Puddle Jumping

After a few pretty days of sunshine, we had a long few days of rain.  And in our neighborhood, that means ditches full of water!! 

In an effort to get out of the house during the 5 o'clock witching hour, we came home from school/work one day, changed into boots, and went out on a puddle jumping adventure.

Thomas is on a big rain boot kick right now.  He was so excited to put his on he couldn't be bothered with pants.  Hey, one less thing for me to have to wash, amiright?

Katie Wynn had a slight freak out when some water got on her hands and pants.  I had to talk her down and tell her that's what happens when you splash in puddles.

Thomas had no problems going splashing!

Proof that Mommy wore boots and participated too.  (So did Daddy, but he's not pictured.)

The kids waded through the deep ditch water...

...and stomped in the shallow puddles.

Katie Wynn came along to the idea of getting wet and before long, was trying to stomp so hard that the splashes reached her face.  

And then....  well, we knew this was coming, right?  You just haven't experienced childhood until you've squished mud between your toes.

We walked back home with bare feet, wet pants, and a soggy diaper.  Everyone got a good hose-down before going inside!

Baths were required before dinner, but the puddle jumping adventure was worth it!

Golf Coursing

If you've tried to visit the blog over the last few days, you may have noticed that it was down.  There was a bit of panic from me as I thought I had lost everything, but my friend Matt is awesome and was able to get us back up and running.  And everything is still here.  Thank goodness!!!

I was in the middle of this post when things went down.  We have had some really pretty days this month and for one of them, we took the kids out to the golf course.  The objective was to let them run, run, run!  (And then hopefully they would sleep, sleep, sleep!)

The Easter Bunny packed these cute golf cart tees in their baskets and they were so excited to get to wear them to go "golf-coursing."  That phrase was coined by niece, Bren, when she was younger and it has stuck with me and Matt.  :)  The tees are from Honey Bee Tees and I highly recommend you check them out if you like soft, colorful t-shirts with cute, simple drawings.  They have stuff for both kids and adults!

I think Matt thought he might actually get to play a hole or two while we were there, but that's not really possible when little hands keep picking up your ball and help to get it in the hole.

My three favorite people in one photo.

Obviously I have to take a billion photos when they're in matching clothes.  :)

There's a cat that lives at the golf course that is appropriately named Callaway.  Thomas can spot it from a mile away.  He yells "Kih-Cah!" and starts running towards it.  Callaway is nice enough to give them a second to pet her before running off.

There was a night the following week where we didn't have anything for dinner so we went back out to the club to eat.  Katie Wynn insisted that they wear their golf course shirts again.  This is great because I love for them to match.  This is bad because if they wear these every time we go out there, people are going to think they only own one shirt. 

They hung around outside - literally - until our dinner was ready to eat.  

I have a feeling there will be many more of these trips to the golf course this summer.  Let's just hope I can convince them to wear different clothes occasionally!

Halloween Week

It's hard to believe that Halloween 2015 has already come and gone!  What a busy week it was.  Part of me was really dreading trick-or-treating this year since our kids are so clingy and shy, but they both did it like champs.  It ended up being so much fun!

I had every intention of letting Katie Wynn paint a pumpkin this year (didn't think she was quite ready for carving yet) but we never got around to it.  We did, though, decorate a pumpkin with some nail head polka dots.  (Idea from Katie Bower.) She loved every minute of it and was actually really good at hammering the nails.  And I, of course, loved that it didn't make a mess!

The week leading up to Halloween was dress up week at daycare.  Each day was a different theme.  The week started off with hat day on Monday.

Tuesday was crazy mismatched clothes.  It's the hardest day for me because you know I like things that match.

Wednesday was pajama day which is sometimes frustrating to me since I spend every other day of the year saying, "No, you can't wear your pajamas to school!" 

Thursday was Breast Cancer Awareness day and they were supposed to wear pink.  No pictures before school because I was so frustrated that I couldn't find a pink shirt for Thomas to wear.  So he didn't participate.  Maybe next year.

Friday was Halloween party day and costume day.  Katie Wynn helped me make little "Bugs and Kisses" bags for their classmates.  

Can you tell which Crayon was more cooperative for pictures that morning?  Also, how appropriate is that rug they're standing on?

Guess who was not super excited to be included in the dressing up this year...

That's right, this year's Halloween theme was a family affair.  Good thing Matt is always such a good sport.  :)

With rainy weather all morning, we really didn't know if we'd be able to trick or treat or not but I talked it up with Katie Wynn anyway.  We practiced saying "Trick or Treat!" and I told her that she wouldn't get candy if she didn't say it to whoever answered the door.  She looked at me and said, "I will do it!"  I told that story to both my mom and nephew, Jett, and asked if they thought she'd actually do it.  Without hesitation, they both said "NO!" 

