A park and a walk…

"I do not like plaid...  is this plaid?" (referencing plaid shorts that he liked and put on)
-James

I’ve started to begin these blog posts with pictures of the kids playing together.  I like these kinds of pictures and I think I’m going to be doing this each week from here on out assuming it’s not a week of in-fighting. 

The Aggies have continued their undefeated season with an overtime win this weekend.  I’m pretty sure the win can be attributed to Isla cheering the Ags on in our living room.

A local park was recently renovated and we though we would enjoy the wonderful fall weather by packing up the kids and checking it out.  They loved that park and I don’t think there was a single spot that wasn’t explored.  Even Isla got in on the mix.

A

And speaking of Isla, she’s progressed far enough in her walking already that we are counting distance instead of steps.  So far her farthest is distance is across the living room.

A walk and the end of summer…

"By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer's best of weather And autumn's best of cheer."
-Helen Hunt Jackson

The relationship between siblings varies by the day, sometimes they get along great and other days it takes almost nothing to set them against each other.  Luckily for us there are more happy times than bad.  This week Ashlyn wanted to dress like Isla and spend time with her little sister.  James didn’t want to wear a matching outfit and felt a “#1 Brother” shirt would be sufficient to show his support.

I have very little to say about these next two pictures.  When we told Ashlyn that summer was officially ending she decided to run off and get her winter gear ready.  I wasn’t aware that a multi-color skirt and hats for shoes was part of a fall/winter outfit, but what do I know.  I may be out of touch with kids fashion.

 

This weekend was the annual walk to support St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.  Our family is a proud supporter of this amazing organization and we had a great time out at the walk.  I didn’t take many pictures during the walk itself because I had my hands full with the kiddos, but I was able to take a few pictures right after.  Don’t ask me why there were Storm Troopers and Tie Fighter pilots out there but it made for a fun picture.

Summer is ending but that means the weather is becoming perfect for being outdoors.  The kids have been asking to clean off the trampoline for awhile now but the mesh has been too hot.  Not anymore, so out we went with soap and bucket in hand.

I’ll end with a snapshot into a typical nighttime routine at our house.  This can vary slightly from evening to evening but the steps below are mostly true for a normal night:

1. Get kids a snack of fruit before bed
2. Tell kids they have 2 minutes before we go upstairs
3. Kids sit there and continue doing whatever they are doing
4. Tell kids it’s time to go upstairs
5. Kids say they are still hungry
6. Ask kids why they didn’t tell me earlier
7. Kids only say they are still hungry, with no explanation as to why they didn’t tell me earlier
8. Tell kids it’s too late, naively thinking this will teach them a lesson for future evenings even though I’ve taught them this lesson for months
9. Get kids upstairs
10. Ashlyn brushes her teeth while James debates on what kind of toothpaste he wants
11. Start brushing James’ teeth only to learn it was the wrong toothpaste, brush teeth anyway naively thinking this will teach him a lesson for future brushings
12. Fight with James for 5 minutes to pick out PJ’s only for him to put on the first pair of PJ’s he pulled out of the drawer
13. Start to read books to kids
14. Kids spend 30 seconds listening and then proceed to make jumping forts out of Ashlyn’s bean bag chair and pink sitting chair
15. Continue to finish books to even though nobody is listening
16. Tell kids it’s time for bed
17. Kids tell me they want to read books
18. Tell kids we just read books
19. Kids say they will pay attention this time
20. Tell kids no, it’s time for bed naively thinking this will teach them a lesson for future book readings
21. Get Ashlyn to bed
22. Get James to his room
23. Read book to James
24. Turn off light
25. Read another book to James
26. Leave room
27. Go back in room because Nala is in his room
28. Go back in room because his blanket is on the wrong way
29. Go back in room because his blanket “fell” off
30. Go back in room because James saw a bug at school and wants to tell me about it
31. James finally goes to sleep

Parks and birthday parties…

"Party hard, make mistakes, laugh endlessly. Do things you're afraid to do. After all, you're only young once."
-Unknown

Summer is coming to a close and the weather this weekend was fantastic.  It would have been a shame to waste it by being inside, so off to the park we went.  Isla, as it turns out, loves slides and it’s a struggle to keep her from climbing up while other kids are sliding down.  Ashlyn and James are gaining more and more confidence and seem perfectly content to run to the play area as soon as van doors are opened.  It wasn’t too long ago that they would stay close and only go up on equipment if we went with them.

Ashlyn was also invited to her first Kindergarten birthday party.  Unlike previous parties the parents didn’t participate.  Instead, they stood off to the side and let the kids play amongst themselves.  Ashlyn has, without any doubt, come a long way from the little girl who would cry when someone clapped for her.

We capped the weekend off at the kids’ favorite restaurant.  It’s good they like Chili’s since we can eat there free, it’s the only place they want to go.

Summer is drawing to a close…

"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy."
-Anton Chekhov

Ashlyn plays with Isla quite a bit but James doesn’t get the opportunity to play with his little sister very often.  It’s great to see it when he does though.  This time it was a game where Isla would throw her cup on the floor and James would pick it back up for her.  This process repeated multiple times with lots of laughter on both sides.

Isla is up to around five steps now and she’s excited about her accomplishment.  So much so that she’ll take her shoes down from rack and try to put them on.

And then other times she would rather play with a large blue bowl.

With the impending of summer we thought it would be good to get the kids in the water while it’s still warm outside.  The water activities started with a trip out to Bedford splash which is a great place to take the younger kids.  Isla, James, and Ashlyn all had a great time splashing and sliding.

We finished the watery fun by taking a trip to Nina and Papa’s.  Once again the kids had fun splashing and jumping.  It was finished off with a banana split and pudding.  These kids don’t know how good they have it.