Every little thing gonna be all right

As I cuddled with the fidgety Roman and got him back to sleep,  I thought of dinner time tonight. "I want to sit by Mom". That makes my day.

Not going to focus on the persistent "carry me up" (you guys are getting HEAVY) or away-from-home-at-naptime meltdowns...No, I'll think about how sitting next to me makes you happy. I know it's not a forever thing.

But man, oh man, I love you both soooo much. A few weeks ago Grandma C brought over some birdies. I should have had a clue when I came home that night and you two were making nests in the living room with blankets and pretending to be birds.

Rob and Jay (so knighted by your Father)

Sittin' in a tree 

Nice birdie.

After this I couldn't get "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley out of my head. Grandma C had said there had been a Cardinal, but her store was out. So among our Saturday chores was to see if the local version of her store had one left in their clearance pile. They did. And now I can sing it for real...

Rise up this mornin',

Smiled with the risin' sun,

Three little birds

Pitch by my doorstep

Singin' sweet songs

Of melodies pure and true,

Sayin', ("This is my message to you-ou-ou:")

Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,

'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.

the poky little puppy

These photos are already a few weeks old, so no doubt little Lucy has quadrupled in size. No, not really. But still...

Glad to have a dog visit. Visit. Yes, I said that twice on purpose.

Painting class is taking place outdoors today

Time for a spot of tea

The great outdoors are a good location when you're using live ammunition, er...water.

Farmer Roman

In the back 40 (square inches) we put in a few tomato plants. They were something like $1 at the Home Depot checkout in May and I said "what the heck". I don't really have a green thumb (or the ambition to weed). So I pretty much left them alone.
(Roman's looking at the picture above telling me "I'm in the jungle". So there, testament to my weeding abilities)

Holy cow, we've got cherry tomatoes! And you two like to help pick them. Zoe opted for a nap (good girl!), but Roman wasn't interested, so he came out and helped me. He is good at listening to direction (pick the pink and red ones) and Zoe, not so much.

 And it's a hot one!

Ok. Time to go back outside.

One. More. Time.

BYF*

*Now with chlorine

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck

Zoe told her first joke. Don't ask me what it was exactly, except Roman kept saying something and Zoe finally said something about the water spout (from the itsy bitsy spider). She was making a connection with what he said and made me laugh. Again, don't ask me what it was...

 And then tonight Roman did a similar thing. He and Zoe discovered a crack on the ceiling of the bathroom and were chatting about it. Dad came home from school  (almost done with the 1st class and looking like an A!) and they told him all about the crack. Daddy told Roman to tell me we needed a bigger tool to fix it.  Now we've got Roman on Daddy's team and I can TOTALLY see him being Daddy's little helper. He likes his "toos" (silent "l"). Z & R kept talking about the crack until Roman said "it's a duck". Quack crack.
Bring on the knock knock jokes (that is until you do and I cry "mercy!")

 I love your little minds and am amazed at how fast you are picking things up.

BYF indeed!

(Back Yard Fun)

H-O-T

So hot my camera couldn't take the transition from nicely air conditioned house to steamy backyard. (And I wasn't patient enough to wait more than 2 minutes for it to behave).

 No Photoshop filters, just nature.

Just reminds me that a 120 F degree swing in a year isn't unusual. If I read that about some foreign land in National Geographic I'd wonder what possessed people to live there.

Yeah, well....

Pool too small?

And grass too long and too weedy?

 Yes, a manicured lawn isn't on the top of our list apparently.

Your original pool is getting a bit too small.

But it does warm up nicely, so it's our hot tub.

We did upgrade  a few weeks  back...

But then again, Grandma C found us a really substantial upgrade at the end of last season.
 

So, procratinators that we are, Daddy set it up 4th of July (Monday!) night. We're still waiting for it to warm up....I think later today we may make an attempt at it.

I hadn't wanted to put it up at all this year because I was afraid it was going to be one of those things that you'd be climbing into, or at least begging to go in. And you might, but at least there's a ladder that is detachable.  That and your dad isn't big on going to the beach. We went on the 4th and he wasn't fond of swimming in a lake. He's not from Minnesota, you know.



Pool time!

Since your Dad has been hard at work landscaping (digging in the dirt, planting trees, moving plants, repeat...) I figured we'd take out the pools and clean them up so they were ready. Ready for you to splash to your hearts' content (none of that "keep the water in the bath!!" nonsense coming from your Mom).   It didn't take more than 10 minutes of your cleaning "help" before you were soaked. I should have known. And maybe I did, but I didn't care because we were outside and it was warm, ah, bring it on!  It's been a confusing spring, to say the least. We're all ready for some sun. And so are you. On went the swimsuits. (and promptly the sunscreen - our poor pale, Minnesota winter skin)

 I think we're still working on the swimsuit situation. Zoe had a two piece she was wearing in the morning, and I think that's ideal. I attempted the "tell me when you have to go potty" routine. Not sure I'm going to like it (every 5 minutes: "I have to go potty").  And Roman, well we guessed on sizes last year and he's got one that is a size 4 (WAY too big, his drawers were a'droppin') and the pair pictured. These work better, but he was still tugging up his pants. Better than running around naked I suppose.

The slide was a good investment (thanks for finding it Grandma Jane!), and you two had fun climbing up and zooming down. The inflatable pool was a little worse for the wear, but maybe it'll last a wee bit longer...

And try as I might, I couldn't get the Zo-meister to look at me. But I love this suit :)