyson ready to catch her if she slipped) We were so impressed (That side of the park is designated for about 7-12 year olds)




You know you've had a great day when the kids zone out in the car. It's always super cute!


More silly faces from Haddie!




Another session of gymnastics completed. Taryn is getting bored with ballet so we won't be repeating that again but she is super excited to start soccer when she's 6 years old!



We went to a little boy's "Manly Party" and all of us got mustaches. I think Taryn's looks the best. 



We pass a community garden plot almost every day and Taryn was asking questions about it. So I asked my friend Jessica, who owns a plot there, if my girls could come and see what she does. It was super awesome. Jessica is amazing with kids and let the girls plant some lettuce and peas. It was a really fun learning experience. 



I've been soaking up all the extra time I get with Haddie while Taryn is at preschool. She joins me for my work outs and errands and sometimes we just do special mommy daughter play time. 

Taryn and Haddie are starting to get a long so well together so it makes me a bit sad that Taryn will start Kindergarten soon and she will be gone until 2pm each day. I hope their relationship continues to grow strong! I love watching Taryn help Haddie and it melts my heart when Haddis says, "Thank you, Tawhen" without being prompted. 



Monday, April 18, 2016

That peaceful feeling you get when you go to the Temple


When we arrived at the Temple two weeks ago, it was raining but beautiful! The tulips were all in bloom and it made the temple ground look that much more beautiful. 

We were super lucky to have the Potomac Ward mid-singles group offer to babysit for the Stake so parents could go to the temple. It was so organized and the kids left saying, "It was a blast!" Tyson and I were impressed from the very start- giving each kid a name tag to wear on their back (smart!), there was an egg hunt for the kids, they fed them lunch which I think happened by chance because we were told to pack them lunches but pizza is always a good idea in my book :)  


Look at all those tulips! I hope to have hundreds of tulips in my yard one day. 




We've been to the temple a few times over the past year which I think is a blessing! It takes 5 hours round trip and that's a long time to leave your kids with a sitter but thankfully our ward has watched the girls twice and now a different ward in our stake. The kids love playing with all the other kids and we love being at the temple. 
This time, I had a special experience that touched my heart. I have been praying for patience every. single. day. because being a mom 24/7 is hard and working nights leaves me exhausted for some days. Patience does not come easily to me. While in the temple I felt like I received my answer and I have to tell you that the following week was fantastic. I had more patience than I ever thought possible. I was able to calmly handle each situation that came up with the girls and discipline without loosing my patience. The feeling in our home was the best and I noticed a difference. Come Friday I had lost my patience early in the morning and felt so sad and guilty about it. 
 But it didn't take me long to realize that I could do it again. I could bring back that feeling we once had in our home and if I could make it a week than I could keep it going! So I'm trying oh so hard each day to take a deep breathe and be a better mom.

I'm grateful for the temple, for time I get to have dates with Tyson, and for my sweet girls who have taught me that I can have patience even when things get crazy! :)


Thursday, April 14, 2016

Seeing the Cherry Blossoms in DC at Haines Point March 2016


During peak bloom for the Cherry blossoms all around the DC Metropolitan area, we headed to Haines Point, our favorite spot to spend a lovely Spring day! It's always crowded but this year we lucked out with the best parking spot (right in in front of my sister who arrived 10 minutes earlier- crazy awesome!) right next to the park. We spent the day eating lunch, talking with friends and my sister Brittany, playing and scootering around. It was such a beautiful day!! 




I can't believe how fast these two are growing up!


Trying to help her little cousin go down the slide, Taryn held on to Braden really well.




Her new found trick that she loves to do. Sadly, two days ago one hand slipped off the bar too early and she slapped her face on the play equipment and gave herself a good little plastic "burn" (kinda like a rug burn) But she was back at it shortly after!






She will do anything to get a good look at those ducks!


This moment was my favorite of the day. Taryn grabbed the frisbee and asked Haddie to come and play with her. They cheered each other after every throw, the giggled together and it was just the best ever! 




Pretty Taryn!





I love when those perfect little moments captured on camera. I love my girls and I'm thankful they don't mind taking a billion pictures (most of the time!)



Cause there are those moments where they aren't interested in looking at the camera for a family selfie so I get pictures like this!!!!!!




Such a fun day out with my girls and with my sister & her kids! I love that we can get together so often and enjoy all that DC has to offer.