Cushion craziness

It seems like couch cushion play goes in waves around here. Hank will toss them all off the couch in a pile every day for a few weeks then stop doing it for a couple of weeks. We are smack dab in the middle of a daily cushion obsession. Yesterday, Hank left with Brett for a little while so the girls got to conquer the cushions all by themselves!

Warning: there are a few high pitched squeals in this video and you might get sea sick because I can never hold the camera steady when wrangling kids!

-a

Playtime

 Some pictures from an afternoon this week.
The lighting coming in from the back yard was perfect.
I had fun taking these pictures while they had fun playing together.

Charlotte

Henry

Ruby and Charlotte

Ruby

Ruby

 

Henry and Charlotte

 

 

with Ruby

With amazing hair that looks like Charlie's from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (The film version from when I was a kid.)

I'm loving that he's actually been letting me take pictures of him lately.  This week alone he has tried to pose with his sisters more than once.  Now if I can only get both of them to stick with him long enough I might have the makings of a real sibling photo.

-a

To Capitola!

Hank enjoying the ride
It was blazing hot in Santa Clara on Saturday.  To keep cool we decided to head out to Capitola and do a beach day right after lunch.  We checked the weather to make sure it was going to be nice out there and the app on our phones said it was going to be 75 degrees.   Sounded a lot better than the upper 80's at our house!  We loaded up all of our gear and headed out for our first beach day of 2013! 

Ruby

Charlotte

The girls flinging their lovies at each other.  They were gifted these lovies by their Grandmama a long time ago and a couple of months ago we started using them solely for the car.  They reach for them right away when we get in the car and hold them.  

They kept playing footsie.  I had the hardest time trying to snap a picture of it but they kept touching their feet together and laughing hysterically.  They had the whole car laughing at them.

Ruby & Charlotte
As we crossed over the mountains on the way out there, we watched the outside temperature gauge drop lower and lower.  By the time we arrived in Capitola, less than an hour after we left our house, the temperature was 57 degrees!!  Yikes.  We didn't bring enough clothes to properly bundle up so we just layered on the girls' swim coverups over their dresses.  Hank didn't mind, he had a long sleeved swim shirt on anyway.  Although it was chilly as we sat on the beach we warmed up.  It turned out to be not so bad but next time we'll remember that the weather out there is unpredictable and the fog might come in on our way out there.  We'll start packing sweatshirts.

We've been looking forward to getting to the beach and also a little anxious as to how we'd manage the three of them near the water.  Last summer the girls hung out on the blanket or in the stroller so it was easy to watch them.  This time was super easy too!  The girls didn't even really notice the water.  I think we picked the perfect spot on the beach that was just far enough away from the water so they didn't get excited about it.  They played in the sand and walked around near our stuff the whole time.

Ruby

Charlotte

Ruby

Ruby

Charlotte

Hank's rock collection

Ruby snacking on Hank's rock collection

Hank and Brett played in the water while the girls and I hung out on the beach.  Hank only lasted about a half hour out there since it was pretty windy and he started getting the chills.  We went to wash Hank off at the showers then headed to get ice cream for Hank, snacks for the girls, and coffees for the parents to warm up with!

Ruby and Brett - she started flailing back because he wasn't feeding her a snack fast enough.  We got slices of banana bread at the ice cream shop!

Charlotte and Mom.  Charlotte thought I was too slow with the snacks too.  I finally broke down and just gave her a huge chunk and let her eat it by herself.  Even if I did have to pay with crumbs all over my chest since I was holding her in the baby carrier.

We had so much fun.  I hope we can get out there often this summer.  We can't wait to get back to the beach!

-a

Dancing and an Ellie chase

-a

Charlotte is not a horse

This is happening several times a day lately.  Ruby jumping on Charlotte's back and trying to ride her like a horse.  Charlotte DOES NOT like it.

-a

Tunnel squeals!!

A little slice of what we were up to today.  They are so much fun!

-a

October 2012: Charlotte...Just because

This is just a pretty stinking cute face she's got!

-a

Diving into Hank's bed

On Sunday, Brett and Hank went out to run a couple of errands on their own so it was just the girls and me at home.  I needed to work on curtains I am hanging in Hank's room and of course, the girls decided this was the perfect opportunity to skip their afternoon nap.  In order to multitask, I figured out how to keep them completely occupied so I could iron and not have them near me or the hot iron. 

They climbed the stool and jumped onto Hank's bed repeatedly for about 30 minutes.  It was so much fun for them. Ruby was brave and jumping from the standing position (which scared me) and Charlotte was more cautious and did little jumps and falls into the bed.

-a

Outside time

Charlotte

Now that the girls are full on mobile we have been having outside time almost every single day the past couple of months.  It is so much fun to let all three of them play together outside or at a park.  We try to get to the park as much as possible but our back yard is a very good alternative - and obviously much easier on me.  :)

On this day a couple of weeks ago the weather was about to rain but we played as long as we could out there.  I gave the kiddos some water and paint brushes and they decorated the sidewalk, deck and even cleaned the toys and playhouse.  

Ruby

 

 

Hank is pretty good at raising the roof.

 

 

Ruby's specialty is dumping out the water.  Hank is not a fan.

Hank loves to wash his trucks and sometimes even Woody gets a bath.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still trying to teach Ruby (and Charlotte) to not eat the paintbrushes.

 

 

 

The girls play on this slide continuously.  They love it so much.

-a