New Swingset

This past Saturday, Matt cranked out a new DIY project.  Now, it's not unusual for him to DIY something - he's pretty handy - but what made this project so totally awesome is that he came up with the idea all on his own and bought materials and carved out the time to make it - again, all on his own.  Y'all - this wasn't my idea.  I didn't have to beg.  There was no nagging from me.  No job supervision required.  No unsolicited suggestions or tweaks.  Just all Matt and his idea for something fun for the kids.  Isn't he the best daddy?

Basically he emailed me last Thursday and said "I think I'm going to buy this kit and build a swingset this weekend."  Umm...ok.  I'm fine with that.  No pushback here.  :)

As he explained it, and I totally agree, we aren't ready to commit to a giant (read: expensive) play set (swings, monkey bars, fort, slide, etc.) just yet because we don't know exactly what we want to do with our backyard.  We think we'd love to have a pool.  But who knows when that would be.  And we didn't want to splurge to have some gigantic monstrosity set up in our yard only to realize that it was in the way and needed to be moved later.  Plus, with the kids still being little, this is the perfect time for something easy (read: cheap) and simple for them to play on.

Friday he bought the kit and also the wood required and drove it all home.  And Saturday he built it!  Yep, all in one day.  Like, maybe three hours (spaced out between kid duties and errand-running).  (Don't let the One-Hour Custom Play Set name confuse you, we'd already read all the reviews and knew it'd take longer than one hour.)

I stepped outside Saturday morning to snap my first pictures.  I had planned on taking progress steps throughout the day.  He was just laying out and marking his materials.

The next time I peeked outside it was practically done!  Wyatt's job was very technical - lean on this frame and don't let it move.

The kit comes with two standard swings.  It has an option to use a longer board across the top if you want to do three swings instead of two, and that's what Matt did.  We already had the baby swing so we were able to get all three swings up right away and test it out!

Instant fun for the whole family!  

Thomas seems to love swinging in his baby seat!

That is, until Katie Wynn kicks him out so she can use the baby swing.

The only pre-planning we did before Matt put it together was making sure it was set up in the afternoon shade from our one backyard tree.  Hopefully that will help on hot summer evenings when we're outside after work!  

We've already logged lots of time on the new swings!  We ordered a bucket seat swing too and it arrived yesterday.  Not sure if it will even get much use, though, since Katie Wynn has become so good at using the standard seats.

For now the plan is not to do any mulching underneath the set since they're feet don't even reach the ground yet.  We'll see how it goes with our yard guys mowing and edging around it.  We're just all excited to have something to do out in the backyard while Daddy's grilling dinner!  

Thank you, Matt, for building this for the kids!  Now if you could build me this to hang next to it, that'd be great! :)

Bike Ride!

With warmer weather here, we've recently dusted off our bikes and pulled them out for bike rides!  Last year I was pregnant with Thomas in the spring so I couldn't ride, and we didn't ride much in the summer either since I was all postpartum-y and Thomas couldn't sit up.  But now I can ride and he can sit up so we're all back in the game!  These pictures are from our first bike outing this spring with Thomas getting to ride in the bike wagon with his big sister.

As you can see in the pic above, we gave Thomas a sippy cup since Katie Wynn had one.  He's still a little confused as to how it works.  :)  After he dumped water on their feet, we ended up just pouring his out and letting him hold and chew on it empty.

Strapped in, sun visor down, attached to the bike and ready to go!  Dad gets to pull the extra weight.  :)

But that doesn't mean I don't have any extra cargo with me...

Lolli loves riding in my basket and does a great job of sitting still.  

For the most part, we hear nothing but squeals of glee coming from the bike trailer.

Although occasionally we have to shout things like "Give him his cup back!" or "Quit grabbing his head!"  

I hope we get in lots of bike rides this summer...fingers crossed the kids don't tire of them anytime soon!

Tulips 2015

It's no secret that tulips are my favorite flower.  I've written about them before - from seeing them on walks in our old neighborhood to last year's blooms that were my first to grow myself.   And well, they're still my favorites so I'm going to talk about them again.  :)

I wasn't sure if the 100 bulbs that bloomed last spring would bud again this year.  I'd heard that they don't always survive our super hot summers down in the south.  So to be sure I had some eye candy this spring, I planted another 100 bulbs last fall.  Can't be too safe!  The excellent news?  Not only did my new set of 100 bulbs bloom, but so did last year's!  Over the past couple of weeks, I have had SO many tulips and I've loved every minute of it!  I'm afraid I don't have a single picture that truly captures their beauty.  But I've had several neighbors stop and comment on them so I'm glad others are enjoying them too.  Maybe I'll plant 100 more this fall so that they keep multiplying in numbers!   

