A little snow, a lot of fun

We only got about 2 inches but that didn't stop the them from having fun. And it is obvious why the school requires snow pants in school no matter how lite snow there is.

Backyard water fun

With highs consistently around 105-110 we need to find ways to amuse ourselves without the hassle of always going out. We've had a few friends over just to play in the backyard. Little M is always so good willing to do what everyone else is doing. He even lets his big brother use him as a target for his water gun.
We are hoping the drought isn't bad enough that our backyard activity doesn't get prohibited. The ponds and small lakes are dried up.

Trying our best to cool off

The weather is the same day after day after day. It's 102 during the day and 80 at night. Everyone breaks into a sweat the minute we step out the door. And our power bill....

So here are the kids trying to cool off. This was actually before noon when there is shade in the backyard and the water was still a little chilly. But somehow even Little M tolerated it. By 11:30 we had to come in because the sun was bearing on us.

Some backyard fun and random pictures

The girls, Little M and I played in the backyard for a bit after taking Big M to school. We bounced a beach ball around and then K and J helped Little M play with the basketball.

K helping Little M with the ball, or taking it away from him. I can't tell.



K guarding Little M.



J's 2nd boo boo on the exact same spot! She went nose first on the wood chips in the playground at school.



Playing water gun in the front yard. The front yard is nice and shady in the afternoon, which makes it perfect to play in even in the hot weather. It's really like a second backyard.



My carpet Lillies are finally blooming!



My little apricot rose. Love the color!



J is behind her paper doll fashion show.



K's fashion show is all about dresses, but she ran out of glamorous dresses with the third doll.



Big M showing his 2 front teeth that are about to fall out. They're pointing straight out!

Kindness Jar and Water Fight

The Easter Bunny do not visit our house. He's not such a big thing, unlike Santa. But we do love egg hunts and some presents because it is a special day after all. In fact, it's so special the kids get to start eating candy again after giving it up for Lent. As family, we decided that we would not eat candy. Instead we have a "Kindness Jar" that we fill up every time someone does something kind. After a week, K figured out that if she could at least put one Jelly Bean in when she says I love you to someone. Smart cookie. For Easter we finally get to eat all the candy we saved up and divided them equally. So it's a very special day indeed!

As an extra present, everyone got water balloon also and they were excited to try them out. Both J and K didn't want to get wet but after some explaining, K at least tolerated some wetness. J refused to get wet, but I think it's partly because she didn't feel well.

J is the one wearing a pair of shorts only, and it's Big M's pants at that. :)

backyard egg hunt

'mom vs the weeds' project

When we were looking for a house last spring, we wanted a decent yard that goes with the nice house. Unfortunately, it rarely came with both. When we found our house, it had an ok sized yard, but it had a play structure so we new it would work for us. The play structure had rubber mulch, but it also had weeds. While we were slowly moving, I tried to pull some of them in order to get them play-ready when we were completely moved. I found out it wasn't that easy.



The weeds had extensive web of roots. Pulling what came out easily wasn't going to cut it, and that it was going to be a big job with the temperature above 100. The hot weather meant the kids wasn't going to be out there anyway, so I only weeded when I could, which meant every few weeks.

But now that the cooler whether is here, I have decided to resume weeding. The grass is starting to yellow, which I'm hoping means the weeds wouldn't be growing as fast. So with my weapons of choice, I have decided to weed 30 minutes at a time at least once a week. It doesn't sound very much, but that's all I can manage. The inside of the house isn't all that well managed, so I can only steal time here and there.

So this is my project - "mom vs the weeds". My timeline isn't ambitious. I just want it cleared most of the way by next spring. The playground covers a 3rd of the backyard so I need to keep it usable. I will periodically update of my progress.

singing in the rain

Daddy and I are busy cleaning up, packing up, loading up, etc and this boy is busy having fun with the sprinkler.
Ah, to be four again.



Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Playtime

Daddy is currently having a phone interview with a company in Michigan so I took the kids outside to play. These kids currently have no volume control (do they ever?) and I know Daddy would appreciate the momentary peace.
The kids are having a tea party with bubbles in background.
(Thing 1 in purple, Thing 2 in pink)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

what does a boogie board and a pizza pan have in common?

As promised, I have videos of Daddy and Curious George enjoying the snow. As I mentioned previously, we don't have any sled. We don't even have proper snow attires, so when we got 6-8 inches of snow yesterday, we had to improvise.

