May 2016

We had a really busy May this year! In addition to the Disney weekend I already recapped, we also did a ton of other stuff.

We went to the zoo's Garden & Wine festival, where Eric and I sat and sipped free wine samples while the kids ran around like lunatics. It was delightful.

They clearly had a terrible time.

Wine!

Ellie had her four-year well-check-up (thanks to insurance issues, it was a bit delayed), where we learned she is 43 inches tall (95th percentile!) and weighs 43.5 pounds (91st percentile!). She endured four shots, and when she was given the opportunity to choose a prize from the prize box she asked if she could take one for her baby brother, too.

And of course, she went to her appointment dressed in full Doc costume.

We went to a "Star Wars Jump" at Pump It Up, where the kids were able to make their own light sabers (which was great, because we have such a dearth of light sabers in our house) and battle Darth Vader while bouncing around on the inflatables like crazies. They had a blast and it was an excellent kid-energy-runner-outer.

They both look completely stunned but I promise, they loved it.

We wrapped up my year at my moms' group, much to my chagrin. The kids brought flowers for their teachers (E.J.'s teacher cried when they had to say goodbye to him), and my fellow moms and I had a little end-of-year party complete with table-decorating contests. The theme was Children's Literature, so I put a bunch of leftover goodies from Ellie's Alice in ONE-derland first birthday party to use!

Sweet kids bringing flowers to their teachers

Our Alice table

We also spent some time outside enjoying the nice weather before the suffocating heat really set in.

Playdate with our moms' group friends!

Pizza picnic at the train park. Always a classic!

Enjoying some park time with this cutie while Ellie was at school.

(Of course, a mere moment later he got his head stuck in the tree, because TODDLERS.)

Jumping in puddles by the river!

E.J. got in touch with his inner ice queen.

He's the Elsa to her Anna.

I made matching Star Wars pajama pants for Ellie and myself.

Twinsies!

The kids and I learned about weather at MOSH's May Little Learners event, and studied how different objects float/sink and how ice melts.

Little scientists at work

Ellie and I enjoyed a Girls' Day Out to see a child-friendly production of "Snow White" at the Alhambra Theater. It was very interactive and fun—a great introduction to live theater for little ones! Ellie really enjoyed it.

Ready for our girls' day!

Ellie at the theater

My mom came to visit and helped me plant some flowers in my flower boxes on the front of the house! They are looking rather sad now, despite my best efforts, but they're scrappy little things and are trying to hang in there. Bless them. They sure were adorable when they were first planted, at least!

Flowers!

We also went to the beach with my mom, and E.J. had a blast. This was quite a relief to me, as he hated our previous beach trip. This time, he couldn't get enough of the waves!

Happy beach baby!

Showing Ellie the little coquina shells

Laughing with Grammy

The cutest.

Eric and I went to his high school's senior prom! Eric and I went to his actual senior prom together 15 years ago, so it was fun to do it all again, complete with pre-prom photos by the river and dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. The actual dance was...louder than I remembered my own prom being, so we hit the photobooth and then spent some time with the other old folks out in the peace and quiet of the lobby. We used to be cool, I promise.

Prom-ready!

I took E.J. to a toddler painting class while Ellie was at school one day and he drew a lovely picture (of snakes), and then promptly dropped his canvas through the cracks on the front porch of the little boutique that hosted the class. Well, it was a lovely picture while it lasted.

A true masterpiece!....that now lives under the porch of that house.

My dad came to visit, and we had a nice time taking him around town. He also got to join us for Ellie's ice cream social at her school.

Out to dinner with Papa

Ice cream at school with Papa!

My dad also sent Ellie a Target gift card as a congratulations gift after her very successful spring ballet performance, and Ellie had a blast picking out a new toy and paying on her own with her "money."

She was so thrilled.

We also went to Eric's high school's spring football game...

Awwwwwwww

...the members-only opening of the new "Darwin and Dinosaurs" exhibit at MOSH...

Dinosaurs!

...and the Jacksonville Jazz Fest downtown (we actually had so much fun when we went the first time, we went back again the next night!).

Look! A kid-free photo of the grownups! Remember when we used to take those?

And, we wrapped up the month with a very fun Memorial Day: we spent the morning at the zoo (E.J. and I went through the Destination: Dino exhibit and Ellie and Eric fed the stingrays), then in the evening we had a little backyard pool party and picnic!

