Let's Go Fly a Kite

It just so happened to be the windiest day EVER!

A friend of ours had scheduled a "kites" playdate and it turned out to be on the perfect day!

Sam had not flown a kite before so I wasn't sure how he'd do. I had picked up two kites from the dollar store a few months back that we'd never used so I brought them for him to fly, but as it turned out, it was too windy for our little kites and they fell apart before they got two feet off the ground!

Our friend shared her cute little owl kite with us and it worked great. Sam did great holding the string and keeping the kite in the air.

Summertime Treat

"Popsicles", he says, "wike Pops".

I made several flavors this week - blueberry, peach-mango, and chocolate pudding - and Sam thinks they're pretty cool! I took these pictures the first night we had them, out on the porch before bed. He asked to try the blueberry. They were a little tart, as you can tell from his face!

The Cweek!

Sam and I had a fun playdate yesterday. Several of us "momtogs" and our boys met at a neighborhood creek to let the kids splash around in their rainboots. The water is very clear and shallow and the creek is nestled in a quiet spot, downhill from a walking trail. The only thing missing yesterday was a little sunshine, which would have made for some pretty sparkles on the water. But Sam had a pretty good time, anyway, especially considering we came directly from school when he's often tired and cranky. He was a little reserved in the water, but did wade out into the creek with me and had a great time playing with a stick on the "shore". We'll definitely have to go back to cool down on a hot sunny day this summer!

Lemonade for Sale!

A friend of mine from our photography group hosted a lemonade stand photoshoot and asked me to help with a few of the details. It turned out really pretty and the kids had fun. Sam was kind of whiny until the very end, then he decided to be a good sport and play lemonade stand for us so we could get some pics!

Dallas Arboretum

It was a beautiful spring day at the Arboretum.

We took Sam to see the fairy tale castles and enjoy the spring blooms!

up close shot of the pollen sacs on his legs!

go bee!  make new flowers!

at the first fairy tale house!

picnic lunch

miniature rock garden

the bed from the princess and the pea                    rapunzel, rapunzel, let down your hair!

a beautiful old tree

throwing pennies in the fountain

resting with Gram - what a day!

Easter

Finally - Easter pictures!

A small Easter basket at home, then off to Gram and Pops for another basket and a backyard egg hunt!

Central Park

I took Sam to play with some friends in Central Park last week. Frisco's Central Park, that is.

Aside from a few tantrums here and there, Sam had a great time being able to run around without me having to stay right on him. There are huge longhorn and cattle sculptures, fountains, and an outdoor amphitheater. Sam loved walking along the theater "seats" and blowing the pinwheel in the wind.

Sunset

We took a walk to the neighborhood pond the other night to feed the baby ducks.

We stayed for a while and as the sun began to set I snapped some fun silhouette and sun flare shots of the boys.  Enjoy!

This is How My Boys Play

A little backyard fun before the sun set for the day.

Strawberries

Sam and I were so excited to find a certain something on the clearance rack at Lowes...

Five dollars for a strawberry plant that at another Lowes was on for almost seventeen dollars! It was meant-to-be for my little strawberry-loving boy. All our plant needed was one good watering and by the next morning it looked perfect. We're even getting some strawberries! As Sam was inspecting our new strawberries he squished one and picked another. Oops. We had to have a talk about letting the strawberries ripen before picking them. He's done pretty well since then!

How to Entertain a Two-Year-Old Boy

It's very simple really.

Step One: go outside and turn on water

Step Two: set hose nozzle to "mist"

Step Three: sit back and enjoy the show!

Heritage Homestead

I came here on a field trip once when I was little girl, and again with

my

first class over ten years ago.

Yesterday, I got to take Sam and that was the best trip of all! We went with our photography group and there were lots of great photo ops.

Sam loved everything - the chicks, horses, sheep and hens. He got so excited over the eggs, both the toy-eggs and the real eggs, that we found in the hen house. And he loved watching the tractor, throwing sticks in the creek, and learning how to jump on a hopscotch game.

 I think he like the red one-room schoolhouse the best, though! Doesn't he look like a model student?  Ha!  He didn't stay in that desk for long - he wanted to play the piano that was "like Granny Nell's"!

Eye See You

Gotta love the Target dollar bin.

This ladybug magnifying glass has kept Sam quite busy, searching for bugs on the sidewalk and berries on the bushes. Even

Daddy

has been caught playing with it - specifically trying to show Sam how to burn leaves with it. Just what we need - a toddler who knows how to start fires with a toy and the sun.

Pinwheels at the Park (posted 3/20)

Sam's always up for a trip to the park.

I was hoping for a little more sun, but it ended up getting pretty overcast while we were out.  It didn't matter to Sam, though.  We had lots of wind which made our pinwheel spin without our help, and we had fun swinging and chasing ducks at the lake.  Cute little boy.

Snow Day

It snowed a few inches here in North Texas this weekend.

Though much of it had melted, we took Sam on a Winter Walk through the neighborhood today. We looked for snowmen, touched many snowflakes - "shno-pakes" - and taught Sam how to walk slowly over the icy patches. He didn't like the snow on his fingers, but he did like stepping in it, listening to the crunch-crunch and seeing his own footprints behind him. It was great to get out after being cooped up all day Sunday.  And what a cute little snow-bunny he makes!

Counting Steps

Look who can climb the front steps all by himself. Up AND down!

Not only that, he thinks it's fun to count every step he climbs. And after completing a trip up and back down, sometimes ending on "ten", sometimes ending on "wah-wah-teen", I cheer and he takes a giant, dramatic bow. He and I took advantage of the somewhat warm weather and spent some time outside this week. Sam practiced step counting, sat on his tricycle a few times (it's still too scary to ride) and took a walk around the block with Mama. Always fun hanging out with Mr. Sam!

Yard Work

Pops has been putting Sam to work on the weekends.

The first time they did yardwork they cleared a lot of brush - just like Dubya does at his ranch. Now that it's winter, there are acorns to gather and leaves to rake...and then jump in, of course!

Nature

This is how the other children see Sam during playdates. The back of him - off and running.  Always on the move.

I couldn't blame him yesterday.  We met the other moms and babies at a really pretty park in McKinney.  There was lots of shade and open space for Sam to run.  And boy did he run.

The purpose of the playdate was for all of us moms in this particular group (a club for mommy photographers or "momtogs" as we're sometimes called) to get together and practice taking pictures of the kids outdoors, with bubbles and pinwheels as props.

This is the only picture I got of Sam officially participating in our photography shoot.  He can't say no to bubbles!  But for the most part, Sam had other plans.  He wanted to get down and dirty with nature.

And boy did he get dirty!  He collected seed pods ("baw-uls") and threw them in the lake, one by one, and watched the water ripple.  He found some leaves, a couple of sticks, and pounded his hand on a park bench, touching a spot that I thought was dirt, but later decided was something else, judging by the number of geese lurking around...

And by the time we were ready to go home, this is what his playmates saw, the ones he had ignored for over an hour - a dirty, hot and sweaty boy who'd had a great day just hangin' out with nature!

Lunch on the Patio

Granny Nell came over for a Happy Birthday/Happy Mother's Day lunch a couple of weeks ago. We ate outside under what Daddy called our "Starbucks" umbrella. We all ate Mama's chicken salad, even Sam, and then enjoyed some ice cream, of course! Sam showed Granny how he helps mow the lawn and water our herbs, then we blew some bubbles which were so tiny and sticky that they stayed on the walls for days!