cute

Maddie just told me she was "Queen of the Herndons!"

little boy blue...

Maddie - 2.5 yrs

not sure...

I think she might have been one of the wisemen? Not sure.

the girl takes after her mommy...

Maddie takes after her mommy on the golf course...

picture rewind time!

So we finally got our old digital camera back. You didnt know this, but it took a little journey in our couch when we gave our couch to charity before moving to NC. Long story short - we haven't had it since just after Christmas and we missed it dearly. It was our only way of taking short videos and was always nice to have in our diaper bag.

Anywhoo- I just uploaded the pics onto my computer and can't resist posting a few cute ones.

The first few are of when Aunt Lola came to visit us just after Baby Caroline was born. We went to the Atlanta Zoo for the day.

And the pictures below are from when we went to visit our dear friend and old neighbor, Granny Miller at her nursing home. She moved into the nursing home just a few months before I had Caroline and was so happy to meet her. We miss Granny Miller terribly.

Watch out for more cute pictures and maybe even a video or two!

family fun

After the hunt, Cousin Lily, Aunt Sarah, Uncle John, Grammie and Grandad all came over for lunch. Lily was visiting from Charlotte and we were very happy they were able to come over and visit! Isn't she adorable? Look at those eyes!

Cousin Lily

Remember how I said it was hard to take pictures of the two girls with Jim? Well - it was even harder trying to take a picture of 3 under 3! At least they're all sort of looking ahead in the picture below.

Cousins

We had fun playing in the backyard and on Maddie's playset. Here's a great picture of Grammie and Granded with their grandbabies!

Hands full!

Uncle John, Aunt Sarah and Cousin Lily

We can't wait to see them again at Easter!

egg hunt attempt #1

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day and we headed to downtown Apex for the town easter egg hunt. They filled a small field with candy filled eggs and divided the kids up by age group. When they blew the whistle, the kids took off!! Maddie wasn't sure what to do. She walked with Daddy a bit but got a little intimidated by all the running and yelling.

She ran back to me crying. By the time she worked up the courage to go back out (which was only about 30 seconds later), the wave of kids had passed thru and all the eggs were GONE! There wasnt even one left behind!

Maddie was only able to collect two eggs, but she didn't mind. She didn't know the difference and didn't even notice the other kids who had a basket full of eggs! She even graciously offered one of her eggs to Baby Caroline.

We tried to get a few family shots after the hunt, but it proved to be close to impossible. It was hard enough getting everyone to look at the camera... forget about smiling!

Better luck next year on the hunt - but we had fun just being outside and enjoying the beautiful weather!

the first beach trip of the year

We've been traveling fools lately!

We just got back from a few much needed days at the beach. Jim had a business meeting there and the girls and I were able to tag along for a few days. The first day - i had the girls to myself and the weather was a little iffy. Cold and rainy to be exact. We tried not to let it get us down. We bundled up and headed down the beach to explore for the morning. After all- it was Baby Caroline's first trip to the ocean! We needed to make the most of it and were certainly not going to sit inside!

This first picture is of some birds hanging out in the tall grass near the condo. Maddie thought they were really neat and wanted me to take a picture of them. She was right- they were cool!

Despite the crappy weather, there were quite a few people walking the beach. Most everyone was bundled up- minus a few Canadians wearing shorts.

Maddie was a little timid of the water at first but she kept her distance until she got more comfortable. Baby Caroline had a pretty comfy ride and didn't make a peep the entire time. She just took it all in.

By the end of our excursion, Maddie was ready to dig her tootsies right into the sand. She asked me if she could take her shoes off, then sat right down and took them off all by herself like a big girl! Have I mentioned she's the cutest thing ever?

Although juggling two little ones all day long was tiring, I had such a fun time with them. Caroline is an angel, and Maddie was so entertaining. We had lunch together in the room, both girls took a nap and then we did some shopping at the outlets before picking up Daddy. Shopping entailed spending 45 minutes in the Disney store looking at every last piece of merchandise they had. She spotted a "Cindalella" bank, took it down off the shelf and held on to it the entire time we were shopping. It was on massive sale so I went ahead and bought it for her. She LOVES her. She carried it around the rest of the trip and whats nice is that its got a built-in incentive... if she's good, she gets money to put in the bank. Why didn't I think of this sooner?

The next day, the temps were up, the sun was out and Daddy was with us - so we hit the BEACH! YAY!!!

Maddie swam in the pools and loved walking and playing in the sand.

Baby Sister was into taking glamour shots on the beach. She posed like this for what seemed like forever. This was her "pensive" look.

...until she fell over. I like this shot because it shows the scene. Maddie with a diaper full of sand with her favorite playmate Daddy and Baby Sister relaxing on the blanket in the shade.

I'm excited for this summer and hope we get to the beach a lot! Now that the drive isn't quite as long, I think we'll there more often.

Looking at these pictures of my beautiful family and this beautiful place makes me realize I have the most wonderful and blessed life. Don'tcha think?

baltimore love!

Last weekend we had a visit from Aunt Lola and Uncle Jody! They drove down to NC to check out the new pad and see the little ones. We were so happy to have them.

Cant wait to see them again in May!

quick trip down south

We were fortunate enough to be able to back to Decatur and visit our old stomping grounds and friends last week. We stayed in a hotel in the heart of downtown Decatur. The girls did really well in the hotel.

We got the crib for Caroline, but Maddie really wanted to sleep in it ... so we let her. It worked! She actually went to sleep with little trouble.

Jim and I both worked staggered scheduled and on the days we both worked, Caroline went with my sweet friend Ivey and Maddie went to her best friend Sophie's house or back to her classroom at school. It was a little sad to see how much her teachers and friends missed her. I had to hold back tears when we said good-bye for the second time! Happy thoughts, happy thoughts!

Both girls did really well living the hotel lifestyle for a week. It makes the thought of traveling with them a little easier to swallow. Maybe we should get them some passports...

And before we left we had to visit our alltime favorite burrito joint in Decatur, Willys. Man do we miss Willys. Maddie eats every last bite of her taco every time.

We hope to get back down there every few months. It was fun to take the family and see all of our old friends.