Fun Times at the Park!

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What a great end to a fun weekend! Matt was home all weekend and we packed it full of fun things we did as a family. My apologies for another slideshow. I love photography, so it is a good thing I start taking photography classes this Fall! I guess the bad thing is...more slideshows :) My good friend, Catie, shared her discovery of this wonderful new park. It is so lovely with gardens, waterfalls, state of the art playground equipment and a walking trail. Greenville just gets better and better! The boys enjoyed their time at the park on a hot Carolina day, and we ALL napped when we got home...

Water Play!

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We bought a new sprinkler that the boys didn't love, but they had a great time playing in the pool, water table and the bucket I filled up with water! Thank goodness they are easily entertained! We have had a great weekend so far with Matt home for the entire weekend! We went to the farmer's market this morning and for a walk downtown. Then we had our dose of greasy goodness at Five Guys followed by the water play documented above! Matt just finished prepping steaks for us tonight that we will enjoy with a nice bottle of wine. Tomorrow we have plans to visit a new park and pack a picnic. All as a family! These moments are cherished especially during Matt's demanding second year schedule. I am soaking it all up since Matt leaves this Friday for five days...boo.

CLEAN vs. DIRTY: No Two Kids Are Alike

CLEAN vs.

DIRTY!!!!! Or maybe I should have titled this entry as Dane vs. the pancake syrup with Blake and Mommy as innocent bystanders! The boys both had the same meal. Notice spic 'n span Blake, and of course, you can't miss what Dane has done. Dane has a habit of wiping various food products into his hair while he eats. Not only does he wipe it in his hair, but he mushes it all around and pulls up on his hair. He created this masterpiece of a 'do all on his own. I'm not sure he is even aware that he does it. Typically it is syrup, yogurt, pudding, and a variety of condiments. Nothing too chunky, but "products" that do enough damage by creating sticky, icky, crunchy hair that has to be scrubbed in the bathtub. I finally decided to document this silly behavior of Dane's in a few pictures and share it with all of you. Hopefully this isn't the precursor to twisting his hair since that is what his Daddy does to this day...sorry Matt.

Legal Graffiti

Sometimes it is a good thing when you misplace toys you have purchased or that have been purchased as a gift. These tub crayons have been MIA so long that I can't recall if I bought them or if they were given as a gift. Either way, I found them and you would have thought the boys were opening up gifts on Christmas morning! They had a great time drawing all over the tub and it was even fun to use the washcloths to wipe it off. I'm sure the joy of cleaning up will wear off very soon. I guess there was a positive side to cleaning out and organizing all of the closets! Who knows what other treasures I will find...

How Appropriate...

I decided to make one of our favorite go-to pasta dishes tonight...Spicy Shrimp Pasta. Yum! It calls for white wine in the sauce. I usually have some Yellow Tail on hand, but only had one bottle of white left. A good friend gave this to me for a gift and I have been saving it. For what, I'm not sure. I had to open it tonight for the pasta recipe and then quickly realized how appropriate it was as I was cooking a dish you couldn't walk away from, throwing (literally) food at the boys for dinner...all as Matt arrived home late, as usual. So, by then I was a MAD HOUSEWIFE as the bottle says. I guess I was saving it for the perfect occasion!

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Here is a glimpse of our road trip! We traveled through 7 states and clocked over 2200 miles! The slideshow shares all of our fun times with family and friends (except I didn't get pictures at the wedding - darn!) including aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents and my cousin's brand new baby boy! And it shows a lot of the fun places we visited. It was too cold to go swimming at the pool or water parks except for our very last day in St. Louis where we were able to take a dip in Grandpa and Grandma Hollenbeck's pool. Enjoy!

We Are Home!!!

We arrived home this morning at 7:30am! For some reason the drive seemed longer this time, but the boys did FANTASTIC! They watched a movie for the first two hours, then slept the remaining 8 1/2 hours without a peep. I had nothing to complain about except for the 45-minute delay in Nashville for construction and the fog from Chattanooga to Greenville. I did have a moment in between Atlanta and home where I thought I could not go any further and just wanted to close my eyes, but when there is only two hours left, home was way to close to stop. The boys were so thrilled to be back home and see Matt. Blake just kept saying "Daddy, Daddy" over and over when he saw him. As for now, I need sleep!!! An update with a picture slideshow will be done as soon as I am a little more coherent!