Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Today we went to our friend Tyler's 3rd birthday party at Hermann Park. This was Josie's first visit to a "splash pad." She was a little intimidated by the spraying water. But with some guidance from her friend, Zoey, she eventually got a little bit wet. She mostly just enjoyed stomping and splashing her feet in the water.I'm not so sure about this!

Come on, Daddy!

See, Josie? This is how you do it!

Maybe this IS fun!!!

After the birthday party, we rode the train before we left the park. It makes a simple loop around the outskirts of the park. This was Josie's first train ride. (It was a day of firsts!) I was worried she would be scared (she's scared of everything else these days....especially dogs, cats that roam through our yard, and anything that makes a loud noise). But she loved it! She had a huge smile and the cutest wave as we passed by other park-goers. She even cried when it was time to get off. Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-choo!!! choo!!!!!

Happy Easter!

West U Church Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday we had our annual church Easter egg hunt. It was an absolutely perfect day with beautiful weather! The hunt took place outside on our playground. This particular hunt was just for kids under age 3, so the eggs weren't really hidden so much as laid all over the ground. When we were finished, Josie had a basket full of pink eggs. She skipped over all the others and only picked up the pink ones! She enjoyed the egg hunt, but I think she enjoyed playing on the playground afterward just as much!

Tom Bass Park

We go to the playground almost every single morning. There are two nearby in the neighborhood that we typically go to. We even have a friend at one that we see from time to time. He always has a bucket and shovel that he shares, so we like him. :-)
But today I was feeling adventurous and thought we'd try something new. So we loaded up in the car and went to Tom Bass Regional Park, which is just off the Beltway on the east side of 288. We were all excited about finding a "new" playground. It was fun driving in and looking for playgrounds. I could hear Josie in the backseat saying, "Look, Mommy! There's one!! And there's another one!!!" There were 5-6 different playgrounds to choose from and they were all mostly in the shade! Shade is a precious thing under the scorching Texas sun! So, we will definitely be going back to TB Park again....we may even get adventurous enough to have us a picnic one day!

Weeble Wobble Easter Friends

I'm admitting it up front: I totally stole this idea (as I do a lot of my cute & crafty ideas) from another blogger. As one of our Easter/Spring crafts, we made weeble wobble chicks and bunnies from Easter eggs. It was soooo easy and the kids loved the whole process! We pushed some playdough down into the bottom piece of an egg so it would "wobble" back and forth. Then we accessorized by gluing on eyes, beaks, wings, ears, & noses. (I recommend using hot glue. The Elmer's glue was strong enough to hold everything in place, but little fingers could easily make everything fall off.) The hardest part was getting everyone to be patient and understand they couldn't play with them until they were dry. The kids love playing with them and making the "wobble, wobble, wobble" on the table!

Story Time with Ms. Josie

Josie tends to "run the show" when we're with Nathan and Natalie. Since she's the oldest, she's usually the one who determines what they play with and when they're ready to move on to something else. She also does a lot of "mothering" by helping them take their shoes off, giving them wipes to clean up, etc. I witnessed this sweet scene the other day. It was a simple book that we've read over and over again. She was actually reading/quoting it to them! I love how Natalie is sitting in her lap. So sweet!!!

Ice Cream

A few weekends ago, we were able to fly to Nashville to spend some time with Lane's family. While we were there, Grandmommy made homemade ice cream! It was very yummy and Josie especially enjoyed it!

Practically licking the bowl

Hmmmm!!! That's good!