Durham Part 1

Last weekend I took three out of our four children to Durham to visit my mom and sister. Everett stayed back home with Gigi, and Eric was hard at work on a paper. Traveling with an infant, 1 year old, and 3 year old is a lot of work, but we had a great time.

Hampton and Eleanor loved playing on Noni's back porch.
 

And Thatcher did very well. He's getting so big!
 

And we ate at my favorite restaurant in Durham-Fosters Market!
 

Aunt Mary and Eleanor
 

 

 

The highlight of the whole trip was going to the local children's museum. He got to ride a train!!! Hampton has always loved trains.
 

He cannot stop talking about it.
 

The conductor was great.
 

 

And there were dinosaurs throughout the forest.
 

 

Going through the tunnel.
 

 

 

 

Eleanor loved the farm part of the museum.
 

 

 

 

On the Camera

I cleared off the camera today and found these pictures.....

Eleanor's surprised face. She does it on command and it is so cute.
 

My friend Miranda and I made this masking/painter's tape race track one day. So neat and has provided hours of fun.
 

Hampton is (finally) potty training. He's not so good at it, but has had a couple of successes. There is hope for him yet!
 

Eleanor Jane is the sweetest little toddler I know! I can't say enough about how well she behaves. She can get into stuff for sure, but overall she is just so sweet.

 

And the other week I made these chocolate chip peanut butter cookies. Yum. I keep some extra balls of dough in the freezer because there is nothing like warm cookies straight out of the oven.
 

Recently

Noni came to visit last weekend. She usually brings a treat or two, and this time she got the children some really fun cards to practice writing letters. Everett is getting better and better with his handwriting.


And Hampton now knows all the sounds to all the letters of the alphabet!

Loving on Thatcher. He is pretty snuggly.

Noni also got Hampton some new underwear.....underwear of his very own!

And Eleanor got a few treats herself. She is obsessed with this hat!

Eleanor is also obsessed with her daddy. Eric had taken all the boys out the other afternoon to the park. When Eleanor woke up, she instantly said, "where the boys?" Since I knew Eric was on his way home, I had her wait at the door for him. When she saw him pull up she started yelling, "Daddy!!" The bowl of blueberries in her hand went flying and she ran to the kitchen door to wait for him. Um, have I mentioned she LOVES her daddy?! It makes my heart so happy.

And finally our big 3 year old is learning to use the potty. He probably could have done this a long time ago, but life just kept getting in the way. We've had more accidents than successes, but I guess there is no turning back now! I am confident he'll get it soon. 

And Eric has been busy doing this......

Eleanor is celebrating the Derby.....

 

And I am loving on this little baby. He is a mama's boy through and through. 

 

Nature Hunt

Last week I took the boys on a nature hunt at the arboretum.

I printed out a list and reviewed with them what we were looking for. I was really surprised what they remembered.

They each had their own bag.

Everett was really excited. He is naturally a bit of a scavenger anyways.

 

And Hampton was happy to try and find things as well. 

Everything is in bloom and it was so beautiful.

 

The tulips were my favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

And my little Thatcher almost slept through the whole adventure! Oh to be an infant and sleep most of the day......

And the boys also got to feed the turtles. This was a real treat for them.

On the way home they fell right asleep. The hunt must have worn them out!