Return of the Rain

We had a pretty low key weekend since the rain came back. Owen's class had a luau on Friday afternoon, and Mom went. We ate a lot of fruit, and then all the parents watched the kids dance and goof around. We kicked off the weekend from there and Mom and Owen picked Natalie up early. Since she missed the pirate event in her class that afternoon, she came home and wore her eye patch around the house. We keep forgetting to write about Natalie's school elections. Apparently she's popular as she was voted the President of all the pre-K prep classes (by her peers) during their elections a few weeks ago. She also came home with a ring (plastic purple flower) the other day, given to her from a boy (with no further elaboration from her). Dad was a little stressed - he's going to be in for it in about 12 years! We managed to get outside alittle over the weekend: Natalie painted on her art "weasel" as she still calls it, we went to the playground (for about 10 minutes - Mom & Dad were very hot and Natalie and Owen both had bright pink cheeks!), and we did some more gardening projects in the backyard. Natalie and Owen were warned about the mud during this excursion, and all was well until Natalie fell into the mud when sitting and bouncing on her ball. Mom thought it was hilarious, but Natalie was less than amused. At that point it was time to go inside and get cleaned up.

Keeping Busy

We've been keeping busy, both with house projects and work. The week before last Dad had a lot going on at work and he spent some time at the office over the weekend, so Mom and Natalie and Owen just stayed around the house and played (and kept cool). Then last week Dad had to go to New York for work, and managed to be somewhat nearby the big steam explosion, so he witnessed that first hand. When he got home, we headed to New Orleans. Mom had some work meetings, so Dad took Natalie and Owen around to some of our old haunts and also to the aquarium, which they enjoyed immensely. The sharks and the jellyfish were the biggest hits. On the weekend, we had Mom's company picnic/BBQ. We headed home on Sunday and set up our newest gadget - a Mosquito Magnet. We've had horrible mosquitoes with all the rain - we can hardly go outside without getting attacked and they aren't really fazed by bug spray. Hence our new gadget. We are very excited to note the progress with the numbers of mosquitoes trapped, and we've definitely noticed a decrease since Sunday. We're getting ready to have a patio installed in the backyard, and we're trying to eradicate the mosquito problem so we can actually enjoy it. We've started the baby countdown (or Mom has anyway!) - just under 8 weeks to go! As you can see from the picture below, Mom's belly is getting pretty big!

Rain Reprieve

We had a really nice weekend. We took care of some errands on Saturday, including a much-needed haircut for Owen. His hair was just about out of control, and Mom found a new haircut place (we don't care for the first place we went to). It went very well, and the nice lady had his hair cut in no time. He really enjoyed the lollipop. Saturday night Natalie and Owen went to the babysitting program at school and Mom and Dad had a nice date of dinner and a movie (it's been a while!). Sunday we actually went the entire day without rain!!! It's amazing since we've had rain every day for over a month. We went to the (soppy, soaked) playground first (in case of rain later), then we did some fun planting and outdoor stuff. Natalie and Owen finally got to do their flower pot project (paint the pots and help plant the flowers we picked for the pots). While Owen participated, he wasn't as detailed with the painting as Natalie - he slapped a few stripes on then went on to ride the bike in the driveway, which he then crashed into the back of the car and bruised his forehead on the tailpipe. Natalie was much more meticulous. Natalie and Owen also enjoyed coloring the stepping stones with chalk and chasing each other around the muddy backyard. They both went straight into the shower when we came in. But it was a great weekend, and our cabin fever has subsided.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! We had a pretty uneventful day, although we did get to go see fireworks. It rained just about all day, which put an end to all of our planned outdoor activities (maybe on the weekend?). We went downtown last night to see the City's fireworks show and it was great! We managed to keep Natalie and Owen entertained while we waited, although it was good they started when they did because we were losing Natalie (the non-napper). Natalie was very excited about the fireworks, but we're not sure if Owen was more excited about the fireworks or the helicopters flying around. There hasn't been a whole lot going on here - we've had so much rain, we've mostly been confined to the house. So there's been a lot of playing inside (the Noble Duke of York with Daddy is still a hit, and there's room for one more!), just being silly, and dancing, of course. Natalie has gone through about ten coloring books! The weekend before last Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Tom came for a visit and we all had a good time. We did make it to the playground a couple times, and Natalie and Owen were excited to have some different playmates from Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad enjoyed the break too!