March 25 = SaturYAY Day

We had such a good day today!  First, Liam found a pair of glasses Grandma sent for Easter...

And then we spent a lot of time outside!  Liam is so happy outside so any day we can spend hours outside is a good day for us.

And playing outside leads to tired children.  We went upstairs to check on them because they were being awfully quiet.  They were asleep!  We were shocked.

May 26 = Play Outside Day

On Tuesday I ran to Babies R Us real quick to see if they had any alternate baby proofing solutions now that Liam has figured out how to open doors with the regular old knob protector.  I found something- we'll see if it works.  While I was there I also got him a car seat to put in Zachary's car so that some days I can bring Liam to Zachary and they can hang out and Zachary can bring him home!  Here he is trying out his new seat:

I got one other thing from Babies R Us- a kiddie pool!  We'll see if we have any more success with it this year than we did last year!

And when they were done checking out the pool, they returned to the trusty turtle sandbox!

We decided to strip them down outside before they brought all the sand in with them... Malia was a fan.

April 1 = New Backyard Day

First I saw this on facebook today and I loved it.  They're simple things that can help us be better moms.  At MOPS the other week, we talked about how it's hard for us to see ourselves as "good moms" and chances are, we all are.  If someone asked me, "Do you think you're a good mom?" the first thoughts that would come to my mind are all the things where I fall short.  The fact that I don't do my preschool routine every day.  The fact that I let my kids watch a little too much tv and play on the iPad too much.  The fact that we might eat chickfila too much.  Sometimes I forget to put their coats in the car.  Sometimes I let them go to bed without brushing their teeth.  Sometimes I sit in the locker room for an extra ten minutes to check my email and facebook and maybe play a game of Sudoku before going to pick up the kids from the gym's kids' club.  But in the grand scheme of things none of that matters.  He'll be in school soon enough... he doesn't need preschool every day.  I can't tell you how much he's learned from watching Caillou and it's hard to believe what all he can do on the ABC Mouse app.  Chicken nuggets and french fries once a week isn't going to kill anyone- in fact, both kids could use some extra calories.  Now the brushing teeth... I really want them to learn to take good care of their teeth.  I gotta work on that one.  The extra ten minutes in the kids' club- they need time with peers.  So why not concentrate on the tons of hugs and kisses I get and give every day?  The fact that they are kind and friendly to other people.  The love they have for each other.  The fact that they feel safe and loved and know when they're hurt or upset or frustrated they can come and sit on my lap and I'll rub their backs and kiss their foreheads and squeeze them until they start laughing and forget whatever made them come to me in the first place.  And I know I'm not the only one. This was a good reminder that it's the little things- things we probably don't even realize we're doing that make us all good moms.

 Speaking of using the iPad too much...

Anyway- what I wanted to talk about in this blog post is our new backyard.  Well it's not new but the "grass" is!  We put these outdoor carpets down today was our first day being able to play outside!

Liam's a fan... of the backyard and still a fan of his bow tie.  

March 21 = Outside Day

We've been stuck inside quite a bit lately so today, we ventured outside.  It was still a little chilly but it was doable so we put coats on and Malia got in the sandbox and Liam played around in his house.

Afterwards, they were thirsty so naturally, they found laundry baskets and sat in those.