Wildlife

We have lots of wildlife in our backyard. There are birds, squirrels and ~5-6 regular neighborhood cats who always seem to be passing by. Last spring when we moved in we even had racoons for a few weeks. A few weeks ago we heard from the neighbors that the racoons move in every spring, so Daddy immediately went to Home Depot to get wire so they can't build a house under the deck again this year. Dada's job is never done! So far so good, but we'll see...

The other day a Momma and Dada duck were swimming in the pond while we were playing outside. After playing for quite awhile the ducks realized were wouldn't harm them and let me get close enough for Mom to snap this photo of me with them!

 

Over the past couple of weeks Lilly has also been enjoying the backyard with us. She is a house cat, but we decided to let her have "supervised outings" while we're with her. She generally prefers to stay with us at all times, so she is good about staying in the yard. The only problems we've had so far are when the more social neighbor cats decide to join us. The other night we saw a black cat near the pond, and then we realized it wasn't Lilly! It was Lilly's twin from two doors down!

So far so good with the outings, but Lilly has been noisy and whiny in the house ever since the outings began as she would prefer to go out more often. She has to go to "time-out" a lot (the laundry room). Hopefully she gets the hang of things soon.

Last weekend Nash and I helped Daddy make "granila". I love to cook and Nash did a great job with quality control testing.

 

"We Are Never, Ever, Ever....."

...going to be on American Idol!

Eat your heart out, Taylor Swift.

Happy Nash

Last week Nash had a couple days off of school while his teachers were on vacation. Since Claire watched me and Fiona for a couple days over spring break last month while Mom and Dad worked, it was Mom's turn to watch "the babies" for a couple days. Carys is a few weeks older than Nash and is a very sweet, and fast!, little girl. Nash was thrilled to spend a couple days with Carys, and we think it's safe to say that Carys is equally smitten with Mr. Nash.

On Thursday, I spent the day with Mom, Nash and Carys. I doted on Carys all day - playing nicely with her, reading books to her, and held her hand at the park. Mom said she'd never seen me be as nurturing, for so long, with my own brother. That night I told her that I would be the same way with Nash as I was with Carys. By Saturday I decided maybe not.

On Friday, Nash spent the day with Daddy and he was in a good mood all day long. He was equally as happy over the weekend. So good to have our happy boy back after a rough and grumpy stretch.

Watching Shows

Last week while watching a show, Mr. Nash decided he wanted to sit on my lap. He crawled onto my lap and as you can see I was NOT impressed.

Soccer Girl

This spring I started soccer! We missed the fall sign-up schedule last year and I've been excited to start ever since we discovered this cool soccer group. Coach Steve and Coach Grant are VERY funny - so funny that sometimes I forget I'm there to play soccer and I just stare and giggle at how funny they are.

We divided into two groups, and by chance, I was the only girlie-girl in my group. At first this concerned Mom and Dad, knowing how girlie I can be, but I took it all in stride and it may have worked out for the best because there wasn't anyone to compete for the pink soccer ball with!

We've been learning how to run around in a little pack together, we sing songs about not touching the ball with our hands, and kick the balls at Coach Grant and Coach Steve which so far has been my favorite part. 

 

 

Mr. Nash is a good sport about watching and waiting - it helps that there are cool props and it is at Camel's Back Park. I think he is going to be a natural basketball player, don't you? Mom says that based on the way he throws balls at glass objects on the counters, maybe he'll even be a major league pitcher. 

 

 

Easter in Austin

Last week we visited Uncle Mike, Aunt Michelle, and cousins Annie (11) and Emerson (8) in Austin, TX. Grammy and Bompa were on Spring Break so they were able to join us. It was so good to have everyone together for the first time since I was Nash's age. We played a ton in their amazing yard (bouncing on the trampoline, wagon rides, playing with toys, playing frisbee, watching the goats), we visited the Austin Nature Center with a super cool dinosaur dig, ate lots of yummy food, and enjoyed the nice spring weather. We were also able to celebrate Easter together for the first time ever. We colored Easter eggs. Annie, Emerson, and Nash did an amazing job with the egg dye, but this year I opted to color one single egg with every possible color in a box of 96 crayons since these days I love "every color in the whole world." I wanted to keep my egg forever, but Mom said it would get stinky so we took a forever photo of the forever egg. Grammy even protected the egg from consumption the whole time we were there!
Thank you so much M&M for being such wonderful hosts. We had a wonderful time and love you all so much!

 

Cry Me a River

A note from Mom....

A few days ago, I saw a blog on the internet from a parent cataloging all the various reasons why their toddler cries accompanied by numerous images of said child in tears. I laughed my butt off at all of the all-too-familiar images. It spoke to me and helped me feel normal and that I was not alone.

The next day Nash had one of his usual grumpy days. Every so often things build up and I need a good cry. So I cried and I vented to the blog. Feelings of frustration. Feelings of failure. Feelings of exhaustion, sadness and even jealously. I decided to think about it and not publish it immediately.

I've since cooled off and have decided to shelve my thoughts and spare everyone my personal pity party. Since I take lots of photos to celebrate my family and capture every moment and every expression, it's only fair to document these all too common images of toddler-hood. It is important for me to remember that my children are not perfect and that I too am far from perfect. Some days are filled with lots of "Not-So Beautiful Babies." Myself included. And tomorrow is another day.