Puddle Jumping

My kids LOVE when it rains. They love to dance in the rain and run in the rain. I think their favorite part of the rain though, is the puddles the rain makes. They can spend hours jumping in puddles! They haven't learned the whole, "there is a time and a place" thing. This particular day they had just gotten dressed and were getting ready to go over to Yaya's to visit Auntie Karen and Auntie Kathy. Instead, they played in the puddles, took a bath, took a nap and then went to Yaya's. But hey, they had fun!!!!

Sunburst Park, Joshua Tree

My Sweetie Punkin.

Look at her dangle like a monkey. Love her.

My baby boy is a little more cautious than his sister.

He's at the top of the slide! AND, he went down all by himself.

Once upon a time I had a little girl whom was almost diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy...look at her now!!!

Singing and sliding

This is one of millions of concerts Maryam has performed while jumping on the trampoline. I also caught Jax trying to go down the slide by himself...so close.

Playing in the bed tent

Jax loves when he gets to play in Maryam's bed tent. Maryam LOVES her bed tent.

I really like this picture of Maryam. She looks so sweet. LOOKS. Ha!

Nap time! Yeah, right.

Enjoying the mud

Anna and Maryam heard the rain yesterday morning and immediately asked to go outside and play in the rain. Who am I to say no? It was a nice temperature and it was only sprinkling, so of course I said yes! They had so much fun! At one point they were digging, at another point they were feeling the water jump with them on the trampoline and eventually they started playing Peter Pan! Jax was Peter, Maryam was Evil Pirate Captain Hook and Anna was Wendy Bird. It was hilarious. Jax had no idea he was playing anything.

Here is Jax playing with the hose nozzle. He crawled under the tramp to get it. And I though that was a good hiding place, dumb, dumb, dumb.

This picture was taken in the midst of their Peter Pan pretend play. Anna was trying to escape Hook and Jax was just standing around laughing because they told him to stay by Anna.

Playing in the rain

For the first time in a long time we got sprinkles! It was a warm 85 degrees outside so I let the kids go outside and play in it. Jax didn't know what to think of it at first. He just kept looking around like, "where is that coming from?" It was cute.

Maryam kept saying, "This isn't so bad." Ha! Love her.

Sand Table

So it begins. I drained the water from our water table and put some pretty colored sand in it. So far, the kids LOVE it. Jax is particularly fond of eating it, Maryam likes mixing the pink and green sand together and Anna likes keeping the pink sand on the pink side and the green sand on the green side. Wow, the arguments! Ha!

Above is day one. You can see how pretty the sand is.

Here is day two. WHAT A MESS! There is a ton of sand on the ground below the table too. Maryam and Anna decided to fill up buckets and dump the sand on the cement. Whatever works for them to have a good time!

Anyone wondering, I got the sand in the garden section at Walmart. It is $3.50 for a 5lb bag. They had pink, green and blue.

Jax outside

This Eyore ride-on toy has been in the family since 2002 when B and I bought it for our nephews Trip and Paddy.
Jax ended up under the Jeep after chasing a Dr. Pepper can down the driveway.  He's quite a "boy"!

More Outside Play Time

Jax crawled into their little play house. He's never showed much interest in this before, so I had to snap a picture of him finally trying to learn how to play here.

Maryam loves jumping on her trampoline. Auntie Brande and Uncle JJ snatched this tramp up for the kids. Maryam uses it everyday and if Ian had his way, he would too!

Here's Jax watching Big Sister acting crazy on the tramp. I love how her hair looks in these shots.

Playing Outside

Every morning I take the kids outside to play for a few hours, or as long as they want, whichever comes first. Now that its getting colder I don't let them play in the pool or with the hose. This is how Maryam decided to get her water play in, she brought her hair squirt bottle outside. Clever, I know. She used it to "clean" the outside of the house and to "do" Jax's hair.

Here's she's cleaning and getting Jax's hair all wet. Look at how short Maryam's pants are on her. These fit her in August! I guess she's grown a bit taller since then. I'm not complaining. ;)

Here is Jax with his wet hair.

Playing together

I heard the kids in their room giggling and peeked in to see this. They were sitting together playing with Maryam's Rough and Tumble Racetrack. She was trying to show him what to do.

At this point she was putting her hands on the track to slow it down for Baby Brother to use.

At this point Baby Brother was on his way over the track to Maryam's side. They're so darn cute together, it kills me. As freaked out as I was about being pregnant or having another baby I have to admit, Jax is the best accident I've ever had!