Memorial Day Weekend - Operation Disappearing Tree

Despite the rough day previously with the color run, we still had a great Memorial Day weekend with the Kenyons.

Playing dress up

Such a benevolent princess

Richard is a man of many talents so we were randomly talking about how I wanted to get the dead tree removed.  (Especially since I learned that the nice big green plant/weed that was growing up around the base and giving the space some green was actually poisonous.)  And he offered to go remove it.  I took him up on the offer.  :)

Comfortably watching the pre-action outside.

Video - The great tree take down.  It's pretty entertaining.  :)

Richard and his conquest

Hm...now there's a big dead tree in my yard.  What should we do to get rid of it??

The house behind us wasn't completed and still under construction so there was a ton of trash in the yard.  I often picked weeds and threw them over the fence.

These two were play buddies this weekend.

And these two were play buddies this weekend.

Eventually Emmalyn would let Natalie pick her up.  :)

That poor lump under there (Richard) was a good sport

All gone!  It's so fantastic!

Richard and Peter also capped off the old sprinkler that went to the old tree and ran a new sprinkler to the new tree and this great sprinkler in my garden.  I am incredibly excited about this.  My garden is the real deal!

We cut some cilantro from the garden to use in our fresh salsa

Makenna and I went next door to help Mary Ann decorate for our swim party

Happily playing with the cars

All the kids having fun together

Let's swim!

The boys hanging out

Double rainbow for good luck

The swimming was cut short by thunderstorms

I LOVE summer food!  I am looking forward to more grilling, more veggies, more salad!

The rain REALLY came down.

Since swimming was off the table thanks to the lightning, Maxwell and Makenna played Battleship.

Hanging out before bedtime.  They all get along so well.

On Memorial Day, we headed to lunch at Zoe's and then went to a new place by us that is an obstacle place for kids to play - similar to the obstacles on the show "American Ninja Warrior", which Maxwell loves.

Trampoline fun

Climbing over things

Cargo net

The kids worked HARD.  We bought 1 hour passes and half an hour in the kids were exhausted.  Maxwell was dripping sweat.

So tired she's just hung out on the ground.

Unfortunately, the Kenyons had to drive home after we were done.  We sure loved having them here!  It was a memorable weekend!

We finished up Memorial Day with more grilling and time outside.

Water guns and umbrellas

It's not exactly a pool but it works in a pinch.

Classy activities...you know... like going to places and eating brunch

All of this is from Sept 8 - Sept 14, 2014.

Video - She coos herself to sleep at night just like this.  It's crazy adorable to me.  Sometimes she will even coo while I am getting her all swaddled.

Video - Maxwell is doing so great at swimming lessons.  In this video he jumps in, swims towards his teacher, then rolls to his back and swims around the pool on his back then rolls back over and swims towards his teacher on by a step at the edge of the pool.  He does all this without the help of his teacher!

She is always so happy

Story time at night

This is how she sleeps with her head pushed back and turned to the side

It looks like he's wearing tights to school but it's just his dark socks that he wanted pulled all the way up.

After I dropped him off at school, I watched again.  I wanted to see how long he'd be sitting there until he either got up to do work on his own or was directed to do something by the teacher.  

Nearly 10 minutes later, he's still just sitting there.  I don't get it?!  Why is his teacher oblivious?  I know Montessori focuses on child driven choices but this was frustrating to me.  He's still new to this routine so why wasn't he getting more help?

Finally he was prompted to go get these blocks that he worked on stacking in order of size.

All worn out after school.

He's not falling asleep during nap time (hopefully he'll catch on to the routine soon) so he's exhausted at the end of the day.

Giving Britt her b-day present - Tortilla warmer and crispy shell taco holder

Cowboy up

Practicing sitting up

How ridiculously cute is Emmalyn!?!

Love that tongue

video - what would you call that sound?? A gurgle?

Rockin' his track suit

We took Maxwell to his first play - it was a local children's theater production of "Once upon this island".  He did a great job of staying interested.  It was a tough story line to follow and he could have easily tuned out.  I nursed the baby so that she'd sleep and be quiet.  

We ended up telling Maxwell the show was over during intermission.  While he did a good job of staying interested, that also meant that he was asking a ton of questions during the show and he was only so quiet.  There were lots of kids in the audience so it wasn't like we totally stood out but I was so hyper conscious of every little noise he made and it was getting later in the evening.  

It's important to me that Maxwell gets experiences like going to plays and things like that.  I want him to be exposed to cultural activities like plays, musicals, the symphony and museums.  This was a good start with the plays.

I can't think of another thing as tender for a Momma as to have your baby sweetly sleeping on you.

Peter and his kiddos (boy, Emmalyn looks chunky!)

All dressed up to go to brunch

She slept for a little bit

If you look in the top left corner, you will see the musician playing the violin.  Maxwell was enthralled with him and loved watching.  He would turn shy whenever he came close but we did get him to wave to the guy once.  :)

One of the, maybe, 5 bites Max ate.

The baby didn't sleep for long...so yup, that's me nursing in the fancy restaurant.  (The lady at the table next to us also had a baby and she nursed first so I didn't feel uncomfortable.)  I'm game to nurse everywhere.  I can't think of anywhere I WOULDN'T nurse, especially with the nursing cover.  I'm grateful that Peter supports me in this and doesn't have issues with it.

All dressed up

Trying on her pumpkin hat

Gotta love that drool

Here's what my front room looked like after I went to a consignment sale and some clothes from the neighbors.  I think I've got everything the kids could need.  I have no problem with second hand clothes.  If it's in good condition, can be used again, and doesn't cost me full price?  I'm there.  

Emmalyn is 5 months old now!  

She will only be quiet during her diaper change if you give her the binky.  

She's arching her back which  makes her hard to hold onto.

She has the BEST BIG SMILES!!! and they come really easily.  Her laughs, however, she will make you work really hard for.

When she smiles, she smiles with her tongue out.

Her hair seems to be coming in lighter.

She is drawn to watching the TV or iPad if they are on.

Commonly now, when she's nursing in the middle of the night, I will fall asleep and then wake up like 45 minutes later and she'll still be nursing or asleep too.  I am using a nursing pillow so it's not like I'm going to drop her if I fall asleep.  It's just interesting because I've completely lost my ability to make myself stay awake.  I am just so completely exhausted that I can't help it.