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!

A pool and another pool…

"You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor."
-Aristotle

When it became warm enough for the kids to realize they could be splashing in water outside, Ashlyn started asking for the blowup dragon pool that we had last year.  Due to some unfortunate events completely out of my control, such as deciding to store it in the shed right next to the gardening tools, the poor dragon pool did not blow up it’s former glory.  Mom came to the rescue and ordered a new pool, and it was big hit with both the kids.

Ashlyn has extended her love of the Japanese Bento candy making kits to James.  This isn’t to say that she will let him have one of his own, but she will let him watch her do it and will even share some of the sugary goodness with him when it’s done.  I can’t say that we share the same love for the things as she does, but it’s become a great reward for her acting like a big girl.  This time it was for doing really well in gymnastics even with a new teacher.  Our little shy child is slowly but surely coming out of her shell and getting more comfortable in new situations.

Ashlyn was so proud of her gymnastics that she wanted to teach James how to do a few tricks.

Nina and Papa had the family over for a pool party on Sunday since it was a three day weekend.  Ashlyn did great in the pool and James showed off his sliding skills.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with the family and the kids had a great time too.  Ashlyn had so much fun she ended up spending the night.

Most importantly, today I want to say thanks.  To Uncle John and Uncle Scott, to PePa and Papa, thank you for your service to this country.  I’m incredibly proud to know each of you.

Outdoor fun and Main Street…

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
-George Bernard Shaw

The weather was absolutely perfect this week and our goal was to spend as little of it indoors as possible.  Luckily the kids had the same idea, and it was great to see them out playing together.

It was time for the pool to be filled once the temperature got high enough.  James put one foot in the tub and gave Mom a look like he thought he was breaking a rule by putting one foot in.  I guess he didn’t realize the whole point of the tub was for him to get in it.

While Uncle Scott and Uncle John were busy competing in their first Ironman Triathlon, we entertained the kids by taking them to the Grapevine Main Street festival.  We like going there because it’s close, practically free to enter, and it’s small enough that we can walk the entire street in minutes.  A big congratulations go out to the boys for completing the Iron Man, I honestly have no idea how they did it.  I got tired hitting refresh on the athlete tracker page on my phone, so the idea of swimming 2.4 miles, biking 116 miles, and running 26.2 miles seems absolutely crazy.

Sunday was a bit more relaxing, PePa came over for breakfast and the kids enjoyed more of the nice weather outside.