Hello, Grandma and Grandpa!

Tom and Alice came to visit in May--the boys were thrilled to have them here (we were too, but we temper our excitement rather than running and jumping at the door). In addition to some fun, we had a productive visit--got the swing set finished (more on that in the next post), sealed the deck furniture, yard work, pressure washing...it was a true spring weekend!)

Nice weather meant dinner on the deck!

The boys chilled in their chairs and ate at the kids' table.

Grandma and Jojo taking a walk

Making zucchini bread!

A gorgeous Sunday afternoon meant a break from chores to do a little boating, complete with lunch on the boat, swimming and some skiing!

Great day to have a bimini cover--shade on the boat!

I love this photo!

Maybe we'll get him on skis this year?

A self-taken photo

The building of a swing set

This was our big project one week in May. I found a swing set on Craig's List on a Tuesday. Ed brought it home Wednesday, and by the next week, he had cleared the space, we'd assembled the swing set, and mulched the area. The boys love it!

Ed cleared part of an area we call "the deep dark woods" off the side of our house and put down some of the anti-weed fabric.

Bringing the swing set home

Careful backing up!

The platform part of the swing set is extremely heavy! It took 3 of us to roll and scoot it into place.

In position

The boys play with the upended slide.

Hard at work shoveling mulch

Need more!

TJ helps with the mulch.

Here's where Jojo was while the mulch was being shoveled.

Jojo helps me spread it later.

Ed and Tom work to level the beam for the swings.

Trying out the swing set!

The slide is a big hit!

They love the glider--3, 2, 1 blast off!

And the last two pieces of the puzzle:
Ed replaced the old plastic sides of the platform with wooden slats, and Dad got a new canopy (green, of course!) made at work:

Random end of April and May photos

A whole bunch of photos in no particular order lumped together that fill out what we did toward the end of April and in May.

TJ continues to do just awesome on his big boy bike. He zips in circles on our road and in the neighbors' driveways, but also will happily ride the tricycle, much to Jojo's chagrin. Jojo has taken over the strider and caught on much more quickly than we expected. I need to get video of that to post. 

TJ's preschool field trip to the Kalamazoo Nature Center. They learned about growing food, petted some animals, and took a wagon ride. All the kids had a great time!

The lawnmower is a popular toy--and always more appealing if your brother is using it!

Josiah figured out that he gets more momentum on our driveway if he lifts his feet up. Yep, fantastic. And now he's trying the same thing on the strider bike. Our neighbors have (kindly) suggested we get a rubber fence for the end of the driveway to contain the boys. Happily, our dead-end road is pretty quiet, but even so, we have to station an adult at the end of the driveway every time we're outside! ('Cause they don't always (ever?) respond to the word "STOP!")

The boys were very proud of this long train track they made. 

Mother's Day

Last day of preschool party in the park. Thomas with his two teachers, plus Jojo wanted in on the fun.

Playing with the wheelbarrow. We have a number of holes in the dirt parts of our yard, and this wheelbarrows has toted dirt from hole to hole.

We are grateful that neither boy fights wearing a helmet, especially with some of the daredevil stunts they pull.

If you have rubber boots, you'd better run around wearing nothing but the boots and your boxer briefs/diaper!

We have a similar photo of TJ (see below).

Self-serve water!

Back in Wisconsin...

Ed had a few meetings in Wisconsin near the end of April, so we decided to make a family trip of it. 

Jenn and James came to visit so the cousins could hang out.

Love this interaction between TJ and James. I know I've said it before, but TJ is SOOO gentle with James. And any baby, except Jojo.

Dunkers with Buppa!

Spike!

These boys do love a good tea party!

My friend Kate and her son Nathan came over. The boys played trains all morning. Note to self: we need a third Thomas the train for next time so each boy can have one to play with. Percy, James and any of the others just won't cut it. Then Thomas read the boys Trucks Roll!

Good timing: While we were in Milwaukee, there was a Bell's Beer dinner in town. Ed and I went (date night!). He enjoyed the beer, I enjoyed socializing with grown-ups, and we had a pretty ridiculous 5-course meal with beer pairings (pictured below, along with the menu). The dessert pretty much put it over the top (deliciously over the top--bacon fat pie crust!?!?!).