Happy (and hungry) Tuesday!

Yes, that is three cheese chicken penne in her hairline, but I swear a good majority of it went in her mouth. And ... has there ever been a baby that didn't stretch their little toes onto the highchair tray at every meal? So cute!

Memorial Day

We had Grandma and Papa over for some Memorial Day fun ... after dinner we venture outdoors to our back-backyard. It's equipped with a fire pit and our neighbor's swing set.

You can't stand around a summer fire pit without s'mores.
(I'm sure it's a law, at least in Wisconsin.)

See the marshmallows in Jill's hand? Seriously, Mallory and Ember would grab one from the bag, take a bite and grab another. Repeat.
The large "campfire" marshmallows were a good idea in theory, but they turned out to be a little too much "mallow" for the s'more. I made three s'mores with the same marshmallow because the outer layer kept sliding off when I'd try to sandwich it between the graham crackers. That's a lot of bang for your buck though, huh?

The blank stare is a dead give away ...
it's clearly past someone's bedtime.

That is just the start of the summer fun, my friends.
Love it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our St. Patrick's Day ended with a Shamrock Shake. Yum!
This is the look I got when I asked, "Can you smile pretty for Mommy, please?"
(Today's smile includes a residual juice stain that makes her look like The Joker from Batman.)
This is little miss "I'm no longer wearing my cute pink St. Patrick's Day shirt because I had a huge blowout diaper that wrecked my whole outfit". I think she is laughing at me thinking, "Seriously, you've been a mom long enough to know that if you want a picture of your kids together in cute outfits, you need to take it first thing in the morning. One of us is bound to screw it up."


And here are some bonus Shamrock Shake pictures from last month:
(no, Abigail has no idea how to drink from a straw ... it was right before bed and I'm pretty sure she thought it was her bottle...)
I have been teaching Mallory the magic of "bait and switch"...

...and that the technique does not always work.
Poor Abby ... why are you crying??

Oh! Because your sister is a shake stealer!

I am so proud of her, haha,
but next year she will need her own ...
as it is, she hardly shares with me!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It has been a smiley fun day around here friends!
It's no doubt that the weather helped our moods.
The sun is shining and the snow is melting (for now).
It was 40 degrees-ish today!

Anyway, here are some smiles.
Please enjoy.

Mallory has become difficult lately.
SHE. DOES. NOT. WANT. HER. PICTURE. TAKEN.
Today, she was hamming it up.
I took full advantage.

Mal was having apples and peanut butter.
Abby was gnawing on a biter biscuit.

She was saying, "Argh, I'm a pirate!"
I have no idea...
No pictures, please.

Back to running from the camera ... hiding in her sister's closet.

She loves carrots.
And today she loved grabbing the spoon and flinging them everywhere.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Love the one you're with!
Stay tuned for the next installment of "Happy Tuesday".

It's a cookie!

Abigail, meet chocolate chip cookie.

Chocolate chip cookie, meet Abigail.

Don't worry baby girl, some day you and the chocolate cookie will be best friends. And the Oreo, let's not forget about the Oreo.

I love Daddy's pancakes!

Zoo a la Carte!

With the luxury of Jill's company zoo pass we spent Saturday at the Milwaukee County Zoo. We strategically picked "a la carte" weekend (featuring food from restaurants all over Milwaukee) and enjoyed amazing food from all around the area.

Kevin and Grandpa Hammen with Ember and Mallory checking out some apes.
Caelum's first visit to the zoo - and his very own hat to prove it!

...LOVE Ember's face/reaction here...

Jill and I each borrowed a double stroller from a friend and they were extremely handy. We are now officially hooked on the idea... a purchase for our not-so-distant future.

This girl is such a sweetheart.
She has affectionately started calling me aunt "Kiki".

The girls were both SQUEALING at the fish. I'm convinced we could have left them there - they would have been occupied for hours.

Ember and Mallory got to be first-time pony riders.

Ember was definitely a fan.

Mallory appeared to be a fan. She was laughing and giggling at first...

...then... not so much. She CLUNG to me the entire 10-something laps. In this picture I was trying to get her to grab the saddle, but it didn't last. Oh well. For $4, we'll try again next time.

...fun giraffe topiary photo op...

...the princess is not to be disturbed...

We decided that Saturday was the day for a train ride around the zoo - something we hadn't done with the girls yet. We arrived at 9am and all day we were asking them, "Do you want to ride the train??" and they'd answer, "Ye-ahh!" We'd hear the train whistle and they'd both repeat "choo choo!" It seems the ride got put off a little long...we got in line a little after 1pm......she held on as long as she could. Thankfully, she perked up RIGHT before we boarded the train.

A quiet bystander...

...singing songs with Grandma Lynn to keep a smile on her face...

...another fun topiary...

...on the train...

photo by Grandpa

One last run through the "mist" and we called it a day...

The food, of course, was fabulous (gyros, sweet corn, custard, a "Brewers" club sandwich, corn dogs, cheesecake, cheesy garlic bread, sausages, crab rangoon, coconut breaded shrimp ... to name a few things), but looking back I think we had more to drink than we did to eat due to the heat. At last count, Casey and I alone had several waters, three fresh-squeezed lemonades, a raspberry lemonade, an Arnold Palmer and a fruit punch slushie. Either way, we survived the day without a single (major) melt-down in the hot August sun. All FOUR children did well and fun was had by all. Another successful zoo adventure.