Summer fun

Wow, we have a lot of catching up to do around here, as usual. =)  Lots of pictures of kiddos enjoying their summer!

Silly girl!

a fun end-of-school party at the playground

 

"hi, molly!"

Cooling off and chilling out, and snuggling together

our little artist

The kids love to play with water on the deck - a bunch of containers and kitchen stuff and they are set for a full day of fun!  We had a very hot day where they stayed cool by playing with water in swimsuits, followed by a very rainy day.  They wanted all the water stuff again, and had a grand time splashing around in their rain gear!

In a blanket fort with cousin Evan

Spring pictures

Wow, it looks like we're a couple of months behind on the ol' blog!  Sorry about that.  Here are some pictures from this spring so far.

Trying his second food, pears.  He is not sure about this.

Playing outside with the big kids

Bare feet and bubbles - hooray for spring!

Proud in his T-ball uniform!

Elijah is playing t-ball this year.  We thought it would be a fun way to get in some extra gross motor skills practice, which he always needs.  He loves it!  He is getting better at throwing and catching and hitting, but has a really hard time paying attention during games. =)  (Really surprising, right?!?)  His best friend Isaac is on his team, which makes it even more fun.  The town's baseball and softball leagues have a fun festival on opening day, and the big kids really enjoyed it.

They got to check out the fire truck

and a race car from the local race track

Elijah had an Easter concert at school again this year.  This year he managed to sing and do the motions for all the songs.  It was cute.

Miss Molly loves her fancy dress.

Looking so handsome and grown up!

Finn is starting to overwhelm Molly's lap - but she doesn't mind.

Three cute kids!

Little bits of life

Elijah got to celebrate his birthday at school last week.  Since his birthday is over the summer, and his half birthday is over the New Year break, we just picked a day that would work.  He was so excited to take in a treat to share!  We made little dirt cakes - he helped make all of it, but particularly enjoyed adding the gummy worms. =)

Finn wearing the pumpkin hat that Bobbi made - Molly was a little older when she wore it!

 

I made a very special (*interesting*) dinner for Patrick - he found a recipe for a casserole called Flying Jacob in a magazine, and really wanted to try it.  He loved it!  The kids said that they liked it, but didn't end up eating very much, so I'm not sure what to make of that.  I'm not sure we'll make it very often, since it involves bacon, which is banned from this house.  My sister-in-law, Lorrie, very kindly cooked the bacon for me at her house and gave it back to me cold, and mostly un-stinky, so I could make the casserole.

Handsome little man

Love those baby smiles!  Finn is half-weaned from his swaddle now, but having that one arm in still seems to make a big difference, so these great (big!) swaddling blankets are still a necessity around here.

Some days, Molly's style is still pretty quirky. =)

Love those silly boys!

Our morning

Today we are having a quiet day at home.  The kids have a cold - Molly has been a giant snotty mess for a week now, and although Elijah has been fighting it off pretty well, he was just totally worn out when we picked him up at school yesterday.  I decided that he needed a day off, too.  Finn has been a little congested and a little extra fussy, but he's eating and sleeping pretty well anyway.  Thank goodness!

Finn woke up at 7 and I fed him and changed him and we got the big kids up. It was nice to take it easy and not have to run around in hurry to get ready for school.  In that way, today is not at all typical!  The kids played a little, and I made baked oatmeal.  While it was baking, Finn went down for his first nap, and the big kids colored some pictures to send out in the mail with some photos we need to send to grandparents and aunts & uncles.  As usual, Molly lasted a lot longer than Elijah, but they both did a nice job. =)

For breakfast, we had baked oatmeal with blueberries and milk, and they both had apple juice (their favorite perk of being sick).

Molly calls this hairstyle "hello kitty" because of the one bow -
I call it "desperately keeping her hair out of her snot."

Molly did some more coloring after breakfast while Elijah played.  Then we gathered pillows and quilts and they settled down for a sick day movie - A Bug's Life, which they hadn't seen before.

yep, lots of laundry!

I fed Finn and changed his diaper (a huge poopy blow-out!) and then his clothes.  Finn and I talked and smiled together for a bit, and I put away some laundry. I didn't get as much done as I hoped, since Finn was feeling a little fussy. But I got most of it done once he got back to sleep.

all clean again!

The big kids had some more time to play (build more train tracks) while I made lunch.  They had ham & cheese pinwheels with green peppers and carrots, and tomatoes for Elijah of course.  I fed and changed Finn again while they ate.

After lunch we had the regular flurry of sending everyone to different bathrooms and getting Molly into her training pants for nap, and then it was time to read.  Molly and I read Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs! and then she got to read to herself for a few minutes while I read a chapter of Farmer Boy to Elijah.  Finn enjoys the nap time reading, too. =)  After I got both the big kids settled in, Finn and I rocked for a bit until he did that slow, sleepy blink that says he's ready to lay down.

I forgot to take any more pictures of the rest of our day.  I got a little more spray painting done - we had two nice sunny days in a row!   But I also spent some time holding Finn so he could sleep.  We tried a new recipe of creamy chicken enchiladas for dinner and they were good.  Patrick said he liked them almost as well as his new favorite dinner - baked chicken taquitos - yum!

October pictures

Wow, it's the end of October already.  We did not get to do all the fun fall things that I meant to do - with Elijah in school five mornings a week our free time is a lot more limited, and Patrick had some traveling overnights and working weekends this month, so apple picking and the pumpkin patch just didn't happen.  Maybe next year it will be easier when Finn is a little bigger.  We have been working on some projects around the house and just trying to keep up with all the every day things that need to get done.

Today we are getting our first snow of the year, and we have a fire in the fireplace.  It's the kind of day that I want to spend cuddled on the couch napping and reading!  The costume party that we were planning to go to this afternoon is canceled because of the snow, but it will be nice to just hang out at home and play games. =)

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

piggies with lots of bows!

check out those chubby rolls!

i love baby smiles!

the kids love to talk to Finn

enjoying tummy time

Molly has become quite deliberate with her coloring lately - so focused

We took the kids to Family Reading Night at Elijah's school.  It was a fun event with fall snacks, and some teachers and parents reading aloud, and time for us to just read together.  At the end of the night, we went home with a tote bag of new books and a bunch of apples - does it get any better?  Elijah discovered the Magic Treehouse book series and he has been loving them!

silly baby face!