A party and lots of outdoor play…

"Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!'"
-Robin Williams

Ashlyn had another birthday party this weekend and she requested Daddy take her to it.  It was a fun party with lots of kids, candy, cupcakes, ice cream, and other sugary treats that made Ashlyn difficult to buckle in afterwards due to all the bouncing.  She slept well that night though!

The weather has been fantastic which is good because we've needed to keep all the doors and windows open to help air out the house after it was painted.  The kids for their part have wasted no time in finding fun games to play together.  Miraculously, no children were hurt.

Isla helped clean up a bit, but soon enough everyone was back outside again.  This time on the trampoline where Mom got in on the action.  Now that the house is getting put back together, we hope to be back in our normal routine soon!

Happy birthday Mommy!

"A birthday is just another day where you go to work and people give you love. Age is just a state of mind, and you are as old as you think you are. You have to count your blessings and be happy."
-Abhishek Bachchan

These next few weeks are going to be a little shorter than normal while we get the house painted.  We’ve been pushing it off waiting for the kids to get older but decided to go ahead and do it now since the kids don’t seem to be too interested in drawing all over the walls.  Now that I’ve said this, I expect pictures in a few weeks of large drawings covering our newly painted walls.

This week may be shorter in pictures, but it was still a great week.  Why?  It was Mommy’s birthday!  Grandpa came over to celebrate with us the night of her actual birthday and we enjoyed some steaks, potatoes, and multiple deserts.  The kids had fun giving her presents and Isla enjoyed wearing one.

 

We forget sometimes that being in gymnastics is keeping Ashlyn more flexible than she would otherwise be.  We walked into the living room to see her practicing her splits.  It pained me to see but Ashlyn doesn’t seem to be bothered by it. 

 

Grandma, who was out of town for Heather’s birthday, came over on Saturday for more dinner and a belated celebration.  We enjoyed some fantastic shrimp and spent the rest of the evening playing outside in the great spring weather.

 

Happy birthday Mommy!!

Field Day² and a campout…

"It always rains on tents.  Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent."
-Dave Barry

Field day was this week and Ashlyn went all out.  I wasn’t able to attend but Mom tells me she won almost all the events she competed in and even beat the boys who were brave enough to race her.  That’s my girl!

She had so much fun at field day that she decided to hold her own event back home.  James and Ashlyn proceeded to have a sack race and spoon race while Isla cheered them on.

There’s not much to say about these next two pictures.  Isla learned how to blow bubbles and it was the greatest thing she had ever done in her entire life.  It’s always amazed me how such a simple thing as bubbles can bring so much joy to a child.

I’ve been wanting to take the kids camping for a while now but we haven’t been able to because we kept making new humans.  So instead of going somewhere to camp we setup a tent in the backyard.  We made s’mores over a roaring fire, rolled out the blankets and slept to the soothing sounds of the wind and cars traveling down highway 121.  Surprisingly, the kids went right to sleep and slept through the night other than James running inside one time to use the restroom.  This bodes well for a future camping experience.

A moth, party, seeds, and a quarter…

"Between our birth and death we may touch understanding, As a moth brushes a window with its wing."
-Christopher Fry

Ashlyn found a moth outside that was content to sit on her finger for a while.  This was one of the most amazing moments ever from what we can tell, and Ashlyn was sad when it was time to let the moth go outside.  She was so moved by her new friend’s departure she drew several pictures, which is both touching and a little sad.  She’s never once made a picture about missing me when I go to work, I guess I’m a few steps down from a moth.

Spring is here, time to plant the year’s fruits and vegetables that may or may not produce anything edible.  No matter what happens the kids always have fun planting the seeds and they seem to enjoy promising to help water and pick weeds.  They never seem to enjoy doing any actual watering or weed picking though.

While the girls were planting, James and I went to a birthday party at the Perot museum.  As always, the highlight of the trip was the escalator and we ended up walking down the stairs from the 4th floor to the 1st several times so James could ride the escalator back up.  When it was done, James got to splash around in the water.  He was fast asleep before the car was out of downtown.

The next day we played out front and Isla lost her special quarter under the car.  Our little Isla is not one to let a small thing like two tons of steel get in the way and before we knew it she was completely under the car.  We finally coaxed her out and sure enough, the quarter was in her hand.  That’s Isla for ya.

If only she had Super James and Super Ashlyn nearby, maybe they could have helped.