Can Olivia come over and play?

We went outside yesterday evening to inspect the first three daylily blooms of the season. You may think that's not all that exciting, but it is for us. That's two more blooms than we saw all year last year. The deer are relentless and seem to delight in picking off our daylily buds before they have a chance to bloom. We moved the plants around this year, and for some reason, the deer haven't bothered them yet. I'm under no illusion that they will stay away forever, so I'm enjoying the blooms while they last.

This beauty (above) is in the backyard flower bed. When we came around to see it, we noticed that our backyard neighbor kids (the ones who just moved in a month ago) were outside playing. The littlest of them is seven, and as soon as he saw us he said, "Can Olivia come over and play?"

Now, it took about two minutes for that invitation to turn into a question..."Is it OK if we play with Olivia on her swingset?" But that's OK. As it turns out, Backyard Neighbor Kids have been outside most nights hoping that we'd come out and play so they could come over and play on Olivia's rockin' awesome playset. They are quite a bit rougher on it than Olivia and her cousin have been, and I think we are going to have to establish some rules in the future about not kicking rocks when they swing, but it was nice to have someone for Olivia to play with.

Olivia was having a ball! She loves kids (even though these are a bit older), and they were including her in their fun. One of them wanted to push her on the swing, and she laughed and laughed (while we panicked a little because she was going pretty high, and this is a regular swing...not a toddler swing). When we pulled her away for bathtime, the kids politely moved back into their own yard (without being told to do so), and Olivia cried and said, "Kids? Play with kids?"

Looks like we'll be spending a little more time in the backyard now. It's so nice to finally have kids in the neighborhood.

Some company is installing some sort of cable (fiber optic or something) throughout our housing development. They are, at this moment, in my front yard making a massive rut in the grass with their backhoe. I'm not happy about it, but apparently there's nothing I can really do. They have dug holes in all the yards in the whole neighborhood, so I guess it was just our turn.

I wish they could be a little quieter in their digging. Olivia is napping, and the "tractor noise" isn't so bad. She's used to mowers and such. But they keep making a noise that sounds like they are dropping a metal pipe onto another piece of metal. It's a sharp, clanging noise, and it's almost sure to wake her before she is completely rested. Great way to extend her cold. Grrr!

I'm off to get something substantial accomplished while the princess sleeps. Happy Thursday!