(Sesame) Street Art.

Yesterday was such a perfect early-Fall day.  It was cool but sunny and not windy at all (which was a welcome change after a stormy start to the week).  We were able to go out and have some fun in the yard for a while.  The sidewalk chalk made an appearance and my little artists went to work on beautifying the patio.  It wasn't long before the yellow jackets showed up and after we got tired of dodging them, we moved inside.  Neither of the kids were happy about it, but I managed to convince both of them that if they came inside, I would draw them a surprise with the chalk during their nap.  That made it easy!  I had already drawn two of their favorite Sesame Street characters, Elmo and Grover, when we had all been outside, so I decided to add a few more of their beloved friends. 

Now, I don't like to toot my own horn, but I was pretty artsy back in the day (Ha ha!  I sound so old!) and I was really happy with how my attempt at "street" art turned out. :-) It only took me about 15 minutes to transform part of our patio into a picture of fun for Lucas and Poppy.

Ta-da!  Elmo, Grover (with Dorothy, the goldfish, between them), Abby, Oscar the Grouch, and Cookie Monster.  I wanted to draw Big Bird too, but I used almost an entire stick of blue chalk on Cookie Monster, so I knew there wouldn't have been enough yellow.  Darn it.  Next time! ;-)

Here's the big reveal!  Lucas and Poppy held hands and waited in the house until I could get in position with the camera.  It was such a shock...they rarely listen to me or do what I tell them to do the first time they're told!

Lucas was so excited to see the Sesame Street characters I'd added to the patio, I think Poppy just struggled to see anything since the sun was in her eyes.

Checking things out.

Poppy loves Elmo.  LOVES him.  She loves him so much, she sat down on him and said "Cuddle!  Cuddle!"

And then she looked like this...

Dancing on their Monster Friends. :-)

I'm sure that Lucas and Poppy will enjoy seeing their favorite friends from Sesame Street on our patio...until it rains again and all my hard work gets washed away!

2011 Antique Machinery Show

Earlier this month (September 10) we went to Anacortes to see their Antique Machinery Show.  This was our second year going, and the kids enjoyed it just as much as last year.  Okay, they loved it even more!  There weren't nearly as many old tractors and a few of the bigger exhibits that were there last year weren't there this year, but Lucas and Poppy were still really happy to be there, enjoying the sunshine, looking at all the cool tractors and machines. 

Holy smokes!  There was even an ice cream truck!  Amazing!

Lucas remembered this thing from last year.  Well, he remembers seeing pictures of it.  It's a favorite because of the bald eagle as a hood ornament.

The guy driving the ice cream truck gave Lucas and Poppy each an Otter Pop.  Lucas was happy, but the little weirdo didn't want to eat it until it was totally melted and he could drink it instead.

This is the tractor and trailer that drove around a small part of Anacortes on a hay ride.  It was free (can you believe that!!?), so, duh, we did it!

They had pump car rides, but since it runs on rails, Lucas decided that it was a tiny train.  Like he usually does with new things, he was all for going for a ride while we waited in line, then when it was our turn, he totally lost it.  Ballistic, screaming, crying, psychotic child?  Yep, that was Lucas.  Just like he did with the tractor ride at the Tulip Festival and at the Carnival for 4th of July, he screamed for the first minute, then he was the picture of happiness.  See?  It all worked out!

There were four operators on the pump car, working for donations only.  I think they were members (and a coach) of the Anacortes High School wrestling team.  Lucas gave them $3 when our ride was done.  We had to pay them something for listening to him scream for the first part of the ride!

The happiest girl in the world didn't mind the ride.  Poppy was all smiles the whole time!

Hay ride time!  My little Poppy Seed and I ready to get going!

And there's Lucas!  Cheese!

Lucas and Adam at the start of the hay ride, which lasted about 15 minutes and went through part of the cute town of Anacortes.  It was a gorgeous day!

Trying to get a posed picture (a GOOD one!) of Lucas and Poppy is becoming increasingly more difficult.  I tell them to stand a smile...they turn around and start playing with the tractor.

