Boooooo

No, it's not Halloween, it's what Jack says when he sees a cow. And we saw some cows this week! On Thursday afternoon, we drove about 20 minutes north of Providence to Wright's Dairy Farm in Woonsocket, RI. The cows at Wright's Dairy are milked twice daily, 3am and 3pm. For the afternoon milking, they invite visitors to come watch. As exciting as it was to watch the cows be milked, the big hit was the two pens of calves that you could pet. Of course, Jack stood right in front of the calves and screamed "Boooooo". I don't think they knew what to think of Jack! Jack enjoyed petting them and feeding them some hay.


After we visited with the cows, we wandered inside to their bakery where you can buy fresh made baked goods (and we did) and fresh milk! Yum!

After the long drive back from Woonsocket, the kids laid back and enjoyed a movie while I made dinner.

Every now and then I had to check in on them....sometimes Jack's love is just smothering! On a side note, Emma was laughing the whole time, so she really does love it when Jack hugs her!

And after I made Jack get off of Emma, she decided that if he can't hug her, she will hold his hand!

We enjoyed 3 days off this past weekend, and spent it doing some fun things around town and taking a day trip to Salem, MA.

On Saturday, we drove about an hour and a half north to Salem, MA. Yes, "the" Salem. The Salem notorious for witches and witch trials...actually has quite a bit of history that doesn't have anything to do with witches. Salem was a major shipping port, with a rich maritime history in the spice trade, as well as many other things, but all of that changed in the 50's when "The Crucible" came out and the major focus of the town moved to witches.

The Salem Maritime Museum houses "The Friendship". We paused for a quick photo - a very quick photo...it was in the 30's with winds that made it feel much much colder!

(I was trying to keep my hair out of my face...but Jack looks super cool)


Here is a good look at The Friendship. The Friendship is a recreated 171 foot - three masted - Salem East Indiaman built in 1797.

Jack tried his hand at ship driving while we were in this nautical town. This is a play area in the House of Seven Gables courtyard.

Another exciting fact about Salem, MA - it is home to the House of Seven Gables. Nathaniel Hawthorne was from Salem and the house below is his birthplace. Unfortunately, the way the home is situated (with the visitor center, etc) it's almost impossible to get a good photo of the actual House of Seven Gables. The large house belonged to Hawthorne's uncle, later owned by his cousin (who took over the house and the shipping business when Hawthorne's uncle died). Hawthorne's cousin encouraged his writing and one of his most famous novel was set in this home. Legend tells that Hawthorne found a "scarlet A" in a shipping warehouse belonging to his uncle!

It was a long and tiring day. We never made it to the actual witch museum, but we did drive by the Witch Trial Memorial and a cemetery that includes a witch trial judge and a Mayflower passenger. What amazing history. Hopefully we will make it back up to Salem to visit the Witch Trial Museum...and hopefully it will be a warmer day! Jack and Emma caught some Z's on the way home. We had to share this photo - it never ceases to amaze me how he can fall asleep like this and not hurt when he wakes up - yes, that is his own hand on his neck...his arm is someplace behind his head...and it was like that for almost 2 hours!

Lunch Time Laughs

When the day starts off like this...how can it be bad?


Of course this picture is great because of the little cutey in it, but it's also special because she's wearing a 30 year old sweater that her mommy wore too!

Had to add this picture in JUST because she's so darn cute with those big eyes!

This was definitely the best part of the day! The three of us ate lunch together today. Yes, even Emma had her rice cereal. Like I said before, Emma wants to eat, but her tongue is still learning, so some of her cereal gets pushed back out. Well, this was the funniest thing Jack has ever seen. I'd feed her, some would come out of her mouth, Jack would laugh, she would look at him and laugh, then more cereal would shoot out of her mouth, which in turn made Jack laugh harder and yogurt would come out of his mouth. Luckily, I managed to keep all my soup in my mouth, but it was difficult. I snapped this photo in between laughing spells. What a day! And what a messy lunch. I don't know if anyone actually got anything down!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day sure was happy in the Phillips house today!

We kicked off the day opening our Valentine's Day present from Grammy!

We are excited about the present, we are just NOT excited that Mommy was trying to take our picture while we were watching Dino Dan.

The big hit - a cow!

Even Hokie got a great present!
Then we headed out to Chuck E Cheese with our friends Charles and Henry.
Poor Emma and Henry had to watch the fun...maybe next year guys!

We got there shortly after they opened and had the place to ourselves for almost an hour! Jack really enjoyed the rides, driving games, and playing basketball.

The best part about this photo - the "Stay on Track" on the video screen - this is a common theme for all of our driving games today!

And, of course, the pizza and the show were great too...so good, we put pizza in our hair!

And, you can't leave Chuck E Cheese without some prizes! A swizzle straw and a little spider!

After Jack's nap, he spent some time hanging out with Dad and snapping some photos.


After the kids went to bed, us 'rents shared our V-day tradition...Pizza and Champs! (or Brut Rose for my wino friends)
Thank you to everyone who sent us cards, gifts, and well wishes for the day!

Big Step(s)

Today was a milestone day in the Phillips house. Emma had her first solids meal! For the last few weeks, she has been grabbing at our drinks, forks, and especially food...and she even succeeded in grabbing my slice of pizza and almost getting it in her mouth! So, I decided that she was trying to tell me something. I tried to give her some rice cereal last week, but her tongue had a mind of it's own and still pushed it out. But, tonight at dinner she kept grabbing at our food, so I tried again. Her tongue is still a little confused, but she is definitely ready. After the first spoonful, she was all smiles and even cried when it took me too long to give her another spoonful. She lurched forward for the spoon every time it came close to her mouth. So, I think we're definitely ready. Can't believe my little baby is already starting solids!

And...I think we might have finally turned the corner with Jack...NO MORE BOTTLE!

Happy B-Days

A house-full of b-days for the Phillips!


Happy 5 month birthday to our sweet little girl!
Happy 10th birthday to Gracie kitty! We love you! (especially Jack)

The Phillips take on Providence

On Saturday we headed north to Providence, and visited the children's museum. It wasn't quite the scale of Boston, but it was a good size and lots of fun! They had a large room full of water tables and a section upstairs that shows the history of immigrants to Rhode Island. I will post a few pictures on here, but check out Facebook for more!

Another exciting piece of news - we now have a website! http://www.phollowingthephillips.com/ Right now it links to the blog, but I hope to make it a fun place for all of you to visit...when I have the time of course! :)

Thoughtful Thursday

On the outside, looking in...

Sweetest moment of the day.

Two is better than one, especially when playing trains.