Our 2 Weeks in Charlotte: week two

Just one more post about our time in Charlotte, promise ;-) 

During our second week, we finished up our crafts, played some more, said goodbye to Auntie Cassandra :-(, attended the Temple, and spent a few more days indoors because of another cold front that came through the city. 

We were ready to see Ryan by the end of our stay, and we met up that with him that Saturday in Southern Georgia to make the swap. We missed our Daddy! We were happy to be welcomed by warm weather and sunshine! 

made this birthday board to remind us all when our families birthdays are :-) I love it! 

walking down to the lake

cute mama!

right before Ellie fell down the driveway...so scary!

and her poor face...

my mom taught a Zumba class for her Relief Society sisters. We had so much fun! She is so good too. 

working on craft #2

Temple trip with mama

pouf finished! 

saying goodbye to Grandpa before he left for his 2-week work trip to Southeastern Asia. 

finally with daddy!

we had a LONG day.....

Thanks for spoiling us Grandma and Grandpa! We had SO much fun!

Hello Spring!

We needed something for our screened in porch for the girls to be able to play with. and seriously--having a screened-in porch ROCKS. This winter, I left the sliding glass door open for many hours during the day and it was so nice to have that fresh breeze come inside. But now that it is getting h-o-t, we needed something to cool us off. I ordered this water table and it has been a HIT ever since. Ellie decided to climb inside and sit down. And Brinley decided to make everything her "baby" and give them all baths. She loves pretending to be a mother. I just can't figure out the best way to keep the ground from getting muddy. When it rains, our patio gets full of water and dirt. Is there any outdoor rug/mat that would help?

Our 2 Weeks in Charlotte: hanging out with G&G Briggs

While we were in Charlotte, the girls and I were able to drive up to see Ryan's parents on two separate occasions. They live about 45 minutes north from my parents house. On the first day, we went to the mall to have lunch at Chick Fil A and to ride the carousal. While we were there, Brinley decided to do this trampoline jump thing. She watched a girl do it before her, and she tugged on Grandpa Briggs arm and said, I want to do that! She walked right up to the machine, got strapped in, and jumped away. It was crazy! She was so brave. On the way back from the mall, we drove to this amazing park and fed some ducks and played on the swings. Ellie was getting pretty crabby and tired at this point, so we headed back to have a quiet afternoon. Ellie went down for a nap, and Brinley played outside with Grandma and Grandpa. It is so nice to be able to see both sets of Grandparents in one trip!

The next time we went up was nearing the end of our 2 week stay, and we were all feeling a bit vacationed out. We spent the afternoon with Grandma Briggs and had so much fun doing fun indoor activities. It was another super cold day, so we couldn't really play outside, but we had fun regardless. It was nice to spend time with them. Ryan will see his parents when he flies out to Idaho for his sisters wedding in April. And wee will see Grandma and Grandpa Briggs again when we go up this summer for our Steele family reunion. 

Isn't Brinley's princess cat shirt the cutest!? 

Our 2 Weeks in Charlotte: week one

I'm exhausted! Vacationing (do you even call it a vacation when 2 kids are in tow?) for 2 weeks without Ryan was hard work. I had plenty of helping hands, but when you're their only parent, you deal with every middle of the night wake up (multiple every night...), every meltdown, every moan and groan and request. My mind feels a bit like jello, but we had SO MUCH FUN.

Our first week in Charlotte was full of fun. My sister in law Cassandra flew out for the first week and we had so much fun everyday with her. She is pregnant with my first niece and we are so excited to see what a Steele baby girl looks like. I listened to the Fox song (why was this the first time I heard about this song!) and Pete the Cat probably 100 times. Brinley knows all the words and requested a dance party at least 5 times during the day. And at night, I spent my time catching up with my mom and dad and Cassandra and watching the old seasons of Bones. We tried to FaceTime with Ryan as much as we could during the day and especially at bedtime. The girls definitely missed him! Ellie would yell into the phone when she heard his voice and would slobber kiss the phone whenever she saw his face. 

I love going home and letting the girls just soak in grandparent time. We won't be back in Charlotte until the summer time so we tried to do as much as we could. It was sooooo cold. And not just cold for us wimpy Floridans, it was cold for everyone! We had many days in the 30-40's and we were all wearing 2-3 layers. I lived in my moms ugg boots and sweatpants and sweatshirts. It was fun to live in cold for a bit before we have to live through the relentless heat of south Florida until...basically Thanksgiving!

dog tricks with Sophie

bedtime routine

Costco trip!

Lots and lots of playing with my old toys when I was little

Library song/story time

bundling up to ride bikes

 Our Epic Haircut!

Before

After!

I was able to tag along my mom's exercise class, Cardio Sculpt. I was sore for at least 5 days. It was a fantastic class! This is us with her fabulous instructor.

Trader Joe's with Auntie Cass

Best cookies EVER

A trip to Charlotte isn't complete without a trip to IKEA

Girls day: delicious lunch, fabric store, and Ulta for some makeup. (and grandpa was a champ and watched the girls for 4 hours!!)

Brinley woke up every morning before 7am and would immediately walk to my parents bedroom. I was able to sleep in a few mornings :-) and one morning I found her like this with my Dad. Too cute!

Walk down to the lake. By the weekend, the sun came out and it was about 70 degrees. Thank goodness.

25 week belly

the girls (plus 2 more, Sophie and Penny)