Take a Picture of My Car, Mommy!

I was snapping some pictures of my new car today. Ryan wanted me to take a picture of his car, too.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa.

We helped Kevin's dad celebrate his birthday tonight. Though "helped" might have been a slight overstatement. The boys were a handful tonight. I have no idea what got into them. But I hope it has been thoroughly exorcised...

A New Car

I picked up my new car today. In the rain. I can't explain it, but it just doesn't seem quite real yet.

It was that kind of day

Dinosaurs

Because what kid wouldn't want to see 20 ft tall dinosaurs whose eyes track your every move, and whose heads follow you around while growling ferociously?

That would be Ryan who was wide eyed and terrorized by even the small herbivores. Connor on the other hand "ROAR"ed back at them and eagerly dragged me from one terrifying monster to the next. Twice.

Learning to fly

It's terrifying when your heart insists on climbing up to the highest point it can get to while still obeying the laws of gravity. With no fear. Above the tree tops. Out of arms reach. Nearing treacherous falls at every turn. All while laughing merrily and going as fast as it's little legs can carry it.

I know it's all part of the letting go that I will have to do sometime. I just wish they could wait just a little bit longer before spreading their wings quite so far and wide.

Work In Progress

It's a work in progress. It is slow going. And of course it is always worse before it gets better. And HOT. Who decided that the 1st of September in 100 degree weather was a good time to work out in a hot garage in the middle of the afternoon? Oh, yeah... This was my bright idea...

Before

I am ashamed to say that it started on their 1st birthday. We "temporarily" relocated some things to the garage to make room for the masses. Then their birthday came along and before we knew it a whole host of new outdoor toys took up residence. Before long we could no longer get a car in. Months passed and we were both lazy, and too exhausted from chasing two toddlers eager to try out their new running skills (in opposite directions of course) to take the time when they were asleep to do anything about it. Though things have come and gone and it has gone through varying stages of organization and cleaning it has finally reached rock bottom and it's time. Time to clean it out once and for all. Time to restore order and function.

Wish us luck! We are definitely going to need it...

Preparation

Yes, more shelves. Plural. I say more, because if you had seen our garage you would be amazed that there could be room for more. For when we moved into this house you would think we shopped at a wholesale warehouse or something as we had already filled it practically wall to wall with shelves. 6 similar to these, and 1 mammoth rack if I remember correctly. But even with the spring cleaning to come I think we will need more storage space. Kids I have learned, can amass quite the collection of toys, outdoor, or otherwise.

Something Brown

Something brown?? We have to fill this thing with something brown?? It turns out there is a lot more brown than I realized. From horses to cows, fences and shoes, paper bags and lions manes, pennies, rocks, pincones, branches, and leaves just to name a few. Bunny rabbits, dionsaurs, teddy bears, and footballs, too.