Random Moments From the Past 2 Months

Since I'm so far behind in my blog, I'm once again lumping several pictures together.

Back in March, we went to watch Rachel (our babysitter) run hurdles at her track meet here in Allen. We got there just in time to see her compete, then afterward we said hello.

Piper seemed to enjoy her outing in the stroller, despite the fact that she really couldn't see the track.

I wanted to get a picture of Piper in front of the fence to go along with some pictures I had of Lila and Wyatt in front of the fence. So one evening, Ben held her up so I could take her picture. I just happened to capture this huge smile.

Breezy.

If this picture had sound effects, you'd be hearing her sudden intake of breath :)

One morning Lila wanted me to take her picture with Piper. As we were doing that, Wyatt woke up, so I tried to take a picture of all three of them.

Wyatt was still waking up I think.

So I took one of Lila and Piper.

Then Wyatt wanted to hold Piper.

But Lila decided she still wanted in the picture.

At this point I decided I'd better put the camera down and rescue Piper :)

All three kids with Daddy on the back porch swing.

I took this picture right before Ben and Lila left for "Donuts with Dad" at preschool (in April).

As a special treat, Wyatt got to have donuts with Mom that morning :)

He's a big fan of donuts.

Later that month we met up with some friends and had a picnic lunch at the Dallas Arboretum.

Piper wore her sunbonnet... and her usual drool.

I never would have thought that an exersaucer would be a comfortable place to sleep, but I guess if you're tired enough, you fall asleep anywhere!

She is the only child of mine to fall asleep in this thing. I could hear her starting to fuss but was in the middle of getting Lila and Wyatt a snack. A few minutes later I went to check on her and was surprised to see her conked out. I'm not sure what had me more surprised - that she had fallen asleep in THAT or that she had fallen asleep on her own! (I was worried sleeping like that would cut off her circulation so after snapping a picture, I attempted to move her to her bed without waking her. No such luck.)

Finally, one day we were all a little surprised to look in the back yard and see these two ducks waddling about! We went outside to feed them some crackers, but they were too skittish. So Lila climbed up for a better view. There is a creek nearby but why they were in our backyard, I don't know. They flew away shortly after we said hello.

Bluebonnets, Take Two

The day after our attempt at bluebonnet pictures, we went to our neighborhood park. It was right after supper so the sun was farther down in the sky, and there was a small patch of bluebonnets near the park by the road. I decided to give it one more try with Lila.

 It was still windy though.

This is probably my favorite picture of her from that night. She was sitting on a low stone wall for "just one more." Her face says it all :) I kept my promise and made it the last picture.

Then we went back to the park, joined up with Wyatt, and fed some ducks.

Lila has gotten to be pretty good at tearing off pieces; she just needs a bit more power in her throw to reach the ducks.

Wyatt still likes to tear off a "piece" (half) and chuck it in the water. He also makes us a little nervous standing so close to the water, so Daddy kept a hold of him!

Bluebonnets

Every year I try to get some pictures of the kids in the bluebonnets. This year was no different. There is a nice patch about 20 minutes from our house, so I thought if we went in the evening, the lighting would be nice. However, I didn't think about the fact that no clouds + open field = still sunny. It was also really windy. Oh well. We were there, so we were taking some pictures!

Since Janina lived nearby, she joined us for a few minutes.

She brought Toby along too, although he wasn't very interested in looking at the camera.

Neither was Wyatt.

I thought this would be a cute picture with the "sea" of flowers, but it was just so bright (and hard not to squint)!

This was the only picture I could get of Wyatt sitting in the bluebonnets. He was just not interested in taking pictures!!

Lila would smile for me though.

A picture with Daddy.

(Piper was asleep. Lila got tired of her hair blowing in her face, so she is holding it back.)

Of course, my girl has to pick a couple flowers.

Our friends, the Bleakleys, joined us for some picture taking too. I got a few shots of Evan before he joined Wyatt who was playing in the dirt.

Piper woke up, so I tried to get a few pictures of her (not easy to do when she can't sit up!)

The flower was courtesy of her big sister.

And finally, a shot of the two of them together. There was no way I was going to get a picture of the three of them together!

Little Girl Blue

 Two months ago (yes, that's how far behind I am, ack!), I took these pictures. No reason other than I thought the little blue outfit Piper had on brought out the blue in her eyes... and I didn't know if those blue eyes would stay blue so thought I'd better document them while I could!

Cute baby sneeze!

Full body shot.

She was snug in a basket.

So solemn.

"Mom, are we done yet?"

She was happier once I took her out of the basket.

Sweet baby toes.

Then Wyatt decided he wanted to take a picture of George. This must have been on a day that Lila was at school or she would have been taking pictures too, I'm sure!

Under the Big Top

At the end of March, we took the kids for their first circus experience... a traveling circus called Carson & Barnes Circus. Since it was right here in Allen, we decided to go to the 1:30 show after lunch.

Here Ben is walking to "the Midway" with Lila and Wyatt. The Midway consisted of a pony ride, a train ride and an inflatable slide. We didn't know what to expect so we got there early.

 

We let Lila do the pony ride. Wyatt said "no thanks."

However, they were both willing to ride the train. It went in a very small loop.

I don't know why Wyatt decided to ride by himself in the middle car.

By the second go round, he wasn't so sure about riding the train!

But of course, Lila enjoyed it and Wyatt made it through without crying. By then the circus had opened its doors, so we made our way into the tent.

Since we were early, we were able to get good seats in the front row. 

We also got to walk around in the ring (this was a one-ring, not a three-ring, circus).

A pic of Lila and Mommy

While we were waiting for the show to begin, we bought some cotton candy (I don't have any pics because I didn't want to get my camera sticky.) Lila had been asking to try cotton candy whenever she saw it. The verdict? She was not a fan. Wyatt was even less so. We could barely convince him to try it! Neither Ben or I are fans of the sweet stuff either, so I'm glad we won't be buying any more of that in the future! Finally, the show was ready to start! The ringmaster came out and the music started.

I looked over to see Lila's reaction and this is what I found.

Of course, who could blame her when these guys are the first thing out? They looked a bit creepy to me too.

She did look up for the elephants. That little guy riding the elephant was Alex, the main clown who did several little funny routines throughout the show.

There were several performers, including a high wire act.

Apparently it was a little scary to watch them! (If something is scary, she covers her ears.)

There was also a brother and sister who rode unicycles.

But the biggest hit of the circus? POPCORN. It was yummy stuff.

We bought two boxes of it, it was so good.

Here Wyatt is yelling "you want some popcorn, elephant?" during the intermission.

Here's a pic of what everyone else was doing during intermission: waiting in lines to ride the elephant, get your face painted or buy peanuts.

Here's what my kids were doing: climbing up and down the bleachers and eating popcorn.

The face painting was $5. The popcorn was $3. We definitely got our money's worth out of that popcorn!

Another fun act to watch.

Lila finally let Wyatt hold the popcorn box.

Because it was empty.

Lions and tigers and bears elephants, oh my!

Yep, the elephants made a few appearances as they were the only animals in this circus.

Piper started the circus asleep, woke up for the middle, and slept through the end.

I thought it was a pretty decent show and just right for our little kiddos. It probably could have been a little shorter for Wyatt, but he hung in there. As we came out of the tent, Lila exclaimed, "I thought it was night time!" So I guess she had a good time if she forgot it was the afternoon!