Farm Afternoon

 Tomorrow, we'll be back in the 100s for temperatures, but, yesterday is was a beautiful 78 degrees!  Alex and Izzy's friends were visiting and they are the same age and gender as our 4, so we had 6 kids to take to the farm for a fun afternoon!

We played in the little pig house, the sandbox, and the creek before heading over to the barn to see the animals.  That's when Kylie decided she would crawl under the gate and into the pasture.  Oh, Kylie.  She refused to come back, so the moms opened the gate to go get her, only to discover the gate is home to a (now angry) family of wasps.  Kylie got stung only once, and luckily, she's not allergic but it wasn't a good choice on her part to crawl under a gate into a pasture of horses guarded by wasps.

We didn't continue our trip around the farm to find the chickens like we usually do, as we were trying to get a good picture of Alex for his birthday invitation.  He's having his birthday party on the farm!  The boys took over this tractor until it was time to head home for dinner.

Double Dentist Trip

Yesterday, the kids both had dentist appointments in the afternoon.  Luckily, it wasn't swimming weather, so they didn't feel like they were missing out on anything.  We did a few errands before heading over to the dentist, including buying a GIANT baseball pinata for August.  We had talked about this dentist trip a lot over the last week because Will was not cooperative last time he went.  This time, though?  A cake walk!  Both kids climbed up in their chairs and had their teeth cleaned and counted and flossed and fluoride treated with no tears, biting, kicking, or squirming.  Will even consented to bite wing x-rays- the most uncomfortable ones to get.  Most 2 year olds do a knee to knee examine, where they straddle their mom or dad and lay back on the parent's lap with their head on the dentist's lap.  Not Ky!  She said, "Me do it MESELF!  Not need YOU, Mommy!"  Well then.

Compassionate Kylie

Kylie is really showing a truly amazing compassion lately.  She seems to have a connection to any child with special needs, as she makes connections with children at the water park, the store, in our neighborhood and at the Y.  In our neighborhood, there is a guy who just turned 21 with Down Syndrome.  He's nonverbal and needs constant supervision because he's quite mischievous.  Kylie is always asking about "Bubba", as his family calls him.  She seems to have assigned herself as his keeper.  The other evening, as we are playing in the driveway, she came running to tell me "Uh. Oh. Mommy, Bubba leaving Miss Leah's house!"  Sure enough, Bubba had escaped and was scurrying down the road.  Kylie was very urgent, saying, "Tell Miss Leah! Get Bubba back!"  So, off we went to tell Bubba's mom that he had escaped.  Leah was so grateful, she gave Kylie a stuffed animal but Kylie was only concerned, "Bubba safe now?"

She is very in tune with other children's emotions and loves to take care of her dolls and animals at home, too.  She gives hugs to children who are crying and is always trying to fix the problems her brother has by offering him water and a pat on the back.  It is really amazing to see such compassion in a two year old.  

Swimming Kylie Jean

Here's our 2 year old, swimming!

Water Park Afternoons

Sorry we haven't updated the blog in a while, we've been at the water park.  It's been well over 100 with the heat index the last few days, so the kids and mom and all of our friends have been at the water park every afternoon.  It's an awesome way to stay cool, have fun, oh, and tire out the children.

There are hardly any pictures of Will because, well, he is swimming.  All.  Over.  The. Pool.  He's a real fish and it's nice he's so self sufficient in the water because Kylie is FEARLESS.  She's started swimming a bit on her own and she goes underwater for longer and longer periods of time on her own.  She's up and down the stairs to the small water slide at least 50 times an afternoon.  

 If we end the day with children looking as tired as this guy, then we did something right.

'Lil Champ

Ever since Will's triathlon, he's been pestering Josh to build him a medal and trophy shelf.  He seemed to know exactly what it should look like, where it should go, and what color it should be.  He even drew several plans and waited on the front steps for Josh to get home from work for up to 45 minutes one afternoon.  Saturday morning, the boys went to Lowe's for supplies and Josh made this.  Will declared: "That is EXACTLY what I thought it would look like!"

Shake it For Me Girl (and Boy)

Post-Dinner Fun

We usually head back outside after dinner these days, unless we've been swimming all day and we're too tired.  It's only been about 80 and breezy the last few evenings, so it's perfect outside weather.  Will has started asking for a swimming pool in his backyard, because a few houses down has a lot of trucks building a pool.

Not that there isn't plenty to do in the backyard already.

Settling into Summer

Phew!  Summer is HERE!  We spend every morning at the Y...sometimes, Mommy is working and other times she's exercising but the kids are having fun either way.  In the gym (for kids 3 and up), they have been wearing pedometers each day to track how far they can walk as a group over the summer.  Will has averaged about 4,600 steps each morning so far!  He's only in there for about 1.5 hours!  

We've been to the waterpark 3 times now and Kylie is swimming underwater like Will did when he was 20 months old!  She jumps off the edge, goes underwater, goes down the frog slide, and shrieks with delight the whole time.  Oh, and they both sleep very soundly.  Win-win!

Lately, they've been excellent playmates too.  I'm hoping this doesn't jinx it, but they really have enjoyed playing elaborate imaginary games at home and in the yard.  They keep asking to sleep in the same room, but Mr. Will is still up-at-dawn boy and Kylie appreciates the art of sleeping in (thank goodness!).

We're hoping for a relaxing but fun-filled summer!

Last Day of School/First Day of SUMMER!

Today was Will's last day of preschool.  He's really loved his two years at his preschool, and he's learned an awful lot, too.  The last day is always "water day", and this year was no exception.  The class started out at the ice cream truck for a cool treat (at 9am).  Then, it was on to feed the ducks. 

Next up was Will's favorite, the barrel train ride.  He just loves this thing.

There were yummy treats in the classroom and then a water fight outside.  Watching him just took Mom's breath away a bit because he's such a young boy now and he really is a leader among his friends.  He looks a lot like Josh in some of these pictures, too.

And that's it, from the first day of school in August to the last day today, he's sure grown a lot and learned a lot.  He won't be heading to Kindergarten in the fall (which starts ON his 5th birthday!), but he'll be going to Jr. Kindergarten at the Y, a little bit longer day and 5 days a week.