Family Outing: Swimming at Cuivre River

Hot Day

Bunny Watching

We have a little bunny family that lives in the crazy out-of-control brush behind our play set, and Iris and Lydia have been spending a lot time in the back yard watching them (and stalking them) while they frolic and play. I've obviously not done a good enough job scaring these bunnies off because they are pretty bold - the girls are able to get within a few feet before they scamper away into their burrow. This is a huge thrill for Iris and Lydia - getting to see an actual bunny up close in all his bunny splendor, along with the added bonus of possibly getting to touch him.

And because it's all bunny all the time around here these days, I've been answering a lot of questions. Where do bunnies sleep? What do bunnies eat? Why don't these bunnies have whiskers? Why do they live in the bushes? Do bunnies have blankies? Does Jesus like bunnies? - and so on and so forth. I get such a kick out of Iris referring to their home as a "burrow", and I love to hear Lydia's little voice saying, "bunny! bunny! bunny!" Two nights ago I looked out our sliding glass doors to see Iris trying to crawl head first into the bushes. She said she wanted to see the inside of their bunny house! And she leaves plastic carrots outside the entrance just in case they might need a snack.

Oh, they are an endless source of entertainment for my sweet girlies, these bunnies!

By the way, aren't the girlies so cute in their matching jams? They had just spotted two little bunnies from our bedroom window.

Family Outing: Forest Park

The Summer Fun Has Begun

Can you believe it's kiddie pool time again? It's boiling hot and humid here already, so the girlies have been spending A LOT of afternoons in ours. They aren't complaining, though. They love it! Lydia, especially, loves the hose. She thinks it's her own personal play thing, and I have quite the time wrestling it away from her when it's time to turn it off!

And Iris, my big girl, started swimming lessons today and did absolutely great! She was so nervous about them that her tummy hurt when she woke up this morning, but we prayed together, and I think that helped. I was a little concerned going in that she might choose to be stubborn and not participate, but there was only one game she decided to sit out, and I was fine with that because the rest of the time she kicked and splashed and smiled and laughed and had a fun lesson! We are very much alike in temperament, I completely get her fear of the unknown, and so it always makes my heart ache with tenderness when I see her overcoming her fears and being brave. She completely exceeded my expectations, and I'm so proud! Yay, Iris!

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

This is such a great photo of Lydia because I was able, in one lovely shot, to capture her with all of the things she loves most in the world right now:

1. Her blankie. We have a lot of blankie love going on at our house and Lydia is no exception!

2. Shoes. Any pair will do, she's not particular - the girl just adores shoes.

3. Her beloved potty. Heaven help the person that comes between Lydia and her potty. She's obsessed with this thing! We trip over it all day long. Any time any bathroom-related words are spoken in this house, you can be sure that Lydia will be running to get her potty shouting, "Pee-pee!" and trying to pull her pants down. Maybe a diaper free household is closer than we think!

Just To Clear Up Any Confusion

Iris: Daddy, some boys wear dresses.

Todd: Boys don't wear dresses.

Iris: Some boys do, daddy.

Todd: No. Iris. No boys that I know wear dresses.

Iris: But daddy, some boys do!

Todd: Iris. What boy do you know that wears dresses?

Iris: Um...a boy that doesn't know you, daddy!

First Popsicle

We're Getting to be Old Pros

Well, we made another trip to the Emergency room last night. This time because Iris fell off a chair into the corner of our TV console and gashed her head open.

Poor, poor Iris! She hardly ever gets hurt, being a fairly cautious girl by nature, yet when she does her injuries always seem to end up being on the serious side. Apparently, she's going to be an all or nothing sort of girl when it comes to getting hurt. And because there seems to be a growing connection between Iris falling off chairs and Emergency room visits, we're thinking of banning her from all the chairs in our house! Seriously, I don't think they are friends!

Looking on the bright side, though, she was a little trooper and held perfectly still without making a peep while the doctor glued her head back together. We were so proud! I have a feeling much of her willingness to cooperate stemmed from her great relief over the fact that no stitches were in order, which was perfectly fine with me. She did great!

