Our Backyard

Here are some pictures I've taken in our backyard this March.

We're going to have lots of pine tree pollen dusting everything very soon.

 Strawberry!

The little tree climber!

Tinker Bell and Pocahontas

 Emma's starting even earlier than Ella with dress-up play. She sees her sister dress up and wants us to put dresses on her too. Most of them are too big for her and drag the ground, but I got her this one that is just her size and she's quite thrilled with it. :-)

 She makes a perfect Tinker Bell. :-)

Ella loves Pocahontas! She has watched the Disney movie so many times now that she knows all the characters. She's been calling herself Pocahontas Ella, climbing trees in the yard, and pretending to run through forests. :-)

I told her that she has some "Pocahontas" in her, a great, great, great,... (not sure how many greats exactly) grandmother on my mom's side of the family.

Eating Lunch

There are many moments now when I realize that Emma is my last baby and I'd better enjoy (and take pictures of) all the cute baby/toddler stuff she still does.

 I love how she rubs her little feet together when she's enjoying what she's eating! This picture reminds me of Pooh eating honey from his honey pot. :-)

She doesn't look too messy here, but she loves to get her hands into the food. She'll occasionally use utensils, but pretty quickly tosses them aside and dives in with the fingers. She also loves to lift her shirt to smear food on her belly and likes to rub it into her hair as well. ;-) I frequently take her straight to the tub after her messier meals.

Shannon

Our little friend, Shannon, left this world on Saturday morning. She will be very missed! Praying for her mama, Saeko, and father, Mike!

We love you and will never forget you, Shannon.

Wrightsville Beach

We made our first beach trip on Saturday since we moved to North Carolina. We decided to check out Wrightsville Beach first. It's a little more than a 2 hour drive from where we live. The girls had a great time there. The sand is so soft and the water is beautiful.

 There were so many sea shells on the beach!

Checking out a sea shell

 Daddy and Ella had fun building sand castles.

 Emma just loved rubbing her feet in the sand and dropping handfuls of it into little puddles of sea water.

 Happiness is having a daddy who removes the sand that's stuck between your toes! :-)

Ella got a little cold after being in the water, so I put her in dry clothes, bundled her up, and pulled out lunch. :-)

Emma Loves Winnie the Pooh

 Emma frequently watches the Winnie the Pooh movies and absolutely loves them! She's learning to say all the characters' names with the figurine set we have and today stuffed versions of Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger arrived from the Disney Store. I have the "classic" versions of these characters in stuffed animal form, but Emma didn't recognize them as the ones from the movies she watches, so I ordered these. She absolutely loves them and has been carrying them around all day, squealing when she sees them, hugging them, and even gave them a ride in her push car tonight.

A very happy little toddler!

Marbles Kids Museum

We visited the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh today. The last time we were there was for their Halloween party in October. It's so fun there!

 Emma loves baby dolls!

Ella brought her Doggy and her pink kitten with her to the museum. They both needed emergency medical care while we were there. ;-)

I think we might have a future veterinarian. :-)

In the captain's quarters on the pirate ship

 Lowering the anchor

In the submarine