Lil' Landscapers, Inc.

As long as whatever needs watering is completely bone-dry/dehydrated/thirsty/nearly dead, these lil' landscapers do an A+ job. Perfect for all of your landscaping needs. Their slogan is "more is less". They are available for part time work beginning immediately. 


At some point they need to help pay for these diapers, right!?


And can I tell you how cute I think these little beaters "white under shirts" are on these guys!? Seriously! They go well with the way-too-big shorts. They'll be wearin' those next summer. Thankfully summers are so short up here that they won't be worn out!

IF, by chance, you were curious who was who... (in order of the picture, top to bottom)

P/M

M

P

M

P

M 

P (M)

Family and Farmin'

We were back in Iowa again...this time with Dad's family. We had a weekend filled with fun on the farm (and tractors, of course), cousin time, two of uncle Jake's baseball games, great-grandpa Wayne's 80th birthday celebration in Templeton, Iowa, and we got to meet our one-week old new baby cousin, Olivia. Couldn't have been better.

Mason and his basketball. He's actually pretty good on the short hoop.
He's definitely more interested than Prior.

 

Alli, Ben, and Prior on the lawn tractor.

A picnic with our cousins, Alli, Kennedy, Miya, and Mason

Our new precious baby cousin, Olivia. Isn't she sweet? This picture was
taken before I had even gotten to hold her. I was secretly hoping the camera
noises would wake her up!

Cousins Miya and Kennedy supporting the Kuemper Knights. P&M cheered
"Jakey Number 4" at the game. I'm pretty sure he had the biggest fan section.

Prior and Great-Grandpa Wayne at his surprise birthday celebration.
Pretty special guy to have have 150+ people at his party.

Prior and Jake driving the tractor. Mason was scared to get in the tractor
yet we couldn't talk Prior out of it.

A quick hug for Miya and Mason.

Grandpa Denny and the boys.

Mom even let the boys have cake at Great-Grandpa's party. The sugar
helped offset the lack of energy from no naps!

It's soooo pretty on the farm this time of year.

Mason is a little cautious of the tractor - especially while it was started.
As you can see the boys' shorts are plenty big - they look like pants! Sometimes I
go a little overboard while making sure the clothes are big enough that we get
enough wear out of them.

Great-Grandma

We recently visited Grandma Bea at Eastern Star in Decorah. P and M, who happen to love attention, certainly got a lot of it! They were local celebrities among Great-Grandma's friends and loved every minute of it. The boys loved running around and spending time with Great-Grandma.

We blew Great-Grandma kisses before we left.

And gave her hugs, too.

Cool Dude

Completely unintentional, but I love how the reflection in one 

of his lenses is his mama with her camera...

and the reflection in the other lens is his best buddy, Mase.

Mirror Image

I don't know much about "mirror image" twins, but this is what the internet says:

Definition: Mirror image twins are monozygotic, twins that form from a single fertilized egg. When the split occurs late - more than a week after conception. Any later and the twins can be co-joined. The twins develop reverse asymmetric features. This term is not really a type of twin, just a way to describe their physical features. For example, they may be right and left handed, have birthmarks on opposite sides of their body, or have hair whorls that swirl in opposite directions. In theory, if the twins faced each other, they would appear to be exact reflections of each other. About 25% of identical twins are mirror image twins.

The thought first crossed my mind because when the boys first started cutting teeth they each had an opposite tooth come in (i.e. bottom left and bottom right). For several months now they have been showing definite signs of hand dominance. They rarely go back and forth at this point. Mason is definitely right handed and Prior is definitely left handed.

So when I caught the boys napping in this "mirror image" way I couldn't help but take a picture.


Having the same DNA is pretty interesting stuff!

He Build It

One day a man magically showed up at our house with a big truck filled full of wood and...


(as P&M say) "He Build It!"

The boys got to watch one guy put together their new swing set in under 2 hours flat. It absolutely positively would have taken Ben all summer. [Even Ben agrees]. While I was impressed with how quickly this guy put it together, the entertainment value from Prior and Mason's perspective was so high I was completely fine if it took him all day to put together.

This doesn't look like our backyard, does it? Yeah, we moved. I have a post started about the big move but it's not quite ready yet. Stay tuned. [P]

[Mr. Personality - "M"]

[M]

Dad in his vintage UNI t-shirt and Mason lovin' the swings.

If these aren't guilty looks, I'm not sure what would be. Clearly they were scheming about something! [M / P]

Swinging on the trapeze bar is a little difficult with a bum finger. Poor Prior! On that note, his finger is healing, but it still looks pretty rough. The entire finger is molting - it's strange but layers of skin are just peeling off. Part of the healing process I presume. He's very picky about the band-aids and how they are applied. If they aren't *perfect* we have to redo them. And, when he's supposed to be going to sleep at night and really wants attention, he'll pull the bandage off and demand a new one. Needless to say we've gone through a few band-aids.

More swingin'. It's finally summer up North and we're looking forward to a summer full of lots of swinging!

Bubbles and Curls