Two magazines

Two magazines can keep the kids busy for hours. Lucas started ripping up one of Tim's unread magazines. See Tim trying to read a single crumpled up page? Tim actually found it funny :)
The kids were so happy shredding the magazines and crumpling them into balls to throw.









































And when they start to get bored? Give them a basket of Easter eggs, of course. The messier, the better!

Art and Neighbor Watch

The kids have been loving playing on the art table lately. Gwendolyn is really starting to take an interest in art materials. They mostly still go straight in her mouth. Today she actually drew a little bit with a marker on a piece of paper. Then she started licking it.. Thankfully it was a dark pink color, so you couldn't even tell that she had a colored tongue :) I'm trying to come up with more activities for her since she is enjoying it so much. But I'm not finding much of anything appropriate for a nine month old.. (any ideas????) So I guess we'll keep licking markers for now :) And eating crayons, of course. (In one of the pictures, Gwendolyn was playing with marbles.. I didn't realize she could reach them. LOL )

Lucas is teaching Gwendolyn how to neighbor watch. He stands at the window and watches for our next door neighbors that he REALLY likes to come outside. Then he screams 'HI!!!' until the neighbor notices him.. And then they talk for a while :) Did I mention that the neighbor is REALLY nice and exceptionally tolerant of Lucas? Anyways, Gwendolyn now stands with Lucas and waits for the neighbors... Lucas screams 'Hi, Gwos(nickname for Gwendolyn) here too!!!' It is really cute :)

Today

Gwendolyn is starting to be mobile. But she's really good at pretending that she isn't mobile. She sits in one place when you watch her and whines for toys. But when no one is looking, she flops over, scuttles a little, grabs whatever she wants, and sits back up - toy in hand.

I set her down while I was changing Lucas's diaper, so I wasn't watching her for a few minutes. She was quiet as could be. When I turned around, I found a Gwendolyn standing up on the cooler (that Lucas had previously packed with every toy he could jam in there). Baby can STAND!!!!!

And Lucas is just working at his art table. He does love doing projects :)

We have been playing outside ALOT lately, enjoying the warm weather. We went to the park today and walked around downtown Dixon. And of course played in the backyard for hours :) The kids are soooo happy being able to play outside all day. A few days ago I brought some playdough outside for Lucas to play with - he was delighted. I don't think he even realized that it could be played with outside (or anywhere other than his art table :) )

(and see the hugely messy house in the background of the pictures? It can be attributed to us spending all day, every day outside. It just never seems to occur to me to come in and clean when we could be outside...)

Toys for all

Lucas and Gwendolyn enjoying some of their toys. That is Lucas's new car carrier truck in the pictures. He's even nice enough to share the cars with Gwendolyn!!!

I think there are now an ureasonable number of pictures of Gwendolyn sitting and looking cute. But I am just soo entertained that she can sit up all by herself. She's just like a real tiny person these days :)

Fire!

We had a nice day earlier this week and headed outside to enjoy the weather:) Who doesn't like being outside??

We (finally) burned our Christmas tree - Lucas LOVES watching fires in the firepit and throwing kindling on top.

Lucas rode his tractor around the yard purposefully looking for something. After a few minutes his face lit up and he came scooting back to me and Gwendolyn on the porch, stick in hand. He gave Gwendolyn a nice stick out of the yard to chew on. What a thoughtful boy!! She loved it and sat happilly on the porch, chewing on her stick for a long time. (notice the adorable bow on top of her adorable head?? I'm happy to say that her hair is long enough for bows!!)

Random Pictures 3

Lucas has his art table set up in the living room again (it was down for a few months) And we have been doing all sorts of projects. Like fabric painting old tank tops to make upcycled bags.

Lucas and I were giving Gwedolyn a bath (it's a very flattering picture of me, by the way) He loving splashing water in her face, and she actually enjoys it :) And the last picture is Gwendolyn enjoyig my new flip flops. They must be tastey...

Random Pictures 2

More random pictures :) (I'm starting to think I take a lot of pictures of the kids...)

Random Pictures

Just some cute pictures from the last few months.

Quality parenting

I only sat down for a minute... :)

Lucas at play

This is Lucas's current play. His box of art supplies pulled up to his art table (his current favorite is stickers..) His cars and trucks 'parked' in his 'garage' a.k.a. the wool rug I had intended for him to sit for quiet reading time. It makes a much better garage, though. :) And pretty rocks of all sorts lined up on the window sill with a little metal bird that pecks at all of them. I love watching him play...

Oh how we match

I was taking Lucas out to storytime at the library, so I set clothes out for Tim to dress Lucas in, then went and got dressed myself. We were dressed identically. White top, dark green pants, and blue shoes. And it was an accident.

(this is probably one of the only pictures of me pregnant)

Lucas at home and Puddle Stomping

Just some random cute at home pictures. It's so rare to get any of Lucas just standing around because as soon as he sees the camera, he runs and tries to grab it. (also why most pictures are of the back of him, not the front)

And we were out stomping in some puddles at the zoo. We do love a good puddle.. (yes, me and Tim were running through the puddles, too)

Working With Daddy

We just cleaned out the garage (to make it Lucas-friendly). And he is loving working with Daddy.

They're fixing the compressor :)

Missing In Action

We've been away from the computer for a while.. For a few months I was too tired to get off the couch, then we went on vacation, then we all got a really bad cold and were sick for weeks. But we're back!! So hopefully I'll be posting a bit more regularly again :)

Lucas in midair. And a scarf.

Oh that Bird.

He so enjoys being places that he just shouldn't be. Like perched on top of the dishwasher. Responsible parent that I am, I laughed and went to go get the camera, rather than take him off.

And best of all - eating my coffee straight out of the can.. He didn't sleep much that day. Or night. But it was REALLY funny.