Living life with THREE little Boyds: I really do plan to post more frequently this summer :)

I promise I haven't given up on the blog. It's been hard for me to keep it updated, but rest assured the kids are still growing, still funny, and still cute. We've been staying busy by staying outside now that the weather is getting warm...okay well, we at least take advantage of the warm 70+ degree weather before it dips back down into the 30s. What a strange Spring this has been! Remember those beautiful 3 days a couple of weeks ago when it got up into the 80s? We jammed as much outside time as we could before the cold front came in. So much so that I was actually excited about the cold and hopefully getting a "break" from all the activity. During those three days, we visited at least 5 parks, played with bubbles for HOURS, had picnics, splashed in buckets of water, and came in every night with 1 or 2 skinned knees. Glorious! I hope the warm weather sticks this time.

Operation "get Makael fat" is going pretty well. There are no noticeable "chubs" per say, but he feels heavier, he's noticeably taller, and I've officially been able to put all of the 9 month clothes away, along with most of the 12 month stuff..never mind he's closer to 2 now. The biggest difference I have seen is in his overall demeanor. He's a much happier kid and has been flashing his killer smile a lot these days :) He seems so grown up now. Sure he still doesn't talk much, but he understands everything and always finds some way to communicate whatever it is he wants me to know. He's just the most precious!

Gemma got to visit cousin Ariya's dance class a couple of weeks ago. It was "bring a friend to class" day. I am planning on enrolling her in the fall anyway so it was a good opportunity to see if she will like it or not. She loved it! Probably even more than swim class...if you can believe that. She seemed a little hesitant when I was getting her ready at home, but she joined right in once we were there. There was no question who the seasoned dancer was between her and Ariya, but she really did give it her all. Watching the two dance side by side was almost too much cuteness to handle.

Gemma got upgraded to a queen size bed last week. Can you say spoiled?! The reason we did this was to have a bed big enough to accommodate guests when they come to visit. We had the bed that was in our guest room (at our old house) painted white to match her other furniture. It turned out beautifully! Unfortunately, what I thought would be a simple switch ended up being somewhat of a project. Where I originally thought the bed would go prevented us from being able to open her dresser drawers. Queen beds are big apparently. So I ended up taking her book shelf out, taking things off the wall, patching up the holes, repainting the walls, painting some shelves, hanging everything back up on the walls in new locations, and buying new bedding. I loved every second of it! Have I told you how much I love decorating rooms? Kids rooms are by far my favorite. Hopefully guests don't mind staying in a pink girly room when they come to visit...at least until we have a proper guest room in our basement . You should see how teeny tiny Gemma looks in her new bed!

We will have a back yard fence in tomorrow! I never thought I would be this excited about a fence, but boy howdy am I ever. When you have a little boy who likes to be outside as much as Makael does, a fenced in back yard is a must. This fence is more for him than it is for the rest of us, so he better like it!