Morning at Maymont

We enjoyed another fun outing with friends this morning! Today we went to Maymont to visit the petting zoo and have a picnic lunch in the garden. Hailey and Wingrove joined us, with their mommies Miss Holly and Miss Aly. This was Caroline's second trip to Maymont. During her first visit this past fall, she dove right in to feeding and petting the animals she encountered. This time around, even though she was so excited to see each creature, she was less enthusiastic about feeding or petting them. She much preferred to watch them from afar.

After we visited the goats, sheep, chickens, donkey, bunnies, and pot-bellied pigs, we thoroughly washed our hands and staked out a nice spot in the grass for our picnic. After lunch, the girls wandered around the flowers in the garden. The landscapers have probably banned us from re-entering the park after more than one flower lost it's petals thanks to Caroline and Hailey :)

We've been enjoying all this wonderful spring weather and time with our friends! We have even more fun coming up during the rest of this week and this weekend so stay tuned!!

The girls get ready to explore.

Caroline and Hailey watching the goats.

Watching a goat from afar.

Enjoying a tasty lunch

Hailey and Caroline - both with evidence of crimes committed against flowers :)

Fun in the Sun!

With plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures predicted in our area today, Caroline and Mommy met big Caroline and her Mommy, Miss Annie, at the outdoor mall here in Richmond to have some fun in the water play area. At first, both Carolines were very hesitant to do much more than dip their toes in the water, but after a few minutes (and lots of encouraging from the mommies), both girls jumped right in and had a blast!

We finished the fun morning with a picnic lunch and some window shopping, and then we headed home for a well-earned nap! What a fun day!

Taking it all in, not too sure...

Well, maybe this could be fun!

Carolines contemplating play...

Let's do this!

Having a blast!

Picnic lunch!

Off to "Cool" We Go!

Thursday mornings are very exciting around the Hepper household. Caroline goes to school, or "cool", as she calls it and Mommy gets 3 hours of solo time. Caroline loves going to school so much that we don't tell her it's a school day until it's time to get dressed and walk out the door because once we mention it, all she wants to do is get out the door and off to see her friends, even if she's half naked and hasn't eaten breakfast yet.

The weather is incredibly nice here in Richmond today, so Caroline got to wear one of her new spring dresses and I decided it was a good day to snap some pictures of her as she was on her way to "cool."

First I help put the dogs in their houses. They do NOT like this at all.

Ready to go! School bag in hand plus one extra bag for good measure.

Looks like a beautiful morning!

Don't I look cute?

Going up the stairs to school. It takes a LONG time because I like to stop and stare at all the kids.

Headed to my room, dragging my school bag as usual.

In the classroom and happy to be there!

I get started with my play right away!

After school, Mommy surprised me with a tasty lunch - Chick-fil-A!

Lunch Date with Grampy

We were lucky to have a quick lunch date with Grampy today while he was in town on business! Caroline was acting very shy curing his visit, so she wouldn't let me take a picture of her and Grampy together, but I did manage to take a few pictures.
Caroline and Grampy spent some time coloring at our lunch table and also giggling over a tasty (and enormous!) cookie. We're looking forward to when Marmee and Grampy come in town over Easter weekend so Caroline can have more time to "let it all hang out" and really show Grampy her stuff!

Caroline and Mommy

Grampy knows how to make me happy - with a cookie!

Mmm, delicious!


Caroline saying bye-bye to Grampy after lunch. See you soon!

Twin Update

We had an appointment today to check in on the twins. Caroline had to miss her nap time and come with me to the appointment, which could have been a recipe for disaster, but she was a complete angel. She chatted with the ultrasound technician, stared open-jawed at our loud doctor, and played with every (germ infested) toy she could find in the doctor's office. Fingers crossed the twins will be so easy-going!!

Anyways, the girls looked wonderful. Their heartbeats and growing space are great and they weighed in at 1 pound, 3 ounces a piece!! The doctor told me this is as much as a single baby would weigh at this point, so needless to say, the girls are growing well! Although they are still changing positions a lot these days, today the girls were sitting "upright", with their heads together - getting in some "girl talk". By the way, just in case you were wondering, the cat is out of the bag for the sex of twins, so there's no need for us to censor this post. :)

Mommy looks good too, although the doctor warned me to keep up the good eating and not to hold back. Seriously?! Has he seen the amount of food I consume on a daily basis?? Obviously not, but considering that someone asked me yesterday if I was due any day now, I think I'm growing large just fine, thank you :)

That's about it! We're so glad the girls are looking good and growing well. Here are some pictures from today's visit.

Baby Girl A - thumb in mouth

Baby Girl B - could not get this pic to rotate horizontally!

View from the top: two heads together for a little chat!

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Hepper

  We enjoyed a great visit with Grandma and Grandpa Hepper this past weekend! Caroline got to spend lots of one on one time with her grandparents, giving Mommy and Daddy a much needed break!
  On Thursday evening, Mommy and Daddy went to an Expecting Multiples class while Caroline hung out at home and got reacquainted with her grandparents. Mommy and Daddy learned some good information about getting ready for the arrival of the twins, but we are still glad we have at least a couple months left to prepare!
  On Friday, Caroline went to the downtown location of the children's museum and then out to lunch where she impressed Grandma and Grandpa with her quesadilla eating skills! Mommy enjoyed several hours to herself getting a little pampering done :)
  On Saturday we decided to take a group trip out to Short Pump to check out that location of the children's museum. Caroline had a blast going from exhibit to exhibit, and even took a moment to create a painting "masterpiece" for her grandparents to take home.
Aside from many tasty meals out, we pretty much spent the rest of our time together letting Caroline be our entertainment. She did lots of coloring, goofing off, music making, and playing with Grandpa and Grandma. Check out some of the pictures we took throughout the weekend...

Caroline driving Grandpa in the truck at the farm exhibit.

Mommy and Caroline riding the whale at the museum.

Caroline hard at work on her painting.

Caroline, Grandma and Grandpa

Caroline and Daddy on the train at the museum.

Caroline and Grandma playing "Ring Around the Rosy" with Baby Nina and Baby Gigi/

Family pic!!

It Only Took a Minute...

... for our little peanut to make a big mess this morning. I was folding laundry in the bedroom when I heard Caroline say "ooh-ooh" - her way of saying "uh-oh". I went immediately to her, knowing this probably wasn't good. And this is what I found:

A good portion of the 20 pound dog food bag all over the laundry room floor and...

...the dogs' water bowl "enhanced" with dog food, courtesy of Caroline.

Yes, I made a huge mess, Mommy, but I looked cute doing it!!

Of course, because Caroline takes after her Mommy and loves to clean, she was more than happy to be part of the dog food recovery.

Unfortunately, her method was to pick up each piece one, by one, by one. As you might imagine, this took forever. By the time I had the mess cleaned up, Caroline had collected about 2 tablespoons of dog food. Oh well - at least she was willing to help, right?