Tom got cuter while we were at the beach.

He’s pretty much asked to go back every day since we’ve been home.

At one point randomly telling me, “Mom, I need to go back to the beach where I belong.”

He’s a crazy cutie.

Who loved the ocean the most on the day we left.

Which is why we can’t wait to go back.

Everything.

Every.

Single.

Little.

Thing.

LOVE.

Like…for real walking!

So I dutifully got out the camera to start documenting it for the grandparents and LIFE MEMORIES and all that and then…

No walking.

None.

Every time I took out the camera, she immediately crawled.

Acted like she’d never even heard of walking.

Said to me, “I am not a monkey who performs tricks at your whim, lady!”

(Very accomplished speaker, that girl.)

But today that all changed.

I caught her.

That’s a total lie.

She let me catch her walking.

And then she walked on demand, just like I’ve always wanted!

(Thanks, A!)

She’s the best!

So, dear grandparents, here is the video to top all videos!!

I give you…Alice walking.

(With a side of Tom walking in the end.  Double feature!)

It was a question I didn’t expect an answer to, because…she doesn’t answer back yet.

But Alice said in a perfectly clear voice, “No!”

Thinking it was a fluke, I asked again.

“Noooo!”

Y’all.

Her “no” is the cutest little “no” I’ve ever heard.

I know hearing “no” from your child isn’t cute.

Except when it is.

I wanted to catch it on video for you, just so you could see how forcefully she says it, but how totally cute it is.

(This video also captured a sneeze in the beginning, Tom’s awesome laugh, and her taking a step on her own at the end.)

((It’s a jam-packed 39 seconds.))

But I totally didn’t take a single photo.

Not even one that was lame so I decided not to post it.

I just…didn’t.

We had fun, though!

I’ve been going through a “clean everything! get organized! get rid of this junk!” phase and it’s been pretty awesome.

Maybe because our basement flooded and is still in sort of a disarray — makes me want to clean up what I can!

Plus, we’re planning on moving rooms around down there.

(We’re moving Kev’s office into the workout room and making his former office my craft room.)

All of that moving requires cleaning out closets…right?

(Right!)

So I’ve emptied out two closets downstairs.

Woo!

I’m super proud.

(And thankful for my in-law’s basement, charities that come to pick up donations, charities who make it easy to drop off donations, and my sister for selling the rest.)

We visited with family this weekend and had an absolutely wonderful time.

I started making plans to have Alice Baptized.

(Finally! Also? Baptisms require a lot of paperwork. Did you know that? They do.)

On Memorial Day the kids and I spent the day outside playing with sprinklers and our splash pad and the water table and the baby pool.

It’s been pretty much the greatest weather ever around here.

I’ve loved it so much I’ve stopped checking the weather because I don’t want to jinx it.

We’ve had a great time — just hanging out and getting things done.

We’ve had kind of a low-key, simple start to our summer.

And you know what?

It’s the best ever.

(All photos are from today. Alice smiling at our neighbor. Tom digging up worms. It’s a great life.)

Hope y’all are in the middle of having a wonderful week. LOVE!

This week has been full of doctor’s appointments.

Some scheduled but didn’t happen, some scheduled, some not scheduled.

Sounds fun, right?

Yeah.

Maybe not so much.

But you know what was fun?

Our weekend!

My best friend, who I have known since I was 4, had a birthday party for her boy who was turning — 4!

And she went all out and planned a totally awesome farm birthday party for him — complete with a petting zoo in their backyard!

Seriously.

It was beyond awesome.

Tom just had the best time.

The. Best.

Here’s how it looked…

Making friends.

Peeking at the bunnies.

LOVE bunny.

Talking to the baby goat about the benefits of a healthy diet.

Big girl on a big swing!

Tom and his friend, James, digging a big hole in the backyard.  You know…like farmers do.

Uhh…yeah. Tom wants to be a farmer when he grows up.  For real.

I really think that this needs to be its own post, but let me just say — Tom loved the chickens.  LOVED.

He was a natural with them.

When it was time to put them back in their travel bin, Dylan’s grandparents asked Tom to put them there.

And he did it with total ease.

It was quite amazing.

Like…another party guest asked me if we lived on a farm.

