Bath Night

I'm trying to get better about taking pictures of 'normal' stuff.  So, last night during bath time I grabbed the camera.  Both kids still love their baths!

Such a cheesy kid

She's getting too big!

During most of the bath, Ethan was dumping water on his face/head.  

And Nora just splashes.  I couldn't get her to look at me, so this is the best I've got.

Nashville Getaway

This past weekend, we had a wonderful getaway to Nashville.  It was rather last minute, but when the babysitters say they are available, you make yourself available!  We were planning to do something this month, but didn't know what.  Jared had 5 or 6 vacation days to use up before April 1...we will plan better this year :)!  Anyway, Nashville was a great choice.  So, Thursday afternoon we headed to Salem, to drop the kids off and head south.  We stayed at The Inn at Opryland, which is owned by the same company and right across the street from Opryland (with free shuttle service).

Thursday night we headed across the street to check out Opryland and get some dinner.  This place is like a Vegas hotel without the casinos...it's huge, with a lot going on!

There are 9 acres of gardens and water inside.  It is beautiful, you could get lost walking around in there.

Self portrait

Indoor Waterfalls

Friday morning we were told we had to eat breakfast at The Pancake Pantry (check out the menu).  When I was there a few years ago for a girls weekend, we drove past and the line was out the door and down the block.  It is suggested you get there before 9am to avoid the crazy lines.  We got there at about 8:45 and there was a short line out the door.  Nothing that scared us away! It most definitely lived up to the hype.  If you visit Nashville...go!

The people on the left are in line.  I enjoyed their famous sweet potato pancakes and Jared wasn't disappointed with his  Sante Fe cornmeal pancakes.

After breakfast, we walked around the area for a while and they decided to find the Nashville Antique Archaeology store.  It was in an area that used to be a Marathon Automobile car factory (from the early 1900's), so it was fun to explore.  There were also several other shops around.

A bike from Mike's personal collection.

I remember seeing the pig head episode!

The store was almost like a museum too.  There were several items that were just on display and not for sale. 

The outside of the building.

 After we finished at Antique Archaeology, we decided to just meander through the old buildings.  There were a lot of small businesses; salons, photographers, insurance agencies.  But there were also a lot of pictures and old pieces of equipment around to look at.

An Antique Drill Press

  After we finished meandering, we decided to visit The Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's home.  It was very interesting and involved a lot of walking!  It is set on 1200 acres.  For those of you who don't know...Andrew Jackson was the 7th President and was for slavery, I think he had 150+ slaves on his plantation.  We toured the grounds as well as a guided tour of his mansion.  Most of the furnishings are original.  We weren't able to take pictures inside the house, but here are some of our walk around the grounds.

View from the front

Jackson's wife, Rachel's 1 acre "Pleasure Garden"

Andrew and Rachel Jackson's tomb in the garden

I found it interesting that one slave of the Jackson's lived at The Hermitage his entire life.  He was born there and was the 1st tour guide when the plantation became a museum (in 1889)!  Alfred, was his name, and he is also buried in the garden.  Another interesting tidbit about the Jacksons...they had no biological children.  They had 1 'adopted' son who was born as a twin to Rachel Jackson's brother and they gave them one of the boys to raise as their own!  Crazy!

This shows how big this place is.

We would highly recommend this tour as well, on your visit to Nashville :).

Friday night we got dressed up and went out to a nice dinner (no pictures though).  Saturday morning we checked out of our hotel, decided to stroll through Opryland again, in the daylight and found a fun little lunch spot in East Nashville.  There are still lots of things we would have liked to fit in, so I guess we'll just have to go back!  

I can't thank my parents enough for keeping the kids!  They had a great time and we all slept in past 8 today!

Oh, and check out the instagram link, there are other Nashville pics on there!

Snow Day

We got a little more snow yesterday.  Maybe a couple inches, nothing too big.  Instead of playing outside in the snow, I decided to bring some inside for the kids to play with.  Both had a good time.  Ethan kept saying "I LOVE THIS!"

Filling his cup with snow

Filling her cup too!

Not too sure about touching it though

He made a snowman!

Photo Friday...Week 25

Half way through Photo Friday!
I'm going back a few years again for this one.  We have been to Michigan City, IN on family vacation twice and have a great time!  Ethan was barely 1 year old on our first trip and we went down to the lake for some family pictures (taken by Abby).

