Oscar Stew

Today was such a lovely day. 71 degrees of lovely to be precise. After school I packed up the kids and headed out on another after school ambush.

First we went to Sonic to wet our whistles. We decided to depart from our usual flushie and try the Ocean Water. Drew had a hard time remembering what it was called, and eventually started calling it “Whale Water.” We will never be able to order from Sonic like civilized adults. 

We went via direct to the park and got to work.

I set the timer for 10 minutes. Ready, set, PLAY!! When the timer beeps we pack up and head to the next park. We are lucky – there are dozens of parks where we live, most of them only blocks away! beep, beep, beep!

Rowan and I hung out by the swings watching flashes of Drew and Brinley run by. With the timer ticking away the kids ran around like crazy rabid chickens.

Group shot before we head to the next park. We haven’t left anyone behind yet.

Big sister Brinley wanted to take Rowan down the slide. No worries, I was right there ready to catch a falling baby.

 Ah yes the disc of torture. Any adult looking at these next three pictures may feel a sudden and strong amount of nausea. Beware!

Brinley couldn’t spin Drew “fast enough,” so he figured out a way to self-propel.

Terminal velocity reached. Warning: Impact imminent. Eject!

Jealous Brinley. This was the theme of the whole trip…Brinley trying desperately to do anything and everything he was doing. And failing. Miserably. And tearfully.

Help! I’m tangled and I can’t get out!

I almost got a crack shot. Almost! Saved by the rope…

And there goes the sun. Lucky for us tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer, and there are still parks that we didn’t make it to today. Anyone game?

We woke up to our first snow on Friday. It wasn’t much, maybe a half inch on the grass. This is a diet post, the kids were totally bugged that I was following them around with the camera while they were trying to play. Priorities…

Brinley was drawing in the snow. Check out the mismatched snow gear, it’s definitely time for new gloves!

Declan spent the day with us, and we found Drew’s old snow clothes in the basement which actually fit. Bonus!

Wanna buy a snowcake? 

They’re good eating! Especially with the blend of dead grass.

By 10am the snow had melted. I’m sure there is more to come. Maybe next time it’ll be deep enough for snow angels. Grass angels just don’t impress…

A few days ago the kids were begging for playdoh. Ryan and I were involved in some projects around the house and I didn’t feel like cleaning up after a playdoh hurricane. I’m not usually opposed to the mess (I love peeling chunks off of playdoh the bottom of my feet!) but this time I thought we could kill two birds with one stone! The kids could get their creative juices flowing and I would be free to finish up what I had going. So I kicked the kids outside with a few cookie sheets and our extensive playdoh collection. 

Aerial view from Brinley’s bedroom window. I had to take out the screen to get this shot. It was worth it, and Ryan got to rescue a damsel in distress when I wasn’t coordinated enough to put the screen back in correctly.

This picture is the essence of being three. Sitting in the tall grass, smashing playdoh through a squisher to make spaghetti, or maybe it was linguine. Technical terms, huh?

Fun factory indeed. There isn’t anything more exciting than watching crusty playdoh ooze out of a squisher.

Chef Drew was cutting his playdoh into breadsticks. Mmmm, playdoh feast anyone?

Miz Rowan pretending to be coy. She has made her peace with the grass, but I didn’t make her lay in it this time. Not with a soft cuddly minkee blanket around. (Thanks Aunt Kelsey!)

I think she is looking towards Utah saying thanks Kels!

So much for being able to finish my project. I spent more time photographing them than anything else…