That’s how insanely awesome Tom was with the chickens.

The End.

Just kidding!  There’s more…

Birthday boy with all his gifts!

Tom and James swinging away.  They were so happy.

Tom hitting the tractor pinata.  Hill’s aunt *made* it.  It was amazing.  Also?  It was practically unbreakable.  That big kid in the back eventually had to beat it about 25 times to crack it.  It was a little scary/impressive.

Lassoed!

Me and my bestie.  And a bunny.

Hill did an amazing job with this party and we couldn’t have had a more wonderful time!

Everything was amazing and I’m so happy we were able to be there.

Hope you guys have been having a great week!  LOVE.

I was not, in fact, convinced he needed to go to school as a 2-year-old, even if it was only twice a week.

But…

It was the best ever.

I have loved his teachers.

I have loved seeing what he has learned.

I have loved seeing him mature.

I have loved seeing him make new friends.

And I have loved being introduced to this entirely new community of friends.

I was so bummed it was his last day!

I know we’ll have a great time this summer, and I know he’ll like his new 3-year-old class next year, but I just LOVED *this* class so much, and I’m bummed we won’t be with everyone next year.

(Tom is doing a 3-day next year, a lot of his classmates are doing a 4-day.)

But his last day of school was fun and just a great ending to a wonderful little preschool year.

Hey, guess what?  Turns out preschoolers really, really love sand.

Sillies!

Tom with his two besties!

These kids know I’m setting out Chick-fil-A for lunch.

Tom had told me that he was “starving” and he wasn’t lying.  All the kids gobbled up their lunch.  Apparently Field Day/Last Day of School partying is exhausting! (Yay!)

I made cookies and put fondant on top. I gave them each a food marker and let them go to town.  It was all sorts of cutes.  With a side of “everyone wants the pink marker.”

Ummm…anyone want a scary death cookie?  Anyone?

I loved her artistic take.

When we got home, Tom wanted to “draw the cookies” some more.  This time his art was a little less scary. (Whew!)

Tom had a wonderful time and his teachers were so super sweet!

He came home with a lot of crafts from his year, a book of the alphabet that he’d made throughout the year and a book of shapes and colors he’d made.  And on top of that, his teachers gave him a new sand bucket, sunglasses, and a hat.

He was thrilled and wanted to play with everything immediately.

He had a wonderful first preschool year.

And so did I.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with a field day for 2-3-year-olds.

But, y’all?

It was the cutest, most fun ever!

I loved the activities that were set up.

They had some water games, bowling, an obstacle course, bubble stations, and some bean bag games.

It was really cute and Alice had a great time trying them all out before the kids got there.

Tom had an absolute BLAST.

When we went home that day, he told me it was his “most favorite day.”

Awww…

Here’s how it looked!

Alice hoarding all the duckies.

I *know* it’s all about having fun…but if we *were* talking about winning, Tom would totally win this!  He was awesome.  I hope there are some bean bag toss scholarships in our future.

Tom doesn’t bowl.  He throws the ball and knocks down all the pins and all of his little friends clap.  It’s hilarious.

Tom’s favorite by far.  Shooting water through the targets.  Or just shooting water.  Or just filling up those thingys with water.

He caught a fish!

This is part of the obstacle course — adorable!  We cheered him the whole way.

The obstacle course had little tunnels in between each of these running/jumping parts.  It was seriously awesome.

Bubbles!  Lesson: Never underestimate the huge hit a bubble machine can be.  The kids all hung out here for over 10 minutes.  (That’s a big deal.)

Hanging with friends.

It was a really amazing day and I’m so happy we got to be there!  (Kevin got to be there for part of it, too.)

And after Field Day that morning, we had his “End of the Year” party.

It reminded me of what the last day of school always felt like for me when I was little…

Super. Fun!!

And I’m so glad Tom got to experience that too.

Because watching your kids get mad at kitchen appliances is SO FUN!

(It’s true.)

((Try it.))

LOVE.

And your finest jewelry, of course.

Alice does.

Don’t you just love saying, “Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom?” infinity and then begging her to turn on the sprinkler and then deeming it ‘too cold’ so you do something totally hysterically awesome?

Tom does.