I wrote earlier this year that Taylor wore a dress for Easter that I wore when I was a little girl.

Well, my mom saved a few other things that I thought would be fun to let Taylor wear/use now. Below is a jacket vest I wore when I was a toddler and this past spring Taylor got a lot of use out of it herself.

Me in 1983

Taylor in 2011 (28 years later)

 

And this is a little stool/chair that my brothers and I used growing up to brush our teeth when we were too short to spit into the sink. My mom brought it out when she was here in April and now that Taylor is old enough to get more involved in brushing her teeth we started letting her use it.

The saying on the step stool reads: “This little stool is mine, I use it all the time, to reach the things I couldn’t, and lots of things I shouldn’t.” A saying that my brothers and I adopted like a mission statement for life when we were kids- and I’m sure the next generation will too. :)

 

Big sisters in charge! As it turns out Taylor and I have a few things in common. We are both the first born in the family, we are both big sisters, and we both have a little brother that is only 15-16 months younger than us. I was recently going through some pictures from my childhood and came across a rather familiar sight and so I thought I’d share. :)

In the pictures below Taylor and I were both two years old and Chris and Joshua were both around one year.

I guess it’s true what they say- the more things change, the more they stay the same!

1984

2011

PS: The mouth wide open thing must be genetic. :)

So while Jeff’s mom was in town, Jeff and I planned a one night excursion to New York City. Jeff was already in NYC for work, so I caught a train from DC to NYC, we had an amazing dinner in the theater district and then walked to our show at the Amsterdam Theater. We saw Mary Poppins and thought it was a great show. It was lively, colorful, and the acting and singing was really impressive. After the show we thought we should get some sightseeing in so we went to the Empire State Building and saw the views of Manhattan at night. It was pretty spectacular!

Here are some photos from our night away!

That’s Penn station on the left. Our hotel, New Yorker, was actually just down the street. Very convenient. And a nice hotel.

Mary Poppins!

Streets of NYC

Our hotel from the back side. Which, incidentally, was also just around the corner from the NYPD midtown precinct. Made me feel a little more safe. :)

 

 

And this is why I love being a stay-at-home mommy…

Joshua playing peek-a-boo

Makes my heart so happy to be their mommy. :)

For Joshua’s birthday we got a helium tank for balloons. With all the balloons around the house and because my children are obsessed with balloons I figured it was a perfect opportunity to take pictures.

Here are a few of the pictures I got.

We celebrated Joshua’s birthday over Father’s Day weekend while Jeff’s family was in town. Can’t believe my little man is already one year old. It’s true what they say: “The days are long, but the years are short.”

Love you, Joshua! Happy Birthday!

Father’s Day the whole Hunt crew participated in the Dash-4-Dads. Jeff got his Father’s Day gift – a BOB dualie so he can run all these races with the kids. Jeff and the kids ran the 4 mile race and the rest of us all walked the one mile fun run.

Over Father’s Day weekend we had almost the whole Hunt crew in town to visit. While they were here we took a trip to Alexandria to visit George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon. I think Taylor might have had the most fun of all. We went to the back side of Mount Vernon (the side with all the great views of the Potomac) and just let her go. She literally ran around the backyard for about an hour non-stop and then had a major meltdown when it was time to go. I think she needed another hour of running around before she would have been close to expending all her energy. :)

Here are a few pictures of our day.

At the beginning of June we were so excited to host my brother, Chris, and his wife and son, Erin and Alex, for their first visit to Washington DC.

Taylor and Joshua loved having their older cousin Alex around to play together.  Here are a few pictures from their visit.

A visit to the White House.

Catching lightening bugs.

Playing at the water fountain.

Matching faux-hawks for Alex and Josh.

Sidewalk chalk.

Thanks for visiting Uncle Chris, Auntie Erin and Alex. We hope you come back soon!