3 Years, 10 Months, 2 Weeks, and 1 Day

Charlotte & Ruby are 3 years, 10 months, 2 weeks, and 1 day old today. Somehow they picked up a virus that only involved high fevers for about 36 hours each. They begged to go to bed in the early evenings right after dinner, and slept for roughly 15 hours each time. We missed one day of swimming lessons because of it, much to their disappointment. Enjoy the photos!

We went for a walk one morning after the worst of the fevers passed:

Charlotte inspected the wildflowers briefly:

Heading home:

Ruby discovered a fallen tree branch and happily dragged it most of the way home:


She held it up and imagined herself as a tree until it got too cumbersome:

3 Years, 10 Months, 1 Week, and 1 Day

Charlotte & Ruby are 3 years, 10 months, 1 week, and 1 day old today. They began swimming lessons yesterday, much to their delight. We signed them up for Tiny Tot Seahorses, a beginner class for ages 3-5, and their friend Ava is in the same class. They get to go 4 days a week for 2 weeks. Sadly, the next session times do not work with our schedule once preschool begins, so it will most likely be spring before they are able to continue with lessons. Pardon the quality of the photos from their first lesson, as I was using a telephoto lens while shooting through a glass door. Enjoy the photos!

The evening before swimming lessons began, they were excited to get everything ready:

We arrived at the pool early, so they had time to be mesmerized by a Jazzercise class before going in:

After meeting their instructor, they happily followed her to begin the lesson:

They started out gradually:

But soon jumped in:

Charlotte is a star pupil and happily tries every technique with a smile:

Even if it is a grimace when she is not so sure about being on her back the first time:

She felt particularly triumphant upon returning from using the kickboard:

Ruby is far more cautious about it all:

She chose to walk instead of kick along with the kickboard the first time:

Ruby is not a fan of being on her back in the water so far:

While attempting to lay back and kick, she clung to the instructor instead of holding onto the noodle:

On the hottest day last week (low 100s and humid), we invited Ava & Jacob over to play with different water activities:

3 Years, 10 Months, and 1 Day

Charlotte & Ruby are 3 years, 10 months, and 1 day old today. The drought and heat continues here, and during a brief respite from the heat wave we made the most of it and met our friends at the Morton Arboretum one day last week. Enjoy the photos!

At the Wonder Pond with Ava:

Charlotte jumped in to the pond right away:


Whereas Ruby was more cautious and only dipped her feet in at first:

She decided to try walking through the water eventually:

Melissa was kind enough to catch a couple of tadpoles for them to hold:


Maps are still exciting:

At the Secret Stream:

We all built a fairly respectable dam together:

The Frog Fountain seems to require a lot of squinting if these photos are to be believed:




Charlotte at the playground:

Ruby still loves to see her reflection in the camera lens:

Walking together back to the cars:

We doubled our Magnatiles collection at home much to their delight:

In front of our home one morning, watching the farmers work in the field:

46 Months Old!

Charlotte at 46 months old:

Ruby at 46 months old:

3 Years, 9 Months, 3 Weeks, and 3 Days

Ruby & Charlotte are 3 years, 9 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days old today. The heat wave finally ended last Saturday evening, and we have been outside a lot since then. The majority of grass is brown and rough due to the lack of rain in our area, so running about in it is not so fun these days. Enjoy the photos!

Holding their 1st sparklers for 4th of July this year:



It took a ridiculous amount of matches to light 14 sparklers due to the breeze:

We spent most of Sunday at our friends' home, and they discovered the joy of making mud:

Just outside our home: