Spontaneous Mommas

Need motivation to get into a coldish May pool for the first time of the year?

Spend a couple hours at a sunny park on a 90 degree spring day. Oh, and walk there and back pushing a weighted-down-toddler-toting double stroller.

That's all it took for me.

While at the park, the boys found a muddy hole to play in.

Charlie stripped his own shorts and diaper off. 

The other kiddos found a cleaner puddle to stomp in.

Then, Us Moms got spontaneous and earned cool points when we hosed them down.

After the hot hilly walk home, I was sweatyyy.  So, we hurried inside and dug into our swim drawers and put on last year's swim gear. Found new sunscreen I had bought on clearance at the end of last summer! I was so pumped (and surprised) I found it, instead of forgetting and buying more :) And then we eased down the stairs into the pool. I was very happily surprised that it wasn't unbearably cold.

I expect that Annette will remember from last summer how to swim in the next month or so. Well, that's me just 'hoping' more likely. And maybe even Charlie will figure out the real swimming deal by the end of the summer? Annette was just 2.5 when she figured it out.

As of now, the floaties make my job a lot easier.

I can already tell this summer is going to be so so so nice for keeping my kids entertained. Watching these two play in and by the pool together is won. der. ful. As they say, siblings are fabulous built in playmates.

Wonderful Summer, I mean Spring, day.

There is nothing like coming inside from a good dose of sunshine and smelling like sunscreen :)

Happy FRIDAY!!

Funland

A sweet friend had their birthday at Funland at Burns Park.

We went last year, too, so we knew it would be a hit with our kids.

I love the place. It has a vintage type feel and it brings back memories from when I was little and had fun there. I remember getting tummy aches after the Tilt-A-Whirl and everything.

Lots of the rides are small and just the right size for my 2 and 3 year old. 

Charlie was just barely tall enough to reach the measured hand for this one :)

I might take this back.... but I think this age is my favorite so far.

I have so much fun playing with them. And enjoy watching them play together. 

They are getting less 'hard' in my opinion. 

They can communicate with me pretty easily.  And say the cutest things.

They feel like they are more and more on the same schedule, enjoy the same things, etc. 

They can play outside for hours and hours.

They can entertain themselves for bits of time.

They love to draw and do crafts and read and do all kinds of 'teachery' stuff that is way fun to me:)

They still throw fits, argue/fight with each other, and are unkind sometimes. 

BUT, it's still fun being their mom right now.

The beautiful birthday girl!

Charlie loves to be at the wheel. I may do a post on just that topic itself.

It was a super fun way to spend our Saturday.

Here is one more cute picture of them on a ride. Charlie's face is priceless!!

Gallery: Gabriella Taylor's 4th Birthday Party

Less Words Wednesday

Hand print Caterpillars. 

We need to go back and add grass and flowers to the background. They need a little more color.

These two feel like they get closer and closer in age. Is that weird?? They can play together so well now. Here they are playing 'night-night'. Which means I go and turn out the lights and we say "good night! i love you!" over and over : )

I've ound several fun links to Dot Art printables via Pinterest. Thank you, tot school and Making Learning Fun , for great FREE resources.

To ROY G. BIV correctly, we 'created' orange and purple by layering with the primary colors.

Isaac and Charlie play this game just about every night. Throw the football up in the air try to catch it while lying down. My husband is quite amazing at raising a boyish boy. 

I've said it a ton before, but Annette really loves chalk. I was getting tired of our regular hop scotch, so I decided to use letters instead of the traditional numerals.  We say the sound as we hop on each letter. Then, we blend the sounds together to say the word. Annette can get the word right about half of the time. She can segment words way better than she can blend them. Which is kind of unusual!

For instance, she can play this app very well independently.

It's called Montessori Words and it's my favorite phonics app yet.  I'd recommend it for kids that already know their letters and letter sounds, since this is the easiest level.

We are excited about being able to enjoy the pool soon. Until now, the little one will do:)

This pic was taken this afternoon right before Charlie was stung on the hand by a mean ole bee. I wanted to smash that thing into a thousand pieces. He was so tough. Only cried for about 30 seconds. We put ice on it for a few minutes and then he was eating chips with that hand in about 2 minutes. 

However, he has screamed every time he has seen a flying bug since.

Come on, pool time... Stay away, bees!