Or Lucas acts like he's strangling his sister while she thinks it is hilarious...

Or Lucas decides to start picking dandelions and Poppy takes the opportunity to make a run for freedom...

Or Poppy starts to break-dance while Lucas makes a run for it!

Remember this picture from my post about the tractor show last year?  Look at little Poppy!  Little 8.5 month old, bald, baby Poppy "driving" the tractor.



We re-created the picture this year!  And it turned out just as bad as far as where Adam held Poppy up to "sit" on the tractor.  But she thought it was fun.  Look at that smile!

Here are Lucas and Poppy together last year.

And here they are this year! 

I think I've now concluded my game of catch-up with the blog.  I've been so behind for so long, now I have no idea what I'll write about.  Though I'm sure my little darlings will give me some inspiration soon! ;-)

The first ponytail!

Still playing Catch-Up with the blog, but this is a MAJOR milestone that I couldn't NOT write about.  Two weeks ago, September 08 to be exact, Poppy had her first ponytail.  Sure, she's had pigtails tons of times, but this was her first all-hair-up-in-one-ponytail-PONYTAIL.  I wasn't sure it would all fit, but it did!

It's crazy how much different one ponytail looks as opposed to two pigtails.

Lucas was really interested in her dragonfly hair-clip. 

Tiny little ponytail, blowing in the wind.

And just one more, to show Poppy's diva attitude.

I couldn't help noticing how much older Poppy looks with a ponytail.  So I think for now, we'll stick with pigtails.  I want to keep her looking like my baby for as long as possible! ;-)

Beach (and Pool) Kids!

You would think that living on an island would mean tons of trips to the beach.  Not for us!  We hardly ever go, I guess because it is always there is just doesn't seem like a big deal (I know, I know...shame on us, we SHOULD go out and enjoy it more!).  Two weeks ago, when Summer REALLY arrived in Northwest Washington, we spent a Sunday afternoon at one of the beaches here in town, not-so-creatively named "City Beach."  Seriously, how much thought went into that name?!  Anyway, we have been to this beach before, but mostly to the playground area and last Winter this was where Lucas got to stomp in lots of HUGE puddles.  We had never actually gone onto the sand though (it is down a little hill, not so easy for little kids), so this was a new experience for Lucas and Poppy.  We got there just after high tide, so the beach was tiny.  Teeny tiny.  There were more rocks than sand, but the kids made do and had a lot of fun stepping in the FREEZING water, tossing rocks, and digging in the little bit of sand we were able to find. 

I think she saw an airplane.  Even though we see (and hear) airplanes all day long, every day of the week, they still excite her.

Tossing rocks.  Poppy watched Lucas because he's kind of the professional when it comes to this particular activity.

Then she got in on the fun.  Go girl!

Then both kids were tossing them at the same time.  I love this picture because you can see just how into it Poppy got and because you can see how far Lucas can throw.  That black dot above him?  That's his rock "on the way to space" as he put it.

Lucas was too busy to turn around and smile when I asked, but Poppy is always ready to ham it up for the camera.

There were a couple of older kids down the way who were rolling logs into the water and Lucas decided to try it out and see what all the fuss was about.  He didn't let go of his shovel, so pushing the heavy log one-handed took a while.  After a minute or two, one of the older kids came down and helped him.  It was pretty nice, and Lucas was happy to see his little log floating in the water too.

Poppy has overcome her fear of sand and enjoyed digging and dumping it into her beach bucket.  She also enjoyed digging and flinging it around, and digging and eating it. 

The City Beach has a park complete with a wading pool for kids (which turns into the World's Largest Bird-Bath in the Winter because it doesn't get covered and it just keeps accumulating rain).  We took swimming suits for the kids and when it opened at noon, we asked Lucas and Poppy if they wanted to get in.  Lucas immediately started taking his clothes off, while we were still on the beach, so he could get his "water clothes" on.  He was very eager!  Poppy probably would have been content to sit and eat sand all afternoon.

