Mud, yard work, and a cookie…

"I see a moon!
Where?
Behind you."
-James

I believe this marks the first quote at the top of the blog from our little James, but I could be mistaken.  At any rate, I felt it was appropriate to quote James as his talking has turned from a scattering of words to something resembling actual conversation, albeit not an intellectually challenging one.

In non-verbal news, it can be dangerous to let two children go play outside without supervision.  It’s not that they do anything dangerous, but sometimes you’ll let them outside thinking they are playing in the sandbox only see this when you look out the back door window:

Luckily Mom is a treasure trove of children’s activities, most of which do not involve piles of mud, and so the next day when the kids were outside (with a cleaned dress for Ashlyn) they were able to play without requiring a bath right after.

And sometimes you just don’t want to play, you just want to chill out with Mom.

The Spring yard work has begun, and as always the kids were out with their version of “help”.  This involved one handful of grass being put in the wheelbarrow, and five handfuls of grass coming back out.

Sunday brought a visit to Nina and Papa’s and some play time with Cousin Ben.  I love the top right picture of Ashlyn, I have never seen a girl with a cookie looked so determined. 

Spring, cake, and paint…

"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn."
-Hal Borland

Spring is officially here now, and we had a few nice days where the kids could get outside and play.  Ashlyn really likes to get James sliding at the same time as her and James is usually supportive of the idea.  So far only a few injuries have resulted from the activity.  In other Ashlyn news, she’s starting to come out of her shell a little bit.  She hasn’t broken down at gymnastics in over three weeks, is cleaning up her room, and is really looking forward to being a big sister to the new baby.

Frozen came out this week and Ashlyn has been waiting “patiently” since it arrived.  I didn’t realize it had so much music in it, and I think the kids were inspired based on the amount of dancing that occurred in the living room after the movie.

This weekend Mom had a craving for chocolate cake.  I learned a long time ago that’s not safe to get between a pregnant wife and a food craving, especially when it involves chocolate.  Luckily I had some help.  Ashlyn must have learned the same lesson I did, she only snuck away one spoonful of chocolate icing before putting the rest on the cake.

After being cooped up in the house in the morning due to the weather, the kids doubled up on the outdoor fun in the afternoon when Mom made some paint out of various kitchen products.  It started off innocently enough but before we knew it the kids were painting on the house, the windows, and eventually themselves.   Luckily it was washable and everything was clean after a spray and a bath (spray for the house, bath for the kids).

Tattoos, rain, and the girl voting bloc…

"A Daughter:  The companion, the friend, and the confidant of her mother,
and the object of a pleasure something like the love between the angels to her father."
-Richard Steele

Monday night was tattoo night.  Ashlyn jumped right in and got a flower on her hand.  James was a little more cautions, but after some coaching from big sister he warmed up to the idea.  Right after it was done, he rubbed it off.  I hope this is not an indication of how they will differ in college.

We continue to be encouraged by the way the two kids play together.  Sure, they have their rough spots (especially when they are hungry) but as far as brother and sisters go we could do much, much worse.  After enjoying some cantaloupe in the backyard and the messy pants were removed the two siblings came inside and danced until they were dizzy.  Those are the moments that make us look forward to a house with three laughing kids.  Time to stock up on food.

Spring is here so we thought it would be a good time to plant some seeds in the garden.  The kids, ever helpful, joined in on the fun.  Ashlyn did a good job laying the seeds out and patting down the dirt.  James decided he would contribute by picking up a long PVC pipe and almost hitting everyone while he swung it around.  He was a bit more helpful when they came back inside, we actually got them to do some dishes.  Could this be the start of having kids doing useful things in the house?

With Spring comes Spring rains, and the first of the warm rains was a reason to get outside and play.  Ashlyn re-learned the joys of jumping in puddles, James did his best to splash just as much as Ashlyn, and our vines played an impromptu game of tug-o-war.  The vines won by the way.

It’s at this point in the post that I was going to mention something about a shift in the balance of power in the Flinn house, as we learned on Friday that we will be graced with our second baby girl.  So James and I will be officially outnumbered.  I said “I was going to mention something about a shift…” because that would imply the boys had power prior to the new baby girl.  But who am I kidding?  Here’s a brief clip of the new baby playing with her feet and rolling over.

The new baby playing with feet and turning over.

Now that we know the gender, it’s time to pick a name.  This is the part we never expected to be so hard.  You can’t pick names that others have used, you can’t pick names suggested by others, you can’t pick names of famous pop starts, etc.  That pretty much leaves Gertrude and Betty as the only two available names.  Time to flip a coin.

A couch and a fairy kingdom…

"Come faeries, take me out of this dull world,
for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame."
-W.B. Yeats

Brandi, one of Mom’s good friends from college, came in town this week to visit and paint a mural on the wall in Ashlyn’s new room.  We were shocked when Ashlyn said she wanted fairies, so Brandi used her artistic talents to bring a fairy tree to life in the new room, complete with Ashlyn’s name spelled out in wooden letters.  There’s even a fairy carrying the last letter up to the tree.  Needless to say, Ashlyn loves her new room.  Carpet is next, which will not be near as exciting.  Thanks Brandi for making Ashlyn’s room come alive!

With friends in town we thought it would be fun to make pizzas.  Ashlyn was the chef for the Flinn pizzas, and I have to say she did a really good job.  Mom liked the pizzas Ashlyn made better than the ones that we made.  While the pizzas were cooking, Ashlyn flew and James ran around causing trouble.

On Sunday we got to visit Nina, Papa, and baby Lilly for a bit.  And afterwards it was time for family movie night on the new media room couch.  The kids love that new couch, it’s like a fort, bed, and indoor trampoline all in one.