Ramblings from the Past Week

We continue to have had many days stuck inside with rainy weather. Payton kept us entertained with her Doc McStuffins doctor kit, which she plays with on repeat lately.

She loves having each of us be her patients. We then help her to check on the health of all her stuffed animals. Then, the dogs. And then she repeats the cycle again. She is so sweet and would make a wonderful doctor someday if that is what she chooses.

And then, the sun came out and we moved outdoors quickly, without even skipping a beat.

Riley found joy in splashing in all the puddles, racing through them to see how fast he could go, and then eventually just plopped down and took a seat in the puddle. He's never afraid to get dirty. Payton, on the other hand, ventured near the water long enough to realize she would get wet and then settled for playing chalk on the other side of the road.

Payton likes to be clean and not cold. She keeps us entertained by eating popsicles (which she begs for) with gloves:

Days when we are home, the kids get to pick their own clothes. This is a sample outfit Payton chose. Riley typically could care less what he's wearing and eventually, I pick out his own clothes to keep him from running around naked.

Over the weekend, we had graduation receptions to attend so the kids dressed up a bit.

The rest of the weekend and this week, we worked around the house. We are really trying to get the landscaping done now so we can enjoy it. We had evergreens planted on our property to create a tree line, but they are so tiny we won't see much of that tree line for about 5-10 years.  We also planted about 14 other trees and shrubs on the property including a peach tree.

Monte and Payton are the most excited about this tree.  I'm just excited to see how this property will change over the next decade.

We ended the weekend with letting the kids make s'mores for an afternoon snack. This has been on Payton's list of summer activities and she was so, so excited to do something she had been planning. We've loved watching the stickiness of both the kids attempting to eat their first s'more.

Tonight, we are headed to Payton's first gymnastics presentation. It's an end of the year celebration for her and she can't wait. It's a little bittersweet to see her first activity finish a complete year, but we are all ready for the fun of summer! We won't be doing any weekly activities (just a dance camp and maybe a few swim lessons) so we can't wait for the freedom in our schedule. Now, we can start focusing on summer!

What do you have planned for this summer?

Getting Outside This Week

This may be my shortest post ever. The weather has warmed up and we are outside again. I love being outdoors and it always feels the best after coming out of a long winter. So, I will use less words and more pictures to show you what our week looks like.

 

Outside smoothies, gardening, and swinging galore. That pretty much wraps up our week.

Payton is really into picture taking and I delete about 200 (no joke) pictures a day she has taken. Selfies, random shots of our house, pictures of family members taken when they aren't paying attention... you get the idea. I have found a few pics of hers though that show she may just have some real talent to go with her newfound interest:

Seriously? Aren't those good.

Also, I got a picture of Riley that reminded me so much of a picture I took of Payton, at about the same age:

I know, not exactly the same, but similar. And totally reflects the two personalities.

Happy Thursday! Have a great rest of your week!

A Snow storm and May Day, Not the Typical Combination

We have already had the wildest week weather-wise. On Saturday, we had decent (but a tad chilly) weather as we attended a birthday party in the morning and wedding that evening. I only have 1 picture and it's between the two events.

I think sometimes it gets too busy and I forget to take pictures.

On Sunday morning, we woke up to snow and were predicted to get 6-8 inches that day. Snow! It was basically May so we were quite surprised. We welcomed the extra quiet day though after the busyness of Saturday.

Payton had been disappointed she hadn't made a snowman all winter, so this gave her one more chance. She was so happy to have a snow friend! Imagine her shock when her new friend melted the very next day. The poor snowman didn't even make it 24 hours.

After the Sunday storm, Monday and Tuesday have been gorgeous. On Monday, we were outside in t-shirts and jeans, handing out May Day baskets and planting trees.

We hope you had a great May Day (May 1st). We took some special treats to the few neighbors we have. This morning we went on a play date and played outside for most of the time since the weather is so nice again. We are planning to spend the next couple of days around the house and I'm so excited to get some things done at home! I feel like we've been extra busy lately and I'm very ready for life to slow down, if possible.

Did you participate in May Day? We hope you have a great week!