A little nature walk

Today the kids were cranky so we headed out side for a little walk. We walked around our block and then around a little pond right by our street. The kids love it when we go outside, and they were happy as soon as they smelt that fresh air.

One of Gracin's favorite toys right now is this magnifying glass I got at the $1 store. He held onto in the entire 45 min walk. He was checking out everything. (I love the bottom right pic of Gracin looking at Rhylan.)--Click to enlarge. We encountered many animals. They tried to catch these two geese (top left). Gracin saw a cat fight, and he heard a puppy barking at him through this fence:) He is trying really hard to see it!
There were also lots of wild flowers/weeds. Purple, white, yellow...Here are a few more of the zillion's of pictures I took on our little adventure.


They came up with this pose..."mom, take a picture of me doing this!"--I hear it a lot:)

RUN!!!!!!!!

Homemade play-dough

One day during nap time Rhylan and I made some play-dough. She asked for pink, so I added red food coloring. But, Rhylan said it's not pink, it's red!! So I tried to add a drop of blue to make "rose"--following the box instructions. But one drop was actually more like 4-5 drops, oops! So we got his gray/purple color. She loved using my rolling pin and new cookie cutters.

Backyard adventures: bubbles

This bubble machine I found at Goodwill last fall is still bringing smiles and fun times.

Backyard adventures: popsicles and cloud watching

Notice how Gracin now has a red popsicle... he took mine when he finished his.
Love these little freckles...

Backyard adventures: chalk

I got a new box of chalk a week or two ago. We have been having fun creating masterpieces ever since... This day they got a little more into it than usual. They were both covered in chalk!! Rhylan had no idea her face was blue:)

"Little Stinkers"

The night before St Patrick's day Riley and Rhylan made a trap to catch some leprechauns. Here is the trap. There were several spots where they could fall in and get stuck!
But when we woke up the "little stinkers" (as Rhylan called them) had busted out of all our traps. They built some stairs out of our food to get up to the table, leaving little green footprints all over.
They took the shark and crocodile who were in a pit with water and hung them in a trap! They climbed out of the pit with a rope.
They cut out of one box and left gold coins, green candy, and shamrock stickers all over!! Rhylan is convinced we will catch them next year for sure.

I've been busy!

Ryder

Max

Nicholas

I have done 3 photo shoots this last week and I still have one more coming up tomorrow! Taking pictures of small children is becoming my favorite. Especially babies before they can walk. They are so easy to make smile and are so photogenic. They just make me happy!!

If you want to see more click on my logo below.

Rhylan can make her bed

Check out the straight blanket and buddies lined up at the top!! I was so impressed I had to take a picture. I wasn't even in the room when she made her bed. She still says she doesn't know how or needs help somedays...but I know better:)

Got Frogs?

We made another little weekend trip, this time to St Louis. We have to get in as many of these weekend getaways before we leave the south for good at the end of the summer!!

Riley LOVES Poison Dart Frogs, and there is a reptile show every 3-4 months in St Louis that actually has these frogs. We haven't been able to see many of them before so he was really excited to go. He has been asking me to go for almost 2 year now:) Finally we made plans, yes 2 days before boards, but that wasn't a big deal. We were gone for a total of 27 hours, he studied while I drove, and one of the days was a Sunday, so he wouldn't have been studying anyway. So really he lost no study time:)

Riley made the kids these shirts to wear to the show.

Saying "oooo" at the TV show.
Rhylan also really likes frogs. She loves going to these shows. Riley has so much fun showing her each animal, letting her pet a VIPER!!!!-- Yeah didn't know about that one until we were in the car!!!! She is so brave and outgoing.


Here are a few of the frogs. They really are beautiful and colorful.

This isn't a poison dart frog, but I thought he was cool!
This guy too--Halloween Crab!
Gracin was getting a little tired of looking at everybody's legs and the bottom of tables from the stroller. So, I took him out into the hall for some snacks and a little Toy Story. That made him happy again.

So I decided we couldn't leave St Louis without seeing the historic Gateway Arch. Do you see it there in the skyline? To the left?



It was so much bigger than I imagined!

Here I am up close to it, that is one of the "legs" I'm standing next to.