Well guess what, she actually did it!  Our first stop was Mimi and Poppy's house and she marched right up like she knew exactly what to do.  T-Man was hot on her heels.

When Mimi and Poppy FINALLY answered the door, she yelled "TRICK OR TREAT!" as loud as she could.  :)  And Thomas was so excited that they both got candy!  (We originally didn't even have him a bucket but quickly realized he'd need his own when he saw her get candy and pushed his way in for some.)

From there we went over to the Schwartz's house for chili and hot dogs and to wait for it to get a little bit darker.  Our neighborhood has LOTS of houses but the lots are big so it's too spread out for the kids to just walk door to door.  We were fortunate to be invited to tag along with some friends who had a trailer to pull between houses.  The kids loved the "hayride" and climbing off and on it.

Glow sticks for safety!

I think this was the best way to do it - KW seemed to have confidence with her buddies with her.  Hopefully we'll get to do it again this way next year!

On our trailer we had a gangster, Tinkerbell, a UPS man, a pink crayon (and a blue one not pictured) and Coach Ditka.  And two adult crayon boxes.  :)

The only catastrophe of the night was that the pink crayon hat went missing for a while, but it was eventually recovered after some retracing of our steps!  

Our kids both crashed HARD when we got home.  I was hopeful that they'd forget about the piles of candy they got, but Katie Wynn's first words that morning were, "I want some candy for bwek-fess."  Maybe next year we'll tell them we ate their candy for Jimmy Kimmel.

12 Month Photos

At the time of writing this, Thomas is 17 months old.  At the time of this photo session, he was 13 months old.  So, we were a little behind on having his one-year photo shoot and I'm even more behind on posting the shots.  Oops.

I've mentioned this in another post but before Thomas was born, we purchased a "First Year" photography package with Lisa Mac of LMac Studio.   The package included four photo shoots - a newborn session, one at 4 months, one at 8 months, and the finale 1 year session.  (Click those links to see the pictures from our past sessions!)

For this last session with Lisa, I asked if we could do some full family photos.  I really wanted some good ones of us all together.  We couldn't get it worked out to have the big kids with us too, but I still wanted some of the other four of us.  During the days leading up to our appointment, I fretted over coordinating outfits for us all to wear.  When we finally arrived, I had three complete sets of clothing for all of us to wear together plus more for each of the kids.

Matt and I never changed clothes.  Why?  Because our kids would not cooperate at all!  We set up for pictures outside...in July...so it was really hot.  Combine the heat with two kids that couldn't peel themselves off of us and it was a bit of a disaster!  But Lisa Mac is so awesome that she still managed to get some good, usable photos.  (All photo credits go to Lisa Mac, obviously.)

This one is my favorite group photo, I think.

I like this one too but wish Thomas was looking at the camera with the rest of us.  I don't even care that they're not smiling (typical!).

See what I mean by clingy, shy kiddos?  Can you see us sweating?

At least she got a smile out of Thomas with this action shot!

But, while that smile above is cute, I think this one is my favorite of him!  That pouty frown!!  And those blue eyes.  Can you see why he gets away with everything?!

Sadly, that's all we got outside.  We were hot and had had enough so we headed back to Lisa's studio.  And we only had a few minutes left so I picked just one outfit for them to take pictures in (so much for all the time I spent laying clothes out!).  

I absolutely love these pictures.  They wouldn't cooperate enough to take a picture together (shocking!) so I asked Lisa to just try to get similar shots of them that I could hang together.  And with all of us standing on our heads and singing every silly song we know, we eventually got a smile out of Katie Wynn!

Of the bottom two, which would you pick to hang next to Thomas's?  The sweet, serious face or the silly grin?  

I have actually already had these printed out, I'm just dragging my feet on getting frames for them!  Hopefully they'll be on the wall before Thomas is two...

Children's Museum!

A couple of weekends ago, Mom and I took the kids to the Children's Museum.  Katie Wynn had been only one other time when she was really too little to enjoy it, and this was Thomas's first time ever.  They both LOVED it!  

In typical fashion, Katie Wynn was a bit shy and hesitant at first, but she was running all over the place in no time.  We stayed all morning and even had lunch there.  Know what that means?  Good afternoon naps!

Busted!  Headed to jail in the cop car.

We spent a long time in the toddler area because everything was perfectly sized for them.  They loved watching all the other kids their ages too.

Thomas LOVED the slide!

By far, the highlight was definitely the mini grocery store.  I loved it too when I was little!  Is it any surprise that "they" had to check out multiple times with those super cool cash registers?! :)

Even with so many toys and attractions everywhere, it was this floor fan that I had to drag Thomas away from so that we could go home.  He was obsessed with it!

I think there were a few spots we missed, and we didn't even venture outside to the playground and splash pad.  It's a good thing we purchased a membership because we'll definitely have to go back.  Hopefully soon!