Party Hats

"We're going to have a party Mommy, I have to get dressed up,"  Patrick yells to me, "so I have to find an animal for a bucket hat!"  Apparently Patrick's version of getting dressed up really only involves an animal hat?

Picnic Time!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Storm Clouds at Home

Up North in the Woods

With grandma on their nature 'treasure hunt'.

Ahhh. So quiet.

Windy day on the shore.

At the Big Lake

Twins walking with Grandpa

Sam following the call of the rocks

Rocks in the air

Building in the sand

Patience...Yeah, Yeah.

We went to the Children's Festival in St. Paul this year and saw the Mermaid Theatre again, this time "Goodnight Moon" and "The Runaway Bunny". Excellent, all the kids loved the plays. Afterwards, we looked around in the drizzling rain, made a couple of crafts, then saw the balloons. Ooooo. Balloons. I was walking with the twins and they insisted on waiting for one. "Are you sure?" I asked, "The line looks really long..." They were sure however, and so we waited. And waited. And waited, in the rain. Every five minutes I would try to convince them to get balloons some other time, give up, go walk around, look at the butterflies (the butterflies! they were right next to us! would no one look at the butterflies with Mommy!?). Each time I was refused. "Mommy, look! The line's getting shorter!" Isaac would encourage me. "We want to wait," Patrick would ensure me.

By the time we got our balloons we had waited over forty-five minutes. Wow. I would be crabby if it weren't for the twins. I kneeled next to them right before it was our turn. "Guys, I just want to say how proud I was of how patient you were. You waited a really, super, long time without complaining one bit. Guess who wasn't very patient?" They yelled in unison, "Mommy!" And of course, they were right.

Monkey on a flower bouquet (I think?) and penguin.

Upside-down penguin.

Random Cat.

Parrot hat. (Sam joined us just in time to get one too)

Yarrow Picking

My Three Boys

I love this picture. Summer is here!

Fort Snelling

We stopped at Fort Snelling over Memorial Day weekend on one of our bike trips. We watched a musket drill, the kids made a craft, we helped with a cooking demonstration, and explored a bit before making our way back to the trailers.

Mendota bridge in the background

Looking at the buildings

Center square

On with the rest of the bike ride

Learning to Drive

The cousins came together for a birthday and took turns learning to drive. Super fun. As the battery was low they also took turns pushing the car.  It was pretty slow going.  I watched the ensuing car accident in slow motion. Because, well, it was slow. Patrick fell dramatically in front of the car. Isaac looked at him, then kept going forward. Patrick didn't get out of the way. "Oh...oww...I got run over by the car with the motor," Patrick said as he came to get his hug. I really had to try hard not to laugh.

Little Hailey-tot and her Grandma

Pretty Peonies

Coming up in our yard! So exciting.

Stopping to smell.

Baby Squirrels

Picnicing at Como park with Grandma & Grandpa we saw a family of about six baby squirrels racing around on a giant tree. I'd never even seen so many little squirrels, they were super fun to watch and had us captivated.

Running back in again.

Squirrel watching. What's up with their hands behind their backs? Funny.

Squirrels + Grandma & Grandpa + hot dogs + hot day = a perfect picnic!

Last day of Preschool!

Ice cream cones for snack and lollipops from their new friends. A great day.

Lemon Pie

Lizzie came over to play with us, and the four toddlers spent an extrodinarily long time outside making a giant lemon pie.

It took hours of hard work outside, and they cooperated wonderfully.

The final result. I actually think it is quite beautiful.

Afterwards. (Sam already asleep)

Say Milk!

And he can! Say 'milk' that is lol! Finally!! Yay Sam!

After a couple months of speech Sam is finally starting to imitate words and is no longer afraid to try them on his own. As his frustration level (and mine too of course) went down, I've noticed he isn't acting out as much. Let's give it up for com-mun-ica-tion! And the corollary, less butter on the floors.

Eliza's House

The water was too cold for me to drag out my swimsuit...

Boating

Digging really big holes together

Sandy = Happy today

Isaac's Robot (right) eating a big car

Patrick's grain boat to take grain across the ocean (with spouts for the grain)

First Time Through the Sprinkler