Box of Rocks

The sensory boxes I made this past February got a new dimension added to them—water!  This wasn’t an inside game, of course, as I typically hate anything that might make a mess—even a clean mess like water.  I set up a spot outside on the deck and set up an umbrella to shade our “southern exposure is great except if you don’t have a single shade tree in your yard” backyard.  Also notice the beautifully stained deck that hubby did earlier this spring!

If I Ran the Zoo

K’s class took a field trip to the local zoo, and younger siblings were fortunate enough to be able to attend as well.  It was N’s first time at the zoo; K. had been once before, when I was pregnant with N.

There were fun animals to look at, and we hung out mostly with K’s closest friend from class.

Aren’t they just the cutest gals?

Sharing is Caring

“Hey, N, what’cha reading?”

“Can I have a turn reading it?”

N: “No.”

Father-Daughter Plaid

II came across the plaid shirts that my grandma made for my dad and me that we wore for one of my most favorite pictures ever:

And had no choice but to dress my own little family up in them.  Matching happiness!

Of course, the little N wanted a turn too.  It’s one of the phrases she says these days: “Mah uhrn…mah uhrn!”

(They’re both looking away from me and toward the television)

I is for Independence

I have run out of clever and moderately related letter-themed titles, so fortunately this is the last painful attempt to be clever for the month of April.

K. has become much more independent in the things she is able to do.  For one, and the topic of this post, she is a quite competent bubble-blower.  She also is quite the fashionista, as you can see by her dance leotard and bling-y sunglasses.

It is in pictures like these that I see glimmers of what she might look like when she’s a teenager/young adult, and I ask her father to polish off his shotgun to deter any would-be suitors.

Love this girl!

H is for Horse

N. and I went to the museum again with our friends.  One of the things we did (N’s first time!") was to ride the carousel.  She had a lot of fun, and was confident enough that I was able to sit on a horse next to her rather than hold her.  I should have picked a different row for myself, as my horse didn’t go up and down, but since that was my only disappointment for the week I figure things are pretty good.

Wheeee?

And then I took a picture of her pretending to be an Indy car driver, but she totally turned to the side and posed, making a weird, sarcastic face!  It was even funnier in person and not the norm for a two-year-old.

G is for Gestures

Stretching it a little with the title, but for the Easter Egg hunt at church, my friend and I usually lead a few songs with motions.  Her daughter (a third grader this year) has helped lead for the last couple of years, and this year both of my girls joined in too!  I was such a proud Mama—I think they have less stage fright than I would have had at their respective ages.

F is for Family

After the Easter brunch at church, we stopped at a park to pose for more photos.  A lot of people would say that their hobby is photography; my hobby is just simply trying to make people pose as I’m not quite clever enough with my camera settings that candids ever turn out non-blurry.

Even so, sometimes the shots when everyone is getting in place are the cutest to me.  I love seeing the family interact!

I imagine you’ll see this photo resurface near Father’s Day as well:

All four of us!  N. was pretty tired and ready for a nap at this point, and the wind was doing some crazy things to our hair!

I was looking through the photos and came across this, and it made me laugh!  It was in a whole bunch of normal, smiling portraits of K. and I had forgotten she gave the “thumbs up".”  The unexpected is funny.

E is for Easter