Backyard-agains

Well hello there.  We're in the backyard again.  You may be thinking, "Seriously?  Another post with my kids in the backyard?"  Well, yes, because how could I not show you this:

Yo.

Lily has a new habit:  whistling.  She does it all the time, and by golly, she looks so cute doing it.

Then the water came out again.  Oh dear.

Rose braced herself for the water party by snuggling up with Monga.

There were meltdowns...

And timeouts.

But we survived them all and ended up having another great morning in the backyard.

This is Dale's favorite pose for photographs.

The Dude liveth.

Back inside, in order to mellow out a little bit, we brought out the markers.  We had some artwork to create.

Dale worked very hard on his monster, while Rose scribbled delightfully with blue.

We were making butterflies by tracing our hands.

Once Dale figured out how to make the butterflies, he wanted to trace his feet and then his head to make different butterflies.  I obliged.  And of course Lily wanted to do everything Dale did.

While Dale and Lily showed off their many butterflies...

Rose showed off what she had been working on...  Her face.

Sweet little Rose is growing into a loving motherly girl.  She puts "Patty" in her highchair and feeds her lunch.  Rose also does this with various other objects, such as tigers or cars.  She does not discriminate.

Muddy Madness

Playing in the backyard is serious business.  There are several steps you must take in order to ensure a messy fun time.  First you have to take off all your clothes.  (This time it was Mommy's orders.)  Then you have to dig in the dirt with a great sense of urgency.

Dale showed Lily that water can be found in the water table and then carried to the dirt.

Finally, you must pour your water in the dirt.  Then, and only then, can you achieve maximum messiness.

Now we're talkin'!

Sparkly princess like shoes are a must when playing in the mud.

Little did we know, the party had only just begun.  It was like these two monsters went insane.  They pranced through the sprinkler like little Tasmanian devils.  Chairs went flying, the water table got dumped, and for a moment there, I thought we had left my backyard and gone straight to Crazyville.

Holding hands.

Why not throw the water table?

Monga and Rose watched on the sidelines.  It was a little too intense for such delicate ladies.

Yep.  Buckets of fun.

Crazy With Water

Waiting for Lily is so exciting that we barely got messy eating our breakfast yogurt.

Rose felt totally rad in her side ponytail.

In anticipation of our Monga and Lily visit, we acted like crazy fools on the front porch.

As soon as Lily arrived it was super important to eat snacks and prep for the rest of the morning.

Revving up!

Then it was time to go CRAZY!!!

Rose didn't much appreciate all that splashing.

The Precious Princess prefers to stay dry.

And then there's Lily.

And Dale.

Clothing is annoying.

I got him to at least put his underwear back on.

Rose was safe in her swing, where she could oversee her crazy brother and cousin.

Lily found a roly-poly, and everyone had to pause to inspect it.

We must blow on the roly-poly for some reason.

But once it was dead, we resumed crazy water play.

Dale managed to splash his sister, breaking her heart into a million pieces.

She got her revenge though.

The Post Lawrence Cool Down

We spent the entire day in Lawrence, but when we got home, we heard the question we hear every time we pull into the driveway.  "Can I ride my scooter just a wittle bit?"  And very often there is a giant long "Pweeeeeeease" with it that you cannot ignore.

What we were thinking:  "Oh my gosh, you are just the cutest most wonderful little boy on the entire planet, and if I see one tiny little tear fall from your gorgeous hazel eyes, I may just drop dead from heartbreak.  You can have anything you want forever andeverandever."

What we said: "Okay, but just a little bit."

A scooter-coupe stand off.

Our kids were so worn out from all our fun activities that they crashed on the driveway.  "Nigh Nigh," Rose said as she laid down on the concrete.

Here is a video of one of the fun games we play with Rose in her cozy coupe.  She loves it, and it looks hysterical.  Please ignore the hideous annoying cackle in the background.  I couldn't help it.  It's really hilarious in person.

Monga, Milton's, and a Museum

A beautiful sunny morning in Lawrence...

We met Monga and Lily for brunch at Milton's on Mass Street.  (A Wendy/Sara/Monga fave.)  Monga showered the kids with gifts, as usual.

  Dale LOVED his new rocket.

Lily and Rose cuddled their new babies close.

Monga and Lily had been to the Farmer's Market that morning, so they had wonderful things like lavender and Jayhawk cookies.

No one on Mass Street was safe from rocket blastoffs.

We heart NY and Milton's.

After breakfast, we were off to the KU campus and The Natural History Museum.  First things first though.  We must always pose with the giant Jayhawk in front of the Union.

The museum looks the same as it did when I visited it in fourth grade.  I remember it clearly.  I had on my purple Mrs. Sundgren's class t-shirt, giant white shorts, and my hair was pulled back in a ponytail.  I was hot.
I dazzled my children with the giant fish skeleton, the bees, and the fluorescent light room, because those were my favorite parts when I was little.
 

Meet my new boyfriend, Gus.  He's not very friendly, and his breath is atrocious, but he gives great back scratches.  Monga is clearly jealous of his teeth.

Rose was particularly fond of this dude.

Before we headed back to Manhattan, Monga insisted that I take a million pictures of her.

Love you, Monga!  xoxo