Ladybugs, beds, and rain…

"How brave a ladybug must be!  Each drop of rain is big as she.
Can you imagine what you'd do, If raindrops fell as big as you?"
-Aileen Fisher

To help curb our garden’s aphid infestation and provide some educational fun for the kids, we decided to combat our pests with ladybugs instead of chemicals.  A few days after ordering, 1500 ladybugs showed up on our doorstep.  They were released into the garden to great fanfare from the kiddos, and we now have a swarm of ladybugs flying everywhere.

As the new arrival’s delivery date nears, it was time to dig into the attic this weekend to get all the baby stuff down.  It was mostly successful, but when we heard some strange noises coming from the boxes we found this:

While Ashlyn regressed 4 years, James made yet one more step towards being a big kid by giving up his crib and sleeping on a mattress bed.  We weren’t sure if he was going to take to it so Mom bought some Elmo sheets (his favorite) and made up a bed on the floor.  Luckily, he did.  Well, sort of.  He still feels that sleep is highly over-rated, so he fussed for a bit as usual.  But when he was done fussing, he crawled in bed, played for a few minutes, and went to sleep.  Now we can get him a real bed and move the crib into the baby’s room.

Kids are great on summer rainy days.  They don’t have the aversion to getting wet like adults, so all you have to do is open the door and the kids are off running through the grass and rain. 

Next week James turns 2!

James’ second party and a Father’s Day realization…

“Men should always change diapers. It’s a very rewarding experience. It’s mentally cleansing. It’s like washing dishes, but imagine if the dishes were your kids, so you really love the dishes.”
—Chris Martin

We held James’ second birthday party a few weeks early this year, and preparations came to a fever pitch in the days leading up to the festivities.  Luckily we had some good help and I’m pleased to report that most of the food and desserts survived and were ready by party time.

The party day arrived and the family came over to celebrate our little guy turning 2 with a Star Wars themed fiesta.  Everyone had a great time, especially James who’s highlights were balloons and a kitten (not a gift thankfully).  Thanks everyone for making it a special birthday.

Kids have the amazing ability to never need recovery time, so they were both up bright and early the next day.  The weather was fantastic, and we had the kids outside a good portion of the afternoon playing with bubbles and a new water toy that Nina and Papa gave James for his birthday.

This post wouldn’t be complete without saying something about Father’s Day.  After the recent events in California (not good) I was reading about it and saw an interesting quote from a father who, after learning as much as he could about the story, said “I started reading because I had a daughter, I kept reading because I had two sons.”  Given the proximity to Father’s Day, it made me think about the importance a father plays in the how their children will see the world when they grow up, especially in their relationships.  Dad’s are their daughter’s first love, and it’s from this that the foundation of trust is born.  And it’s from their fathers that sons learn how to respect and love their partners.  It’s a humbling thing to realize, and I can only hope that I can teach them well.  No pressure, right?

Rock and Roll and a giraffe slide…

"Rock and roll is the hamburger that ate the world."
-Peter York

We met a someone this weekend as we were walking around the neighborhood.  She immediately fell in love with the kids and later brought by a guitar and microphone for them to play with.  Since then James has been walking around asking “where my rock and roll go?”, which is the name he uses for the microphone and stand.  We’re not sure where he learned what rock and roll is, but he seems to like it.

These kids love to slide, and will make a slide out of pretty much anything.  This week it was a giraffe and a sofa.  Those are some of the moments we like best, when the kids play creatively together.  Unfortunately, it usually ends with one kid mad at the other, but you have to take the good with the not so good I suppose.

And because we’re fortunate that we have more good than bad, here are more pictures of good.  This is about all we we had time to take this week since we’re getting ready for James’ birthday party next weekend.

Fruit, slides, and chickens…

"You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is."
-Will Rogers

One of the great things about spring and summer is the fresh fruit that fills our house.  Whether its from our own garden, the farmer’s market, or Grandma’s garden, the kids always enjoy it.  This week it was freshly picked blackberries from Grandma and Grandpa’s.

You may recall from last week that we have a kiddy pool in the backyard.  This week our enterprising young children turned the playhouse slide into a water slide.  It looks like it hurt, but the kids went down it over and over again.  The grass must be softer than I thought.

Sunday was Amy’s graduation party (congrats Amy!) and we all got together and her house to celebrate.  The kids swam and fed chickens, which isn’t something you often get to do at the same outing.  Best of luck Amy at Houston, we’re proud of you!