The Good Life

Jim & Coco brough the boys these matching big shirts from their last trip! The boys love them, and Augustine  thinks they are funny because they say "don't bug me". "Get it Mom?!"

While we were watering their garden this lovely fluttered around us! I can't decide which photo I like best. 

Omaha Day

Logan took the big boys to the Omaha Zoo!

We heard about the incredible additions, and it did not disappoint! Really quite over-the-top fun!

They had a great time, it wasn't horribly hot, and Logan bought them a snack on the way out...cheddar cheese worms. Augustine wouldn't touch them...

Lewis ate the entire box. 

Elias and I had big plans for the hours we had while they were at the zoo, but little did we know me was coming down with strep and a plugged ear tube. I was so tired of my baby screaming in the car that I just pulled off I-80 on 72nd, spotted a Starbucks, and planned to plan us there for however many hours the zoo took. As I rounded the corner I saw the new UNO Newman Center, which is a way easier place to take a baby (story of my life, right?!) so we ran the halls, nursed in front of Jesus, and visited Beth's roomie who works there. Then we strolled around the restaurants and stores across the street, which put the Fuss Bucket to sleep, so when Beth joined us we had a quiet lunch together on the patio. It worked out better than I thought it would!

Outside

The last two weeks have been so gross and hot that even water play didn't feel good outside. Our grass has burned out in a few spots and Lewis' already hurting garden shriveled up and died. We salvaged the tomato and bean plants. 

Logan braved the heat and grilled for us most nights because our air conditioner already struggles when it's that hot outside, so to add oven/stove heat often puts it over the edge and I end up driving the baby and myself to G&G's at 2am so we can sleep without laying in a puddle of our own sweat. It. Was. Hot. 

The heat and humidity finally broke to a more tolerable level so we've been getting out in the mornings and going out again around dinner time. 

Now that he loves to watch Logan mow, he's been role playing. His control of the mower is exactly like Logan!

We've been doing a lot of watering for the Bashes while they hop all over the US, and we don't mind one bit. It's fun when it's not our garden to weed. :)

It was still melting hot this particular evening, but we braved it bc the Puppy Dogs were playing the Meow Meow Cats in a game of t-ball, and who can miss that just because you have to drink the air outside?! The kids organized themselves (7-3yrs old) with batting order, chasing balls, running bases, scoring, etc. It was impressive, although it was more BYO rules style, which was HILARIOUS. The Puppy Dogs won and Logan and I had a lot of laughs!

He also has to be ON the grass. My other boys would go down the sidewalk or on a walk around the block with me while pushing the mover. Not Elias...must be on grass.

This truck was having swim instruction from the sponge. The words were verbatim from Lewis' swim teacher. Two more weeks of lessons and we are done for the summer. 

L: I want to eat my lunch in the house by the front steps. 

Me: you have toys in the way and the car is right there. 

L: you can clean up the toys and move the car. And make my lunch. 

Me. Yeah right. I'm not doing all that work myself. 

L: fine. I'll move the toys. But I can't make my lunch. 

Me: or move the car. Ever. 

He thought the squirrel would like to eat his sweet corn. The squirrel didn't like sweet corn with kid spit all over it.  

Sitting

Elias likes to sit on things. Doesn't really matter what as long as it's stable. Baby A wasn't super exited about sharing her favorite chair, so Elias tried to be discrete. 

He LOVES to sit on laps and read. Logan read him the same story nine times in a row the other night. Here's Grandpa taking a turn. Elias is so cute at the end of the story when he signs "more please" that it's hard to say no. 

Coco took a turn too. She only had to read the same book 2-3 times. Elias always looks very serious when he's listening. 

I get so tired of reading board books all day that Augustine, and even Lewis, will come to my rescue. Augustine can read now, and Lewis has them all memorized. 

Sitting and cuddling. We found out yesterday that Elias has strep throat and a clogged ear tube. You know, those crazy expensive tiny tubes that require surgery to put in? The ones that drain the ear to keep infections from happening? Yeah, that tube. Clogged and infected. Again. Not impressed. 

