Whatever Works...

April 2014

Kids R Kids has a photographer come in twice a year to take pictures of all of the kids.  Usually, they somehow manage to get the biggest smiles on the kids faces and I love all of them.  The pictures were still really good this time, but not as good as they usually are.  I think I'm probably partly to blame for that.  The photographers were already taking pictures of Livi's class when we arrived at school, so I thought I'd just stay and watch the pictures. Mostly because I was there, I think, we couldn't get Miss Livi to smile her usual, big smile.  At least the photographers had no trouble getting my 4-year-old boy to smile by making their stuffed Elmo make "toot" noises.  Whatever works!  Here they are together - I swear I didn't dress Livi in that dress every day like the last few blog posts would have you believe!

Little Miss Livi and her half smile:

Tommy says that the sweater, dress, and shoes together, combined with the way she is standing, make her look like a little grandma in this one.  I giggle whenever I look at this picture now, but I still think its adorable:

 And my cute man, probably a little overdue for a haircut, but with a super cute smile thanks to flatulent Elmo :)

 

The Easter Bunny Comes to Pearson Farms!

April 2014

Our Easter egg hunting season began this year with our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  We were lucky to have a beautiful day (following one rain out), and even luckier that the Bells came to visit that weekend from Houston. Scott and Cynthia had a wedding to attend in a little town north of Frisco, so they decided to stay with us on Saturday night.  That meant that Oscar could join Olivia and Jack for the big Pearson Farms egg hunt.

We had a few minutes to visit after they arrived and then it was time to head to the park.  They are getting so big - fitting all three in the wagon was a tight squeeze:

The Easter Bunny had just arrived when we got there.  Livi acted really excited when she saw him from a distance, but when we got up close and it was time to sit in his lap, she was having none of it.  Kicking, screaming, the whole 9 yards.  The experience really made an impression on her.  For weeks after that, out of the blue, she would shake her head and say, "Via scared.  No sit in yap."  Poor girl!  Jack, on the other hand, was really excited to get his picture with the Easter Bunny.

After Livi calmed down, we tried to get the cute shot of the two of them together with their Easter baskets. Jack's not really smiling, but this is the best we got:

They had sections roped off for each age group, but they really underestimated the pre-K and below group. We sort of ended up invading the older kids sections, but there were way too many eggs in those sections for the number of older kids anyway:

And we're off!  I'm carrying Livi so she doesn't get trampled:

There were plenty of eggs to go around.  Jack is an expert at egg hunting this year:

Livi got the hang of it quickly:

Oscar borrowed Jack's Lightning McQueen basket and had a great time!

Here are all three kiddos with their very happy Easter baskets.  Why is it so hard to get three kids to look at the camera at the same time?   And don't you just love Oscar's curly hair?

Happy 1st Birthday Cousin Charlie

April 2014

At the beginning of April, we celebrated cousin Charlie's big first birthday.  This little boy who struggled so much in his first couple of months of life is now happy, thriving, and soon to become a big brother!

We celebrated in the McCarthy's backyard with family, friends and tons of neighbors.  Here's the birthday boy with his cute family:

And here's our cute family, ready to celebrate!

Of course, Nana and Papa joined the party:

Brandi made a yummy, toddler friendly snack mix and the kids sat at the picnic table to enjoy their munchies:

Brandi and Ryan have a great backyard for playing, and so many fun toys to play with, but sometimes, its just fun to run around. Here, Livi looks like she's caught in a lightning storm, but I promise, she's just in the middle of a run across the yard:

Then it was time for cake!  Such a cute little cake, surrounded by cupcakes:

 

The birthday boy thought the cupcakes were pretty delicious:

And so did his cousins:

Jack chose the green cupcake, of course!

The big boys enjoyed playing in the fort:

And when the boys do something, Livi is not far behind!

Happy first birthday, sweet Charlie!!

Springtime Adventures!

Spring 2014

I always start these posts thinking that I have just a few pictures from our phones that I need to be sure to add.  By the time I finish looking at them all, a couple of photos has become a couple dozen.  Quite often, these posts end up being some of my favorites.  Of course, the big moments and holidays spent with friends and family are really special, but just as special are the everyday moments spent doing everyday things. These times often get lost as time goes by and the big moments seem to become the big memories.  But all these everyday moments are the foundation of our family and the memories we make together. These are lots of negative things about having our smart phones with us each and every moment, but I love that it allows us to document some of our daily life - I'm quickly realizing these moments pass in the blink of an eye...