One quick outfit change later and they were ready for the pool!  There's Lucas, looking tiny.  It was much colder than we thought it would be, but he didn't complain!

Poppy was all smiles at first...

Then Adam had her sit down and the shock of how cold it really was hit her.  She started saying "All done!" right away!

I rolled up my pants and got in with Lucas and Poppy for a while.  They didn't do much splashing or playing, but they both had a good time walking around the perimeter of the pool.

When we told Lucas it was time to go, this was what he did.  He said "I want to stay!  I want to do push-ups in the pool!"

On a day like today, when we are sitting at 55 with gloomy gray skies, it is hard to believe that it was actually HOT (by our standards!) just a short time ago.  I am glad that we took advantage of at least one of our local beaches before the weather changed.  Fall is coming.  Shoot, who am I kidding?  I think Fall is already here!  Farewell, Summer.  Sorry you couldn't stay longer.

Cruisin'

Lucas  has had his tricycle (the Rock, Roll & Ride by Fisher Price) for almost two years.  Santa brought it for Christmas in 2009 and it started out kind of like a rocking horse.  Then it converted to a trike with a handle to push it from behind.  Last Spring, Lucas asked me to take the handle off so he could ride his bike by himself, so I did.  It took a while for him to figure out how to pedal on his own and for the longest time he would go a few feet, then stop.  Or he would just pedal himself straight into a wall and then say he was stuck and needed help.  So, steering didn't come naturally either!  Eventually, he did get it all worked out and now he zips back and forth on the patio any time we are outside. 

A couple of weeks ago, on August 28, Lucas got to get out on the open road for the first time.  And by "open road" I mean the sidewalk that goes around our little street (it's actually a circle).  It took FOR-EV-ER because he had to stop and point out every spot of bird poo that he saw on the sidewalk.  But he was thrilled to be able to ride his bike like one of the big kids.

And he's off!

After what should have been a quick jaunt around our street (it ended up being about 20 minutes), we finally got within site of our house.  Adam was waiting out in front to take pictures of Lucas's first bike ride. 

Crossing the street, almost home.

Home!  And doesn't Lucas look smug? :-)

Since the first bike ride, we've tried to get out for a quick walk and ride around our street after dinner every night.  It has been lots of fun on the days that we've managed to do it.  Poppy has enjoyed walking and watching Lucas ride as fast as he can, and when he gets out of sight, she starts yelling "Wookie!  Wookie!"  That's how she says his name.  It's pretty cute!

Happy birthday, Blog! Today, you are 1 year old and 100 posts long!

I started this blog a year ago.  I can hardly believe a whole YEAR has gone by since I settled on the semi-corny address ("my sweet moonbeams" came from the Train song 'Hey, Soul Sister,' something I may or may not have mentioned before) and name of this thing.  I haven't always kept up as well as I would like.  Sometimes I have been downright lazy about blogging (like recently, again I will blame the weather since it has been keeping me outside more and away from the computer...I am really going to need to play catch-up soon!) and other times I've been really good at it (hello, June!) even if it began to feel like a chore.  I stuck with it and took a bajillion pictures of my babies that I'll be able to look back on and treasure forever.  In fact, having this blog has been extra motivation to take more pictures.  Not that I need encouragement to begin with, if such a thing doesn't already exist I could probably be the founder of Over Photo-Takers Anonymous.

Lucas and Poppy have grown and changed so much in the last year.  Lucas can carry on conversations about anything and everything (with whoever will listen) and Poppy can talk, stand, run, and jump now.  And she has HAIR, another major difference from a year ago.  They are such good friends with each other, even in the moments when they would rather claw each other's eyes out than share the toy ambulance or the ladybug costume shirt.  They are endlessly entertaining.  To me at least. ;-)

Lucas & PoppySeptember 2010

Lucas & PoppySeptember 2011

They are still, and always will be, my favorite boy and my favorite girl. :-)