Fun with Grandma Susan!

My mom (aka: Grandma Susan) flew out to Philly to visit us for a week at the end of February. She is one dedicated grandma. She was supposed to fly out of Minneapolis on a Friday afternoon following a huge Thursday night blizzard. Somehow her original flight was not cancelled, just delayed, but the roads between Rochester and Minneapolis were closed so she couldn't get to the airport. She rebooked for a later flight, and she and my dad were finally able to drive on the roads, but it took three times longer than usual, so she missed her rebooked flight. Once at the airport, she was able to rebook again for the next morning. Thankfully she didn't go home with my dad because the roads were so bad that he ended up sleeping in the car at a gas station! After spending the night in a hotel at the airport, she finally boarded a plane. This one had a layover in Raleigh, NC where she was delayed yet again! Ahhh! The insanity! FINALLY after two hotel stays, three rescheduled flights, and one extra long layover, she made it to Philly!

We were so happy to see her. We had a wonderful, adventurous week that went way too fast! We visited Peddler's Village, which is a tourist attraction that I think is supposed to be set up like an old village from the 1800's would have been. There were lots of little shops and restaurants! It was cute! We also went to Reading Terminal Market again, which is one of my favorite Philly spots. We toured the Academy of Natural Sciences and saw a really cool dinosaur exhibit, a fun butterfly exhibit, and much more! We drove about an hour north to go shopping at an outlet mall! So worth it...We're pretty much all set for spring! And we also spent a morning just running errands and exploring the city a little bit. 

We had so much fun, and everyone was sad to see her go. Kylie is still talking about how she "lost her grandma," and she can't wait for spring so she can "see Grandma Susan again in Minnesota and play with the water table."

In Peddler's Village they had a children's building that was like a Chuck-E-Cheese.

Kylie and Brooks enjoyed themselves!

Reading Terminal Market.

City Hall.

Courtyard in the middle of the City Hall Building.

I'm not sure about the pose, but she was insistent! :)

Kylie's first french braids done by Grandma Susan.

Super cute!

Walking through the butterfly exhibit at The Academy of Natural Sciences.

Owl Butterfly.

Another silly pose.

Dinosaur skulls!

Kylie was a little nervous about this dinosaur.

He moved and made noise.

Me and the kiddos with the dinos!

Kylie's new "running" shoes from our outlet shopping.
She picked them out herself and totally believes that they make her faster.

Busy.

It's been a cold, snowy winter here in Philly. I won't go on because I know it's nothing compared to the bitterness of Minnesota this year, but it has kept us indoors and forced us to be creative. We've been keeping busy with crafts, puzzles, projects, preschool, dress-up, play dates, and yes, even the occasional TV show. In case you can't sense the sarcasm, by occasional, I mean daily. My sweet 3 year old throws herself into full out hysterical fits every day when I turn the TV off after an hour of completely zoned-out, no blinking, staring at the screen! Here's a few recent pictures of our escapades!

 Dress up.

I believe she told me that she was a muppet princess.

Whatever that means.

 We've spent quite a bit of time at the Please Touch Museum.

I'm so thankful Jon convinced me to buy a membership!

Brooks loves to push the grocery cart around.

He is such a big boy!

 My sweet, oldest child is such a nurturer. 

I see nurse or teacher in her future.

She was holding this bunny and rocking her because "those big kids were scaring it."

Our friends from Rochester, the Ewalds, lived in Philly for four-ish years while Tim was in med. school.

They sent us along with a Philly bucket list.

The Valley Green Inn was one of the restaurants on that list.

I am SO glad we went there! 

It was cozy, warm and delish!!!

And check out that scenery...It's located right in the middle of a huge (miles long) foresty park!

We will definitely be going back!

 Brooksie loved his lunch!

 These two.

Love them!

 This is Kylie's first non-face/person drawing.

It's a jelly fish!

 This is one of her most common drawings. 

It's a smiley face! :)

 Lego stacking has become one of Brooks' favorite activities.

He will make super tall towers like this one for long periods of time!

Future engineer? Architect?

 Here's an idea from pinterest.

We constructed a bunch of little things with legos, took pictures of them, and printed them off.

Kylie can then recreate them at her leisure.

We call it lego puzzles.

 One more favorite activity...Lining up cars/trucks/anything with wheels!

And my latest creation!

A quilt for my new niece, Lydia!

Happy Valentine's Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We've had a wonderful day with a whole lot of nothing going on. We are still basically snowed in after the latest Philly snowstorm, thanks to a city that isn't prepared for large amounts of snow at once. We had a yummy breakfast, exchanged little gifts, and watched a little Olympics. Tonight the plan is more of the same with Barlow tacos tossed in for a little excitement! :) We hope you are enjoying your loves today too!

My thoughtful hubby gave me this necklace.

I love it! :)

He got the usual...Candy and coffee!

Kylie and Brooks love any day that they are allowed to eat some extra sweets.

They are having a blast today!

February Photo Dump!

Warning: As implied by the title, there are a lot of pictures in this post!

This winter started out pretty low key, but as the spring is approaching, we are picking up some speed. To name a couple of examples, Kylie started gymnastics classes at the Nest, and I joined a women's volleyball league in NE Philly. We are chugging along with preschool, and Brooks is as active as ever. We are still spending most of our time indoors, with a few scattered days that have been nice enough to play out at the park! But by Philadelphia standards, this winter has been really bad. Not only cold, but very snowy. By Minnesota standards, however, it's been quite mild. The biggest problem is that they don't seem to have a system for snow removal, so it's slow going for a couple of days following each snow storm...And there have been a lot of them. I'd say 1 or 2 each week for the past 3 or 4 weeks. So even though it's been a nice winter for us, we are ready for spring, and some consistent play time outside! Enjoy the picture show...

 I found Brooksie like this after nap time.

I think he was going for the Tarzan look!

 Kylie took approximately 10 selfies exactly like this on my phone!

 My sweeties!

 This was one of those warm days I mentioned.

Notice there isn't any snow on the ground.

That's because after it snows, it all melts really fast.

 This boy is finally drinking ALL of his milk out of a sippy cup!!

 Playing "row, row, row your boat."

 Snuggled up on the couch, reading books.

 My pretty, little ballerina!

One day, I was working in the kitchen, and I couldn't see Brooks.

I asked Kylie where he went, and she said, "He's working."

Sure enough, I found him at Jon's computer just like this!

 Kylie's penguin!

 Jon was away at a course, so we obviously ate lunch at Chick Fil A!

 Kylie's first day of gymnastics at the Nest.

Look at the adorable, little leotard!

 Brooks trying on Kylie's helmet!

 Goofball Kylie, put her undies on her head and asked me if I liked her "mask."

 Somehow, I developed my first ever case of pink eye last week. 

We went to Story Time at the public library one morning, and about 12 hours later, my eye was pink, itchy, and gross! 

After a trip to the doctor for some prescription ointment, and about 4 days of application, I was back to normal!

 This picture was taken specifically to capture the cuteness of the elbow patches!

 I cannot get enough of our sleeping kids.

I could watch them sleep for hours and never get bored!

We made an Olympic torch in preparation for the Winter Games...

...and we've been watching them almost non-stop since they started!!!

 These last several pictures were taken at the Nest.

Gymnastics was cancelled one day, so they gave us a free month's membership.

You better believe we are taking advantage of it!

They have this cool, indoor playground area with a swing, slide, and lots of toys!