The Backyard

It was my birthday yesterday.

We won't discuss age.

Or what all I may or may not remember from the 80's.

We had a nice, low-key day.

Which is just what I wanted.

We went swimming in the morning.

Which meant Milo took a 3-hour nap!! {LOVE}

Then, Matt had a meeting to attend, so the kiddos & I went out for a Chinese dinner.

The waitress actually got choked up as she was thanking me for adopting Milo.

I was blown away.

It turned out, she is also from Shanghai.

Such a small world.

She told me that it was so much better for him here - that he would have had nothing in China.

I have mixed feelings about that.

I know that is probably the reality.

But it is still hard for me knowing that we took him away from his culture, history, and country.

Anyway, after dinner, we went home & headed outside to explore.

A big 'ole storm blew through while we were eating dinner, so the kiddos wanted to make sure their toys were okay.

And we needed to burn off some energy after having birthday cupcakes for dessert!

The kids found a grasshopper, and stared at it for quite a while waiting for it to jump.
(They never did get to see it jump - they lost interest after a few minutes)

Milo wanted to poke it with a stick, but Xandra threw a fit at that idea.

Xandra fell down & scraped her knee.
Milo hugged her & held her hand.

Peek-a-Boo through a chair.

Checking some toys forgotten in the storm.
They all still work.

Xandra always has such intricate story lines when she plays with her B*rbies.
 I love listening to her! 

Laying Down {Wordless(ish) Wednesday}

More modeling from Xandra.
I'm desperately trying to get more of Milo.
Apparently, being a boy makes him naturally unwilling to be photographed lately.
So frustrating.

Xandra in the Garden

I realize my title states something about a garden... those pictures are below. 

But this one... 

... takes my breath away.

It had been a while since we were able to go outside (more heat advisories),

so in order to get my homework done for Lisa's Photography Class, 

I had to give in & take a few shots indoors (not my favorite thing to do).

So, so happy I did though!!

(Nikon D90, 50 mm prime: ISO 500, f2.5, SS 1/250)

Ok... so here are the promised garden pictures.

This girl has amazes me.

She has suddenly become my go-to girl whenever I want to take pictures.

And she sure can ham it up!

I Scream, You Scream!

50mm prime,  ISO 100,  f3.2,  SS 1/640

Busy day today... We had swim lessons this morning, then straight to our town's fire department open house. Both kids took a long nap after that. And to top the evening off, I decided to take them to get some ice cream after dinner. 

Quick tip for anyone interested... Probably not a good idea to feed the kids ice cream about an hour before bedtime. At least it isn't a good idea if you want them to cooperate with anything afterward. It was not a pleasant evening (for me at least). Kids bouncing off the walls, while I was trying to calm them down for bed. Ugh. 

But it was a good day, all in all. Hope everyone else had a good weekend!!! 

 

Summer Daze {Fav Foto Friday}

Here's a study in contradiction....

"Mama, PLEASE can we go inside?? I'm SOOO HOT!!"

Can't you just see her hands on her hips, giving me "the look"??

We come inside... & she wraps up in a blanket!!
WHAT????

Backyard Pool to the Rescue!

These were taken on the last day of our insane heat wave. 

The kiddos played in the pool, while I sweltered in a tiny bit of shade watching them.

Seriously... I believe the heat index this day was 113*. 

Daddy got the hose out to add cool water to the pool (even the pool water was hot!!) & of course had to spray down Milo!

July 4th

ISO 100,  f2.8,  SS 1/200
Edited with Florabella "Clean Color" (55%) & "Smitten" (63%) 

This is the above picture before I did any editing -
straight out of the camera (SOOC)
I had to include it because Xandra's eyes just blew me away.

We went to our town's 4th of July parade.

Yep, we braved the insane heat to sit on a curb & watch a parade.

Daddy walked in it, since he's a council member. 

But mostly, the kids were just thrilled to grab all the candy that was thrown out!

Can't you see the enthusiasm on their faces?!!
They were thrilled, I tell ya!!

Ok. Maybe "thrilled" is too strong a word.
We were so HOT!!
And to top it off, we totally missed seeing Matt!
Boo!

In the evening we went to Papa's house for a cookout.

We celebrated with bubbles this year.

Though it didn't last too long.

It was just too hot! 

All told, it was a good holiday, even without the fireworks.

I hope we get to see them next year. 

We haven't been up to much around here lately. 

Again - the weather.

It's really hindered our activities.

The kiddos officially started swim lessons yesterday.

They did better than I thought they would, but they each need to learn to trust their instructor a bit more. 

Hopefully, it will be even better next week.

I'm going to try to get some pictures of them in the next couple weeks.

I had to include this last picture, even though it has nothing to do with the 4th.
I took it this morning while the kids were wrestling with daddy, after church.
I love the joy!

Hope everyone has a great week!!