Another Week Gone By

The kids had a fun week, playing with their cousin (and a box):

And other happenings?

We are ready for baby girl: 

 Although we are definitely ready, I'm not holding my breath that she is ready.  Gauging by past experience, she will likely be born past her due date.  So, I'm trying real hard to just sit back and enjoy these last days of 'normal' instead of counting down days.

So much summer fun just wears this kid out:

Oh, this girl has the best smile in the whole wide world:

Perhaps we need a bigger kiddie pool?

And, I share this because I'm pretty sure Nick would want you to know about it.  ;)  We don't dutch oven very often, so we are still learning (like, it always takes longer to cook than we expect), but this little creation of Nick's was delicious.  It has chicken/veggies/sauce topped with our favorite cornbread recipe.  Yum.  We also had an enjoyable evening with our good friends and neighbors.  Shout out to you!  Thanks for being patient!  :)

More Things

We pulled out paints the other day.  The big girls handle them well, but the babies love making a mess.  Why does a mess stress me out so?  It is washable, and I still have to turn my head so I don't give myself a heart attack.

 I should've taken a photo of Lou when she was done painting.  She didn't look near so clean.

 We all survived this painting episode and now the paints are put up high and out of reach until a future date when Mom is feeling extra brave again.

We had a good weekend with not many photos.  Nick ran his first Half Marathon of the year (has another one in the Fall, plus the Ragnar) and we spent the rest of our Saturday recovering with him.

We all enjoyed Father's Day.  My kids loved giving Dad their gifts.  They have one awesome daddy, that's for sure.  We spent the evening at my parent's house.  Everett had to go sit on a tractor:

 And other things going on:

*Weekly doctor visits for baby and I.  I'll be full term this Friday.  We are excited to meet this baby that is making me so incredibly uncomfortable.  Truthfully, I'm also nervous to be handling FIVE little people.  I'm hoping that once these pregnancy hormones phase out, I'll have a little more patience.  (One can hope, right?)  I'm pretty sure Nick is hoping the same thing.  ;)

*We have a cousin here with us this week.  He's got to be one of the happiest, most easy going 6 year olds I've ever known.  And, big bonus, I hear happy kids playing all day instead of the regular 'friends one minute, enemies the next' between my two girls.

*Ellie, Maren, and Everett started swim lessons yesterday.  They love it.

*Nick is currently on his way to Chicago for work.  I don't love it.  He won't be gone for long, thankfully.  I'm thinking we just might make it while he's gone.  We are already looking forward to his return.

And here are just some cute photos of my Lainey Lou.  She's learned how to take off her clothes and often wants them removed (come on, if you could get away with it, you'd do it too!  ;)

Also, a new fun game the kids have come up with for car drives:  they tell Lainey to say words, and are shrieking with delight when she actually repeats them.  It is really cute.  Having her still facing the back has done good things for her vocabulary.

Just Things Going On

We are loving summer around here.  I love not having to get myself and kids up in the morning.  I love not having anywhere that we have to be.  Sure, there are moments of boredom (that may be due to this momma not wanting to do much more than sit around and do nothing - that nesting phase should be kicking in sometime soon, right?), and certainly many moments where my kids are at each other's throats, but Summer is very very good despite.

I've put my kids to work:

 My girls reading out on the grass:

 Over the weekend we went to our town's parade:

 That evening we went to see the fireworks.  We were all settled on a nice grassy hill and were enjoying the show when the sprinklers came on.  It was a good show from the parking lot too.  ;)

And here's a phone dump collage from the last few weeks:

*The babies and I participated in Ellie's walk-a-thon at school.

*Took the kids to a cool park the other day.

*That pregnant photos says '35 weeks' on it somewhere, it changed on me for some reason.  Anyway.  I'm huge.  How is it possible that I still have a month (and probably more) left?

The Beginning (of Summer, that is...)

Ellie had her last day of school on Thursday the 30th.  Hurray!  Summer has begun!

 Ellie's first day of first grade, and last day of first grade.  My, they grow a whole lot in 9 months.

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to play like we want to because Ellie got a parting gift:  a nasty cold.  I suspect strep throat.  Lovely.

Here are some random photos from the last few days:

 Powdered donuts for the last day of school.

