Hersheypark for the kids' birthdays AND Mother's Day

For the kids' birthday this year (even though Addison's is next month), we let them each take a friend to Hersheypark for the day. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We rode so many rides and played lots of carnival games! Those four kids drove some hard bargains in terms of snacks and games. 

The next day was Mother's Day. Seth got me my favorite Starbucks drink in the morning and we went to church. After church, we headed to Red Lobster for lunch, which has been our tradition for a couple years. Carter was in a...mood. The whole way there, he pouted about how he "doesn't like sushi" (he meant he doesn't like seafood). Once he was there, he decided he does actually like RL and enjoyed himself, but this pouty picture of him reminded me SO MUCH of a face he made when he was a baby. See the resemblance? 

He's the best of the best.

When I met Seth and fell in love with him, I knew he'd be an awesome husband. But it's hard to imagine just how good of a parent someone will be until they are in the throes. But he's the best of the best of dads. The kids are so lucky to have a dad like him. He selflessly gives to our family, serves us when he can, plays hard with the kids, teaches them important life lessons, shows them the love of Jesus, and loves me well. So it's only fitting that'd we'd spoil him for Father's Day. We let him sleep in, gave him gifts and went to church. After church, I made steaks, mashed potatoes, garlic green beans and crusty bread with garlic oil (his fav!).

I also took the kids to run a few errands to Target in the afternoon to give Seth a chance to relax and rest. Then for supper, we went to one of his favorite pizza places around here that has his absolute favorite buffalo chicken pizza ever. And--ice cream for dessert.

We love you babe!

Memorial Day flashback!

2018 // 2015

Mother's Day!

Mother's Day was great. As always, my requests are quite simple: food I don't make and perhaps a nap. HA! Since it is always a Sunday, I don't really get to sleep in that much because of church. But I did get to a little bit. The kids and Seth made breakfast and gave me my presents. A salon gift card for nails, coffee, cards, flowers, and a beautiful necklace Carter made me. 

We went to church and then headed to Willow Valley for brunch. We got married there back when it was the original Willow Valley. Now, even though we still call it that, it is really in the Hilton family of brands now. I was so excited to go because I have literally not been there for years. It was a little disappointing though, which was sad. The service was terrible and it was just so-so, food wise. But I'm thankful for a husband who made a reservation and took me there because he knew I'd been really wanting to go. 

After we got home, I took a nap, of course. Other than that it was a nice, relaxing day with my loves...and my two greatest treasures as a mom. Love them!

Easter 2018

We had a fun but easy Easter season. Since we were going to be in NJ for Easter, we went for hibachi and ice cream with Gramma and Pa the week before. They got their Easter baskets in the car of the restaurant which was super exciting for a 5 and 7 year old!

We were at Oma and Opa's for Easter this year. On Saturday, we went to Ben and Salli's for breakfast and a fun Easter egg hunt with cousins. This is one crazy bunch! 

We did Carter and Addison's Easter baskets back at Oma and Opa's house. LOTS of excitement followed. 

We went to Oma and Opa's church on Easter Sunday and then came home for some pictures before heading to Mary Kate and Matt's for Easter lunch/dinner. 

The kids really enjoyed playing with Matt's legos at their house, and digging into all the good food. PLUS, they had Catan so Carter was in his glory playing that, too! We had a great weekend celebrating Jesus' resurrection!

A couple days away!

What a FUN few days, and so refreshing for the soul! Our really good friends surprised and blessed us in a big way a week or so before Christmas when they told us they had a free stay at a hotel in Baltimore and could not use it. We were shocked and so excited because we were totally able to use it. Because we went to NJ early this year and because we all have off the time time over Christmas, we had NO plans. The hotel was a Hyatt in Inner Harbor. Despite the many times we've been to Inner Harbor, we've never been to the ritzier Harbor East/Little Italy part, so we were really excited. I'm so thankful that we were able to switch the dates without penalty, too, when Carter got the stomach bug on Christmas! 

The kids were SO excited when we got to the hotel and Carter said "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!"

We had no real plans for the whole trip which is kind of amazing. We spent the afternoon at the pool (where else?!) and then headed right across the street to Dinosaur BBQ. It was really good! Then, we came back and played board games in the room and went to the lobby cafe for dessert. 

It was COLD on 12/29, the day that we decided to walk around Inner Harbor. But we bundled up and headed out. Inner Harbor is shockingly dead in the winter, so we really didn't see or do a whole lot. We looked at the ships, went to the gigantic Barnes & Noble, had lunch and Cheesecake Factory, went to the candy store, and looked in the Gallery shops. We then took the long way back, through Little Italy, to see parts of Baltimore we had never seen. So pretty! 

When we got back, Seth went out to try to find me authentic tiramisu and grab a drink at the brewery next door. The kids watched a movie and I RELAXED! Praise God! Seth found me tiramisu but it was not good at all. For being authentically Italian, I was super disappointed. For dinner we went right outside the hotel to Jimmy John's to grab subs and a light dinner and then checked out Whole Foods and got the kids dessert. And....we SWAM! Because when there is a pool -- even a tiny one -- in your hotel and you have two little kids, swimming is magical!

The hotel had an AWESOME hot breakfast included so we ate breakfast both days right in the hotel lobby. Yesterday (12/30), we woke up to snow and scary-looking roads. We grabbed breakfast and headed out for one scary ride home! We saw so many accidents and cars off the highway into ditches. I spent most of the trip home praying (seriously). But--we made it home a-okay. We had such a fun time, and even said that we'd love to make this a tradition (going somewhere, not necessarily there every time). 

Christmas Day 2017

Merry Christmas! We had a (mostly...more to come on that) fun and lively Christmas Day at our house, as you can imagine with a 7-year-old, a 5-year-old and a dog. We actually had to wake Carter this year, which is super rare. He's normally waiting (im)patiently for Addison to wake up. They were VERY excited to see the living room when we finally gave them the "go ahead." 

(Making them pose before we let them dig in!)

We managed to do gifts a bit slower than normal this year which was nice. As always, we had the yule log going on the TV for our "fireplace" and Christmas music. The kids didn't ask for a whole lot this year...they were pretty consistent in what they said they wanted, too, when they were asked by people. 

The big thing the kids wanted were fit bits!

In a total lapse of judgment, we bought our already boisterous peanut a real, live, working microphone! :)

Here are the gifts this year (Addison, Carter, Danielle, Seth)

After we did gifts, my parents and gram stopped by for a visit and to play for a little. We had appetizers for lunch and showed them what we got. Later in the day, we watched a movie cuddled on the couch and just took it easy. Which was a good thing because, at bedtime, Carter randomly threw up with no warning whatsoever. And that began the Christmas Day Stomach Bug 2017. The kids didn't know this either, but we had a trip planned to go to Inner Harbor 12/26-12/28. I quickly called and postponed the trip for a few days later because I had a bad feeling things were about to spread through the house.

Thankfully, my sweet boy was only sick for about 4 hours. He had a fever on the 26th and was really tired and mopey. He took two long naps and wouldn't eat much. But by 12/27, he seemed as good as new! More on our trip to come...