Chasing ducks

I think I've said it before, but Luca loves to chase birds. As soon as one lands in the yard, he looks at me and says "Chase birdies?" and when I nod he's off running. Well a couple months ago we had a pair of mallards land in the yard. They spent a lot of time in the back corner of the yard where we have some decorative tall grasses and we were afraid they'd build a nest. While I love love love baby ducks, we were pretty sure Jude would not be content to just marvel in their cuteness. So we scared them off. And continued to scare them away when they kept coming back.

And they still come back every once in a while. On this day Luca looked out the back door and saw them. He went supersonic he was so excited and screeched "DUCKIES!" Next, naturally, he asked if he could chase the ducks. I said sure and he went out after them.

Getting closer...

They took a lot longer to fly away then I was expecting. Luca got pretty close to them before they finally decided they were in danger. When they took off, they were a little bigger and displaced a little more air than the robins he's used to...

His reaction to them flying off was priceless, he was so startled! And still Luca keeps a weather eye on the back yard, hoping they'll come back.

Swingset Building Day 3

With a forecast of a 50% chance of rain all day, we were expecting the last day of the holiday to be a bust for building. Jordan offered to come out again, but we figured there wasn't much point. We even called Dad to tell him that the rain was only supposed to hold off until early afternoon so Josh was going to do what he could with the help of Luca and I. Dad wasn't satisfied with the ladder he had built yesterday, though, and Mom wanted to do more work on the curtains, so they came out.

One wall up, and taking apart yesterday's work to do today's.

Left to do was to put up the swing hardware and hang the swings, build the rock wall (minus the "rocks" since I haven't bought them yet...), put up the bones for the tarp (minus the tarp because I haven't bought that either), install the slide, build the picnic table and bench that goes under the play deck, and put up the boards that serve as walls at the top. Kind of a daunting list, but by this point Josh and Dad had a sort of a groove going.
Once Luca saw the swings and the ladder, he of course wanted to try them out. Never mind that the thing was still being built.

After trying out the ladder and slide a few dozen times, he felt it was also important to try out the swings. Oh his face the first time he was doing this stuff, just beaming. And laughing. Dad said the gleeful shriek the first time he went down the slide made the whole trouble of putting the thing up worth it. He is really, really loving the swing set.

Yes I'm still in my pj's, don't judge.

 In between playing and being super helpful outside, Luca was equally super helpful inside. While I worked on another decoration (which remains unfinished and therefore unphotographed) Mom was getting some help sewing the curtains.

To make sure we did all the math right and the base for the curtains were the right length, we took one set of ruffles upstairs and roughly laid them out. With the help of Luca and Jude, naturally. I'm 100% sure they are going to be amazing!!

By the time the rain started (two hours later than was forecast, thank you Jordan for not coming to help...) All that was left was to put the walls up. When Josh counted out how many boards he would need and how many we have left, it looks like we will have just scrap left over. For eyeballing things and guessing at numbers and changing plans along the way, that is just incredible. So, as Josh has a free minute here an there he's cutting the rest of the boards and attaching them. Then I've got to get shopping to buy the toddler swing, climbing wall "rocks," and the tarp. Plus a few extras. We're pretty sure he needs a steering wheel, and Josh is convinced that a Ferrari flag would be the perfect finishing touch. All in all, most of the work done in 3 days--here's to all the help!! And of course none of this would have even been possible without the generous help of all our friends and family in funding this endeavor, THANK YOU!!

Our new swing set!!

Swingset Building Day 2

On the to-do list for today was to put up the swing set part, build and hang the ladder, and to buy the slide and hardware to hang the swings. Josh was up early cutting boards to size so things would be ready when everyone got there. Today in addition to Josh and Dad, Jordan offered to come back and Dan was coming. That let Mom and I make our own inside to-do list. We were working on Baby Girl's room--hoping to get started on her curtains and continue my work on decorations. I think on Luca's list for the day was play with Uncle Dan and Jordan, harass Jude, and be an all around stinker/sweetheart.

All four boys checking out the angle

Josh, Dad and Dan were able to put up more bracing on the play deck and start measuring and planning out the swing side when Jordan came. With the rain. I'm not saying those two things are necessarily related, but it did seem to happen that when Jordan was here to help, it was also raining. Of course we were still grateful for his help. And it was a perk that when Jordan came so did his truck, since the slide wouldn't fit in any of our cars...

Now five to put up the swing side

So, a lot of measuring, cutting, remeasuring, recutting, and attaching. At this point I was starting to feel bad about picking random plans online instead of buying a kit, because I know their job was ten times harder because of it. But, it gave them opportunity to learn new skills! And practice math no one has used since high school! The last task of the day was hanging the ladder. That dad had to finish in the garage because of the rain.

In addition to being building day 2, it's into week 24 for Baby Girl! Can't believe it's been 6 months... In the upcoming month I have the glucose test and blood work to look forward to, ...woo-hoo... Belly shot! She's a-growing!

Swingset Building Day 1

According to my dad, when you are figuring out how long a project will take, you figure out how long you think it should take, then double the number and go up a unit. For example, if you figure a project will take 1 hour, you should plan on it actually taking 2 days. For the swingset, I hoped it would take 1 weekend, so I was figuring it would actually take 2 weeks.

