Natalie got a kick out of creating some funny shadows while lounging in the hammock. On my to do list: relax in the hammock more. I don't think I have spent any time in it in the past month!
April has got to be the month of the Texas wildflowers. Emmy has an especially good eye for spotting them and loves to make bouquets.
Leah is testing limits and patience. She is drawing on things, throwing food, ripping everything out of drawers, climbing on counters, turning on faucets, raiding the pantry, destroying Littlest Pet Shop creations, to name a few things. She doesn't throw tantrums though, so it's not all bad. :)
Note the marker on the legs...it was also on the walls and couches upstairs.
Another favorite past time...
Oh and I forgot to add that she is picking anything from the garden and trees that is within reach. We are down to one apple left on our tree.
Natalie is having a great soccer season. All of her games are right during Leah's naps, so unless Nate is out of town and I have the privilege of taking everyone, he usually stays home and I take her. I love watching her play.
Hanging out in the playset
It has been fun to bring Natalie to the church with us to do Activity Days while I'm at scouts with Jansen. We recently switched buildings, and church is now at 1. The ten minute drive to the church is a beautiful one, and I really enjoy it.
In April, San Antonio celebrates something called Fiesta. It's a really big deal here! It began as a way to honor the memory of the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto. Natalie had a fiesta themed activity at church.
The kids even get a day off from school for Fiesta and have class parties to celebrate it.
Nate and I really wanted to participate in and be a part of all the festivities, so we went on a date downtown to Market Square. Sadly, that was a bad idea! The traffic was absolutely crazy. I snapped this picture at some point just to help me remember the afternoon. We never left our car. We just got sucked into the traffic and then spent an hour trying to get out of it. After escaping we headed back towards home and had dinner at BJ's just down the street from our house. Live and learn.
It has been a little bit of a crazy spring as far as weather. There was a record breaking hailstorm one evening (I was at the stake center playing basketball when it happened). Lots of people had damaged cars (some totaled!), broken windows, etc. This was the hail at our house - which wasn't even close to how big it was at some nearby homes.
Our Cub Scout pack participated in Scouting for Food in April. One Saturday the boys left paper bags on porches, and the following Saturday they collected the filled bags.
Oops.
We go through sidewalk chalk quickly over here.
Nate was at a sports medicine conference in Dallas for a week in April. He came back with a TENS unit which is something that sends electrical impulses and causes your muscles to fire. We had fun trying it out on Jansen.
I decided to just throw away Leah's bottles one afternoon. I knew that's what I would need to do if I was really serious about it. If they were accessible, then every time Leah asked for one I knew I would give in. The transition has actually been pretty smooth.
What Jansen does in his spare time...
Emmy's big, beautiful top permanent teeth are coming in.
Most mornings begin with some sort of art creation by Emmy. This trail of tiny cut up pieces of paper was not my favorite to clean up.
Jansen's class had a field trip to SeaWorld. His teacher texted me in the middle of the day and informed me that while trying to do the crab walk (or some variation), Jansen fell and cut his eyebrow. It was pretty swollen.
Jansen loves to have me take pictures of him making a catch. He has been really into his Rubik's cube lately.
I bought one of those vegetable spiralizers, and we've tried a few things with it. Perhaps the best part has been playing with the discarded vegetable pieces.
Leah has a knock knock joke she tells. Knock knock she says...who's there...TEXAS! And then she claps and cheers for herself. This sweet girl turns 2 this month! She LOVES to wear Emmy's slippers, watch Curious George on my phone, go to the park (like jumps for joy and runs in circles), and be daddy's little helper and sidekick.
We bought dinner from a taco truck in the neighborhood one evening. Leah really liked the rice, and I liked not having to make dinner.