Disclaimer:  While oohing and ahhing over all of my tulips, it's important that you try your best to completely ignore all the weeds and dead leaves around them.  They'll ruin the experience for you.

The ones planted by our garage are probably the ones we get to admire the most because we see them everyday while we're coming and going.  And, because they get the most sun, they're the first to bloom.  

Sometimes we have after-church photoshoots with them.  :)

Yes, I let her touch them.  I want her to grow to love them just as much as I do, and I don't think yelling at her every time she touches them will make that happen.  Who cares if we lose a petal or two?  I always encourage her to give them a smell; some of them are actually kinda fragrant this year!

After I took about a billion pictures of Katie Wynn with the flowers, she reached for my phone and said, "Ok, my turn!" and told me to go stand in them.  So I climbed into the flower bed in my church heels and squatted down to be level with the tulips and smiled for her while she just snapped away.  Later I scrolled through my camera roll to see just how corny I looked only to find a bunch of pictures like these.

These two pictures below are of the tulips in our front flower beds.  I took these from a lower angle so that I could get our cherry blossom trees in the background.  Aren't they gorgeous in full bloom??

Now the cherry blossoms are starting to fall off everywhere which is kinda a bummer, but I like the way Katie Wynn describes it.  "There sprinkles everywhere!"

Our last big section of tulips is in the backyard in the same bed where I plant my summertime zinnias.  I probably like them the best because they're the only thing in the flowerbed this time of year, but there the ones I see the least since they're in the backyard.  We try to make a point to go check on them at least once every day.  

I took the pictures below this weekend with my real camera.  There are so many of them and can you believe I haven't snipped a single one?!

Last night while we were outside I noticed a few new colors that were popping up.  It's like we had a second round of buds!  The red and yellow ones might be my favorites, but I'm always a sucker for a solid pink one too.

Last night I was also able to get probably my favorite tulip pictures of the year - they're my favorite because my sweet babies are in them!

Sadly, we're now to the point where our days with the tulips are numbered.  Petals are following off pretty rapidly so it won't be long before all the bright colors are gone.  And then comes the hardest part - waiting for the leaves to shrivel up and dissolve into the mulch.  It's not pretty to watch, but it's what makes them come back (I think) year after year so it's gotta happen!  

If you love tulips as much as I do, might I suggest planting some in your own yard?  They are way low maintenance and such a happy surprise in the spring!

**Update**  I took another tulip picture last night and thought I should add it to this post.  This is Katie Wynn standing in front of the row of tulips that are in our backyard.

March Phone Pics

I'm stuck at home today with strep throat!  Oh, Monday.  Why must you always be so bad?  I could tell I had a sore throat coming on last night and sure enough, it was worse this morning when I woke up.  I got ready for work and then ran by our Minor Medical office for what I was sure just the beginnings of a sinus infection (thank you crazy weather changes and high pollen count).  I was very shocked when they told me it was strep!  No work for me today.

I am trying to be productive anyway and at least get caught up on the blog, but I'm so sleepy from the shots and medicine that I keep drifting off to sleep!  Here's hoping I can actually finish at least one post.  :)

I thought one big round up of phone pics each month was a good idea but there are always so many to sort through at the end of the month.  I am way too trigger happy when it comes to taking pictures!  It's also hard to try to group them together in ways that make sense (other than just chronological), but I'll try.  Here we go for March pictures!

Let's start with pictures of just my little dude since Big Sister usually steals his thunder.  He has discovered the joy of emptying out cabinets and drawers, and he doesn't even care when he's been busted!

This is his version of an "orange peel" smile.  He uses his paci instead!

I took these pictures because I was so proud of him for standing by himself for so long and then right after I took them, he took his first step!  There were several witnesses too - Matt, his parents and I all saw it and clapped and cheered for him!  He has done it several times since then, but no more than a step or two at a time.

On the first Sunday in March, we were the last to leave the sanctuary after church.  This happens a lot because I like to visit too much.  :)  I had tried so hard to take Katie Wynn's picture that morning but she hadn't let me and then, as we were leaving, she ran down the aisle, sat down on the front steps and yelled "Cheese!"  Of course I was way too far away for a good picture but oh well.  Maybe one day she will walk down this same aisle to get married (and hopefully won't be running down it like she did this day!)