Here's a picture of what her head looked like this morning:

Sorry! I know it's a little blurry - our camera doesn't really like to take close-up pictures, but I think you can get the general idea...

She's totally OK today and has already nearly forgotten the ordeal. The only real casualties, I think, may be her favorite Hello Kitty t-shirt and skirt. I'm having a hard time getting the blood stains out. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve to try before I call it a day and toss them, however, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I think the loss of those, especially the t-shirt, might end up being way more traumatic than getting the wound in her head!

For You, Dear Husband...

It seems like only yesterday that we were cruising around town in your blue Probe, young, wild, and free, with this song, our song, blaring on the radio....

Happy Anniversary Belovedest.

Finished at Last

Sometime this past winter, as Todd and I were making a list together of all the projects we needed to do before we put the house on the market, I suggested that when we got ready to seal our deck this spring we should also go ahead and strip off the old sealer from our patio and re-seal it with the good stuff (ie: the right stuff) as well. Long ago, as in way back when we first installed our patio, we used a particularly hideous water-based type of sealer and ever since then, our patio has not looked as spectacular as I feel it should.

So Todd, despite some ominous misgivings, but being the loving and obliging husband that he is, called around to some concrete places and found a store that sells a special stripper specifically made for the purpose of removing old sealer from concrete. And then he bought the kind of sealer we should have used in the first place and we borrowed a power washer and we were all set.

I was so, so excited!

And we were so, so naive about the length of time it was going to take to complete this project.

We thought, you know, maybe four hours tops to get the entire patio stripped to the bare concrete. Twenty hours of nearly non-stop power washing later, our goal was accomplished. Todd actually went, at one point, and borrowed another power washer from a different friend so that we could work together at the same time. I'm pretty sure that both of us never want to see a power washer ever again! And I'm also pretty sure that both of us right in the midst of it were thinking, "Why are we doing this again? Why are we slaving away on a patio that is attached to a house that we are selling in less than a year? Why did we think this was a good idea? Are we crazy?"

But I was able to put the new, glorious sealer on it last week, and our patio looks a-mazing! We definitely weren't crazy. The current beauty of our patio right now makes all that hard work so incredibly worth it!

The Finished Result:

One of the surprise side effects of all the power washing we did was that our patio actually turned the color we had originally been hoping for in the beginning. Bonus!

We kicked off our sealing party last Sunday by also putting the waterproof sealer on our deck. I'm super pleased with the way it turned out too. It sort of deepened the nice color that our deck was already:

Can I just say how happy I am with the way this project turned out one more time? I feel giddy with excitement over it! And it's nice to think that whoever buys our house in the future is going to get such a fabulous space for entertaining. Another reason all that hard work was worth it!

Tea Party

A few evenings ago, I stumbled upon a little neighborhood tea party happening in our garage:

Aren't they cute? I love that the boys had no qualms about taking part in a little girls' tea party and just jumped right in. Isn't that great?

Did you notice the wicker chairs and table they are using? I got those for twenty bucks at the flea market this past Saturday! They need quite a bit of TLC before they're really usable, but the price was right, and they'll be perfect on our patio once I get around to cleaning and painting them - which will hopefully be in the near future. And speaking of patios, our ginormous patio and deck sealing extravaganza will be completed this week - yay! - and I'll be posting pictures later. I'm so excited!

Iris Turns Four Today!

Pony Pals

Remember a few posts back I mentioned that one of my favorite things right now is Lydia rocking out on her rocking horse?

Well, I have a new favorite thing:

How cute are the girlies rocking out together??

This is their joint obsession at the moment, and they usually follow the same routine - rocking facing our stereo, listening to their favorite Seeds CD, with the blankies along for the ride.

I LOVE it!

Fabulous Fritz's

This past weekend we renewed our summer Friday night tradition of going out for ice cream after supper. Our favorite place is Fritz's - outdoor seating, great oldies blasting on the radio, and fantastic custard style ice cream - we love this place!