Eric and Ellie at the stingray exhibit

Too bad you can't hear him "rooooaaaarrrrr"-ing through the photo.

Backyard fun!

Sweetheart!

Happy Ellie!

And that was our May!

Halloween 2015

Happy November, friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. We had a great weekend, though really we stretched our Halloween out for the better part of October so I have lots to share with you. Today, however, we'll just talk about good old October 31st itself.

We kicked off our Halloween with a Dunkin Donuts treat, kindly retrieved by Eric and Ellie, who was dressed to the Halloween nines in skeleton pajamas and jack-o-lantern headband.

That girl does not mess around when it comes to holiday apparel.

This year, we can't talk Halloween without mentioning the Florida v. Georgia game. The Gators always play the Bulldogs on neutral ground in Jacksonville the last weekend in October, so this big game is usually linked to Halloween. This year, however, the game actually fell on Halloween, which I know left many Jacksonville parents with a dilemma: go to the (entire) game, or take the kids trick-or-treating? We didn't make plans to actually go to the game, so we were not faced with such a predicament, but we did want to include the festivities in our plan for the day.

Shockingly, in the five years Eric and/or I were in Gainesville for college, and in the two years we've been living in Jacksonville, we have never made it to a FL/GA game. This game includes an epic tailgating event primarily based at the Landing, known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. We weren't able to go to the game itself, and weren't exactly on board to partake of any drunken craziness with two small kids in tow, but we wanted to somehow be a part of the FL/GA atmosphere. So, for our morning outing, we walked over to the Landing just to check out the scene.

It was a beautiful day for a nice walk across the Main Street Bridge, and the Landing was already starting to look a bit orange/blue and red/black. Most places were still setting up but it was fun to be a part of the early moments of what must have been a rather fun day out there!

Family on the Main Street Bridge, with the Landing behind us!

E.J. was looking festive!

Eric and Ellie on the bridge

Now we can all say we were at the Landing for FL/GA 2015. We just won't mention the part about being so early that not much was happening yet!

After walking around the Landing we went over to Hemming Park where the kids played with the big blocks for a while. Then we took the Skyway back home, fed everyone lunch and got the kids down for naps.

Ellie and me, just a couple of astronauts sitting in our spaceship

E.J. loved rolling the circular blocks all around!

As the kids napped, we watched the first half of the game and were thrilled to see the Gators take a 20-3 lead. They ultimately won 27-3, so Happy FL-GA weekend, indeed! Go Gators!

When the kids got up from naps we fed them dinner then all got outfitted in our costumes. We snapped a few more pictures and then set out to trick-or-treat!

Let's do this!

Our trick-or-treat plan was about the same as last year: we walked to the neighborhood surrounding our favorite "seahorse" park and trick-or-treated there. Let me tell you, Ellie loved it. She happily hopped out of the stroller and/or walked between houses, eagerly running up to every door and singing out, "TRICK OR TREAT!" She did get a little nervous about the "spooky" houses but for the most part, she was just totally game. As for E.J., he was a bit bewildered but put forth a good effort for several houses before happily excusing himself to the comfort of the stroller and the joy of a snack cup full of animal crackers.

Time to trick-or-treat!

The cutest!

Ellie was a big hit at this house!

E.J. and Eric

Family trick-or-treat pic!

Poor, hot little E.J. That costume was not really Florida-appropriate. I hoped and prayed for cool weather, but naturally we had record high temperatures for Halloween. Bless his sweaty little heart.

Walking with my Rapunzel and Pascal!

Ellie and Eric doing their thing

One house was handing out popsicles (which seemed like a very odd choice, until we ate them, and then it seemed like a GENIUS idea). E.J. found the popsicle quite hilarious!

The annual "Ellie looking like a crazy person as she runs back from a house" picture! She had so much fun!

We stayed out for about an hour, just going up one side of the street and back the other. We had a great time and the kids came home with a pretty nice little haul! Lucky parents kids, eh?

Candy!

Eric and I had big plans for wine and Halloween candy and a movie, but alas, we were spent. By the time we had dinner and washed all the black hair color out of my hair, we were pretty much ready to pack it in. Gone are the days of all-night Halloween partying, my friends.

Even still, it was a perfect day and the kids had a great time. I'm so excited for the rest of the holiday season to come—they're just going to love the next two months!