Backyard Bliss

I've mentioned in previous posts that we've been spending a lot of time outside recently, so I uploaded the iphone pics I've snapped of the boys enjoying our backyard.  It's such a wonderful blessing to have SPACE for the kids to play! 

M says "cheese!" on a rare occasion I got him to slow down for the camera

Yesterday was so warm we wore shorts and went barefoot in the sand!

M is proud of his newly acquired pedaling skills

Pedaling practice on the flat surface - it works best back here due to our graded driveway.

Here they're singing "teetertotterteetertotter" over and over.

 The toys we had for them last summer - the trikes and teetertotter and sandbox - were fun at age 2, but now that they actually have skills, I think they will enjoy them all the more this summer when they turn 3!  It's amazing how much stronger and more agile they've become in the six months we've spent indoors.

The forecast for this week is rain and 60's, which I suppose is normal for this time of year, so I'll take it because it sure beats snow!, but it's been just heavenly to have the windows open and the kids outside.  Loving spring - in fact, I've been loving Minnesota for the past 12 months!  Normal summer, warm fall, mild winter, early spring...really, you should live here!

Crafty Mama

It's cold here - as in, there was snow on the grass this morning!  I knew it was coming - we live in Minnesota, after all, so I've been working on crochet stocking caps for the boys this fall.  And they love them!  Here they are playing in the backyard yesterday afternoon.  Look at that cheesy smile on M! He used to be my serious one, now he's competing for biggest ham.  But I know he's not, since they figured out how to weigh themselves on my scale this morning.  N's got 3.5 lbs on him, as you can see.

And that teeter totter?  They FINALLY figured out how to play on it by themselves - yesterday.  Maybe I'll bring it inside. 

Fast Kids At Play

I never knew I needed a racing track in my yard until I got one.  Now I don't know how I'll ever live without it.  It's really a walking path, laid by the city when this neighborhood was built, that separates our yard from our neighbor's, going the length of the properties from the street to the woods.  But that's where it ends - at the woods.  So it honestly goes nowhere!  We've heard that there were plans to connect it to another path on the other side of the woods, but that idea has been abandoned, apparently.  So now we have our own personal racking track for the boys' cozy coupes.

This morning's racing was like a scene from "Grease," where Sandra Lee stands between the cars (makes me wish I had a pair of leather pants - okay, that I looked like HER AND had a pair of leather pants) with the starting flag.  The boys would push their cars to the top of the track, which has a bit of incline, and would shout random numbers together:

"One!  Two!"
"Free!  Five!"
"Seven!  Nine!"
"Eweven!"
Then M would push off without shouting "Go," and run to the end of the track, just a little ahead of N, who couldn't catch up.

Trying to capture this event on film proved nearly impossible, what with the incredible racing speeds and my almost-dead camera battery, but you get the idea that this event is totally awesome, don't you?  It's actually one of my favorite backyard activities that we've done this summer, and I do all I can to encourage it when we're outside.  Because it knocks them out.  Oh, the sweet sounds of silent napping, I do love thee.

Thank you, silly city, for laying this walking path to nowhere in my backyard.  It's totally worth the random confused bikers and walkers who wander back here from time to time!  Maybe I should put up some kind of "FAST KIDS AT PLAY" sign (as opposed to those slow kids).

I Love Sharky

Last time I had Sharky the shark pool out, a couple of weeks ago, the boys were B.O.R.E.D. with it, so I haven't filled it.  It's not worth the effort of dragging it out to the backyard and refilling it just to breed mosquitoes (have I mentioned them?!).  However, we've stayed home much of the week and have played every toy to DEATH, so in a what I thought would be futile attempt to entertain them, I dragged Sharky back out.  You'd have thought they'd been reunited with their long lost triplet!

I love you so much, Sharky!

And the cozy coupes never get old.  They actually drove these over to Sharky and sat side by side in the grass "driving" them for quite a while - long enough to dry off!  The funniest is that they actually were climbing into each others' cars Dukes-of-Hazard-style, switching back and forth!  I love that they are finally FINALLY starting to play TOGETHER, rather than just side by side or by snatching each others' toys.  It gives me hope!

Backyard Fun

Our dream came true this summer - a backyard!  The boys are having a blast racing their cars, splashing in the pool, chasing and catching frogs and toads, and swatting mosquitoes.  Okay, maybe we don't love the last part, but it's the price we're paying for having such a beautiful woods in our backyard.  (Thank goodness for Cutter, Off! and Bullfrog insect repellants.)

Our newest invention: the water slide!

Just like daddy - driving cars and mowing the lawn.

They love being traced - our patio looks like a crime scene!

Getting ready for another race

Sharing a snack at the end of the day

That last one is my favorite!  Last night, I brought them a snack to eat before heading in to bed.  Rather than eating it at their picnic table, they both got in their cars with the snack and "parked" themselves like this, under a tree, like they were watching the sunset together.  They sat like this for a long time!