Ducks

Tyler spotted some ducks in the neigbors yard so we headed outside for a brief moment to check them out. Here are the pics. ;)

Note the blue sleeves. Those are his Buzz arms...the stars are lasers just in case you are wondering, and the red one extends his wings.

Swimming and Watermelon Balls

Today, has just been one of those days. I don't know if it was Tyler's excitement about swimming in the afternoon, Kevin's love of rolling a basketball around, or what but the house was pure craziness today. The boys were rev'ed up and the dogs were feeding off of it. Add in my desire, granted my follow through was lacking, to get some things done around the house and I found myself very tense. Not even an extra cup of coffee (the mere act of holding a warm cup of coffee is very relaxing for me) could relax me.

So, after lunch when Tyler surprised me by running into Kevin's room not even an hour after I laid Kevin down and yelling "get up Kevin", I realized that we needed to get outdoors and soon. So while Kevin was getting a drink, Tyler was in a timeout (since waking up Kevin without parental approval is a no-no), and the sunscreen was soaking into our skin, I prepared the backyard.

All water toys came out. The play center thing got moved closer. Our lawn chairs, kiddie table and umbrella, and a tray (thanks again Tyler since you made it at a Home Depot workshop) of snacks/drinks were all prepared and set out. Then I quickly put my camera outside and ran back inside to get everyone changed, and have a discussion with Tyler about interrupting someone's nap time and the importance of letting Kevin sleep since he is little. And once that was done, we headed outside for pool time and hopefully a fun time.

I have to say that I was nervous. We have played outside a lot this year with both boys, but I was still questioning how long we would really get to play outside in the water and whether it would indeed be relaxing for me yet fun and energy draining for them. ;) I guess I should add that this is really Kevin's first weeks of playing outside in the yard and I was nervous that I took for granted the past summers where I could set up a chair or lay out a blanket and Tyler would quietly play and I would read a book (last summer Kevin tended to just sleep in his bassinet outside with us).

It turned out though, that I could have taken a book and just relaxed...granted I probably would have been too nervous with the water to actually read. The boys had a BLAST playing outside together and did so for several hours! Craziness, I know. ;) Tyler, of course, was in the water the ENTIRE time running from one thing to the next and just being silly. He never even came over to the juice I had made him that he was so excited about before going outside.

Kevin enjoyed playing in the water but when he finished one thing (the pool, the snail, sprinkler, fort) he would come back to where I was sitting and crawl into a kid chair and just sit with me. His first time into the chair was a disaster though because he fell right over, but I quickly realized that I could just put my foot on the bottom of it and he adjusted his balancing and soon enough he loved just sitting in the chair. He looked so proud of himself.

He would just come over and sit with me. He would ask for a drink, or food (he liked to take a bite or two before announcing he was "all done" for then), or just jabber away about birds or the airplanes flying away. And after five minutes or so he would tell me "down" and then go back and play a little more before coming back. Kevin had an "interesting" moment too while he was sitting with me. Once he finished up his banana AND Tyler's he started signing for "more banana". (Note that he did have a snack before going outside and lunch earlier, but apparently eating outside is really fun and it probably didn't help that we had made a little game out of it with his coming and going.). I kept telling him that they were "all done" but he insisted and started crying. After a quick snuggle and drink, he asked again for "more banana" and was just pointing at them and looking at me and signing over and over and over. I didn't know how to get my point across since I had shown him the peels, so I just sat the peels that were in the tray on the ground away from us.

Well, that brought on a lot of tears. And this time I ignored him thinking that this was the end of being outside if he kept crying (since he apparently was very hungry). Within a minute, if even that, he just looked up at me with teary eyes and smiled and walked over to the bananas and investigated them on his own. Then he waddled on back to me and signed "banana all gone" before heading out to play. I don't know what that was all about...but apparently he needed to come to the conclusion all by himself rather than take my word for it. And he seemed to be pretty proud of himself for reaching that conclusion too. It was just so weird to watch him process it all and then be 100% okay with his conclusion. Apparently, he doesn't like being told but likes to do things himself or something. Oh boy!

Anyways..his coming over to sit and talk to me was just so cute and something I didn't predict. I wish I would have had the video camera out there too to tape some of his "talking". I, of course, took a crazy amount of pictures, which is probably I time I could have been reading a book...but there will be more times. For now it was just fun to watch them play together and some of the games they would make up (whether it was crawling around in circles in the pool, splashing each other with their feet, throwing the ball in and out of the pool, or both trying to drive the snail at the same time).

So, our afternoon was relaxing and we had fun playing in the water. Here are some of the pictures that I took of the boys.

Most of the pictures they both have their tongues out. So I have to post a picture of them each doing it. They really must have been hard at work!

And one of them together doing it. ;)

Oops. First time to stand up, resulted in him falling. But once he was soaked, he never looked back.

I know...gross. After I snapped a few pictures I explained that he shouldn't drink the water and he listened. But I thought that this was a neat picture, so I had to share.

One of the few pictures I got of them both together and hence blogworthy.

He sat like this for awhile just watching the spray.

