Hand holding

Maddie insists on walking everywhere now, but she is still learning why she needs to hold our hands while out in public. Joseph likes to reinforce the hand holding at the sweetest of times, like when his sister is falling behind walking in to preschool. 

It melts my heart every time he stops, calls to her "come on sissy, let's hold hands!" And she willingly takes his hand and follows up down the hallway. 

It is so sweet to watch for those brief moments, until the excitement of being at school kicks in and he takes off running for his classroom. 

Maddie doesn't get upset, but runs as quickly as her little legs can move to follow after him. So cute!

Spring!

Spring has finally arrived in Parkville! Over the past week, the pear and red bud trees have started blooming, along with our tulips... And dandelions! (Joseph's favorite )

I am so looking forward to a new season of little kid clothes, and Maddie is beginning to remember she has knees and legs again. When she falls down, she now will bend over, try to kiss her knee or leg and say "all better!" Then she gets up and continues with whatever it was she probably wasn't supposed to be doing in the first place. 

We were really sad to leave our beautiful magnolia trees at the old house, but the flowering trees at the new house aren't too shabby! It has been fun watching everything green up and the plants start blooming. 

And spring also means it's warm enough to pull out all of the old dresses my mom saved from when my sisters and I were little girls. Maddie was pretty pleased with herself this morning in her dress, hair ow and new Easter shoes. So cute!

And on an unrelated but trying to document milestones note, Maddie is officially trying to climb out of her crib. The last two days we have found her dangling from the front, both legs almost touching the ground but she's unwilling to let go. For now. And for the record, Joseph just learned how to do this a few months ago. Awesome. Oh, second kids!

Riss Lake Playgroup trip to police/fire station

Our neighborhood has a little kid's playgroup that tries to meet weekly for fun events. A few weeks ago, we visited the Parkville police station and the firemen came too! The kids had a blast checking out the inside of the police cars and the fire truck. It has been so much fun watching all these kids play and grow up together!

First trip to the zoo

We took an impromptu trip to the zoo one morning and dad joined us! We had fun checking out the new penguin exhibit and taking dad for a few rides on the carousel. So fun to spend a morning together!

Early March trip to Destin

In February I decided I had enough of the snow and cold weather, so the kids and I packed up to  visit my parents in Destin. 

The first weekend we were there was Mardi Gras, so we headed over to Baytown Village to catch their dog parade. Yup, it was a parade of dogs, dressed up, and driven around on floats or in golf carts. It was quite a sight. 

The kids had fun and Joseph eventually figured out how to shout out for beads and really got into it. Maddie appreciated the candy and moon pies that she "caught." 

After the parade the kids played for a bit, fed the fish and had fun riding the carousel. 

After naps we made our way down to the beach where both kids had a blast digging in the sand. 

The weather turned colder over the middle of the week, so we didn't get to spend as much time outside as we wold have liked. Buddy, my parents' new puppy, was having lots of fun with a new afternoon routine developed, where we would go down onto the fenced in tennis courts and throw the ball for him, Maggie and the kids. They wore themselves out running all over, and stayed contained!

Dad had to spend a few days in New Orleans so we tried not to so anything too exciting while he was gone. We are lunch at the Crab Trap one afternoon, and although we were dodging raindrops the kids had fun on the beach afterward. 

 The kids had so much fun running and chasing the birds. It was almost enough of a distraction that Maddie wasn't constantly trying to run into the ocean. Almost. 

The playground equipment was very wet and sandy, but that didn't bother Maddie at all. Instead, she had so much fun stomping in the puddles and getting soaked!

The kids also had fun using some old couch cushions and blankets to built mega forts on the couch. Lots of inside rainy day fun. 

Another afternoon they helped Mimi make a cake, and Maddie got her first try at licking the batter off the beaters. She was a champ. Shocker, right?

Maddie also celebrated her half birthday in destin, so we picked up some cupcakes with awesome cake to frosting ratios. Yum!

Papa came home and the weather started to get nice again, so our last weekend was full of time outside.

Joseph and papa went fishing. I was amazed how far Joseph was willing to go out in the water- it was cold!

Turns out, puppies love bubbles as much as little kids do. Buddy was so funny to watch as he tried his hardest to catch and eat them!

Buddy also really wanted to play with the bubbles in the bathtub. By the end of the trip he could almost jump up to the tub ledge. 

On our last full day we rented a boat and took the kids down the bay to Fort Walton Beach for lunch. 

They both took turns helping papa drive the boat, although Maddie much preferred that to sitting still and just enjoying the ride. 

We ate lunch at a restaurant that was packed and had live music which the kids loved. They were dancing along and happy to clap after each song. 

On our last morning we headed down to the beach to get our fill. Maddie really wanted to be in the water, until she got wet and realized how cold it was. 

Eventually Maddie needed to go take a nap, so papa came down to help Joseph build sandcastles. I wish we would have had better weather and could have spent more time on the beach, because the kids absolutely loved it!

After taking good baths to rinse all the sand off, it was time to head to the airport. Luckily neither of our flights home were full so we had plenty of space to stretch out. The kids loved the time on the airplanes and were pretty well

behaved. 

Can't wait to go back, and hopefully Joe will be able to join us next time!