Procuring Pumpkins

The annual trip to Sonny Acres was this morning. This is our fifth year going with kids and it took us that long to figure out that they rent wagons for the highway-robbery price of a dollar. We don't have to juggle two kids, two pumpkins, and our sanity. 

The best part, though, was that we finally, finally got LD to agree to ride on a ride. The spinning apples (think Tilt A Whirl) won him over and he agreed without too much begging or reassuring from us. I was worried that once he was on, he would get nervous (past experience), but he loved it and even used the green wheel to spin the apple faster. Win! 

D and I are pretty sure we will never have to talk Gav into these rides. 

Art Installment

Liam D

Pencil on Ceramic, Porcelain, and Wood

August 2013

An observation

This is the line of thought that came to LD's mind on the way home the other day.

"Look Daddy, a car transporter truck.  It's a truck pulling another truck.  It's a TRUCK TRUCK!"

An Outtake

I watched some of the videos I took of Gav yesterday and this one made me laugh because of his little commentary on his progress:

Walking Outtake from Ashley Young on Vimeo.

Walking the Line

So Gav can just walk now. Yesterday he crawled, today he just walks.



Walking2 from Ashley Young on Vimeo.



Walking1 from Ashley Young on Vimeo.


I love this one because you can hear him say "Tigey" when he gets to Liam's favorite toy.



Walking for Tigey from Ashley Young on Vimeo.


I don't love that you can hear my stupid voice, but I do love his face!



Walking3 from Ashley Young on Vimeo.

This Lollipop

This Lollipop*
A poem by LD

This lollipop is a toothbrush.

This lollipop is Saturn.

This lollipop is a lollipop drumstick.

It could bang on a bass drum or a snare drum. 

Or even the cymbal. 

The End. 

* Did you know that bank drive-thrus still give dum-dums? Amazing!

Mother's Day(ish) 2013

We spent a good portion of Mother's day at brunch with friends.  But as is now becoming tradition, we spent the morning walking Lilacia Park.  The flowers were not quite at peak yet so we went back again the following weekend as well.  These pictures are from the following weekend when everything was much closer to peak.  Such a beautiful little park and the boys were rather cooperative!

Sunday Morning Cartoons

Birthdays are Exhausting

Earth Day!

Today LD and I witnessed an oak tree planting as well as planting his own echinacea plants at Argonne. He was not that impressed and not at all pleased that his finger got dirty.

Look like we're gonna need a bigger ...

... bean bag.

New Boots!

After an exhaustive search of the western suburbs, we finally found LD some rain boots ... on the Internet.

Eye Infections Are THE WORST.

LD stayed home with me last week because of an eye infection. As you can see, it was a real hardship.

Gavin's New Trick

This is pretty killer, particularly when it's followed by his tiny little voice saying "Tissa!" (kisses) Sadly, I didn't catch that on the video ... yet.

LD is ready for summer break!

After his bath the other night he wrapped his towel around his waist and proclaimed he is going to the beach!

Swimming Pool

Liam made his own swimming pool this morning. The water was warm and dry.

Our Funny Valentines

It is very, very hard to get a good picture of these two.

Big Help

Gav helped D clean up after breakfast this morning. (Don't worry. We were on our way to get that crazy hair cut!)

Finally. Some Snow.

We finally got enough snow to make it worthwhile to suit up in snow pants and boots. While poor Damian was left to clean up after a house disaster (happy freaking February! The worst month of every year!) the boys and I spent a Saturday morning eating bacon and playing in the snow with their friends Addie and Grant.