She is starting to catch on that when I tell her she has a new outfit that Mimi made to wear, I'm going to want to take her picture so we can send it to Mimi.  She's almost come to expect it.  :)

Here are more pictures from throughout the month of just Katie Wynn.

We still let the kids do quite a bit of jumping in their cribs before bedtime.  Whatever it takes to wear them out!

Jumping in the crib always starts out fun for both of them but then at some point Thomas usually gets tackled for not jumping properly according to his sister and then he gets mad and wants out (plus he knows there's a bottle waiting on him) and then she gets mad that he gets out because she knows the end (aka bedtime) is near so we distract her by letting her read him a book while he drinks his bottle.  There are nights when it is so sweet to watch them play together and other nights where it's just flat out exhausting!

Some nights Thomas gets too wound up during the jumping and book reading that he's difficult to rock to sleep.  (Don't even get me started on the fact that yes, he has to be rocked to sleep.  Every. Single. Night.  I was way too spoiled with Katie Wynn who put herself to sleep every night.)  On this particular night, at left, he squirmed and squirmed until he finally got out of my arms, opened the door himself, and just crawled away. I had a runaway baby while I just kept on rocking.  Seriously, the dark and the sound machine nearly put me to sleep right away, why is it so hard for him??

Speaking of sleeping...remember how I said my birthday was not very good?  It was like an infirmary in our house.  In the morning, Thomas was the healthiest so we shipped him off to my parents' house.  Matt and Katie Wynn slept the whole day away.  I couldn't keep them awake for more than 20 minutes at a time!

Thomas developed a fever over the course of the day too so by that evening, Mom and I had the two babies at a minor medical place and my dad took Matt to the ER.  It was a long night for us all; the guys didn't make it home until after 3am.  Matt had what we guess was a migraine and they loaded him up with medicines that made him sleep for about 24 hours straight.  In hindsight, we're blaming this weird solar storm that I read about for all the unexplained illnesses.  

I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was to see these grins the next morning!  (Or, 2.5 hours after I finally got to go to sleep!)

I did get a do-over dinner for my birthday that was very fun and yummy, so it was not really the worst birthday ever!  And I got some cute photos of my kiddos before the birthday dinner and that's always a plus!

I love it when she tries to help me get him to smile.  :)

I also love unexpected pictures like this where they have matching expressions and I realize how much they really do look alike despite their opposite coloring.

In keeping it real, sometimes this happens.

They let Uncle Nick take them for a wagon ride that night!

We have been so thankful to have some warmer weather this month (in between days of snow, so weird).  We were able to cook out one night and blow bubbles.  It was T-man's first experience with them and I think he loved 'em!

On warmer days, I've also been able to take the kids to the playground a couple times.  It's right by Katie Wynn's daycare and is a great way to kill a little bit of time before dinner.  It helps us survive the "witching hour!"  

I thought she would like holding him going down the slide but that didn't go over well.  He cried while she screamed "He's heavy!  He's hurting me!"

The next time at the playground was a little more successful.  I was able to put him down to sit and play some.  (And he's wearing the same outfit, oops.)  There was a curious little 5-ish year old girl there and we had this conversation:  "What's his name?"  "His name is Thomas!" "What's her name?" "She's Katie Wynn."  "Oh, so he's Thomas Wynn?"   I didn't even try to explain.  

We got to do some swinging at a birthday party too which may have been another first for Thomas.  I think they could both swing all day.  

Can you believe baby Henry is already one?!  Seems like I was just throwing this baby shower for him and helping plan his nursery.  Doesn't he look precious in his Mint Tulip outfit and party hat? :)

Lala and Poppa (Matt's parents) came for a short weekend visit this month and I didn't take any pictures of them!  The only ones I have are these from story time where we learned that Katie Wynn knows all the words to our new favorite Pete the Cat book after only having read it three nights.  She pretty much read it aloud with Lala!

Speaking of story time, when the big kids are here, they always read to Katie Wynn.  They either each pick a book to read or they tag-team one book, with one of them "narrating"  and the other reading the voices.  I think that's what they were doing this night when I snuck around the corner to take pictures.  

The weekend Lala and Poppa were here, I tried to take Katie Wynn to her first Easter egg hunt of the year only to find when we arrived that it had been cancelled.  (Because it was snowing...on the last weekend of March...after 70+ degree weather that week...oy.)  We had a makeshift egg hunt in our living room instead.

Katie Wynn has taught her little brother how to splash in the bathtub.  I'll be honest, it was cute and fun the first time.  Now it's just a huge mess for me to clean up!  

Poor Thomas is always the first to be taken out of the tub and it usually makes him mad.  K-dub could sit in the tub and play all night if we let her...she doesn't even care if the water's all gone.

