Bubble Machine

Last week I ordered a bubble machine from Amazon. I have no idea why we haven't gotten one before, but the reason I got one now is Instagram...or more specifically, some photos I saw on Instagram. Bubbles are fun to photograph and I don't think there's an age limit on loving bubbles.

The boys certainly took to them just fine. They still love bubbles. Again, I wonder why I never thought to buy a bubble machine before. 

They popped the bubbles with their light saber and an old bubble wand. 

They had even more fun than I expected. So this little machine ranks up there on the list of the best $10 I ever spent. 

Texas Bluebonnets + My Boys

Those not from Texas probably wonder at all the bluebonnet photos from those of us from the Lone Star State in March/April every year. It's just one of our many charming (crazy?) quirks. So, yes. We plop our kids down in fields full of flowers for photos. When I put it that way, it doesn't actually sound crazy at all. Flowers are pretty.

So last night - a week night without any baseball games or practices - we went out to "our" field for photos. For once the weather and sun cooperated. The boys mostly did too. 

Even though the boys did fairly well, there were a few challenges, of course. For Logan, he could not keep his eyes on the camera. To save his life, he could not do it. And we would not stop picking at the grass. But all it takes is one shot, and we got it...finally. 

As for Ethan, he had trouble with authentic smiles. He was not really in the mood for photos, although he wasn't totally rebelling. So, the smiles were mostly forced no matter what I did. But again...all it takes is one shot. One real smile. (Side note: he now claims to be allergic to bluebonnets because they made him itchy. I tried to explain that tall grass makes everyone itchy, but he's still adamant.)

They can be goofballs, and it's mostly endearing.

Mimi came with us again...she hates to miss the bluebonnets. Some crazy smiles going on here, though...and this was the best one. 

He was a little explorer. He asked me if he could touch the bluebonnets. I had told him not to pick or trample them so that others could still enjoy them after us. But I told him he could gently touch them and he was delighted that they were "all bumpy!" 

They discovered tons of ladybugs, who apparently love the bluebonnets as much as we do. They wanted to find ALL of the ladybugs and hold them.

One flew away off Ethan's hand and they were both so surprised that it flew! It's fun to watch them discover things and be surprised by them for the first time.

I did not have the "right" lens (a macro) to shoot the flowers or this ladybug, but I gave it my best shot anyway (pun intended). We make such a fuss over these little blue flowers here in Texas, but when you look at them up close, they are pretty fascinating. Until next year, bluebonnets!

Dallas Blooms 2016

This morning we spent some time at the Dallas Arboretum during their Dallas Blooms event. We go every year, yet I'm always surprised by the flowers! Since Ethan started school full-time a few years ago (and Logan this year too), we try to go during Spring Break. But this year, it rained the whole entire week! So, how wonderful that the boys had the day off from school today since we had no snow days this year. And it was a gorgeous day too.

This kid and his two dimples...

I can't make up my mind, but this next photo of the two of them is definitely a contender for my favorite.

Finding an angle that doesn't cause glare on his glasses is a challenge, but when I do, I love it!

The tulips knocked my socks off...they were stunning!

The azaleas might have stolen the show, though...see the next two photos.

Well, technically, the boys steal the show for me every time, but the background was not too shabby!

After I was done "officially" taking my photos of them, I gave them each one of my small point and shoot cameras (which I keep around for just such occasions). Then, we all went around taking photos of the grounds and flowers...and each other!

They totally loved it, and so did I. This is not the first time I've set them loose in the Arboretum with cameras of their own, but it's the first time in a while. 

It was really interesting to see what they wanted to photograph.

Dallas Blooms, you've done it again...we were in awe. And had a great time. 

Spring Break 2016

Originally we had planned to go to the lake house over spring break this year. Then I realized that I wanted to do a few things with the boys in town that we don't get to do as often now that they are both in school full-time...like the Arboretum, the zoo, hiking Arbor Hills, etc. So, Mimi took them to the lake house for the first weekend of spring break and then brought them back into town. And then it rained. And rained. And rained. For the whole stinking week. So, there went all my awesome outdoor plans for the week. Blah.

So, we made a plan B. And started at the library on Monday morning right after dentist appointments for both boys. 

There was a lot of browsing...

...and indecision. And then Ethan wanted to go to the computers to look up dog books. So we did. 

Some more browsing...

We left with 10 books. A respectable amount for the week, although we could have gotten more. 

That afternoon/evening, the boys picked another Disney movie off our watch list (in preparation for our Disney Trip) to watch. They picked Monsters University. 

Tuesday was project day since some shelves I had ordered for the garage arrived the night before. I had started the garage project just before spring break and the shelves were the last piece to finish it off. The boys really wanted to help, so I put them to work. 

I underestimated how much help they would be. In fact, because of the way the shelves went together, they were crucial to getting it done! Six hands were definitely better than two, in this case. 

Sometime during our assembly, the rain came down...hard. Ethan does not like thunderstorms and asked if we could close the garage. Honestly, it was a good idea because it was lightning and the rain was coming in sideways into the garage. 

As I was putting the final touches on the shelves and getting them filled in and organized, the boys found the pool noodles. What else could they do with them but pretend they were swords? 

Then they found the bubbles too...and I sent them onto the back porch for those. It was still raining, but just fine on the porch. 

They had forgotten how cool the bubble guns were. This activity lasted a long time!

On Wednesday Casey was able to take the day off. I was planning to take the boys to the mall on Friday to redeem their Build-A-Bear gift cards and have lunch with Casey, but Wednesday worked better for him. The boys each chose Dachunds to make at Build-A-Bear and then we went to eat lunch in the food court. 

After lunch we carried our new friends in their carriers up to the movie theater where we saw Zootopia. It was a fun indoor outing for the middle of our week...especially since daddy was with us!

On Thursday the boys went to a day camp at DBat baseball batting cages. They worked on batting, of course, and also fielding a little bit. They were there from 9am - 2pm. Their best friends, Ashton and Brennan also went and were in their groups that day. They had a blast and I think even learned some things!

On Friday, I did something I've been meaning to do for ages. I got out my wireless shutter release remote that I'd gotten years before (yes, really) and read the instructions on how to use it. For some reason I thought it would be a little more complicated to set up than it actually was. It was about a 3 second set up. I can't believe I hadn't looked into it before. 

Anyway, I set up my camera on the tripod in our bedroom and had the kids get on the bed. Then, we fired away. Ethan went first with this pose...

Then all three of us got up there for a few. 

Logan didn't bother to hide the remote in this next photo, but I love it anyway! They had the best time firing that thing. Who knew? We'll definitely have to try it again some more in the future. 

Logan got a turn by himself. I wonder where he stuck the remote? Haha!

And they even took some of the both of them without much prompting. It was still rainy, so we stayed in our PJs all day and relaxed around the house. 

All in all, the week ended up being a great combination of activity and rest despite the fact that it was rainy and gray the whole time. Unfortunately, the Sunday right before school started again (yesterday), was the daylight savings time change. So, we lost an hour of sleep the day before we had to come back from spring break. Not cool. It was actually kind of brutal this morning. We will survive, but we lost all the rest we had accumulated over spring break. Whose idea was this?