Sitting at the table to try out his new cereal spoon! He likes it a lot! The spoon has little holes in it so the milk dribbles back into the bowl before it goes to the mouth. We used to use these spoons in a daycare I worked at, and I made a mental note...14 years ago. 

Sitting in a bucket of water on this hot day!

Pacing Ourselves

In these last few weeks of summer we are pacing ourselves. In the last few weeks of summer here, we are pacing ourselves. It's no secret that I'm not a summer person. Heat ruins everything. But this summer has been one of our best. I haven't found myself wishing that school would start soon or that there was snow on the ground. 

Until this week. Not bad,eh? End of July. That's the longest I've gone without those thoughts! So I beefed up the activities around home to keep our minds on something productive and fun. 

Rotating toys helps. I love toys. We have too many, but I don't care. I rotate them so they are "new" again each time we get them out, and I'm super meticulous about choosing what toys come into our home. It works for us. That's Lewis above working on the magnatiles. They've been put away for quite a while so he was very happy. 

Ice cream cones and porch sitting. My kids can porch sit with the best of them. It's a lost art, so it makes me proud. 

I had all the materials to make a dinosaur habitat in the water table. TOTAL WIN. They played it three times in one day for long stretches. 

Rearranging the basement is also fun because it makes the play space "new". We configured our kitchen set up to be a sit down diner. Super fun!

The next day they asked for the dino habitat again so we made volcanoes in the rocks too. 

Augustine and I joined Daddy at work because our pediatrician asked for a tour of the Newman Center. It was awesome! Our pediatrician isn't Catholic, but she brought her grandkids with her who are, so it made for fantastic conversation. 

They got the St. Augustine window installed!!!!

Daddy gave the VIP tour to us and it was awesome. I learned more things about the art in the church that I didn't know. 

Grandma Kathleen kept the other two boys, so when we got home we decided to go out to lunch...free pie day. 

And why oh why is hot chocolate a choice on a kids menu?!

Our ceiling has had a crack(s) in it for quite a while. It finally fell down...almost on my head. We heard it cracking suddenly so I threw a sheet down and almost got clobbered. If I had known that plaster is as heavy as concrete, I would've insisted it be fixed long ago. 
 

We excavated bugs and dinosaurs out of ice too. Not super fun. 

Elias is super entertaining right now. He's learning a lot of sign language and saying more and more words!

Us

Gosh, I look how I felt that day. But I'm grateful for them and I'm hopefully letting them make me holy. (Logan took the picture so he was there, just on the other side of the camera!)

Swim

Those swim trunks were Logan's when he was a baby. 

We enjoyed a 1 year old birthday pool party last weekend! Some of Logan's team was there as well, and I realized we've never been swimming as a team before. I quickly realized this is an AWESOME thing to do with the team because the child:adult ratio is incredible!

Cousin Day

We kept two cousins for the day yesterday. We had swim lessons and a few other things in the morning, so they joined us. Everyone did fine because there was a screen to look at. *sigh*

We got home at lunch time and everyone immediately started playing really intensely. They were all ready to just be home and imagine. We didn't eat lunch until 1pm, and they were only at the table about 8 minutes before their food was gone and they were off playing again! It was a good afternoon of legos, magnatiles, and train tracks. 

We played outside in the water for an hour too, but I was too busy to snap any photos. Glad you came, cousins!

Top Heavy

I was unpacking the stroller into the car after a trip to the grocery store, when I realized I had better get the diaper bag off the back of it. I had already unbuckled Elias in the stroller, but figured he could wait a minute while I grabbed the bag. I figured wrong. I was standing in front of the stroller, but he leaned forward to look at something and down he tumbled. He got quite the bump on his forehead. Sorry kiddo. 

Cuteness

Apparently my baby has been very cute lately because he's in most of my pictures this week. 

He worked SO hard to connect those pieces of track. 

And he thinks it's hilarious when he sends a train car down the hill. 

He was very proud of his big kid cup and told me the water was very cold. 

Kids get a free piece of fruit at HyVee so we always occupy him with an apple while we shop. 

Lewis helped him put his helmet on and it took forever. Elias was getting impatient so Lewis quickly stuck the binki in his mouth and it was oh.so.cute.