A Talented Catch

So, later on the same day I posted about below, Amy also caught a butterfly! She was so cute. I heard her say, "Mom! Come here quick!" I ran over to her and she was sitting on her bucket. I said, "What?" She said, "I caught a butterfly!! Quick Mom, get a jar!!" So I ran, found a jar, took a nail and poked holes in the top and then we went to work.

I asked her how she caught it, and she said, "I saw it on the grass. So I sneaked up to it real quiet, then I put the bucket on it really fast!" It was adorable! I helped her transfer it to the jar- which I have to admit, was really fun. It was like being a kid again. And her enthusiasm was infectious! I don't have any pictures of the catch- we were too 'in the moment' for that. But here she is proudly showing off her captured butterfly. (Video below of her talking about it)

Will was also enraptured. He kept wanting to hold the jar. I was a little afraid he'd drop it, and he'd get mad if I 'helped' him hold it. He's starting to be assertive and independent!

They both then sat in the chair, watching the butterfly. It was so cute. I love how much they love each other. The butterfly stayed captured until the evening when Amy let it go. It was a fun to watch!

Amy's Bugs and Other Fun

Monday morning Amy wanted to go outside and 'check on something that looked like a bird.' It turned out to only be a leaf. But then she wanted to keep playing. This was in the front yard and I told her that she could come play in the backyard, where I could see her, but I had a lot of work to do indoors and I couldn't stay outside very long right now. (Will is asleep, and I have to do a bunch of stuff while he's down, or it'll never get done). Amy declared, "But I'm a big girl, and I'm brave, Mom!" 

She, reluctantly, went and played in the backyard. But lucky her! She found some bugs! She brought them to me in a canister and said, "Are these good bugs or bad bugs?" I looked at them and said, "oh these are good. These are rolly polie's!" Amy: "Rolly Polie's!! Oh I'm so excited!!" She then spent the next hour playing with them. 

She's holding the rolly polie... she also loves wearing her baseball hat.

Amy and Will play so well together. They make us laugh so hard. The other night, neither wanted to sleep, they crawled into our bed (even though we did want to sleep) and proceeded to laugh (and make us laugh) for the next hour. We finally got them to bed, but not without laughter stomach-aches. 

Amy pulled 2 of her chairs to the piano in Will's room so they could both play. 

One project we did last week was some paper mache. We made a volcano. We've yet to make it erupt, but Amy liked making and painting it! 

Amy did lose attention when I brought the balloons, with intentions of paper maching a pinata. I guess playing with the balloons is more fun. For the past several days, Will walks around, holding a balloon, and says "ball, ball." He loves balls!

Amy was inventive and created this balloon catcher. She had me tie the belt around, 'really tight.' It didn't work as great in action, as it did in theory. But I liked her creative idea. 

And another day that we were bored, we made some pretzels. Amy was great at rolling out the dough. 

They got really big! And they were really good! We aren't good at making the tradition pretzel shape, so we just make random ones. (It made more than this, I just didn't take a picture of all of them)

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Having been through a few hurricanes in my life, I really feel for all of those being affected by Irene. However, Irene is causing great weather for us. Not a cloud in the sky and there's a nice breeze. So we decided to take the kids and fly their kites.

We went up to the open school yard and had a great time! I didn't take my camera, but Lee took a few pictures with his camera phone.

That's me flying Aunt Donna's kite (the one she gave Amy at the reunion). It was determined that this was the best kite. Great pick Aunt Donna!! We got it up pretty high. Amy mainly flew this one, but at this point she was kind of bored and just running around in the grass.

We had another kite, different design, and Spiderman. It flew for a little while, then didn't do so well. Will loved this one and when it died, he just carried it around the field.

Kite flying was a lot of fun. And it was so fun to watch the kids get so excited when the kites were high in the air. We'll have to scope out another "Aunt Donna" style kite and go more often! Now that fall is coming (we all hope!), and we live next to such a great, open area, I'm sure there will be many more opportunities!

A Walk and a Play at the Park

We are fortunate to live just down the street from an Elementary School. Of course, with elementary schools comes parks. The other night we walked up to it to let the kids get rid of a little pent up energy.

  

   

  

(these pictures are lining up crazy, but I don't feel like messing with them.)

