Papa is here!

Enjoying the 70 degree weather in December we played outside all weekend!! It was fabulous. 

Painting with her new easel and paints!

Dee plus plaint= bad news. 

Taking full advantage of our amazing weather we wore shorts, sleeveless tops and ate froyo outside!

On Sunday we were having too much fun for Mommy to take photos. 

We took Papa to the Marbles Children's Museum and had a ball. The kids were super active. I cannot imagine how they will be up early... but they will be! 

Dee leading Papa to the fun! 

What a fun weekend! Looking forward to many more trips from Papa now that we live on the same coast! -Whitney 

Christmas Part 1

Papa is in NC to celebrate part one of Christmas with us!!! 

Sammie & Dee helped create the wrapping paper. 

Sammie was more excited to unwrap give Papa his gift than you could possibly imagine. So we had to exchange gifts almost immediately upon his arrival! She even told him some outlandish story about going to the store, looking and shoes and thinking "these would be the perfect shoes for Papa!" What?!! She's a mess. 

Dee gets to forward face now!! 

I couldn't get Dee on video and photo just doesn't capture how excited he was opening his gift!! He jumped, did the Paps "ooooooo" like a true Crites and was smiling ear to ear. 

Dee learning to unwrap his gift.

Sammie was super cute opening gifts. She is still in the let's unwrap everything phase and not too into understanding what's inside but we will get there...

She may be an artist like her Daddy.

Cutting Food!!! 

Happy Happy Girl.

Dee was instantly obsessed with his Thomas the Train set. He knows the sound it makes if anyone is touching it... and that is a NO NO! 

Mesmerized by Thomas the Train. 

Not sure who had the most fun. Papa and Daddy sure seemed to enjoy the new play food for the kitchen!

Boys...

Sammie got to open one of her gifts from Tutu and Paps the next morning because it went along with a gift from Papa. She got this easel and I am pretty sure she will spend days on end here. 

Master Piece! 

What a fun first day with Papa. Cannot wait to see him again soon in NJ! 

-Whitney 

Photo Blast...

Well... I have TONS of random photos that I know some family members will enjoy...

Soooo blast of my kids below!!! 

Ballerina has a BIG dress up obsession. She is really only in normal clothes at school.

At our Pre-K Open House... I told her to strike a pose.

She also REALLY wanted me to take a picture of her doing this random pose.

Cinderella goes shopping with me regularly.

Shopping with Daddy. And yes... the got wine. 

Brother thought this bed was for him. No No No... its now broken. Oh well...

Mommy took a fingernail to my face! :( 

Snack time with the crazies!!

Learning to draw with Daddy!

Brother has started to LOVE slides.

EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. when Daddy comes home he is immediately forced into being a horse or monster. 

Starting to get into a routine and settle in to our new life. And so far... we LOVE it!

-Whitney

Parks & Rec

So one of the things I absolutely love about North Carolina is the parks! I swear we go to a new park every week! All within 15 minutes of our house. They're always clean, have clean bathrooms & are a great way to get us moving.

So far one of our favorites is Pullen Park. Free unless you want to ride the train, carousel or boats but a ticket is just a dollar. So not too bad. 

Brother is starting to have quite the personality! He's so happy when he is allowed to do activities with his sister! 

Brother was not super excited about the ride until round 2.

The carousel goes a bit fast for this momma but the kids love it. 

I love the train! It gives me 5 minutes to breathe and the kids both love it!!

And would you believe there is also a big sand pit?!! We take our beach toys and go to town digging. 

This doesn't even compare to a normal park! We love it. They also have a snack bar that serves local in season foods. It's pretty good!

We also enjoy the much much smaller pArk at Waverly Place. It has a tiny splash pad and sits inside a little shopping center. We like to go get some energy out and then grab a snack at whole foods. 

ThIs past weekend we decided to take turns enjoying the quiet of a restaurant while the kids played. Not a bad way to wait on food! They just so happened to have a back to school party happening.

So someone got to ride a pony while we waited. 

And the we had some good ol' Carolina BBQ!

We love it here! -whitney 

A bit delayed.

Well, as always in our house (regardless of where our house is located), someone got sick and through all our plans last week into a mess. Sweet Brother came down with an upper respiratory infection + ear infection. Poor guy had another one of his febrile sezuires too. So, needless to say, we have now met our pediatrician. 

The poor pitiful look of last Thursday.  Then the really pitiful look at urgent care on Sunday. 

We thought he was heal Saturday and took him out. Oops! But we had a great picnic at the lake! 

So not all bad. Have no fear... We are back to our normal bouncing selves now! 

-whitney