We broke out the gator this afternoon to move the leaf mulch pile. We need to make more room for our swing set so those silly leaf mulch piles had to go!

In this second picture he was explaining to her how to navigate a tight area, then he quietly slipped his hand on the wheel and helped her. It was sweet.

Back when Lex was having trouble on the bus and wanted me to pick him up after school every day we ended up agreeing on a once a week schedule. I even wrote standing note that I’d pick him up every Tuesday for the rest of the school year. After a few weeks of this I figured we should go out and do fun things on Tuesday afternoons since we were all in the car anyway. The past few weeks we’ve been going to the science museum. It’s very quiet on Tuesday afternoons, which I love! The kids run around and play and I don’t have to keep as close tabs on them as I do when the place is packed.

This week I realized that they have started slowing down when we are there. Instead of running from one “active” exhibit to the next like crazy people, they’ve started slowing down and paying closer attention to the exhibits. They have started looking at the more natural stuff (dinosaurs, birds nests, ants, etc.) instead of just playing with the more active things. I think this is in part because we’ve been going more regularly, but also because it is quieter there. My kids, like everyone else’s I’m sure, get all revved up when the energy levels are high and they just bounce around. When it’s quiet they are able to focus more. I love it. Last week we watched the ants being fed, they both helped, and Lex even asked a few questions. This week we sat down and did some building and played with tangrams (I love those things!) and, of course, hit the water park!

The pictures are all funny looking because I was playing with camera settings… Someday I will take a photography course. Some day!

That's now how we use this exhibit!

Serious Lex

Holy turtle pile. I took a lot of pictures of these guys! :)

We had fun with the tangrams. It's neat to watch the kids figuring them out.

Lex followed the directions to build a truck with these blocks.

Then he modified it to his liking.

This is another shot I'll have to dig up a before-and-after for. I know I have many photos through the years in this pose.

Our third try at movie night was a big success! Pick-your-own dinner, picnic on the floor, Mary Poppins (nothing scary there!), cuddles only the couch, success!

Part way through the movie I started thinking about making popcorn, but then Lex picked up a big bowl of sugar snap peas I had put out with the picnic and brought it back to the couch. We all cuddled and the kids ate the whole bowl of peas. I quietly tucked the popcorn idea away for another day.

Lex’s second birthday…

Building the swingset

First swing, sideways

He's so little!

Through the years…

This afternoon…

Don't let the smile fool ya, he was crying in the end (and I was trying hard not to!)

I think he tried to stage a "sit in" at the very last moment :)

Goodbye.

Goodbye swing set. You were loved very much and served us well. You will be missed.

It’s hard to see the baby things moving on. What happened to my babies? Suddenly they’ve been replaced with big kids! All my favorite baby stores and websites are no longer relevant, our baby products are slowing leaving the house… sigh. Let’s hope that new swing set gets here soon!!

We did the March of Dimes “March for Babies” walk this morning! It was fun! I had gathered a small team and we raised about $700. Thanks all who donated! We had trouble keeping the team together for the walk since we all had kids and walked at different paces, but it was a fun morning anyway. Lex and Eve walked the entire three miles, with the assistance of water and snacks along the way.

Powering up before the big walk

Stop along the way to check out these interesting objects.

Watching the clowns after the walk. The kids laughed hard at these silly people.