Outside Playtime

I'm going to be really honest- sometimes the days are really long and yes, even boring. I typically get up around 5:30am. I start with 45 mins- 1 hour to myself- I walk for about 30 minutes and also read my Book of Mormon and a chapter from whatever book I feel like. I also stretch and meditate a little. It's kind of my own personal time to reconnect and gather myself for the day. Then it's off and running, breakfast, dishes, dressing, shower, school-time with Amy, more cleaning... and that's all before 8am. So by noon- I'm exhausted. And by 3pm- I'm out of ideas and B.O.R.E.D.

The weather is still a little hot for true outdoors enjoyment, but I do try to take the kids out to play. We have a nice, fenced yard and they can pretty much wander around and do what they like.

We have bucket of pieces of chalk. The kids love this. Today it even had an inch of water in it from a rainstorm. Score!!

Amy usually has me draw a hopscotch board. I tried to get a picture of her running it, but she was too quick. Will sat on it instead. (he has a candy cane in his mouth, yes we still have some of those!!)

The other day Amy started screaming that an ant was biting her. I was on the phone with Lee and quickly hung up. I went to investigate and she kept screaming that it was still in her shorts and was still biting her. I lifted her shorts, only to see black legs, so of course, I started screaming, which made her scream more. We got her shorts off but never saw whatever it was. And yes, she did have a nice bite on her leg... or a sting.... not sure which.

Today she said, "Mom! That's the bug that was in my shorts! We need to kill it so it doesn't get me again."

Goodbye poor little beetle. If there are any PETA readers out there, know that his little wing was stuck outside his shell and he was walking crooked. Probably from the result of being up Amy's shorts. We just put him out of his misery.

Also outside.... Will usually finds a ball.....

And Amy walks around blowing this whistle (it's actually the hose part of the pump to my exercise ball)

And today Amy found a bug (apparently this one is nicer that the previously mentioned one).

The spot....                                                   the catch....

The tears when it flew away.....

No amount of convincing that it needed to go home to it's Mama made the tears fade away. This girl and her attachment to bugs! (except for ones that bite her!)

And this is where Will realized that I wasn't on the porch with him.

So see? Even a trip outside is exhausting. Maybe they are still too young to fully enjoy the outdoors on their own. Oh well, they are now in the bath and that means an earlier bedtime.

What did mothers do before blogging??

$3 Outfits

The last time me and the kids were in Georgia, Lee stayed home to do some work and have some "man" time. (Which means he played his xbox, uninterrupted) When we got home, he had a surprise for the kids. New outfits!

Lee is very sweet to always be thinking of the kids. It's one of the things I love about him- he can't help but spoil them. But this gift made me laugh.... He said he was at the store and saw there were a bunch of kids outfits clearanced to $3 a piece. What a steal! He bought Will an 18 month Thomas the Train outfit. It's cute, a little big, but he'll grow into it.

Then I noticed Amy's outfit. It was a size 3T. I said, "Lee, you got the wrong size." He said, "They didn't have anything bigger, so I got the biggest one they had." I said, "But Lee, she's almost 5, she wears a FIVE." He said, "Well, it'll be tight, but it was only THREE dollars!!!"

He was really, really excited about his deal. Oh dear. I think I truly have married my father.

(this picture is a little dark, I was trying to take it quickly and didn't have her facing the sun)

It is tight. The pants are flush with her skin. I don't know how she gets them on and off. But her daddy bought it for her, so she wears it proudly. Although- we do make her wear it as pajamas.

So thank you Lee for thinking of our wonderful children. But I am grateful that you didn't buy me anything. Who knows what I would have wound up with! We love you!!  :)

Who Loves to Read?!

My kids do! But don't all kids? Books are so much fun!

We really didn't have anything going on, and spending time reading was a great way to pass the time. I quickly got out my camera as Amy read to us. Will jabbered too. Both of them reading at the same time was funny! I should have gotten a video!

I can't resist that smile! And I love it that he's so trained- he sees a camera and smiles. 

Every Sunday I must get at least 10 comments on his eyes

Such a good big sister. She loves reading, and loves reading to Will

But sometimes he gets in the way

Amy was tickling him.