 Handsome, handsome boy.

We finally got a load of sand for our newly built sandbox. 

 Everett has lived there ever since.

On Saturday morning I went to run some errands and came home to the smell of frying chicken.  Nick proclaimed that he was preparing to take us on a picnic up the canyon.  What a great idea, my normally not very spontaneous husband!

 This girl has been a serious momma's girl lately.  I'm guessing that she senses change a-brewin'. Poor baby is about to have her cradle rocked right out of the tree.

Good times.

Post edit:  Nope, not strep.  Just a viral infection that has to run it's course.  She's miserable, but not too miserable, all snuggled up in her bed watching a movie.  There are some benefits to being sick.

The End (of School, that is...)

Oh, three day weekends go by way too quickly.  We did manage to get out and have some fun.  Usually, we get really caught up in our to-do list, and although we are often quite productive, we feel like we are missing something at the end of the day.  We were sure to schedule in some family time this weekend, and were so much happier.  Well, maybe that could be debatable...our kids were extra whiny, with an extra dose of tease.  But, we were grateful we did it anyway.  ;)

We got our first shaved ice of the season.  Actually, it was the first shaved ice in some 20 years for Nick and not much different for myself.  It may have been our kids first shaved ice ever.  Let's just say we hope it was our first shaved ice of the season as we hope to do it again soon.  So many delicious flavors to try!  And then we went to a Splash Pad, even though the sun was hiding and it was a bit chilly:

 The kids didn't seem to mind too much.  Lainey was so funny.  She just kept on moving, doing laps around the place, and not concerned a bit if a bucket of water happened to dump on her.

 My view these days:

There's that cute face, peeking out from under my huge belly.

Also over the weekend we enjoyed a few late evenings out in our backyard, roasted marshmallows and consumed s'mores, had good friends over for a barbecue, and had dinner at my two brother's homes two separate evenings.  Lots of time spent with cousins, friends, and family.  Could we ask for any more?  Thanks to all who fed us!  :)

Also, kudos to my awesome husband.  He took care of everything while I slept Saturday morning away (and into the afternoon) to make up for a long night awake with an awful migraine.  What a wonderful man that is mine.  

Ellie now has 1 1/2 days of school left.  This morning was the dance festival,and we almost made it all the way through before the rain clouds came rolling through.  Here she is doing the "Twist" with the other first-graders:

 That's her in the back row with her socks halfway to her knees.  ;)  She smiled the entire time and looked like she was having a blast.  Unfortunately, their field day wasn't exactly what they had expected with the downpour of rain.  Also, unfortunately, we had walked to the school and had to walk home in the said downpour.  Thankfully, they were able to move all the school activities indoors, and thankfully, we had our bike trailer made jogging stroller with us and could cover up the kids while we hustled home.  It was a good time, regardless of being wet.  

I'm so proud of my girl and the progress she has made this year.

Second grade, here we come!

Graduation and a Sandbox

Our Missy graduated from Pre-school last week.

 This year she has learned so much.  She has had awesome teachers, and made good friends.  Pre-school has been good to her. 

 She was so proud/nervous/excited that night.  She said her part very clearly.

 And sang the songs.

 She had this nervous smile the whole time.  Boy, she looks so grown up wearing a cap and gown.

 Seriously, look at that face!  All the photos I have of her getting her 'diploma' she has her eyes closed.  I think she was trying to block out the audience or something.  We are so proud of our girl.

 We were happy to have Grandma and Grandpa along for her special night.

Next up for our weekend:  building a sandbox.

 The kids had a great time helping to stain it.

 Everett found these and put them on, upside down.  Makes me laugh.

 And this morning, summer starts for me.  Maren is home, and we are enacting our summer chores.  Yippee!  She's already cleaned the bathroom for me, has done her 'school work' and is now cleaning her bedroom.  Ellie will start in another week and a half when school gets out for her.

And last, but certainly not least, this was just too good not to share:

Maren came home from church with this beauty.  It is her in the middle giving her Grandma and Grandpa B a hug.  I love that she's looking up at Grandpa.  I love the detail she put into their shirts.  I love that there is a barrette in her hair.  And I love the sun.  (Mom and Dad, your copy is in the mail.  We love you!)