Who Needs the Park?

What do you get when you combine 2 educated adults, 3 eager children, a pile of tools, a huge box, and an instruction list longer than most people's life histories?

Throw in a full day's work and you get a swing set in your backyard.

Seriously, it's harder than it looks, folks. Jonah and Kate were a bit frustrated with the amount of time it was taking for us to put together the frame (honestly, could they make it anymore confusing?). Thankfully, they went back inside to watch t.v. and things went a little bit more smoothly without so much "help." When we finally go the main structure put together, they returned since things were "getting more fun."

Kate provided some background music while Micah and I (but mostly Micah) worked tirelessly at deciphering steps 1-130 of the instruction sheet. (Yes, I'm exagerrating, but the thing was long!)

Lincoln was just being cute, as always. He doesn't like to crawl on the grass, so it's one place where he'll actually stay put.

Things started coming together, piece by piece. First the slide...
Then the glider...
Then the swings and see-saw.

Here's the final product. Ain't she a beauty?
So now with a trampoline, a sandbox, and a swing set, our backyard is finally complete. Friends are always welcome to come play!

Now if I could only get my flowers planted...

Show Me Those Pearly Whites

Teeth are important. We know that, and we take care of them accordingly. However, until this past month, the Shirts family hadn't made a trip to the dentist since the Nebraska days, save for Shannon's free cleaning at the dental school a couple of years ago. With no dental insurance, it's been just one of those things that we've kept putting off...but no longer! Our smiles are now polished and shiny and (almost) cavity-free.

Jonah and Kate were super excited to get their teeth cleaned. We had prepped them about what was going to happen, so there were no surprises. Jonah went first and loved the water squirting in his mouth.
Kate was next and she was a model patient. No cavities for either of them!! Thank goodness they are such good brushers...Uncle Michael is so proud.
I had no cavities either, but Micah has 2 little ones. We don't bring them up often because he is kind of depressed about it. However, we're hoping that he can be a Boards patient for Michael and thus get them taken care of for free.
Here are the kids with their goody bags. They got water bottles, toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, plus a special prize from the goody drawer. Sheesh...was this the dentist or the fair?
And this picture is added simply because a sweet baby makes every post better.

Down on the Farm

Hayrides, horse rides, terror, and allergies. That about sums up our morning out on a field trip with Jonah's preschool class. We went to a farm just outside of town and Jonah could not stop talking about the chance he would have to ride a horse for the first time (he actually took a pony ride when he was 2, but this is the first time he can remember being up in a saddle).

Things started out with a hayride, which was fabulously fun. The only issue was that cute little puppy that rode along with us--it scared Kate half to death. If fact, nearly all of the animals terrified Kate unless I was standing right next to her: dogs, chickens, kittens...you name it, she cowered in terror from it.
Meanwhile, we discovered that poor Lincoln probably has hay fever. By the end of the outing his little eyes were all red-rimmed and watery and his nose was full of yuckiness. So in one arm I have a fussy, feeling-bad baby (who I had been counting on to sit quietly in his stroller like he usually does when we are outside) while in the other arm I'm more-often-than-not sheltering Kate from ferocious barnyard beasts. Oh yeah, and Jonah was there, too. I know this isn't the greatest picture of me, but I thought I should document my insanity of trying to take ALL of my kids on a preschool field trip--BY MYSELF!
What was I thinking?

There were plenty of happy moments, such as this when Kate got to chow down on her precious yogurt (of course she was hungry almost anytime she wasn't shaking with fear). This is in the barn where the cute little kittens were housed. Jonah got to hold one but I wasn't able to snap a photo. He is much braver than his sister.

And here's the Man standing next to his noble stallion. Actually, I think it was a mare named Molly but who cares? It was a horse! Judging by the smile on Jonah's face, I think the ride was everything he had hoped it would be.

Kate really wanted to ride as well (the horse wasn't as scary from the backside--oh, and I am standing right beside her). She looked pretty darn cute in her little riding helmet.

The chickens were funny, too, and Jonah got to see some freshly-laid eggs. All in all it was a fabulous time and we would love to go back again....but maybe little Linky can stay somewhere without all the hay.

Rough River Dam

Recently we had a weekend of fabulous summer weather...even though it was still spring! Temperatures in the 80's and bright sunny skies had me wishing that I could be sitting beachside with a cold drink in one hand and a good book in the other. Since we don't have any oceanfront property here in Kentucky, we had to settle for the next best thing: lakeside.
Rough River is a state park that has cabins to rent, a marina, and public beach. The sand wasn't quite as white as the Gulf Coast, but the kids had tons of fun digging and building rock walls.

The lake brought in plenty of waves every time a boat would go by. Although it took Kate a little while to muster up the courage to go out into the water, she ended up having a fabulous time.

Linky also had fun getting a little bit dirty. Thankfully he wasn't crawling yet (that would come the next day) so he pretty much stayed put on the blanket.

Here's Jonah's rock wall. He spent a long time making it absolutely perfect.

So, although I won't be able to make it to Florida this year (unless Michael and Caroline let me tag along on their honeymoon) at least I can say that I was able to hit the beach!

A Couple of Crawlers and One Silly Boy

Apparently, it's caterpillar season. The other day, Micah and the kids found one creeping around in our yard. Almost instantly he was caught in a mason jar and given the name of "Fuzzy." Turns out that caterpillars are better left outside; when Fuzzy ended up "sleeping" for quite a long time, we let him free in his natural habitat.

Fuzzy has resurfaced several times since. One day the kids and some friends went outside and found seven caterpillars crawling around on the deck (apparently, Fuzzy has friends). And amazingly, Fuzzy migrated several neighborhoods over to the house where I teach piano lessons. Surprisingly, Kate enjoys Fuzzy--he's the only bug she doesn't run screaming from.

Speaking of crawlers...

Lincoln is now an officially baby-on-the-go. This video is about a week and a half old, and he'd only been crawling for a day or two. Excuse Kate's slighly annoying helpfulness.

These boys sure are buddies. Nothing can make Lincoln laugh quite like Jonah can. And why not--the child is pretty goofy. One morning he woke up and took all the smiley faces off his wall (he gets one every day at school for being good) and taped them all over his body.
Seriously, I was picking up smiley faces for days after that one.

And then there was the time we went to Wal-Mart and Jonah just had to have a snorkel. We got home and started unloading the groceries and he disappeared. When I went looking for him, this is what I found:

Notice that he changed into his swimsuit and everything. It was hilarious--he'd breathe very deliberately through the snorkel and come up saying, "It works!"
He's looking forward to summer when he'll be able to hopefully snorkel for more than just leftover toothpaste on the sides of the sink.