Sidewalk Fountain

This play fountain was recently put in downtown outside of the Children's Museum. It. Is. Awesome. This was one of my favorite activities as a nanny, and now my city finally has one! I like it because you meet people you not might otherwise meet. You get to hang out downtown...being a city girl, I like the hustle and bustle, and the people watching. It's not quite the same as Chicago or Zurich, but it's something! I could have stayed for hours...and my boys could have too...but the darn thing has ZERO shade and it was boiling lava hot. We will go again when summer heat starts calming down. 

They weren't super into it right away. I took two buckets, some empty containers, a paint brush, and some measuring cups. Everything that I was ok with loosing basically. 

The paintbrush was a hit. I'll take a bunch next time. The bricks were perfect for water painting. They change color when wet and dry fast in the sun. 

Lewis' favorite discovery was if you put a butter or honey container on top of a fountain, it pops up when the water comes on. 

Augustine's favorite discovery was that it's super duper fun to run through 30 sprinklers at the same time. He said he couldn't wait to bring Daddy on this adventure too, and then 5 minutes later Logan walked by on his way to a meeting!

We ate snacks (also part of the fun!) almost the whole time, and they paused to watch the riding lawn mower. 

Elias didn't think this adventure was awesome. He was hot and tired and poopy (turns out) so he couldn't fall asleep. We changed his pants, kept him in the shade, and finally walked to the Newman Center to cool off, nurse, and fall asleep. He was a trooper. 

We found a surprise at the Newman Center...Joseph & Mary! We had yet to meet Mary, so it was a treat to run into them. She is so sweet and loves kids. She said she didn't want to leave Elias so I tried to talk them into staying a while longer, but they were just passing through and had to hit the road. Next time. :)

Daddy Adventure

Logan and Lewis explored the Joslyn Art Museum and it was a great find! It was FREE. They have a play room that coordinates with their current exhibits. And it was FREE. 

He was stacking the "donuts". 

You can email yourself the final masterpiece (see next photo). 

Photos by Daddy. :)

Sleeping & Growing

School, Where Art Thou?

We have been on the struggle bus the last week. All our go-to summer fun is tapped out, new activities are snuffed at, and even our favorite videos have grown tiresome. We just need a change. I know school is what Augustine is craving. 

14 days and counting. 

We are trying our best to enjoy the last two weeks of summer. There's one more trip to the farm planned, a little more swimming, a few ice cream socials in the 'hood, and hopefully less humidity so there can be more bike riding. 

This dinner was a winner...and on Mondays kids eat free! (Village Inn)

We are all feeling the intensity of so.much.togetherness. They want breaks from me just as much as I need a break from them, but they won't go anywhere in the house on their own! And forget being on different levels of the house. Not. Gonna. Happen. The peacocks in the basement might get them. Lewis is CONVINCED of this. He has reoccurring nightmares about "the purple peacock". 

The summer food is still good though. 

Logan and Augustine went to their annual clean-up day at Grandpa Burda's. 

My happy baby has been unhappy. They say he had croup. I'm not convinced. Then I ate some dairy. Oops. #felloffthewagon The sling made him happy. 

That pizza box inspired an elaborate game of Gianna's Drive Thru. Thank. You. Jesus. 

Weekly park play date. This week the jump rope was a crowd pleaser. 

Babies at the park. 

Elias loves the mobile from my sister's and my nursery. 

My mom made a super summery, super delicious lunch...BLTs. I splurged and had a soda with it...which has happened a lot in the last 1.5 weeks due to sleepless nights with the sick baby. 

Augustine had an Aunt Beth adventure weekend with some cousins and it did not disappoint! They had a blast at the House O' Fun!

And then sometimes it's beautifully simple to please them. 

Playing

Elias loves the crinkly book that G'ma Kathleen found! He's my first baby to not be scared stiff of the crinkle sound. (The big brothers look oh-so-cute because I said "you get a donut hole if you smile nicely".)

They built really nicely together and played a long time with their creations. But then Lewis becomes a demolition-crazy-boy and it really makes Augustine angry. 

I had four cousins for a few hours the other week, so Grandpa came to back me up and he did not disappoint. He built "the coolest police cruiser ever" according to Augustine. 

I can't handle the cuteness...I'm melting. Portrait Innovations didn't get anything even remotely close to this good of a smile, so I'm deeming this his official three month photo. This toy from G&G is one of his current favorites. They gave it to one of the older boys when they were a baby, but Elias likes it the most by far. 

Still melting. He loves this toy at G'ma Kathleen's house. 

Laying on his giraffe playing with Sophie the Giraffe. Again...first kid not to have the snot scared out of him when Sophie squeaks. 

Car wash! We set it all up and had our new neighbors over to play. 

Fritz is a bit hard to hold still, but Elias gave it some good effort!

He's been playing with the hanging toys using his feet! It's very entertaining if you're his immediate family and there's nothing cuter than your baby. 

This kid loves a good hanging toy. 

Fr. Sparling showing the boys his fire fighter buttons in his car...lights, siren, speaker. He let the boys say something on the speaker, so Augustine said "Bye Mommy" and Lewis said "toot". Oy. 

Swimming with the birthday girl. Both Augustine and Lewis have improved their swim skills since last year. Augustine even jumped off the board! They had a ton of fun playing in the water for two hours. 

Playing trains. This kid. My A-type, organized, rule-following kid isn't bothered a bit by an INCOMPLETE TRACK. Ahhhh! It makes me crazy but I keep my mouth shut. 

Getting stronger with tummy time. He talks to the animals on the blanket a lot.

Small bits of time playing in the exersaucer because his neck gets tired still from holding up the big noggin. He tries so hard to grab the green phone. 

All that playing is hard work.