Jumping and Hide & Seek…

"I think togetherness is a very important ingredient to family life."
-Barbara Bush

Not all pictures need a story.  Sometimes pictures can stand on their own as simple examples of what life was like at a particular point in time.  For us, at this time, it’s a house filled with screams one moment and laughter the next.  When the idea of sharing a toy can go from the worst idea ever to a fun game amongst siblings.  In the end, it’s just being part of a family. 

And then other times they can tell stories, like the time when the winter weather broke and we unexpectedly found ourselves with some great weather in January.  The kids were so excited they didn’t even stop to take their pajamas off, they just ran out into the backyard to play basketball and chase Rusty around the yard.  I took the opportunity to start a little gardening clean-up and James felt I needed help.  I didn’t mind, he’s actually a good helper when he wants to be.

Ashlyn made her way to the trampoline, and showed off her high flying acrobatic skills.  Then dad had too much fun with Photoshop.

Nina and Papa came over Sunday evening to have some dinner and play with the kiddos.  Ashlyn’s game of choice was Hide and Seek, which at first consisted of her laughing as soon as Nina counted to ten.  Papa provided some solid advice on how the game and even provided some hiding assistance.  James quickly got in on the action and had a great time finding Ashlyn.

In other news, the prep work is moving along in Ashlyn’s new room.  Next up is to finish installing and painting the baseboards.  Ashlyn gets to pick out the color next weekend, which should be interesting.

Cows, rides, and dancing…

"All of the animals except for man know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it."
-Samuel Butler

The annual Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo opened this weekend, and Nina and Papa thought it would be a fun time to take the kids to see the animals.  They were right.  We saw cows, goats, chickens, horses, pigs, rabbits, and more.  Ashlyn thought it would be fun to ride a pony, decided against it, and then had a blast riding the roller coaster.  Strange child.  James chased goats, and I chased James.  Both kids fell asleep on the way home.

The next day they decided it would be fun to crawl into the media closet and tear it apart.  Figuring they needed to work out some energy, we took advantage of the nice weather and took them outside to ride bikes around.  James is still a little too little so he joined mom for a juice/root beer break.

Sunday was Flinn Family Movie Night™, and at the end of the movie the kids jumped up and started dancing during the credits.  James must have inherited my dancing skills because he quickly ended up head first into the ball pit.  For a moment, it turned into something that I hope I never forget.  We were showing the kids how to dance middle school style, hands held but arms straight out so as not to be “too close”.  Ashlyn grabbed James’ hands and started dancing, and while they spun on the carpet Mom and I danced next to them.  It didn’t last long, but for that brief time we felt incredibly close as a family.  And then the kids fell down laughing.

Swings, painting, and lasagna…

Mom:  Do you want a boy or a girl?
Ashlyn:  A boy.
Mom:  Why do you want it to be a boy?
Ashlyn: Because I like my James and I want to see the other boy.

There’s no better way to start off a new year than to spend time with family.  We took a break from converting the office to visit with Grandma, Grandpa, and the rest of the Wofle clan for some good dinner (with sweet potatoes!).  Thankfully the cold let up a bit and the kids were able to go outside to swing.  After dark, we played “dominoes” inside.  I use quotes because Ashlyn has her own set of rules that she plays by, and somehow she always wins.  Funny how that works, isn’t it?

We try to have at at least one artsy/science activity for Ashlyn each weekend, and this weekend it was the a garden kit.  After painting the mushrooms, Mom informed Ashlyn that all that was left was to wait for the plants to grow.  I don’t think Ashlyn cares much about growing the actual plants, all she wanted to do was paint things.  She may be more into the art than science.

Nina, Papa, Auntie Sisa, and Cousin Ben came over Sunday evening along with a tray of lasagna.  With Ben walking, the two boys seemed to have more fun playing around each other.  I don’t say playing “with”, because they aren’t quite there yet.  Ben stole a fork from James, James didn’t get mad at him, and I’d say that’s a good start to what I hope will be a strong friendship.  Ashlyn ran everywhere showing off her jumping skills and getting a few dance lessons from Sisa.

Not a bad start to the new year!

Words, “snow”, and play…

"No, I don't want that."
-James

James has decided that talking is a fun thing to do, and has started to use larger and larger sentences.  Now he’s up to five word sentences, the first of which was the one referenced in the quote above.  But as smart as he is trying to be, the simple process of eating guacamole is not something easily mastered.  Or maybe he just doesn’t want to master it.

Now that we have found ourselves needing an extra bedroom, the office is being cleaned out in preparation for it’s conversion.  We bought a desk over the holidays to put in a room downstairs, and I’m happy to report that James was constantly hovering around to help.  His primary contribution was to take important pieces and misplace them, but he’s trying to help.  Ashlyn contributed by turning the packing materials into “snow” and showing James how to throw it all over the room.  Thankfully, we have a good vacuum.

Our annual holiday party with the college crowd was this weekend, so I lugged the kids up to McKinney for some post-holiday festivies.  It’s funny to see how all grown up we’ve become, instead of whiskey and wine, it was dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets and scotch.  Oh how far we’ve come.  The kids did well, Ashlyn even got out of her shyness and played with the other girls there.  James met a new friend, Sophia, who’s father has already given his blessing on their future wedding.  Congrats James.

And because these are the moments that define why we love being parents, here is Ashlyn and James being brother and sister.  Whether it’s in the ball pit (thanks Santa!) or a box, they always find ways to turn things into a game that both have fun playing.  I can’t get enough of this.