Park Afternoon

Henry hunted bugs for almost the full 2 hours that we were at the park yesterday. Here he is building a house for a ladybug.
Giving me a handsome smile.
We had a family of six join us and join in the bug hunt, building ladybug houses, and playing.
Emma is dealing with some allergies and was worn out yesterday. she played with the other kids, but was quiet which is unlike her. She's normally a social butterfly. It seems bubbie took that role yesterday.
She zoned out right in the middle of everything...off in her own little world.
The kids managed to catch this huge grasshopper! I think this is the biggest one yet.
Henry kept it and the grasshopper is being taken care of with great care.
Emma defying gravity. Each time we come to the park, she tries to go higher on the monkey bars and other play equipment.
She wanted to go higher, but fear won out this time around.
He never leaves home without at least one bug catcher.
You have to raise your hands above your head for the full slide experience. I've been told that the ride down is so much better if you put your hands in the air!
Her frown or look of concentration quickly turned into a smile on the way down.

Tuesday Afternoon at the Park

She has been working on becoming more comfortable on the monkey bars and it shows.
Her face is changing again. My sweet little girl, I love that face:)
Venturing up higher and higher every time we come to the park. Brave girl.
She asked me to help her up. She's still "too short on one side" as we put it;)
Henry loving the swing. Once he gets a little taller, we'll introduce the pump your legs to go higher and faster concept to him. For now, I don't mind hearing, "Mommy push me higher...please."
Henry doing one of his favorite things, bug hunting. We also happened across the bright colored caterpillar on the left. The thing was huge!
Here's the thing, they really do love each other and play well together, but sometimes, they each need their own space.
Look who we brought along with us to the park?! Chance came and had a great time checking out new smells.
He wasn't happy with me at the time. I wouldn't let him take Chance up on the playground equipment. Playing with Emma and some other kids won out over walking around with the pup. In other words, he didn't stay mad for long.

Park Day

A couple of hot and tired( and later discovered, still sick) kiddos.
This shot cracks me up. Check out the enthusiasm on Emma's face. "Can I take your order?" This is their restaurant window at the park. You can order anything from ice cream to hamburgers and anything in between.
We brought Chance with us on this trip. He seemed to like the park too. Henry was more interested in being a big boy and helping with the pup then playing.
Emma loves to slide, but yesterday sh hesitated on the slide. Henry went over and said, "Don't worry sissy, I'll catch you." And there he stood until she made it all the way down the slide.
Her second trip down the twirly slide.
We were holding hands up until about 5 seconds before this shot. We got to the edge of the sidewalk, I let them go and they raced down to the playground.

It ended up being a short park visit. The kids were hot and getting hungry for lunch. So we headed back to the house which happens to be right up the street basically. Soon after we got home and had had some lunch, Emma said she didn't feel good. Henry had and still has sniffles and a gravely voice from allergy drainage. Emma was running a low grade fever again and woke up this morning feeling a bit warm again. So we have been laying low trying to get rid of this junk. Jason and I seem to have picked up a smidge of the bug. So hopefully we will all be in good health by Friday. We have plans to go to the Fort Worth Zoo on Sunday with Aunt Amy, Elysabeth, Aunt Suza, Sarah, and Catie. Fingers crossed that we will still be able to enjoy a zoo day.

An Afternoon at the Park/Front Yard

Henry relaxing/resting on the triple slide at our park. He couldn't decide if he was too tired to play or not.
Emma was a socialite when we were at the park. She jumped right in and introduced herself to the other girls and had a great time!
We headed back home and the kids played with their dump trucks in our empty flower bed. Henry was Mr. Independent and went and got his gardening gear.
Look at how tall our boy is getting.
Riding on the not working play Harley with his sister.
Mr.Cool:) The boy does not like sunshine in his eyes and face and will avoid it at all costs.
His face is changing from a little toddler face to a little boy face.
For you Mom(Nana)-look at that face! Remind you of anyone?! She IS almost an exact copy of me in this picture when I was little!
I think she's got her tongue sticking out a bit to the side-it's a Martin family trait type thing:)
Emma modeling her new sunglasses.

It was a really beautiful day yesterday so the kids and I spent most of it outside. We went out with one of my girl friends and did a little shopping and had lunch out. Then returned home and decided to go down to the park. We were outside for the rest of the afternoon until dinner time. They didn't want to come inside, but the temp was starting to drop a little and it was getting windy, so I pulled them in. I'm glad we made it out yesterday because we are in for some gloomy, cold, wet weather for the next week or so. So we'll be limited to indoor activities for the most part.

***Side Note***

Before my friend left, we were talking about what we were going to do that afternoon and I mentioned going to the park. Both kids automatically got excited and asked when we were going to leave. I told them once my girlfriend left that we could go. Little Miss Emma walks over and asks in a sweet voice and very politely, "Can you please leave so that we can go to the park?"

When I told her that that wasn't very nice to say, she said, "but Mommy I said please!"

Too funny:)

Parks and Lincoln Logs

There's plenty of things to tell everyone about Emma and Henry and how much growing and changing they are doing at the moment, but I'm just doing a quick post tonight. I have to gather and organize my thoughts for the rest of the latest happenings.

Here are a couple of things that we have been up to. In the past couple of weeks we've been trying to get the kids outside as much as possible when the weather has permitted. We aren't buried in snow or anything, but we have had some rather chilly weather here in big Tex. Last weekend we went to a new park that we had never been to. It's a rather large setup. The largest playground/fort setup that I've seen anyway. The kids were in awe of the size of it, but that didn't stop them from running at full speed from the parking lot to the play area. Henry took to the fort right away. We only had to coax him a little bit to climb up on his own and start exploring. Emma on the other hand was hesitant. It was cold out that day and we hadn't originally planned on going to the park so Mommy(bad Mommy) didn't put coats on them. I think she was cold so her mind wasn't on playing. We only stayed for about 20 minutes, but I did get some good shots. Yesterday we walked down to the park down the street(very convenient) and played for a bit. I did get windbreakers on them, but the weather fooled me again. We nearly froze to death. It was a beautiful day, but the wind was bitter cold. And lastly, we've been building almost every day at home. We've had either their mega blocks out or Lincoln logs and have been building like crazy. So here are a few shot of what H and E have been up to.