After we played for what seemed like forever, Kevin surprised me by walking right by me after he got out of the pool. I thought that he was coming back to sit down but when he passed me he just started waving his hands in the air like he was saying "all done". And then proceeded to crawl through the doggie door and as I was telling Tyler it was time to go in and gathering up some things, I found him at the back door trying to get in. Apparently, he was done! ;)

So we headed inside for warm baths and dry clothes, and then laughed hysterically as the dogs also got baths. Kevin was not too pleased though when he went into his room to get a bath toy and I wouldn't let him put it in the tub. He is playing around more and more with tantrums these days, and I hate to say it, but they are pretty cute. And this one I had a hard time hiding my smile since I knew he just wanted to throw the toy in....but the tantrum passed quickly as I ignored him and soon enough he was content just standing there and watching.

And finally when everyone was clean and dry, we headed into the kitchen for dinner. And best of all, I pulled out a watermelon for Tyler to scoop up. He has been talking about it for two days. He has never been a big fan of watermelon, but loves to help so he was very excited to see the special scoop and once he figured out how to do it, he had to do it all by himself. Kevin waited patiently to try the watermelon. His interest was mainly because Tyler kept asking him if he wanted balls. Kevin loves to play with any sort of ball, so he eagerly waited for Tyler.

Little did I know that Kevin would love watermelon as much as he does! I had to cut him off he was eating so much of it and I wanted some too! Apparently a quarter is no where close to what we need. I thought that it would easily last us a few days since Tyler doesn't like it, but I was wrong. Maybe next time I will just cut Kevin a slice and see what he does. Already envisioning the messy pictures. ;)

Waiting.

First taste.

And "all done". If you can't tell by his wet face, Kevin got another quick bath after he got out of his high chair. ;)

Adam's project for the weekend...

Adam had to go down to Iowa at the end of the week for work. The boys and I decided to join him on his trip. We had a great time getting to hang out at grandma and grandpa's house, and getting to see all of the cousins, aunts, and uncles as well. I forgot my camera, so no pictures to share. :( But you know that we all had a blast and had a hard time leaving.We came back early this morning...well later than we had intended...just so hard leaving when you are having fun. But we had to get home today so we could get some things done and Adam is playing at Mass on Sunday...so a morning trip was much more logical than a night trip.

Anyways...after being home for an hour or so, Adam heard a loud bang and the dogs freaked out. I didn't hear the noise as I was back in our bedroom, but did notice that our windows rattled. So after looking out the windows to figure out what happened, I discovered that our old front tree in the front yard had blown over in the wind (it is unusually windy today) and just missed our car parked in the driveway!

So, Adam is now headed out to pick up a chainsaw so we can start cleaning it all up (unfortunately, spring brush cleanup was last week) and our weekend plans of getting other projects done (bathroom and fireplace) and just relaxing are cancelled as I try to help Adam take care of this. Always something it seems around here. :)

Water Fun

While playing in the backyard, I decided to water some of our new plants. Tyler of course was IMMEDIATELY by my side ready to help. And being three, my request to stop touching the water was a very hard one to fulfill. So after a very polite request to play in it, I agreed so long as he let me water the plants and grass first.

So I got out a little sprayer toy that we got two years ago and finally has become a hit with Tyler apparently. In the past, he has done exactly what Kevin did today....fixate on one spray and just sit there getting soaked. :) Today, though Tyler used his Buzz wings and had a blast getting sprayed. Since this was an impromptu water play, they were just wearing regular clothes . . . normally I would put them in swim suits. :)

Buzz wings!

So excited!

And then developed the "game". I told him not to do it...but he didn't listen and threw his ball into the middle.

Then he had to figure out how to get it out. He hadn't run through the middle yet and that was still a little terrifying....so he spent a few minutes running around trying to work up the courage.

And once he did...he was so excited and kept doing it over and over and over. ;) Fortunately, Kevin got a kick out of watching Tyler do this, encouraging Tyler even more.

Ta-Da....he rescued the ball once more.

Kevin just sort of sat for most of the time just playing and splashing in the water.

Kevin trying to figure out if Tyler and I have lost our minds. He really wasn't sure. He kept going from giggles to worried looks.

He also enjoyed just watching the airplanes. Every time he would see one he would sign "airplane" while saying "uck" over and over until I looked.

And here he was asking for the ball....but wasn't willing to get wet. Eventually, Tyler brought it to him and Kevin went and threw it back in the middle for Tyler to get out. ;)

Having a BLAST watching Tyler run through the middle. I wish I had been on the other side to get a giggling moment.

Getting brave and walking more into the spray.

Whenever Tyler is having a good time, it seems that his tongue is always sticking out. So, since most of my pictures of him include this, I thought that I would share one. Luckily, he has only bitten it a few times because as much as he does it you would think he would do it more often.

Looking at the grass.

He heard me ask if they wanted to go take a bath and quickly was up on his feet and came over to tackle me.

He kept saying he was "all done" after I asked him if they wanted to take a bath. I don't blame him...the bath was a lot warmer. :)