Lessons from the backyard

Oh, little boys. They are a dirt-loving, daddy-helping, mess-making bunch.

Daddy spent the better part of Saturday afternoon sprucing up our backyard, and Robbie has never been one to sit idly by.

Whatcha doin', Daddy? Can I help?

He didn't need instructions... clearly, Daddy was just scooping up mud and throwing it in the lawn bag (!). Robbie followed his lead. With his bare hands, of course.

This is a job that requires safety glasses!

Um, do they make something similar for your mouth?

His tongue got itchy halfway through the yard work, and without a second thought Robbie scratched at it. With his very muddy hand. He immediately started to gag on the mud (both hilarious and disgusting, why did I keep taking pictures!?), so I whisked him off to the deck where we confiscated Daddy's water bottle for irrigation purposes.

A big swig.

Let it flow, buddy.

Again, with the safety glasses.

You never let me get this messy, mom! This is awesome.

A very good reason to have a digital SLR... catching spit mid-stream.

Splashing in his spit-puddle.

You know you want to scoop this wet, muddy little thing up and just eat him.

I do!

(*Sidenote: I think the Livingston genes are winning out... isn't he looking less like me and more like Rob every day!? Try to look past the blond hair...)

A human bubbling brook.

Water bottle: empty. Belly: full (apparently).

If ever there was a proper moment to disrobe and frolic nakies in the backyard, the time was now.

But wait, what is going on in the neighbor's yard!?

{They were making sno-cones!}

They were so impressed with Robbie's arabesque form that they awarded him his very own champagne-cup-sno-cone. Kidding. And I am in big trouble for using Robbie's name and the word 'arabesque' in the same sentence. But the neighbors did in fact share their sno-cones, which happened to be Robbie's first sno-cone experience!

As with all good things, he ran it over to Daddy for a look.

"Robbie have a sno-cone!"

Hey, Robbie, what does it taste like?

"Icecream! Nice and cold..."

We are lucky to have such great neighbors. Not pictured is the BBQ dinner we had with them this weekend. Their 3 kids, age Kindergarten through 3rd grade, loved on Ellie and taught Robbie all about sports while we spent Sunday evening together in their backyard. Lucky for us, they're just a fence-hop away. I need to drum up something to offer this situation... it's very one-sided as it stands! Ha!

Post-sno-cone... wandering in the yard. Again, all the action is over the fence.

Baseball! Robbie helps himself to a better view.

And, the queen of naps (while all this backyard fun was happening)...

Getting ready to turn ONE YEAR OLD! I can't dissuade her from looking and acting more grown up every day.