Climbing Trees and Splashing in Puddles

People look at me sometimes like I'm crazy for letting them do these things. Funny thing is, I think they're crazy for not letting their kids do them!

Centennial Park

This park was awesome.

Shell Museum

The boys dug through all the rocks in Gran and Grandad's landscaping and pulled out every shell they could find to create a shell museum.



Complete with security guards! (Also the curators.)









These were the signs for the grand opening. They had so much fun putting it all together and were so proud when it was done.



Thank you, Gran!

Littleton Historical Museum

Thanks for taking us, Gran! We had a lot of fun and the boys are still talking about getting to milk a real cow! Henry could not be more proud of himself for helping with farm chores and Ian still wishes he had 5 more minutes with that boat.

We don't mind the rain.

It brings us The Mud Puddle.



The Mud Puddle is right down the street and we race to see how full it is as soon as the rain stops.



It is the best entertainment and it only costs one extra load of laundry. That's a pretty good deal.

We've got this down.

The Dukes have always been great travelers. Now they are starting to get savvy.

A rolling suitcase of some favorite toys makes for instant entertainment at the gate.



A jacket that won't fit in your suitcase makes for a great pillow on the plane.

Love This Girl

I knew this kid was a girl from the moment I heard about her impending arrival. I just had a feeling.

There's something extra special about having a niece when you don't have a daughter.



It's the next best thing and a wonderful thing it is!

Snapshots

Studious



Stylish

Easter Eggs!

I was so glad that Gran had egg dying planned. She took care of hard boiling all the eggs and had the kits ready to go!



We set Leah up at the table with a coloring book so she could feel like she was part of the action. When the eggs and dye hit the table she promptly closed that coloring book and pushed it aside. She was going to actually be part of the action, thank you very much.



Alright then, little lady!



She loved it! Way to go Leah. I always think you should let kids grow when they're ready (Easier said the done, sometimes, I realize. Still, I think it's best.) and she was ready to step up and make her own Easter eggs!



I helped her with her name...



We made an egg for Sally.



Uncle Matt helped Henry make a two-tone egg- it's pretty heavy to hold an egg halfway in the dye with fingers the size of Henry's!

The boys got to do every color they wanted multiple times and experiment with white crayons on the eggs- it was great.

Thank you for thinking of this, Gran!

Cousins

We love every chance we have to spend with the Dukes' sweet cousin Leah!



The older she gets, the more she can join in our play.  And join is exactly what she wants to do!



The boys are happy to have her on their team!  In fact "Say hi to Leah" was one of the top 3 things they wanted to do during their Spring Break in Colorado.

This series with Henry and Leah makes me smile...







Thanks for the great pictures, Grandad!

Sometimes they get a little cheeky during my photo shoots...

Smile!

Henry has a retainer. That's right.  He has an orthodontist and a retainer. Oh, and a cross-bite.



Mr. Smiley's lower jaw shoots out to the right a lot and back a little when he bites down. We have known we were going to have to expand the roof of his mouth to correct this problem for some time.

The time came and I cannot tell you what a trooper this child was. He was amazing during the poking and prodding and picture taking and mold making.



The x-ray taking was tedious and he stood strong and tall and proud and every employee in the practice came in the room under the guise of needing something. Finally one of them fessed up that they all didn't really need anything. They just heard there was an adorable little boy in there.



I said "He has a twin." They let out a collective "Awwwwww!!"  I smiled my proud Mama smile.

Henry, wearing KU from head to toe, requested his retainer be purple for K-State and have a purple powercat on it.

It is and he wears it night and day with no problem whatsoever like having your mouth resized by a small, hard piece of plastic when you're 5 is natural and normal.

I love this kid.