This year, the vegetable and herb garden became a gravel pit for the kids.  The gravel is wonderful because the kids don't track piles of sand into the house when they're finished.  They've enjoyed it:

They've also enjoyed hanging out on the back patio in their cute mini Adirondack chairs from Momom and Popop:

Jack ran out to pout in the gravel pit one day.  I don't remember now what he was mad about, but he's just about to lose his pants.  He'll love me for this one when he gets older:

Sometimes, it was still a bit chilly outside so we played inside. Jack as quite the collection of Ninja Turtles and loves to have them battle the turtle villains.  Sometimes, the turtles switch it up and battle his cars.  This photo was taken one morning when Jack and Daddy were playing.  Leo, Raph, Mikey and Donny with April and Casey fighting Shredder on the Shellraiser.  Love it.

Jack got both of these masks in birthday party favor bags.  This picture just makes me smile.

We also played a little dress up.  Here's Princess Livi:

You'll never guess Jack's costume of choice!

This wasn't really even dress up, but it was too cute not to add.  My little gangster guy!

I turned around in the car one day and saw this cuteness:

And another time, I managed to catch this little argument on video.  They were arguing over the high-quality song "Who Let the Dogs Out" and whether they said "Who, Who, Who," or "Woof, Woof, Woof."  Miss Livi didn't ever back down and I love how she manages to get the last word.  I have a feeling that is just a sign of things to come:

When the weather was nice, we enjoyed spending time outside.  Livi was big enough to think that she could start climbing on everything in the playground, but small enough for this to freak her Mommy out.  She's an independent one! 

We bought this bike trailer from one of our neighbors and took it for a spin around the neighborhood the day we brought it home.  It has been in the garage since then.  Hopefully we'll get back out and ride some more when the sweltering heat of the summer subsides a little.

While Grandma was visiting her friend Sheila in England, Grandpa stopped by for a night on his way to the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City:

One weekend, we stopped by Arts in the Square in downtown Frisco.  It wasn't a bad way to spend a few hours, but overall, I wasn't too impressed.  There were a quite a few local art booths and a couple of food trucks, but not exactly what I expected.  It was a beautiful day to enjoy outside, though.

We stopped for snow cones.  Livi wasn't feeling great, so we had trouble getting her to  smile for the camera.  Poor girl!

Jack, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying his snowcone:

They had roped off a section of the pavement for some chalk art.  Jack found one that he loved.  You'll never guess what it was.  Heroes in a half shell!

One Saturday, Tommy had an autocross race, so the kids and I headed to the Spring Carnival at Kids R Kids.  This may have been Livi's first time in a bounce house and she loved it!  I started to get nervous when a few big kids climbed in and started bouncing her all over the place, but she had a great time!  I had to pull her kicking and screaming on to the next activity.

Like they usually do, they had a petting zoo.  Usually, Jack doesn't really want to have much to do with the animals, but this time, he actually enjoyed petting and brushing the lambs.

Maybe is adventurous little sister is rubbing off on him!

Next we headed to the Fun Bus.  Jack used to get to go on the fun bus weekly, but I think this was Livi's first time and she jumped in head first, like she does on everything:

There was also a painting station.  It was pretty windy, and Jack's art blew up in his face a number of times, so his shirt got a little painted too.  The paint came out, but this shirt wasn't long for the world anyway.  A few weeks after this picture, Jack brought this shirt to me with a big hole in it that he'd tried to tape with scotch tape.  When I asked him how it happened, he said he just found it.  When pressed a little further, he admitted that maybe he'd tried to cut his shirt with his scissors - but he fixed it with tape.  Mommy explained why that didn't really fixed the shirt and Mr. Jack lost scissor privileges for a week.  Silly guy!

Livi enjoyed her art time, too!

One of the last things we did was get our faces painted.  Livi chose a princess crown:

Jack, of course, asked if they could make him a Ninja Turtle, so they did their best to give him a Leonardo mask:

It came out so well that two of his buddies, Jordan and Brayden, also decided that they needed to be Ninja Turtles.  Such a trendsetter!!