Playing Outside

Since our backyard is being torn apart (hubby had to dig big ditches to lay down drainage to divert water away from our basement that has been filling up with water) most of the time when the kids and I play outside it's on our front porch/patio/sidewalk area, we go for a walk, or go to a nearby park. I'm looking forward to next summer when hopefully our backyard will be finished. :-) 


ANYWAY...Yesterday the kids and I went outside for a bit while it was nice out. They enjoy playing with sidewalk chalk, riding their trike and trucks up and down the sidewalk and picking Mommy "flowers."


Joey was enjoying the nice weather and fell asleep in his little chair on the porch.

Joshua saw me taking pictures (or as he says "picturing") Joey and said "Picture me Mommy!"

I love Trinity's natural smile here (not the usual fake "say cheese" smile she gives me..haha) and her hair was also blowing in the wind which made it even better. :-) She's so pretty!

Then Brenden wanted a picture.

Brenden then wanted me to take a picture of his toys....

I LOVE this shot of Brenden. He has a bit of a mischievous look on his face, but it's cute. He's going to be having the girls chasing him when he's older. :-)  

Trinity showing me the dandelion she picked. She was excited she got to blow the seeds off of it and watch them swirl and float away in the wind.

And so started the kids picking me a bouquet of "flowers". I thought it was so cute they did this with no prompting on my part. They each wanted me to take a picture every time they picked a new one.

Brenden is warming up to the camera instead of running from it now.....can you tell?

I took this opportunity to do a mini photoshoot and capture some great pictures of the kids....

After over an hour of playing outside we went back in when the wind started to pick up and a storm rolled in. The rain came swift and hard. This is the water pouring from the gutter across our street. The storm only lasted about 15-20mins but we lost our power for about an hour.

After the rain had stopped the kids ran outside to play again. I can not describe HOW MUCH I love this photo of Trinity. This truly captures her excitement, joy, and childhood innocence. (Unfortunately, yes that is her brother's butt in underwear in the background though...lol Since they're being potty trained I sometimes will make them keep their pants off in the house so I can make sure they're still dry...Joshua ran out of the house without putting his shorts back on...haha Oh what our neighbors must think!)

I believe this is Joshua growling in mid-run. haha

Nothing better than Daddy kisses except...well Mommy kisses of course. ;-) John ventured outside after we lost power since he couldn't really do much until it came back on. He was able to spend some quality time with the kids and take a short break. :-) 

Joshua and Josh (our adopted son...LOL I'm just kidding!) He's actually John's friend and co-worker. The kids love him. :-) 

Yes, parenting can be hard at times, but children are such a joy and blessing. Thank you Lord for blessing me with Brenden, Joshua, Trinity, and Joey. :-)