Hipstamatic Timeline ...

So right after Libby's Birthday ... we got sick. Brett got it the worst. Some sort of a flu bug that had him not feeling like himself for a week, then had sinus troubles & a cough for about 2 weeks. This is him on day 1 of being sick ... he kept telling me "I'm FINE!" Mmhmm.

Here's the line up of meds for me & B. :) 

Getting a little fresh air with Daisy while home from school. :) 

The area in which we live has what they call a "warm up" parade to St. Patty's Day. Our town has so many Irish in it, they have multiple parades. :)  We walked in the parade with our school  & had a blast.

A photographer with the Kansas City Star took this during the parade of Libby & Kyle! :) This was on the front page of the "Neighborhood News" section for 2 counties. Needless to say, we're still hearing from people who saw them [even yesterday afternoon - 2 weeks after it ran in the paper]!

First day of Spring Break ... Davis still in his PJ's making all sorts of paper airplanes. Did you know you could make some that could do aerobatics? I didn't, but do now ... Davis made some that could do loop-de-loops. So cool.  

The kids & I went to St.Louis for a few days during Spring Break! We spent a lovely day at the zoo there, where Brett faced his fears head on. For years we have tried to get Brett to look at the snakes & he'd run the other way in a panic. This was absolutely amazing to see Brett not only this far from the entrance of the snake house, but this close to the Burmese Python.  Made my week.

 We also went fishing with some friends! Libby caught 19 fish in about 3 hours. She shrieked & giggled & called out the number of each one.  

On 3/18, Kyle & I celebrated our 12th Anniversary! 

This past Friday we had off school & cousin Roman was on Spring Break! So we walked up to our new local frozen yogurt place, Orange Leaf.   

Due to the fact that it had rained all week, the boys had their 2 soccer games cancelled & Brett had his baseball practice cancelled. Kind of nice to have our Saturday freed up. :) So on Saturday night, we had the other KC cousins over. That night Libby learned how to swing [pump her legs] all by herself. :)  

Such a perfect night. The most gorgeous weather & a fun game of wiffle ball between the cousins, uncles & pappy.  

The aunts, mimaw & Miss Daisy made up the cheering section. :)  

On Sunday Libbs got to do her birthday shopping with mimaw. She picked out this outfit & the new black boots. Here she is checking out the photos I took of her modeling the new outfit. Sass.

This is pretty much what Kyle has been doing. The school he's in has been a bit more overwhelming,  more intense & more time consuming than we thought. I had to get him a new package of highlighters because in just a little over a month, he went through the pink, orange & yellow. He's been busy to say the least. 

And finally, here's Libbs last night. She was helping me hose all the pollen off everything. She asked me if she'd get money for doing it & I told her I'd pay her a quarter. She did that same giggly shriek that she did each time she caught one of her 19 fish. She was ecstatic. :) 

Life's been good. Could've done without the week or 2 of sickness, but it's been good. Hopefully I'll get back down to the art studio soon! Happy Spring! :)

Walk with me ...

I've started walking. With the occasional 100 yards of a jog thrown in there for good measure. Trying to be healthy & lose some lb's. I hate working out. But I love being outside in good weather. And looking at beautiful things. I walk with my iPhone so I can be reached, for a time check & Pandora. But this time I decided to snap some of my favorite things. Also known as "a walking tour of my ADD thoughts."

We've had gorgeous weather here. Don't be fooled by my 'weather location'. I live in Missouri, not in Kansas, but on my walk I make a big circle that crosses the state line, then loops back again.

Good walking music. Keeps good pace. I tried to take a pic of the "Coldplay / Viva la Vida" song. But I missed it. That's an even better walking song. It calls for some long, fast strides. But if I have to give a "thumbs down" to J.Lo's "On the Floor" one more time ... seriously. Any song that has "back it up like a Tonka truck" in it is annoying. Thankfully, I think that's the only song with those lyrics, but one is too many.

 Fall is certainly arriving in Kansas City. I heart the RED on the leaves.

 One of my favorite houses. So symmetrical. Love the diamond windows & the brick. Simple.

 Hard to see ... but there are 2 tree swings hanging down just to the right of the trunk. Love tree swings.

Love this house. My favorite on the walk. The back yard is on a golf course.

 Kansas City is the city of fountains. We have the 2nd most fountains in the world. 2nd to Rome. 

 Even harder to see than the last one, but this gorgeous tree has 2 tree swings hanging on the left. 1 regular swing & 1 baby swing. Even if you can't see the swings ... how gorgeous are all the flowers at the base of that beautiful tree?

 I love being treated to a yard sale while on a walk. This one was "ehh". Definitely more like what one of our Goodwill piles looks like, than an all out sale. :) Unless you want to add to your seasonal & holiday windsock collection. In which case - stop by. They had about 20 different kinds.

Love the huge gas lanterns on the stone pillars.

Stepping over this, I always think of the root saying "I was here first!" while elbowing its way out. He is winning ... as he should. :)

I've seen a bunch of these flowers ... so pretty. The way the pink dries out & turns to orange & brown, such a pretty autumn look. 

Whenever I see this sign, I always think it would make such a funny announcement if you were expecting. But I can assure you, it won't be us. :)

Then I walk past this park. And get a little sad. I now have 3 kids in school 5 days a week. This is how we used to spend our days. Park hopping. I see mommies & toddlers on their play dates & get a little emotional that those days are behind us. I wonder if those moms know to enjoy it while they can. Those days go by too fast. But then I think of the people who walk past this same park & see the mommies & get sad for a different reason ... they haven't had a chance to be that yet. And I say a little prayer for the people I know who are going through that. 

Where Libby went to "Parents Day Out". :) The church bells sound at 12 noon. Gotta love that.

Another fountain. 

Where I live, almost every neighborhood or block has these little statuaries. Love them.

More statuaries.

A little detail on an urn at another block's entrance.

 Good ol' KC, MO. :) See the logo? City of fountains. :)

After lusting over bits & pieces of other houses & landscaping, I come home. Nothing special, but pretty roses that are still kicking after I transplanted them 3 times. :)

American Flag that flies 365 days of the year. 

 Definitely room for improvement, but plenty to love. We are here to stay. 

Happy weekend. :)

Spend the afternoon ...

Spend the afternoon.

You can't take it with you.

-Annie Dillard

That is what we did yesterday. No plans. We just spent the afternoon. The boys' swim team practice was cancelled due to inclement weather that didn't amount to anything. Instead, they had a friend over for a couple of hours and after we took him home, we swung by the park. The boys were in their swimsuits, Libby was not. The spray park was open - no one was there. Who can pass up that? No towels, no sunscreen, no swim suit even for Libby - but it was fun. I knew they would dry off on our walk. We saw hawks - up close. We met the most darling dog ever - Marcos. He kept dropping his ball in the pond, but wouldn't go in to get it. Brett went & got a branch to drag the ball in close enough to where they could grab it. Brett was pretty proud of himself [told the dog's owner she could call him "Superhero Brett"] & Marcos was one happy pup. :) Saw ducks. And turtles. Climbed trees. Walked on logs. That was it. Taking advantage of the fact that I a) had my camera on me, b) had such beautiful, natural surroundings, & c) such genuinely happy kids ... I snapped a bunch of pics. The results were better than anything we could have tried for with nice, coordinating outfits or brushed & completely dry hair [Libby's was still drying]. Incredible Hulk crocs & all ... I love this pic.

But ... maybe I'll just turn it into a black & white before I blow it up to an 8x10? :)