Summer Friends

There are a few girls that stay next door with their grandmother during the summer months. They're just a few years older than the twins, and they love to come over and play with the them.

The neighbors have a small pool, so the kids have been over there a lot, too. It's been nice because they haven't been into swimming that much. It would be nice to know they can swim since we love being around water as often as we can. It's also been strange having the kids have "friends." They've always had kids they've played with, but now they run out of the house the minute other kids are outside. Please don't grow up too fast!!!

First Snowfall

The first day of December also brought our first snowfall of the season. It's always a bit of a shock to me to come shuffling out of my bedroom in the morning to see the yard, trees, and everything in sight covered with snow. It always seems too early.

But, as you can see from the kids' faces, they weren't shocked at all. They were all too excited to get decked out in snow gear, ready mostly, to eat as much snow as they could.

I was surprised how long they stayed out in the snow. It was at least an hour. I braved the cold in my bathrobe to snap a few shots of them from off the deck.

We hadn't brought in the old sandbox or water table, so Jared had loads of  fun hacking away at the ice with a golf club. Unfortunately, the snow melted quickly, so they kids were disappointed they couldn't make a snowman yet; that didn't try to stop them from shovelling or even raking the snow.

How much do your kids love the snow?

Fall Leaf Fight

Its hard to believe it's time to rake leaves when it seems like yesterday my husband took out the lawn mower for the first time since winter. Now the first snowfall is not too far off. And yet, you can see from the pictures, Alexa is sleeveless so we're savoring the few warm days left.

I just had to grab the camera and head outside when Steve told me the kids were about to jump into their first pile of leaves of the season.

Soon Steve and I got in leaf-jumping mood, too. I did ok, and even let the kids bury me, but after getting little bits of leaves stuck in my eyes, I was ready for a break. Still, I find I like the fall season more and more, especially since I've had kids. There are just so many fun, wonderful experiences to be had.

Cute October Pics

Lots of our usual pretend play going strong in October. Here's Jared wearing his pirate hat and holding his new bow and arrow set.

One day when they were in one of their dress up moods, the kids came up with these identities: Shoe/Hat Man and Pull-Up Lady.  I guess those old pull-ups lying around are still good for something!

Jared just looked so cute in his handyman set that I had to include it here.

I rarely see them lying still together at the same time. I just love their little faces!

That long silver stretched-out thing used to be a vacuum hose attached to the dryer. We had to have our dryer repaired and had put the old hose out by the trash. After the kids had been playing outside for a while, I peeked outside the window to check on them and found that they had unraveled the entire thing and stretched it from the garage  to the house. They said it was their trap for the bad guys to trip them up if they came near the house.

I love when the kids find things around the house and arrange them in different ways to create something new. Alexa took straws, Jared's bows and some popsicle sticks and called me in the kitchen to show me the bird she had made. Then a little while later she used the same things to make a shark.

Rhythm & Blues in the Park

It's always hard when Steve goes out of town for work, but last night ( the 14th) we took our minds off missing Daddy by having dinner with my friend M and listening to a great band perform in the park.

At first it was chill-out time on the lawn chairs,

but pretty soon the kids were up and running around the pavilion. For some reason, Jared didn't want to eat hamburgers at M's house earlier, but he sure had no problem eating this free hot dog. He actually almost ate the entire thing - something highly unusual.

There was some dancing, a little singing, and a whole lot of running around. The band, Chicago Express, played a nice selection of oldie R & B cover songs like Sweet Home Chicago. I think Alexa had the most fun playing with 3 month old baby R.

After five or six songs, the kids were ready to head to the playground. It was a hot, sticky day and everyone was soon all sweaty and dirty, but we sure had a lot of fun!

Random Summer Fun

Here are a few random moments from the past few weeks.

Jared's been very into putting together different "mummy ghost" costumes. I think he's perfected it with this one. The pirate hat and his sister's white tights do the trick.

An impromptu science experiment. One day the food coloring was out, and Jared poured it in some water. I took out the vegetable oil to see how the coloring would dissolve in that liquid.

A fun game of Scooby-Doo Memory and Popsicles.

A request for hard-boiled eggs for lunch.

I walked in the living room one day to see Alexa stamping Jared all over. Yeah - he had taken off all his clothes, so it literally was all over.

Hula-hooping....

...and bouncing basketballs with Daddy.

Lots of bike riding.

Giving his dinosaurs a bath.

Helping me stir seasonings for the pot roast.

And snake love.

Summer Fun With Friends

In the past few weeks, we've spent a lot of time hanging out with friends. I think it's the hot weather and just wanting to be out in the sun more. On the 6th we met up with a family, who now lives in South Carolina, at a nearby playground. They are a military family, so it was interesting to catch up on what they are up to. They have a son who is almost three months older than the twins, a 7 year old, 9 year old and 10 year old.

We didn't stay long, since my kids started to get very whiny and wanted to go home, but for the time we did have, it was good to catch up.

When I was putting together this post, I wanted to include our fun day at my friend M's house, but I can't find the pictures anywhere! I must have deleted them somehow, and it makes me feel horrible. We went over the morning of the 7th, and it was great just to relax in her backyard while the kids splashed in their little pool (except Jared, that is. For some reason, he didn't want his suit on that day. He did get a little wet before we left for home). Splash pads and big swimming pools are great fun, but it's also nice to have a nice low-key day of just backyard picnics and splashing fun.

On the morning of the 9th, we walked next door to my neighbor's yard for a pancake breakfast. Both kids love to visit other people's home, and they had been asking my neighbor when they could come over for a few weeks (which, I must admit, made me a bit embarrassed). So, it was so sweet of her to invite us over for a pancake breakfast. The kids rode their bikes over and ate at the little picnic table with their 14 month old daughter.

They climbed all over the little play house, bounced a beach ball to each other, and rode around the yard while I had a great time talking with the neighbors.

And just two day ago, we met with two families at a favorite park for a picnic. There were supposed to be a lot more, but most people didn't show up for some reason, but my kids like smaller settings anyways. They can be very social in a small group, but tend to get shy around crowds.

They haven't been digging the regular playground equipment when we go to parks lately, so after about ten minutes on the equipment, they wanted to go feed the ducks. The other families were still eating, so we headed out by ourselves to the creek.

At first we found one lonely duck who quickly ate up the two pieces of bread we had brought.

Then we found a spot where someone had left half a loaf of French bread all torn up. Soon the creek was littered with floating pieces of bread.

We followed the creek bed up a ways and finally spotted the rest of the ducks.

The kids were really excited to spot a mother duck with six ducklings. She let us get really close to the babies. Jared and Alexa wanted to pick up the ducklings, I think they were remembering their time at the farm this spring, but I convinced them that these ducks were wild, and the mother duck would most likely bite them if they tried.

We walked back to the playground to get our blanket. Only the one mom with her two year old son was still there, so we told them about the ducklings, and they headed down with us to see them. We didn't stay that long, but it was such a treat to interact with the cute, adorable creatures.