Medium: Charcoal on Cement

Abby is very creative. She loves "crafting." A while ago, she came up with the brilliant idea of using charcoal from the fire pit to draw on the porch.

Of course, at some point you knew that James would join in the fun.

We had an impromptu bath-time afterward.

Bathtime Fun

Some gems from tonight's bath.

Me: "Hey Abby, grab James and put him in your lap for a photo!"
Abby: "Ok!"
James: "Blargh ack dadadada!!!!"
*James head butts Abby*
*Abby starts crying*
*Mom takes a picture anyway*

"Hurry up. I'm trying to play here."

Camp Pennsylvania (Title By Abby)

Last weekend we took a trip to Pennsylvania. Who knew it was so close? It took us 2.5 hours to get to the eastern side of the Pocanos. The ultimate purpose of our trip was to attend the wedding of one of our good friends from Ann Arbor (it was beautiful!). We decided to roll it all into a weekend camping trip. Unfortunately, most of the world apparently believes that early April is too soon for camping. Whatever. We finally found a campground that was open and booked an RV site (because the tent sites weren't open yet). (To our friends on the west coast: there is hardly any forest service land out here, so all camping must be done at designated campgrounds. Crazy, right?) The campground was sadly located quite near to the highway, but was also right on the edge of the Delaware river. We had the whole place to ourselves (thank goodness, because the tent sites were honestly like 2 inches from each other. I can't imagine camping there in the "on" season with two kids and two dogs). James has already been camping once, but at the time it was much too cold and he was much too young to really appreciate it. This time around, he was in heaven. SO MUCH DIRT! That kid seriously loves dirt. Abby is already a fan of camping, so no big news to report there.

I took many pictures at the campground and on our various hikes and exactly 0 at the wedding. I know. What was I thinking? Well, I'll tell you. I was thinking "Oh my gosh, did James just get into the kitchen again? Is James climbing up the stairs again? Did James just grab that person's butter knife? Is James unplugging the iPod again?" Etc., etc. So you'll just have to make do with the photos below.

Ready for the wedding! Pretty shocking how clean they look, given the photos later in this post.

Contemplating the Delaware River. (James was an absolute nightmare by the water. When do kids develop the ability to consider consequences again?)

Another view of the Delaware river.

Raymondskill Falls.

Rock skipping.

Rock catching.

Sittin' on the fence. (I think this is the one case where it's a good thing.)

Hiking. (Can you believe he can hike??)

Our little squirrel.

Saaaaaannnnnnndd.

Pigpen.

Tail end Charlie.

Mighty conqueror!

Mighty hole digger!

Camping in style.

Dirt ball. The good kind.

Sweet heart. The good kind.

Doing the dirt dance.

A Spring Day

It was beautiful yesterday. Somewhere in the high 50's, sunny, and breezy. We decided to go to a nearby park to enjoy the weather. So did the rest of the world. But we still enjoyed ourselves. I can't wait for longer stretches of nice weather.

My boys.

Blowing bubbles.

Looking for trouble.

Just got in trouble.

Bird Houses

Several weekends ago, Abby suggested we build some bird feeders (picture me wanting to jump for joy, but playing it cool--"Oh really? That could be fun."). We looked at some Google images online, and then made a trip to Lowe's to by a little bit of wood for the project. We built a platform feeder and a hanging feeder. I was very proud when she helped me with the drill. But she wanted to hide when I ran the circular saw, so still need to work on that. James was all around unhappy with the power tools, unless they weren't running. Then they were the most awesome things in the house. By far, Abby's favorite aspect of the project was painting them.

Construction of the platform feeder. (I am giddy with joy as I take this picture.)

The screen has been attached. 

Successfully mounted in the backyard. 

The first visitor! He is clearly admiring the amazing artwork.

Since then, we've had Red-winged Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Tufted Titmouse, and Black-capped Chickadees.

Construction of the hanging feeder.

James watching the official hanging. (Hm. That sounds bad. You know what I mean.)

Trouble Maker

This guy is nothing but trouble.

Just a few weeks after he learned to walk, I found him doing this:

And tonight, I turned around to find him perched here:

But it sure makes him happy.

Pigtails and Blue Eyes

I know. I've neglected the blog.