Radishes!

We have been spending quite a bit of our free time at my parent's house tending to the garden. I should take a picture of the whole thing so you can see just how big it's gotten (and we aren't done planting yet!) and just how many weeds their are. Turns out I am the slowest but most thorough weeder in the family. My perfectionist tendancies are not meant for gardening! I have spent hours upon hours digging up weeds and yet have not even finished more than 2 rows. In an effort to help keep the weeds at bay we put down a bunch of straw. The boys actually were helpful with this, though perhaps a bit too zealous! 

We reaped our first (small) harvest the other week. Our first planting of radishes was ready to be picked. Turns out Jack really likes radishes, Logan says he does but only takes on bite each time and Schaeffer does not like radishes. Also turns out we didn't plant enough the first time. It's fun to have even a little bit of success, though I have perhaps let it go to my head and now think I can grow anything. We shall see if I kill the hostas I purchased this weekend. 

 

Indy

We had our second annual girls weekend getaway over Mother's Day weekend. We spent the weekend in and around Indianapolis perusing antique shops and shopping our legs off at the outlet mall. We had a small tag-a-long this year, Charlie joined the girls and though he did exceptionally well I don't think he knew what he was getting himself into with all that shopping! I'm so glad we decided to make these getaways a yearly thing. It's wonderful to get away with my mom and sisters and spend some quality time together. 

 

 

Springtime

I've never been certain about which season is my favorite, I think there is something special about all of them. Spring is wonderful because it pulls you out of the doldrums of a winter that seemed to drag on too long. It's a promise of life as flowers start to bloom and grass and trees turn vibrant green. It's wonderful to shed the bulky winter coats and enjoy the warmth of the sun without the sweaty heat of the coming summer. It really is a beautiful, though unpredictable, time of year. We have been able to spend quite a bit of time enjoying the weather at my parents now that they are retired. I've been pulling weeds in the garden while the kids have been trying to learn the art of exploring and playing outside with nothing really to play with. Sometimes they struggle with what to do, often they do things they shouldn't and occasionally they engage in the fun of the outdoors with running, digging, and exploring. They've had fascinating finds such as a dead raccoon, a dead snake, the snapping turtle shell from last summer and a dead catfish. Lots of dead things followed by lots of conversations about how they died and why there are so many bugs on dead things and so on.

One afternoon the kids got to go fishing for the first time this year. The twins got poles for Christmas and were very excited to use them. I am certain one if not both of those poles will end up at the bottom of the lake before too long. They love dropping their rubber fish into the water and then reeling it back in like they've caught something fabulous. Last year Jack graduated from the rubber fish to an actual hook on the end of his line and he seemed to pick up right where he left off with his casting. Most of the time he can get it pretty far out there. His casting is great but he could use a little work in the patience department. Fishing is good at teaching that. He is quite determined to eat a fish from Papa's lake so that's the goal for the summer. 

 

This is Papa's Mountain. It's fun to climb and it's fun to explore. Though this picture is not that old the mountain already looks quite different. It is a breeding ground for thickly stalked weeds and now resembles a jungle with most of the vegetation taller than the twins. 

Bikes and Trikes

With springtime comes bike riding season in our house and this year has been full of firsts. I really wanted Jack to take his training wheels off because I knew he could do it. Every time we'd talk about it he would tell me that he really wants to when he gets a little older. I told him 5 was plenty old. A few Sunday's ago when the weather was nice I randomly asked him if he wanted to take his training wheels off. He said yes. So after lunch we put the twins down for their nap and took Jack outside for his first attempt at riding his bike without four wheels. His bike is tiny. Bending over to hold it up was a pain in the neck, back, etc....at least that's what Paul said. I only attempted once to help Jack and I made it much worse. Much to Paul's relief Jack learned very quickly and within the first hour Paul was running alongside instead of stooping over, holding on. In that first afternoon he had figured out the balancing aspect. The following week we worked on stopping, turning and starting and within a week he was pretty much good to go. Jack has impressed me with his positive attitude while learning to do something difficult, his determination to figure it out and his resiliency in getting up from falls. I feel like he's left another stage of toddlerhood behind.

Then there's these two. They loved their bikes last year and were anxious to get back on them this year. I've been trying to convince them to try pedaling but they are stubborn. Schaeffer decided to try and was actually starting to get it when he quit his pedal bike and went to his balance bike. He loves his "motorcycle" and I'm already seeing improvement on it. But pedaling for Schaeffer, for now is a no go. Logan started out refusing to even try the pedals and then one day last week he changed his mind and now he is almost a pro. Just last night I noticed he was pedaling almost exclusively (as compared to running on his bike) and also that he was getting just a smidge more power in his legs. I'm sure in no time Logan will be cruising around on his bike like he has always been a pedaler. He, on the other hand, really wants nothing to do with his balance bike. Who knows, tomorrow they could both change their minds and Schaeffer might pedal while Logan might try the balance bike.

Man powered bikes are fun and all but motorcycles are all the rage for my boys. Two of our neighbors have motorcycles, Uncle Kevin has one (though they might now know that) and now Papa Friend has a new motorcycle. He rode it over the other week to show the boys and they of course loved it. 

              

Boys and Their Toys

Paul's birthday present.

Jack's birthday present.

Dad's new grankid transporter....John Deere Gator.

Twin Sale

Now's about the time I should be announcing my third pregnancy. I'm NOT! But I just sold almost all of my baby stuff and it has been mentioned to me several times that of course I would get pregnant now, just as I have bid all that stuff adieu. I finally felt comfortable emptying our closests of clothing and gear and toys that have been gathering since the beginning of parenthood. It was a lot of work getting everything hung and tagged and cleaned and finding parts to things and getting it packed up and ready to take to the sale. I hauled an entire van and truck full of stuff to the spring PMOT sale in March. I took a ton and I brought home only a little. It felt so good to move things along to new owners and out of my house. But the night after the sale I was admittedly a little nostalgic and sad at the passing of a stage of life we most likely will not enter again. 

This is not all my stuff, though my stuff is out there. This is the sale put on by the Peoria Mother's of Twins Club twice a year. It's huge and so much fun. I love going to shop early on Friday night with my friends searching out good deals and enjoying the excitement of the sale as well as the evening spent with my dear mom friends. 

These are my tags after the sale. This stack represents all of the items that I sold. I was excited to be one of the bigger collections of sold tags!