their first fishies

Posted on May 7, 2014 by mommyinthemidwest

Last night I received an impromptu call from our friend who asked what we were doing for dinner, wanting to know if we would like to come over and grill hot dogs. As luck would have it, I already had pork chops marinating so I said I’d just bring them over and throw them on the grill with their hot dogs.

I like how Dexter is OBLIVIOUS to the world aside from what he’s focused on while little Mari is posing and smiling from the camera, which was a good 50 feet away. She makes me smile!

Dinnertime!

After dinner, Brandy asked the kids if they wanted to go fishing. Bianca was kind enough to bait the hook with a worm since no one else wanted to.

Success!

Worms! Dirt!

Just about as quickly as they cast the line, a fish started biting. Perfect first fishing experience, even if it was a little misleading. Ha.

Theo was so proud of his catch! To watch the smile on his face while he was reeling it in and admiring it afterwards was the cutest thing ever. He was happy. Reminded me of the moment I had at McCormick’s Creek when the boys were overjoyed to just be throwing rocks in the creek.

Dexter’s turn.

Look at his little smile. He was loving it. And as it turns out, Brandy is a pretty good fishing coach!

Again, within a few seconds, we had another fish on the line.

It was such a fun, spur-of-the-moment kind of evening and the boys really enjoyed their first fishing experience. I couldn’t help but keep thinking how much my Dad would have loved to see them catch their first fishies. Bittersweet.

xo,

~C~

sunny day at mccormick’s creek

Posted on May 5, 2014 by mommyinthemidwest

Sunday was a beautiful day so we decided to go hiking at McCormick’s Creek with friends who were visiting from Tennessee. Being the poor planners that we are, we arrived at naptime so Theo protested a little as we started down the trail and wanted to be carried a lot, but overall he had a great time. Dexter is the Energizer Bunny. It was a 2 mile trail.

Couldn’t have asked for a prettier day. Just a couple of weeks ago, there would have been no green on the trees.

They both loved this hollow tree with a front and back door. They both barely fit inside but thought it was really cool.

Tired boy.

Doing a little rock climbing/crossing to get a better view of a cave.

My best friend is so good about stealing my camera to get some rare photos of me with the boys. THANK you Em!

Theo and Ryan are so tiny compared to the trees towering above Wolf Cave.

Whatchu talkin’ ’bout?

Always one of my favorite features of a creek hike – til I step in the freezing cold creek water! Dexter also loved crossing the creek multiple times during our hike.

By far, their favorite part of our day was throwing rocks in the creek. Endlessly entertaining. I had such an a-ha moment while we were watching them here. Simple pleasures in life…this is all they need. Have you seen the articles {like this} going around on Facebook? It’s about how childhood is innately magical and we (as a culture/society nowadays) do too many things to try to MAKE childhood magical. It just is, on it’s own. I have to agree. These moments are the ones I think they will remember. I hope they do. I know I will.

Such a great day.

Treats at a nearby mom ‘n pop shop on our way home.

Of course I realized after they left that the group shots of us are on my best friend’s camera. 🙁 I will edit and add one to this post… as soon as she emails it to me. 🙂

I hope you were able to enjoy some time with people you love this weekend.

xo,

~C~

spring break catch up

Posted on April 28, 2014 by mommyinthemidwest

I went through a month-long blog drought during which I only posted my weekly Catch the Moment posts. Part of me feels like Catch the Moment is to blame because I’m posting one photo from every day of my life so it seems that there’s not much to talk about that wouldn’t be redundant. On the other hand, maybe I wouldn’t have blogged anything at all for over a month if it hadn’t been for the project. We all get in funks sometimes. Sometimes I just don’t have much to say. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood or get busy with other things.

Theo’s school was closed for two weeks for Spring Break and the babysitter was closed for 7 of those 10 days so we had to make some alternate arrangements. Ryan and I took off work the last two days of the first week and surprised the boys with a trip to Big Splash Adventure Indoor Waterpark and Resort.

We went 2 years ago and had a blast. I just remembered leaving that place feeling euphoric, thinking we would go back every few months. Well. Time flies. We never made it back until this spring and turns out, we were okay with that. I ended up writing a fairly negative review on TripAdvisor. Despite the negatives that were hard to ignore, overall we had fun because the boys loved it.

They were both such big boys going down the slides. Theo was mad that he wasn’t tall enough to ride the REALLY big slides. We were surprised how much they loved the lazy river and how much time they wanted to spend in it. It will be fun to take them to an outdoor waterpark sometime soon.

Scenery on the way home.

Friday night bedtime stories with my boys.

Saturday we lounged at home and Sunday we went to the Lego store (about 30 minutes away) to let them pick out some new toys with money Grammy had sent early for Easter.

They always cooperate for posed pictures. ALWAYS never.

Monday and Tuesday the boys went to our former babysitter. She was gracious enough to watch them for us and they had a blast. I was worried that it would confuse them and they’d be asking every day why they can’t just go back there, but they seem to understand.

Dexter Jay couldn’t even stay awake for the 10 minute drive home on Monday.

Tuesday we stayed for dinner and the boys had fun continuing their extended play day.

Wednesday morning the boys went to Ryan’s parents to spend the rest of the week with Nana, Pop Pop, and cousin Spencer. I picked up all three boys on Friday afternoon.