Kid-isms...

(Daddy on the floor making silly faces at Ainsley)

Ainsley: Daddy, you are not EVEN funny!

Ian (from our bed): You know... she's got a point!

My kids are so funny!

Just a spoonful of sugar...

-helps the hiccups go away! Brady came across this trick years ago. I don't remember how or when or what the circumstances were, but anytime he gets the hiccups, he grabs a pack of sugar and downs it and they go away! We tried this trick with Ainsley too and it works great, except for the fact that she now claims to have the hiccups (or as she calls them hiccum-ups or she's hicking-upping) at least 5 times a day! Granted, she does seem to have real hiccups once a day (I make her prove it to me), and because of this "remedy" I have been obliged to give her a small spoonful of sugar almost daily which is driving me kind of crazy! Hopefully she'll either grow out of these damn hiccups or be more susceptible to the "White Horse" remedy soon!

Easter Family Photos

Easter is, of course, a good time to doll the family up and get some photos. Unfortunately, there are none of all 4 of us together as Ainsley was on the verge of a meltdown! Oh well, at least we got a couple with me and the kids and Brady and the kids.

Goofy kids! Notice the dyed eggs bled all over Ainsley's fingers, UGH!

My big boy!

Showing off her pretty dress! Not too bad for a mama whose only made Halloween costumes for the last few years!

Daddy and his little angels! ;)

SQUEEZE!

A hoppin' good Easter!

We were a bit worried about our Easter celebration as Austin was supposed to be getting heavy storms that morning. As it turns out, we had a light, much-needed shower and then the sun came out in all of its glory! We're not sure when the Easter Bunny came, but when we went outside to get some good spring photos, there were 2 baskets full of goodies and a yard full of eggs! The kids were SO excited! Ian ran around finding loot and helping Ainsley. He quickly learned that some eggs made "thump" noises and therefore held candy and some made "jingle" noises and therefore held money. From that point on, he only looked for $$$ eggs! Which worked out fine as Ainsley was trying to horde as much of the candy as she could. That girl is ALL about the chocolate! And yes, I believe this is approximately 2 Butterfinger eggs shoved in her mouth!

Here's Miss Poo checking out all of her goodies.

Ian made out like a bandit, the Easter Bunny seemed to know he would enjoy more Bionicles. Who knew?

After all of the eggs were found, it was time for the confetti eggs. My crew cracks me up, instead of going nut-so and relentlessly cracking cascarones on each other's heads, they very gently crushed the eggs and sprinkled confetti on each other. Then they would pick the shells out of each other's hair. So instead of a confetti egg free-for-all, it was much more like a pair of monkeys grooming each other!


Now shake it off!


I'm such a lucky mama! Spending a gorgeous spring day with my beautiful little family, watching my children delight in the simple things, fresh air, blue skies, green grass, colorful eggs, confetti and good old-fashioned candy, not to mention endless hugs and kisses!

Bright colors of spring!

It's that time again! Time to dye eggs and hope for a visit from the Easter Bunny. Brady had a gig on Saturday night, so I stayed behind to supervise egg coloration. The kids both did great! Ian was very self-sufficient and Ainsley made only a bit of a mess. She just didn't seem to get the idea of gently lowering the eggs into the dye, she had to PLOP them in! We attempted a technique called "speckling" this year and it turns out we stink at speckling. Oh well, you never know until you try!

Piggy cyclops!

Mad scientist!

Egg aficionados!

A job well done!

Hiking at Mayfield Park

It seems as though many of my posts these days revolve around hiking. Well, I recently started a new group called "Hiker Mamas" and my mission, so to speak, is to get out and hike and explore Central Texas with all of our homeschool friends! It's a great little come-as-you can group and now that the weather is getting nicer, we're getting out more often.

This week's hike was at Mayfield Park. I have lived in Austin 6 years and have NEVER been to this park and boy was I ever missing out! It had a short little hiking trail that went down close to the river and past a little cave, then up to the main area around the cottage. There we found lovely ponds and gardens and the Mayfield peacocks! These peacocks and their ancestors have lived here for over 70 years and basically rule the roost! Needless to say, the kids were completely infatuated with these majestic birds. The males were putting on dazzling displays to the resident females, who honestly could have cared less! We thought they were pretty cool though! This was a wonderful park, it was easy to get to and I guarantee our family will be back to visit often!

Ian journaling, Ainsley helping?


Kiddos in a tree!


Aren't they sweet?


That's my girl!

Hiking at St. Edwards with our friends!

How can you not take advantage of a beautiful spring day in Austin? We met up with several other families on a Monday morning to partake in a glorious hike through St. Edwards Park. This is by far one of my favorite parks in town. The trail isn't hard, but it is still kind of rugged and for some reason this park is NEVER busy. I always feel like I'm alone with the kids out in nature and it's great! Of course this day we were certainly not alone! We had something like 8 families hiking and exploring. The kids all had a wonderful time. Ian, of course, fell in the creek and soaked his sneakers. I swear I'm going to learn to buy 2 pairs of shoes for him, one pair for everyday, one pair for hiking and falling into creeks! Ainsley did fine until about halfway through when she decided to throw a MAJOR tantrum. I encouraged everyone to just walk around her and ignore her. She eventually got over herself and did fine the rest of the way. I guess sometimes she just needs to decompress. I wish she could figure out how to do that without completely blowing her stack! We saw lots of bugs, some tiny fish in the creek and a rock that was covered in river turtles! You know you've had a successful day if you saw turtles!



Ian just before he fell into the creek!


Ainsley up a tree!


See, TURTLES!