Pool Boy

Our Memorial Day weekend weather was beautiful. It gave the kids a chance to play outside and get summer started a little early.

Evelyn orchestrated three porch picnics in two days and Brandon had his first experience with a swimmer diaper. He really likes taking a bath, so we thought that he would also enjoy his first dip in the pool.

He did. By the time he was done splashing there wasn't a whole lot of water left in it.



Evy taught him some of the finer points of backyard inflatable kids' pool technique. You know - the beach ball spin, the bucket toss and the somehow get a pound of sand and grass in there.

They both had a lot of sunblock and a lot of fun.

Last Day of Preschool

Today was Evelyn's last day of two-day-a-week preschool.

She has really grown up since her first day of school.

Instead of going to class they had a picnic outside and one last hour of playing with school friends before summer break. She had a great time this year and is already looking forward to going three days a week in the fall.

Mother's Day, Take Two

We had another try at Mother's Day today. Having two healthy kids was quite a change from two weeks ago.

It included waffles, flowers and individually-wrapped Twizzlers, of course.

Happy Mother's Day!

Chocolate World

Evelyn and Brandon visited The Sweetest Place On Earth®.

They took a ride through the factory and spent a few minutes working on the Hershey's Kisses production line.

And holding up some ridiculously large pieces of candy.

Sweet!

Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Butterfly

A few weeks ago Evelyn received a jar of bugs in the mail. It's OK - we ordered them.

After a while these five caterpillars grew bigger and bigger. They climbed to the top of the jar and hung upside down, creating chrysalides. We pinned them up inside the netting and Evy watched and learned about the process. She waited patiently for a week for something to happen.



Then one day a painted lady butterfly emerged. Then another. Soon their net house was full of fluttering orange wings. Evy fed them and took care of them.

Then it was time to release her five new pets.

And to run around the yard and pretend she was a butterfly.



See the whole butterfly life cycle on Flickr.

Mother's Day

You'll notice we haven't posted any pictures from Mother's Day. That's because Brandon has his first ear infection and Evelyn has a fever of 103˚. It's not very much fun around here.

We're calling for a Mother's Day do-over in a few weeks.

Here's hoping...