Splishy Splash

Scott posted this video on Facebook already, but I wanted to put it here to preserve it and share it with friends/family not on Facebook.  Millie can REALLY get Teddy going (and she takes a lot of pride in this skill!)

Gettin' Around

Someone thinks his music table is a walker.  He took it for a lap around the kitchen table this morning, which actually required quite a bit of maneuvering and fancy footwork.  Pretty impressive for a little guy!  As you can see, he thought so too :)

Sorry Buddy

... but with two big sisters, it was bound to happen sooner or later.  I promise not to give this picture to your high school senior yearbook (unless you want me to, of course).

Earth Day

We all really enjoyed spending the majority of Earth Day outside in beautiful weather and great company yesterday.  The girls spent most of their morning at school outside doing nature related activities (like a recycling relay race!) and got to buy trail mix from their school when I picked them up.  We drove to the park for a picnic lunch with friends after that (a great place to share the trail mix).  After lunch and lots of play time we headed home and the girls went right back outside while I attempted to get Teddy down for a much needed nap.  They even asked to eat dinner outside.  We ended the day with a walk/bike ride around the block before heading to bed.  The girls were certainly wiped out after all the activity!  Not a bad way to celebrate this beautiful earth we live on.  I pray that my children get to enjoy many, many days like that over the course of their lives (as well as their children, and grandchildren and ...)

 

Teddy really loves to be around other babies!

he also really loves to be outside :)

wagon ride!

Millie is really starting to love riding her bike!

Some of the beauty still blooming in our yard

Running the Country

I needed to run to Target this afternoon to pick up a few things and of course when I told the girls this they immediately asked if we could buy something for them.  My response was, "go get money from your piggy banks if you want to buy something."  So they did.  Merrill wrangled up two dollars in quarters and Millie found eleven dollars! I then explained to them that they could look for something that cost a little less than they had because they would have to pay tax too.  This was the conversation that followed:

Merrill:  what's tax?
Me: Money you pay to the government
Merrill:  what's government?
Me:  the people who run the country
Merrill: Do I run the country?
Me:  (with a smile) no you don't sweetie -- not yet anyway

Perhaps someday, though I don't think I would wish the life of a politician on my children ... 

**sidenote -- Millie then laughed at the double meaning of "run" and how Merrill misinterpreted the meaning (Millie assumed that Merrill was asking if she ran around the country, not if she controlled it.  I actually think Merrill had the right meaning in mind when she asked her question, but enjoyed the fact that Millie was picking up on the potential for language play)

Biker Chick

As Shannon mentioned, my last date with Millie was a bike ride someplace new, which we did at Castlewood Park while Shannon and Merrill went on their hike.  Millie has been very eager to ride since the weather has gotten nicer.  We don't have the best yard for it and our street doesn't really have sidewalks so this was a nice opportunity to get some practice in.  It was a little challenging (for me) - she tends to either look around and not pay attention to the road.  As a result, she tends to veer towards the center of the road or get too close to the edge - which would result in a spill with the training wheels.  The park was pretty busy so there was a quite a few cars and I really had to watch her.  Once we found a path it was much easier going, plus we were able to stop and explore a little bit.  We saw the river and also explored some old structure that I have no idea what it used to be.

On the way back, the road was a little more downhill so Millie got trucking along pretty good.  Which brings me to the other challenging aspect of this date - Millie is the only one in the family with a bike!!  So I had to jog a little bit.  At one point, she said "Daddy, I am going so fast you can hardly keep up!"  The couple walking nearby found that pretty hilarious....  As usual, Millie does not lack for confidence, but I don't think she is quite ready to lose the training wheels yet!

It was a really fun and low key kind of date, which was perfect.  I think everyone was happy to just enjoy the weather.  Shannon had the good camera, so hopefully my cell phone does it justice!

Sunny Day

After our afternoon of dates, the girls played in the park for a bit.  As we were headed home they decided today would be a good day to get out their wading pool and go for a swim.  So ... The water was a little cold, but they had fun running in and out of the pool and splashing around for a while.  Teddy had fun swinging and hanging out with either Scott or me.

Happy Trails

Today was a perfect day for my hiking date with Merrill.  Sunny and warm (a little windy) and lots of blue skies.  Merrill picked a pretty steep climb for her first hike and did a great job.  After the hike she enjoyed playing on the playground with Millie (who got to go for a bike ride with Scott while we hiked as her date).  Teddy enjoyed a walk with my mom while we were at the park, so everyone got a little special one-on-one time today.

 that red dot in the center of the picture is Scott walking along with Millie on her bike

 When did my baby girl start looking so grown up?!

 stopping to see if anyone is home

 working hard to get up that hill

 taking a break

 

  view from the top

{8 Months}

Loving, smiling, moving, splashing, squealing, playing, standing, crawling, climbing, learning, growing, changing, happy boy.

napping like a big boy -- no more swaddling.  Breaks my heart just a little bit.

In the Garden

So happy to see spring slowly emerging.  We see new buds and blooms every day now and spend hours outside digging and playing.  Just wonderful.  

 dirty feet -- little guy gets just as dirty as his sisters

The blooms are pretty, but nothing beats those smiles