This particular trip was special, not only because it was the first of the season, but because Lydia got to eat her very own ice cream cone all by herself! Fritz's makes these tiny little cones that are absolutely perfect for small girlies, and Lydia was over the moon with excitement because she got to eat a cone just like Iris and Daddy.

My little ice cream cone eating trio - pretty cute, aren't they?

Small Town City

Todd took some fabulous pictures of downtown Lincoln during his visit there this past weekend. Photography is fast becoming a favorite hobby for him, and, well, I'm probably a bit biased, but I think he definitely has some real skill. Enjoy!

There Go My Babies

We've hit yet another milestone here at the Bumgarner house.

Last night, Lydia joined the ranks of big girls everywhere by sleeping for the first time ever in a grown up bed.

Yup, as soon as Todd got home from work last night we began the very bittersweet task of deconstructing her crib to make room for this:

That's right. Your eyes aren't deceiving you. It is, indeed, a bunk bed. And why a bunk bed, you might be asking? Because my girls share the tiniest room known to mankind. There just isn't enough room to fit two twin beds. Well, technically there would be, I guess, but there wouldn't be any room leftover for say, walking around or utilizing the closet. Both very important aspects to be able to accomplish in a bedroom, I think. We gave the matter much thought and deliberation, debating mostly about whether we thought Iris would be mature enough to sleep so high up. In the end, we decided that she definitely was, and that bunk beds would be the best way to go in order for the room to not be completely consumed by beds.

And let me tell you, Iris was so. stinking. excited to sleep on that top bunk. Oh my goodness! She could barely wait for bedtime to come around so she could get up there! I don't think we'll have any problems getting her motivated for bed for awhile, that's for sure! Lydia, on the other hand, wasn't quite as excited. Her lip trembled a bit when I laid her in there, but she was a very brave girl, and her first night in a big bed passed fairly smoothly.

So. There are no more babies at our house anymore - only little girls, and I keep feeling a tiny pang of sadness today every time I walk by their room and see the bunk bed and no crib because it seems like just yesterday that we were setting that crib up in anticipation of Iris, and now it will never hold a baby in this house again.

Sigh.

I think I'm finally beginning to understand the true meaning of the phrase, "It goes by so fast"...

Weekend Trip

I thought I'd share a few photos from our weekend trip to Nebraska for my grandpa's 90th birthday party. Getting to see everybody was very nice - it's always so hard to leave when the time comes to head back!

We stopped for lunch on the way at a park just outside Kansas City. Apparently they didn't get the memo about the 90 degree weather we were supposed to be having because it was super chilly! We managed, even though none of were dressed appropriately, and the girls were glad for the opportunity to run around and stretch their legs a bit.

This park had the highest swinging swings ever! Iris was in absolute swinging heaven!

We had the nicest surprise waiting for us at Todd's parent's house when we arrived. His grandparents and uncle from Columbus were there to see us! Iris was just barely one the last time we saw them, so it was so lovely to get to introduce the girls and hang out with them for awhile.

Cousin Tory had a dance recital on Saturday, and Iris and I were so excited that we got to attend. Tory did awesome! Iris wore her special fairy wings and kept wondering, throughout the whole performance, when was she going to get a turn on the stage. It was pretty cute! Her heart's desire was met afterwards when she got to go backstage with Aunt Jenny to present Tory a rose for doing such a great job. She got to try out a few tentative moves on stage, which was pretty heady stuff, and she even got to pose for a picture with the star of the show!

Unfortunately, my camera batteries died at the theater, and so I wasn't able to get any footage of the actual birthday party event - the whole reason we went home! I'll have to snag some pictures from my sisters, I guess. But it was a success and very special to see my grandpa being honored. He's an amazing man!

Happy Birthday Todd!

We thought this video might make you smile. Happy Birthday!!

Love,
Your adoring family

Lydia Rocks Out

I absolutely LOVE when Lydia rocks on her rocking horse! I think it's the cutest thing in the world and right now it's one of her most favorite outdoor things to do, so I've been getting plenty of opportunities to enjoy how crazy adorable she is when she's rocking her heart out!