Easter egg hunt

We had our Easter egg hunt on Saturday, and after "practicing" all last week (i.e. insisting that we hide eggs in the house over and over and over again) Maggie was ready for it! And I am so tired of hiding eggs, that I've hidden them one more time (in the closet). I guess that's what I get for being lazy and using only plastic eggs this year.

thanks to our neighbors for letting us spill over into their yard

Maggie just getting warmed up

Eli searching by the mailbox

Jacob getting a little help from his daddy, Chris

by this point, Lilly had dumped out all her eggs and was discovering jellybeans for the first time
Maggie and Eli sorting through their loot

putting sticky frogs on my car

family hike

After the rain cleared today, we took the girls out to Clemmons Educational State Forest for a picnic lunch and a walk in the woods.

Lilly pointing out the "tee, tee, teeee!"

the girls investigating some moss

feeding the fish and turtles at the pond

snapping turtle

"cheeeese!!"

"leeeeaves!"


Daddy's girls

dendrology lesson

Clemmons ESF has a "talking tree trail" with buttons (i.e. "beep boops") to push and little snip-its of information about the different species of trees

they also have a cut-off fire tower for folks to explore

Maggie in the tower

"farm animal days"

Every spring, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University has a "farm animal days" open house at one of their field labs just outside of town. It's specifically aimed at young children, and is designed for kids to see, touch, and learn about farm animals. Maggie and I went a couple of years ago, but we didn't go last year so Lilly has never been. Leslie and I took the kids last week, and it was a hit (especially with Lilly...she was so excited). Lilly really likes cows, and she likes saying "moo", so she was freaking out when we saw the cows, pointing at them and screaming "mooo...mooo...mooo!!" And Maggie got to see some horses close-up, pet a bunny rabbit, and hold a baby chick (although she has held a baby chick before when we got our chickens, she seemed more excited about this one).

Lilly's favorite cow

moo!!

they had this fake cow set up w/ "udders" to demonstrate how to milk a cow...Maggie didn't seem too interested in this, but Lilly was very curious

for some reason, Maggie isn't too fond of pigs (and never has been)...she took a quick look and then moved on

mmm...bacon

adorable little lamb that Lilly was very excited to pet (although Maggie didn't want to)

sheep family

Maggie, Lilly, and Eli looking at the goats

petting the rabbit was the highlight of the day for Maggie

this picture is for Archer...a line of big tractors to sit in
and to end the day, strawberry ice cream from the N.C. State dairy

backyard camping, double rainbows, and painting

We've been wanting to take the girls camping before it gets too hot, but we wanted to do a "trial run" first to see how they would both do sleeping in the tent with us before we committed to being out in the middle of nowhere (i.e. with no back-up plan / escape route). We never co-slept with the girls when they were babies, and while Maggie sleeps with us on trips, Lilly has never slept anywhere at night but in her crib (or pack & play on trips). So last week we set up the tent, built a little campfire, and tested things out in the backyard.


Maggie enjoying s'mores


Lilly was too excited to even think about going to sleep.

Maggie got to see a double rainbow while heading to preschool earlier this week.

say cheese!

the budding artist at work

sunny hike

It was a beautiful day today, so we took the girls to Yates Mill Pond park for a hike in the woods and a picnic lunch. Lilly loved the hiking part, and Maggie loved the picnic part. Most of the pictures are of Lilly because I had the camera and most of the time, Maggie and Daddy were a little further up the trail than me and Lilly.

looking for fish


watching a fisherman

beaver dam

Lilly loves to hike and explore!

five-lined skink...this skink was so brave, he stood his ground while Maggie and Lilly were watching him from only inches away

puddle jumping

After the rain stopped last weekend, we took a walk around the neighborhood so the girls could splash in puddles.




Lilly can hold her own with Maggie...here she is "attacking" Maggie.

The girls were playing on Maggie's bed the other day, and while Maggie was singing a few songs from her song book, Lilly became fixated on her pigtails. (also funny...at about 48 seconds in, you can hear Maggie singing part of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot")

I saw Michelle Obama!...well, sort of

Okay, so I didn't actually see the First Lady, but I did see her motorcade today! She was in Raleigh for some public appearances, and I was on my way home from a kid's consignment sale up by the airport. The interstate headed back to Raleigh was closed, so I had to take a round-about detour north of the city to get back home. I didn't notice that the opposite lanes of traffic on this road were closed as well, but then I saw a bunch of police motorcycles & cars, and then several big, black SUV's w/ dark tinted windows passed by going the opposite direction.

Totally unrelated, here's a cute pic of the girls chillin' out after picking Maggie up from preschool the other day.