Holding your child's hand

Fun With Grandpa

Last Sunday, Grandma Karen and Grandpa came up to visit.  I didn't take very many pictures, but I do have a few of Grandpa with the kids.

Tickle session with Grandpa!

Nora is very into books right now...but it's difficult to read fast enough for her  :)

Grandma Karen was here too, I promise.  I just didn't have my camera handy most of the day!  We had a great visit and the kids enjoyed their time too!

And here's one of sweet Nora! 

Photo Friday...Week 24

This week, I'm going back a few years!  There were never any rules that said these photos have to be current, right?!?

Your feet, side by side

This was when Ethan was 1 month old.  I was still on maternity leave from work, my brother and his family still lived in Florida and my parents and Abby were heading down for a visit.  Ethan and I decided it would be great to tag along!  And it was.  This was also his first plane ride and first trip to the beach :).  Such a good little traveler he was and is!

Just soaking up the sun!

PlayTime

A few days ago, I made a 'fortress' for the kids to play in.  (Side note: Fortress is Ethan's word of choice for a tent/fort.)  They thought it was awesome.  It stayed up for 2 days, I think, but I eventually needed the blankets.

Giving his fortress a thumbs up!

They crammed a lot into that little space.

Today, we had a little play day with some friends.  Actually, I was watching a friend's 2 kids for the morning, and we all had a great time!  Ethan and Jackson are in preschool and church together.  Nora and Emree are 6 months apart and had fun playing too.

The girls, cutting up some cookies

A couple of cute superheros!

Lego time

The girls wanted in on the superhero action!  See Emree in the background as Supergirl :)

As I have blogged about before, Ethan loves to play in the snow.  We got about 4 inches yesterday and last night.  He and Jared went out yesterday to shovel and sled a bit (it was dark before they came in).  It warmed up a little today, so I decided to take both kids out for a little while.  Nora was happy just walking circles on the driveway and didn't really care about the snow.  And I basically had to drag Ethan inside.  I'll leave the snow play to daddy :).

Taking them for a sled ride...Nora's not too sure.

Checking out the snow, briefly. 

Moving some snow

Instagram Info

I took a cue from my sister (or just copied her) and decided to add a link to my Instagram page.  For those of you who aren't aware, Instagram is a photo sharing site.  I follow people and people follow me and we see each other's photos on our feed.  I post a lot of pictures there that I don't post anywhere else.  So, if you're interested...click the little camera to the right :).  And, if you have Instagram, find me and request a follow!  I'd love to 'follow' you back!  Happy hump day!

Downstairs

Over a year living in our house, we are really loving the downstairs.  A few weeks ago, we went to IKEA in search of the perfect toy storage for our play area.  And last weekend, we decided (on a whim) to paint a few walls.  I was hoping for more of a change or 'accent' wall effect, but we used what we had since we have a ton of paint.  Ethan was very into helping during the painting, and he didn't do a bad job :).

He's a cute helper!

Look at that tongue out concentration!

 Here's the after!  I really like how it turned out.  I put an IKEA curtain rod above the storage with little clips to hang Ethan's artwork (and someday soon, Nora's).  He thinks it's pretty cool to see his stuff up there.

Too many toys! (But there are lots of empty spaces)

Quite some time ago, I bought a couple pieces of wrapping paper from a store in downtown Decatur for $4 each.  One was a world map, the other was the alphabet.  I had Jared cut some plywood that we had to size and I mod podged the paper to the wood.  It was my first mod podge experience, and I didn't do a very good job.  Too many wrinkles and bubbles, but don't look too closely!

I think they add nice color to the walls :)

Like I mentioned before, we are really enjoying the downstairs.  Nora, especially likes it down there.  It's mostly wide open and with her new walking abilities, she can go and go.  And there isn't too much that is off limits for her.

Camping in the tent, with plenty of food

Showing off her walking, bending and picking up skills.  Yes this is a bathroom stool she is toting around.

Ethan has branched out when playing with his blocks.  He used to dump them and kick them and that's it.  He builds quite the structures with them now.

And gets a little OCD with them...

Intense.

Photo Friday...Week 23

Ethan might be the best hugger, ever!  He uses his legs and wraps them all the way around me.  Most of the time, it's so tight I don't have to hold him up.  He's the sweetest!

Giving your child a hug

Check out those toes touching!