Just life,

I feel like I haven't updated our blog for a while, so for now I am just going to post some pictures of the family lately.  Enjoy!

Kate is so patient with Mason . . . most of the time :)

 

 Rocky Mountian Chocolate Factory, anyone?

Easter break

Mason and Kate had a great great great time seeing family, especially grandparents and cousins.  It is so fun to see that Mason especially remembers family members pretty well and doesn't take long to warm up.  Living away from family is hard, but something I have come to look forward to is when we come to hang out with family, we stay at someone's house, so we get LOTS of one-on-one time, family dinners, and having the opportunity to see Grandmas give the kids baths and bottles and good-nights.

Mason's favorite Activities with Grandma and Grandpa Harper:

Jumping on the tramp and riding on motorcycles (respectively)

Dying Easter Eggs with Isaac, Ivy, and Lily and Grandma Vonda (Wynn, Kate and Ava enjoyed watching :)

EASTER EGG HUNT

 

Finding Easter baskets the next morning . . .

 

Happy Easter!

 

 Grandma and Grandpa Yates!

Couldn't get enough time reading books with Grandma and Grandpa!

 

Badminton and Water Party!

 

You Scream I Scream We All Scream For . . .

 

We love our families--thank you everyone for making time available to see us! 

Can't wait to see you all again! 

When we parked at home, Mason started crying and asking to see "Momma and Poppa" again.  :)

St. Patrick's Day! . . . Iowa City!

David had a few days off work at the beginning of this week so we decided to make a trip to Iowa City.  We stayed with my old roommate, Jessica.  She and her husband started dating the same time as David and me, so it was fun to catch up and see our kids play together.  They were the best hosts and showed us some of the best things about Iowa City--the children's museum in the mall (which also has an ice skating rink!), the downtown library via free buses with a great kids section, and a yummy restaurant The Atlas world Grill (which had buffalo wing & mashed potato burritos).

We also got to see David's old roommate Neil and his wife Sarah and their brand-new baby Ezra!  We ate at the Hamburg Inn, which is famous for having all the popular politicians come to eat at during campaigning in Iowa City.  It was delish.

We also saw my cousin Sally and her husband Tyron and their sweet girl Auralia.  They just moved from the Bronx and we were hoping to come visit them there because it would be awesome to go see NYC but it was just as fun to see them in Iowa City :) They cooked us the MOST amazing dinner with sweet potatoes and a chicken wrapped in a pastry!

 

Children's Museum

 

 

 kids play area @ the mall

ice skating with Dad-- woah woah!

 

 THANK you for everyone who showed us a good time in Iowa.  We had so many friends/family in Iowa City that the best part was just seeing everyone.  We also had a few dental friends in the city but it was spring break for the school so we hope to catch them next time :)

 

 

On St. Patrick's Day, we got some Lucky Charms and gold from a leprechan :)

and we had green whipped cream for our pancakes to make four-leaf clovers.

 

 The previous day, the kids and I went to a Snake and Boots St. Patrick's Day parade.  It was FREEZING and we didn't stay the whole time, but they had some great stuff!

 bagpipes and cool floats

Mason's favorite--a train, and Kate's favorite, Marching bands

 My favorite--Renaissance Festival.  They had a lot of cool costumes from the era

And some faries!