Daddy took his boogie board and wrapped it with a lawn bag and duct tape. After dressing Curious George in 2 pairs of pants, 2 socks, rain boots, and 2 pairs of gloves (his regular fleece gloves and one of my leather gloves over it, that is now trashed), they were off to try the contraption.



Daddy had a hard time here, since Curious George had other ideas. He wanted to shovel the entire backyard, apparently. As you can see, the 'sled' seemed to work OK going up the little hill.



At first it looked like it was going to work, but then again, maybe not. This was funny while I was filming it nice and cozy inside the house. But I tell you, this just gets funnier and funnier every time I watch it!



Then it was the pizza pan's turn. It looks like this was my idea, but really, we have Daddy to thank for it. I just put it into action by handing him the pan. If you're not tearing up laughing hard by this point, you have a serious problem!

Daddy was determined to give Curious George an fun experience and he wasn't going to just give up just because we don't have a sled. Curious George actually had a lot of fun here!

Later that day, I took him out again and tried the cover of the sandbox (thanks to Daddy, again for this ingenious idea), but it still didn't work. The snow was too dry and fluffy and our hill is just too tiny.

Oh, the fun!

the twins' first snow experience

We have about 6-8 inches of snow today so the girls got to experience it for the first time. They almost didn't because they don't have any snow outfits or any other water resistant outfits, but thankfully, I still have Curious George's snow suit from 2 winters ago that he never even got to use.

While Curious George and Daddy were outside, I dressed the girls up one at a time. For shoes, I also found Curious George's rain boots which worked just fine.



Thing 2 was first. The way she just stood on the snow and not know what to do is the cutest thing ever. :-) But as soon as I took her back in, she wailed like she's never wailed before.



After a quick exchange of clothes, it was Thing 1's turn. You can hear Thing 2 throwing a fit in the background. Thing 1's snow experience was a bit shorter than Thing 2 since she's been wheezing lately. The cold makes her wheeze more so we had to be super quick.

I have videos of Curious George and Daddy's attempt to sled, but I will have to post that for tomorrow since it's pretty late. I have an 8am physical therapy appointment tomorrow and I must go to bed. Though more than likely, I may have to cancel. It's going to be super cold and being unstable with a bum knee it's not a good idea to be slippin' and slidin'. We'll shall see.

curiosity

Curious George and a broken bird house.

Thing 1 lines up her rocks.

Thing 2 finds a feather.

backyard fun

It's been warm these past few days, the kids are able to have fun in the backyard.


Notice the way Thing 1 calls her daddy to come get her. "Da!," she says.


Thing 2 finds Curious George's bucket of rocks and plays with it. She tries to count, but says letter sounds instead.


Curious George wants to put a bird house on the tree. The problem is, it's broken. But it doesn't matter, I guess. He is in his full "builder" mode, complete with goggles and his very own pint size real hammer.


Thing 1 joins Thing 2 to play with the rocks. I say, "one" and Thing 1 says "two" and Thing 2 says "three". :-)

taking advantage of the warmer weather

It's been so cold the past few weeks, we took advantage when it became warmer. We went outside to have some fun, even if it was cloudy.

Thing 1 in red, Thing 2 in white.

Curious George was busy loading the jeep that the girls took advantage and hopped on in.

Between the girls, they can make the jeep move. One on the steering wheel, the other on the pedal. It was a little scary to be in front of them taking pictures.

Thing 2 joins Daddy on the steps and wants to sit just like him.

And then Thing 1 joins the fun.
(Please pretend you didn't see the Christmas decoration that is still hanging on the front door, because we're doing the same)

What's going on here? Could it be a foreshadowing of Thing 1's teen-age years? Hmmmm.

Thing 1 decides to go down the steps and join Thing 2. These 2 must always have time together.

I want to be in the shot, but what's with Thing 2's face?

some more Memorial Day shananigans

Being the photographer, I rarely have a picture/video of me here...but I will grace you all with my loveliness on this one.



And here is Katie. No, she's not having a fit. She's just happy.

Memorial Day Picnic

On this video, you can hear Matty asking for a picnic. This is what we promised him: dinner out in the deck and some play time.

We had hotdogs and hamburgers and the twins had veggies and hotdog.

This is after dinner. The poor little ones were suffering from runny nose and cough. You can tell from Jojo's eyes (in the back) that she wasn't felling well.

Big brother shows his "water squirts".

The fight is ON!

lost in translation

This is from Memorial Day. It is time to get inside after our dinner, but Matty is just not ready so he negotiates for more playing time.