We're Swinging!

I thought Kelly over at "Super Sevins" did a great post capturing the progress of their swingset building. So... I am taking the liberty of copying her! Above you can see how the swingset area looked at 9:30 this morning (the pile is the old swingset that was damaged from the icestorm). Grammy and Grampy Tony came over to help... Grampy with the swingset, and Grammy with the kids so I could help! Below you can see what it looked like at lunch break - 12:30. (I would like to mention that I carried out almost all those boards you see lying in front!)

And here we have the general framing at about 5:30. Brendan came over to help a bit in the afternoon, so he gets credit for helping with the swings and monkeybars! The manual says 2 skilled men should take 20 hours to assemble! I think they got a good start. Rob will putter this week to put more together.

Rob got first swing!

Caden soon ran out to try it out.. the picture is taken through the screen porch so quality not the greatest! Cole joined them once the second swing was up.. but I was cooking dinner so didn't get a picture. But he just LOVES to swing! Giggling the entire time! I'm sure there will be plenty of photo ops real soon! I think our lives just got a whole lot easier with this fab-O structure!! Rob's summer with the kids will be spent out there I am sure! We just can't wait to get up the slide.. and the ladder and rock wall of course so they can get up to it!! Unfortunately one piece was missing from the boxes.. so we'll have to wait for that to come in before it is entirely finished.. but the swings work great for now!

Saturday's Firsts

Saturday was the first mowing of the lawn! The boys took turns mowing the backyard. The lawn looks so nice after it is cut, I love the track lines and the smell.. they just don't last long enough!

The other first was that Cora slept in her crib for the first time! And she slept peacefully through 'til morning. I only checked on her twice. And I didn't get a picture yet.. I didn't have the heart to make her wait this morning while I ran to get the camera! We also got a visitor. I heard the pitter-patter of little feet and the crinkle of a diaper and then there was our little Cole next to my face asking to get up. Thinking it was morning I lifted him into our bed and snuggled up with him.. only to then realize it was still dark and the clock read 2:40! Daddy so kindly returned him to his own bed.

This picutre is just classic Cole... he loves to sit on this rock, it's the funniest thing!

And Caden thinks he's a bigshot because he can hang from the branch and swing!

I didn't even ask these two to sit on the rock together.. I did however ask them to say "cheese"!

We had a great day outside! I am so happy the nice weather has finally arrived and hopefully is here to stay for several months!!

Glitter

This week has been what a Mom on maternity leave dreams of! Beautiful weather! We've been able to take a walk every day this week. What a sight for sore eyes we are, Cora in the Bjorn, Cole in the front seat of our sit 'n stand, and Caden standing on the back when he is tired of walking. It's been great! We count dandelions and find water that isn't on people's property to throw rocks into. But what is the best is that Caden makes the trash that is being revealed after the snow melt look rather lovely as he calls it "glitter". We've been talking a lot on our walks about how we do not throw our trash on the ground because that is not nice and it makes things look messy. I sometimes point out a piece and say "There is some litter", he quickly says "You mean glitter Mom?" Then we talk about 'L' words!

Otherwise after our snap happy week in Nevada I have hardly taken any pictures! Cora turned 10 weeks old today.. DOUBLE DIGITS! Oh my! She is smiling and cooing up a storm, I think she is on the verge of laughing soon.. as often her cooing sounds on the brink of laughter! It is great watching her grow and become more and more of her own person. She has a wonderful personality, for the most party she is always happy! SWEET! She had her 2 month check-up yesterday... and as expected she is off the charts! greater than 97th percentile in both height and weight at 25" and 14lbs 9 oz. Oh boy! She was supposed to start sleeping in her room in the crib tonight instead of in the bassinet next to our bed... but that is where all of our unpacking was done.. and it isn't quite ready for habitation yet! So tomorrow night it is! (I am definitely not sad she isn't moving yet!) I like to be able to listen to her at night any way.. since (and I know I am totally jinxing myself right now) she has been sleeping through the night for over a week and a half now!! The boys didn't with any sort of consistency until 9 months old! She's our miracle baby! I wake up with a start, but fall back asleep easily after hearing her snoozing away peacefully. Now I'll have to get out of bed to get piece of mind! At least it is warming up so it isn't as cold getting out of bed!

So we've been spending a lot of time outdoors, many of our outdoor toys are still on the screen porch where we store them during the winter to free up space in the garage. We can't move them back in yet because of our swing set weather-proofing project, so we send the boys onto the porch to play.. it's actually great! Cole LOVES the car he climbs in the side without the door much like the Duke Boys! We've also opened up the sandbox, and this year Caden doesn't seem to mind all the dead spiders mixed into the sand!

At the beginning of the week we were able to eat on the screen porch it was so warm out. Below you can see Cole's 1st ice cream cone! Tonight we went with the Sevins for ice cream for opening day at Macks Apples. I totally forgot my camera (GRRR!) but I am sure you can check Kelly's blog for pictures!! And we are taking a photography course together starting next week.. so just wait until you see our pictures after we become pros!!

Nevada Vacation Slideshow

Here is a link to our vacation slide show in case you didn't receive it via email! We narrowed it down from about 900 pictures to 267.. still long, so put the speed to fast and only watch in your spare time!!

Slide show