Tiger!

He got his face painted at our favorite museum to look like a tiger and was more than willing to pose as one for the picture.

Jason's Birthday

Happy birthday to a man who has blown away all my wishes for a husband and a father. I love you.

Working

Logan checked out a book from the library that showed step-by-step how to draw some robots. As soon as he got home he said, "Mom, I need to get my materials and get to work," and then did just that.

Cooking with Daddy

Jason tries to look for Young Mens activities that would be OK to take one of our kids to with him, and so made a date with Ali to go to a BYC meeting one night. He was supposed to bring cookies, and rather than ask me to make some for him to take, he invited Ali to assist him in making some. She felt like such big stuff to not only be invited to go to a meeting where 18 year-olds would be (!), but to get to help make the food said 18 year-olds would be eating:)

Cousins

My kids really don't understand how lucky they are to have Ethan, Emily and Paige for cousins, especially cousins that live near them, but I sure do. These kids, at ages 13 for Ethan and 10 for the girls, are so much fun with my two 6 year-olds and 3 year-old. When these three big kids come to my house they spend all their time happily playing with my three kids. And they're not just being nice; you can tell they really enjoy playing with my little ones, and they do it for hours on end. They are simply wonderful cousins. 

Daddy Date

Jason wanted to be sure and take each of the kids on a fun Daddy date this summer, something more than just running errands with him. So Eli had his turn when they went go-cart riding. Eli was so excited to go, even though I don't think he actually knew what go-carts were before he got there! He had a great time and looked cool doing it.

4th of July

We spent this 4th of July with dear family friends a few hours away in Galena, Illinois. We started the day with the drive out there, and then met up at a great little water park. It had a small kiddie area, a zero-depth pool that only got about four feet deep before it was roped off for a deeper section at a diving board, and a big twisty slide in between. It was the prefect size for us, big enough for some variety, but small enough that when Ali literally spent two hours going down the slide over and over again we could be at either the pool or the kiddie place and still keep an eye on her. After the pool we played at a park and had a yummy dinner, and then off to the main event: the rodeo!

We got to ride in a horse-drawn-cart from where we parked to the ticket gate. We were the first ones in and so were sitting right by the driver, and when the driver invited a guy walking by to "Climb on up," Logan thought he meant that Logan could climb up into the driver's seat with him and climbed right up! The driver was nice enough to not only let him stay, but to let Ali come up too!

It is safe to say the treats and glow sticks/bracelets/necklaces/swords were the kids' favorite part, but they also loved the bull riding, the rodeo clown, and the fireworks.

The rodeo went pretty long this year, and we'd had a long day out in the sun, so some little ones fell asleep towards the end. But everyone was really happy and cooperative all day long, which is quite impressive I thought. It was a great day and a fun way to celebrate our nation's birthday: family, friends, fireworks, and a rodeo:)

Sick Day Helper

One morning when he found out that Eli had been up all night throwing up and Ali felt queezy too, Logan kicked into happy helper mode. Logan has happy memories, strangely enough, from the one day he stayed home sick from school last year, and kept assuring his siblings that their sick day would be a super fun day, and then set about to make sure that would happen. He got pillows and blankets and made them a nest on the couch, brought them drinks with straws, lent them his prized Darth Vader stuffed animals, sang them a song accompanied by his ukulele, put on a magic show for them, and was generally super happy and kind to them. I love seeing that side of Logan!

Host

After quiet time the other day Ali excitedly invited us all to her room. There we found that she had set up just about every toy she had in stations all throughout her room (musical instruments here, baby dolls there, ponies on the book case, monster high dolls by the bed, etc), and we were all invited to play with anything we wanted and to have fun. What a sweet little host!

Giggles

Eli put this snap bracelet in his mouth and then would tap it till it rolled up, which was completely hysterical every single time it happened! Eli truly has the best giggles.

Friends

Logan has realized, finally!, that Eli is no longer a baby and in fact is a pretty fun friend. It makes my heart happy to see them playing so happily and nicely together so often these days, like on this day where they made a hot lava tunnel together:)

Vocab

I get the biggest kick out of hearing grown-up sounding words from my little ones. Ali was coloring and said, "I want to make this look realistic, Mom." I guess they really are growing up!

Hair

"Look, Mom, now I've got hair like you!"

Swim Lessons

Ali and Logan took two weeks of swim lessons, and while they of course still can't swim they are much more comfortable in the water and are willing to try and practice with me like they wouldn't before, so I call that a win. Plus, I got this darling picture of the two of them!