And that's all the phone pics for March.  I made it through without falling asleep and still have maybe 3 minutes to spare before Matt and the kids walk in.  :)  I uploaded lots of other pictures today too so hopefully I'll get a few more posts done before I go out of town on Thursday.  Fingers crossed.  Oh, they're here now!  Gotta run!

Frumpy Face

Anyone reading this who has had the privilege of being around Katie Wynn in person knows how incredibly shy she is.  She is the very definition of shy - around strangers she wants to be held, fingers go in the mouth, head ducks down or burrows into my neck/chest, no smiling or talking whatsoever.  For people she doesn't know, she has perfected the art of staring a hole right through them, especially if they A) think they've earned the right to speak to her or B) think they can get her to smile for the camera.  

She is the exact opposite of shy at home or around her "safe" people - grandparents, cousins and aunts/uncles (after she warms up to them).  Obviously we hope that she will grow out of this shyness stage but for now, we'll continue letting her hide behind us and allowing her to somewhat get away with not speaking to people.  It's just a phase, right?

Where am I going with this?  Well, I was going through some pictures this week trying to fill up some new frames when I noticed a recurring theme in every picture that daycare has sent home to us: Katie Wynn is always wearing a frumpy face.  Now, before you assume that it's because she hates daycare, let me assure you that she does actually like daycare and is her normal chatty, silly self when she's in her room with her teacher and her classmates (a safe place with safe people).  It's just when the daily routine is interrupted for a holiday party (usually the reason for the camera to come out) and someone that is not her teacher is making the rounds snapping pics of every child there.  Katie Wynn is not about to give said photographer the satisfaction of getting a decent smile!

I think I've gotten the frumpy faced pictures in chronological order.  The first ones we received were from a Valentine's Day party in 2014.  She had only been attending her daycare for a little over a month at this point.  Maybe the one on the left could be called a smile but I'm guessing they caught her off guard while she was discovering that pink cookie!

I do not miss those pacis one bit.  Man, am I glad they're gone!

St. Patrick's Day 2014 and she's looking beaten and abused.  But she had a good day that day!

These are pictures I took of her later that same day...happy and being silly!  Doesn't even look like the same child, does it??

For Easter 2014, she got to take her bunny basket to daycare for an egg hunt.  Looks like the photographer was not successful in getting her to happily pose with the Easter sign.

You would think having Mom and Dad present for the picture would get a smile out of her, but even we can't break the shyness around strangers!  These two were taken for Mother's Day (Muffins with Mom) and Father's Day (Donuts with Dad) when each of us got to eat breakfast with her.

This past summer's Water Day actually got a teeny tiny smile out of her!  But these pictures are still kinda sad because they were after a mosquito had gotten into her crib one night and made her look like she had the chicken pox.  :(

This fall she got to wear a costume for Halloween so she wore overalls to be a cowgirl.  It looks like she didn't want to cooperate and sit up on the hay bales with pumpkins for her picture.  

Funny enough, this might actually be her best picture with Santa Claus.  Sure, she's making a frumpy face but at least she's not crying!  (She still will walk past this chair on our way out of daycare and tell me "That where Santa sit!")

The 2015 Valentine's Day party pic is the most recent one we have.  It's been displayed on the fridge for the last few weeks and Katie Wynn will point to it and say, "I not want to have my picture made."  

Also, several people have seen this picture on our fridge and asked if that was her lunch.  Goodness, no!  That's her party food and yes, it's a lot of sugar, but they don't eat that every day!  (Actually some of that is probably sugar free, but whatever.) 

Also again, after this picture was taken, she spilled some kind of red drink all over her Valentine's outfit and had to have her clothes changed.  And she got TONS of Valentine goodies from her friends and came home in the best mood!

So, our precious little girl is not exactly the biggest poser for pictures at daycare.  I do know, though, that while she is being shy and reserved, she is also being a quiet observer.  She can always tell me things like 

• Ms. Hannah's full name is Hannah Grace.
• Abigail's daddy is a police man.
• Benton's mommy got a haircut.  

Which are all pretty impressive things when you consider that

• Ms. Hannah is not her teacher. 
• Abigail is not in her class.
• Benton's mommy also just had a baby so there's lots about her that looks different!

I am assuming that there will be another Easter egg hunt at daycare this week so another opportunity to have her picture taken.  Maybe I will try to talk up smiling in pictures this week and see if that helps.  Fingers crossed this will be the time I reach into her box to find a picture of a big ol' grin!