The building started out with looking over the free plans I had found online, and realizing there weren't any measurements for how to build it. The plans were part of a kit that comes with pre-drilled wood, so it was enough for them to say to attach B and C to A, because you just found the holes and fastened it. But without the pre-drilled holes the boys had to do a lot of guess work. We made the modifications we wanted and Josh and Dad went to HD to get a truck and all the lumber and hardware. Did you know that Memorial Day weekend is the busiest weekend for truck rentals? Neither did we. There weren't any at the closest HD, and only a 26 foot truck at the next closest one.

Three hours later, Jordan had met them there and they filled his truck full of our lumber and were headed back home. There was a handful of sizes of lumber that HD doesn't sell, so they were having to modify plans on the fly, and then get hardware to match the modifications. Unload the wood, quick lunch, and they were ready to get started! Of course it couldn't be smooth sailing from then on, though. It rained off and on, just enough that the tools needed to be brought inside for an hour and then brought all back outside again.

They got the bones for the play deck all put together on the patio, and went out to survey the yard (With Luca's help, of course). Where I wanted it needed so much work to level it out and make it a sturdy base for the swing set, so we shifted it forward. They brought it out, dug a little trench to level it out, and we called it good for the day.

Some time outside

I've said it a thousand times, but Luca is such an outside kid. He wants to go out with me when I take Jude out first thing in the morning, and would stay outside all day if I let him. Raining, cold, wind, doesn't matter. He's like the postal service. Nothing can keep him from his time outside. He just says "It's raining out there" and then continues playing like he is not also "out there."

We have two bird feeders in the front yard and he loves to fill them up and then watch for the birdies to come. And come they do. Not a lot of variety, but there sure are a lot. Which is all that matters when you're two. We did have an unusual one the other day.

Josh looked up what it was because he happened to see one while he was working a couple days later, but I forgot what it's called. Very pretty, anyway! And eating Luca's birdseed, which is the important part.

He also enjoys (with nothing but love in his heart, I'm sure) to chase the birdies. He sees one in the yard or on the fence, turns to me and asks "I chase birdie?" and then off he goes. Again, it doesn't matter if it's raining, he's in sock feet and the grass is wet, or that he bird is already half gone by the time he starts. He just loves it.

I got a couple of hanging flower pots for Mother's Day, and Luca helped Josh hang them. (Who knew it was so hard!) They did have to put in the shephard's hooks as well as put the flowers onto them, so I guess it was a little more complicated.

We also bought a hanging strawberry plant a little while ago. Luca had been helping me water that one, so now he helps to water the flowers too. And the mulch. And the siding. And the grass, always the grass. Still, I love having my little helper. =)

It's a....

Last I counted it up, the people who have given a guess total 9 girl votes and 6 boy votes. Close race!

My grandma had me do one last test to figure out the gender. Mom thread a needle, poked it in the eraser of a pencil, and then held it over my wrist. Grandma said that it would tell how many kids as well as the gender. So the first time it swung it would be for Luca. Then it would stop swinging before starting back up again. If it swung the same way as the first time, it meant another boy, if it changed direction it meant girl. Then it would stop again. If it stayed still that meant we'd have two kids. If it started swinging again it would tell the gender of the child after this one, and on and on until it stopped. Luca was awfully interested so it took a couple tries to get a "reading" without influence. But the first time it swung across my wrist, then it stopped, then swung up and down my arm (change in direction), then it stopped, then it went back to swinging across my wrist, then it was done. So, Grandma's test said that this one will be a girl and there will be another boy later down the road.

She says that she has done this test on a whole bunch of women, and it is almost always right. Mom remembers her doing it for her and being right about the number of kids. But the question is, was it right for me?

Luca's getting a little Sister! We are so excited and not a little bit in disbelief. I still half expect to be in the L&D room and hear "It's a boy!" It seems like it would be not so hard for an ultrasound tech to mistake a boy for a girl. You know, from the right angle. And if all goes well I won't be having another ultrasound. So... we are planning on a girl and hoping she was right! =)

Also, notice my super awesome shirt? I totally made it. It's my countdown shirt. We tried to take week pictures when I was pregnant with Luca, and at first we were good about taking them with a sign about what week it was. Then we were glad just to remember to take the pictures. So this is sort of two birds with one stone. As long as we remember to take the pic, we'll have record of the week. Here's 21 weeks, past the half way point!

The zoo

Mom saw an ad for a zoo that is about 30-40 minutes from my house and free. They advertise as not having any exotic animals, but having more than just farm animals. Since I love free ways to spend an afternoon, we decided to go check it out. It's a little far for how much time we can spend there to make it a regular outing, but if we lived closer we would probably go weekly--for being free it was really nice!

They had peacocks and otters and a couple eagles, some elk and a bunch of turtles and snakes and a couple alligators. The map said they also had wolves and llamas, but that part of the zoo was roped off. I didn't realize but we happened to go the week they opened. One of the snakes had two bowls in his cage, one with just water, and one with water and little fish. This of course was noticed by Luca. Ahh, the circle of life.

The otters were so much fun to watch!

We kept walking back and forth to see the animals that Luca requested. At the back of the zoo they had a Huge play area, I think 4 different areas. Some were swing/climbing for bigger kids, some for little ones, one was like a giant sand box and there was a pirate ship to climb up and look around. We spent as much time there as we did looking at the animals.

I imagine we'll go back at least a couple times over the summer, maybe even bring lunch and have a picnic in the pavilions!