Where did time go?

This cutie pie little baby boy will be 4 years old in one week. *sniffle*

Kids say...

Last night Elliot was looking at himself in the mirror after brushing his teeth.

E - "Why do I have two eyes, two arms, one nose, two nostrils, and one mouth with lots of teeth?"

Me - "Because that's how God made you."

E - "Why don't I look like a cat?"

Me - "Because He wanted you to be a little boy."

E - "But I wanted to be a cat!"

A quiet Sunday morning at home.

Randy still isn't quite up to par from his "wreck" and the bad cold that got ahold of him so we stuck around the house this morning. The kids did a little sandbox and sprinkler playing, watermelon eating, and butterfly chasing. I finished planting our few veggies and marigolds, and Randy was on sippy cup refill duty. It's so hot already!


Baby bald eagle (his new animal of choice) cooling off in the sprinkler.


Tiny tomatoes!


Sweet summertime girl.


Grubby toes.


Showing off his ribs and lily white skin muscles!


Wish I had been able to get a photo of the lime green dragon fly I saw!

A girl and her horse.

Randy made Sylvie a rocky horse as a belated birthday gift. It's one of his first woodworking projects, and it turned out so nice! He stained and painted and sealed it and gave it to her last week. She loves it! She was in an ill mood when I decided to get her photo with it though.


She's not impressed with the bumpy ride on the uneven dirt. She told me, "It's too wumpy (lumpy), and I dumpy (grumpy)!"


This little horse thief was a grumpy fella, too. Thankfully he gave up his stolen ride without too much fuss.


There's a smile, little cowgirl!


And back to grumpy girl.


So grumpy that she tried to hide under the hat.


Her mood suddenly perked up a bit!


Still wouldn't allow me to take that dangling band-aid off her ankle though.




Randy walked by when I was editing this one and said, "She's so pretty!" He's got that right!





You better bet that it makes Daddy feel good seeing how much she loves her horse!


Petting her horse's tail.

Hummingbird Moth.

A hummingbird moth enjoying the pentas. I had the camera about 6 inches away, and it didn't seem to care. I haven't seen actual hummingbirds yet, but the butterflies are swarming the flowerbed! I need to dig the hummingbird feeders out of the garden shed.

Dino Airlines.

I love when the stars align, and the kids somehow come to an agreement to play together with no squabbles. The spent a long stretch of time a couple days ago flying their little dinosaurs to the beach for a picnic, then to a baseball game, and then home again. Sylvie's imagination is really, really taking off and she is so funny and adorable. As she was loading up her dinosaurs in her pink Little People plane, she began to make fake whimpering, crying sounds. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that the dinosaurs had to fly home. She was pretending her dinosaurs were crying about leaving the baseball game!

I stumbled upon Elliot's plane later during the day long after they had moved on to other games.  Elliot's Playmobil pilot and the little Stegosaurus snuggling on his shoulder made me chuckle!


 

My baby chicks and the chickens.

Ever since we brought the chicks home, Elliot and Sylvie have pretended to be baby chicks Every. Single. Day. Sylvie has only recently (in the past week) moved on to being a baby cow. Elliot is sticking to his guns, and has even enhanced his story. Now he is a baby chick named Meatball, and I'm not his mama chicken, but instead I'm a person who found him at the trash dumpsters and brought him home with me to take care of. He was hungry and lonely and I put him in my car to bring home. His bed is often referred to as his roost, and baby cow Sylvie's bed is soft grass. Elliot (as Meatball) likes to practice flying, and sometimes pretends to be in his egg and pecks his way out. He also likes to peck his food. Teeth brushing time has turned into a game of "what can we find in baby chick's beak?", and he thinks it's hilarious when we pretend to brush away chick feed, spider's legs, and bits of banana and broccoli. Sylvie cow often has grass, hay, oats, and dandelion flowers stuck in her teeth. This game has definitely made it easier to get them to let us brush behind them.





Apparently, scooping poop is pretty entertaining. Fine with me!


I need chicken coop boots, too. Wish I could find some pink polka dots in my size!


Baby Kitty and Lily watching some Chicken TV. Lily was really probably watching us inside the coop. She hasn't paid the chickens any attention which makes me hopeful that they'll be able to free range some when they get full grown. Most everything I've read says that cats rarely bother a full grown chicken.


Sylvie's turn to do some poop scoopin'!


The two black chickens (Jellybean and Bubble) seem to be more outgoing than the others.


They were being very calm and let Elliot stroke their backs that day.




Meatball and Lemon Drop taking in the view from their new home!