Museum

Logan graciously let me buy a ticket to see Kristen Chenoweth this coming fall (shreeeeeeek!!!!) so we had to go pick it up at the box office downtown. As we were headed home Augustine asked if we could go to the Children's Museum, and it was actually a really good time to go, so we did! Elias was freshly napped, everyone was fed, and school starts next week. 

American Joy

We hosted a surprise baby shower for Max & Molly! They had no idea. (Giggle giggle) We just said come over for dinner one more time before baby comes and then after dinner a handful of good friends started showing up. The looks on their faces were fantastic!

Max tried his hand at diaper changing. I told him that Elias' next diaper was all his, but that next diaper ended up being a HUGE blowout due to Elias eating one shred of Parmesan cheese from under the table earlier that day. (So yeah, just one bite TOTALY MATTERS when you're intolerant. Just sayin'. Still a #petpeve of mine three kids in. But I digress...) So I cleaned up the mess, and Max successfully put the fresh diaper on Elias. 

Can't wait to meet Baby Chap!!!!

Fr. Joseph was visiting our parish from Rwanda and in a funny, misunderstood conversation he ended up joining us for dinner! I told him to come visit us while he was here for the week, and that we lived at 615, and he thought I meant to come over at quarter past six for dinner. We enjoyed his company along with Max & Molly. I'm sure it was his first American Baby Shower! 

As he prepared to leave later that evening he said he's never seen Americans with so much joy, or having a party, and that it was refreshing to know that it's not true that all Americans do is sit in their houses alone and watch tv. Glad we could bust that myth! 

He also told Logan the story of his favorite t-shirt. He always loved it. It was black with red letters on it, but he never knew what the word meant. He finally decided it was too old to wear anymore so he threw it out. He later found out he would be going to Nebraska on his mission trip this year and suddenly he knew the meaning of that word on his old favorite shirt! Logan just happened to have that t-shirt and gifted it to Fr. Joseph. Father laughed and laughed and wore it back to the rectory over his clerics. Such joy!

Thanks for the Lemonade

Our neighbors put this cute-as-a-button food cart by the curb last weekend. We snatched it up. 

It didn't even need to be Norwexed. It was ready to go. The boys filled it with rocks and pretended they were scones and muffins and lattes. They actually sold $2 worth of rocks to passers by. I have no idea how they managed that, but if they could sell rocks then why not try lemonade and snacks?

So we did! We had lemonade with real lemon wedges on the cups, cookies I happened to make the day before, and granola bars. We sold everything for $.10 each because that's what I sold lemonade for when I was little, and because the objective was to identify coins and count money. 

Augustine was really good at customer service! He kept up with all the customer's requests, was very calm and focused, and helped from start to finish. He arranged the snacks in the cart on his own, and I helped him get organized with the drink stuff. Lewis was in charge of bossing the customers around, almost spilling the money multiple times, and collecting trash. He did a great job helping us clean up at the end.  

The Sisters came by and had as much fun as my boys did. We did not charge them, of course, so we counted their cups toward tithing, which was another great money lesson. 

The boys worked for an hour and a half. There was only one spill. Can you believe that?! Lewis ran in the house for towels, cleaned it up, and kept on going. They didn't even ask for help!

They had a great amount of business because it was Back to School Sunday. It was really fun to say hello to so many friends from school!

They sold six liters of lemonade, all but four of the snacks, and made $10. (There were some very generous customers who said keep the change.) The boys tithed $1 to Jesus, and the rest went toward the Paw Patrol Air Patroller they've been saving up for together. 
Cheers to a fun experience!

End of the Summer

I find myself saying yes to all the things these last two weeks of summer. Once school starts time will be less carefree, so why not live it up now? Some random, some spontaneous, and some planned. All fun!

We took a walk on a hot day just to get.out.of.the.house. We ended up on our friend's porch watching the roofers next door. 

We've been to target too many times lately. I keep forgetting one thing here and there. The puppy stickers are a hit every time though. I've never had a little kid like stickers!

Lewis randomly invited his friend over to play, and I didn't realize it was so close to lunch, so she stayed for lunch too. Mac & cheese...lunch of champs. 

We made it to the pool with the Litt's once this summer! We ordered pizza and kept on swimming because Whole Foods makes great pizzas, AND they have a fake cheese - er, I mean Vegan - option!!!! SO good...well, I mean SO good if you haven't had real cheese for a year. 

Unlike at the farm, he actually got IN the pool, and he even figured out that the puddle jumper does indeed keep him afloat. Guess Mom isn't wrong about everything...

Augustine barely stopped. He just loves to swim. 

We went to the zoo on a lovely afternoon with friends. We had free train tickets from earlier in the summer, so we did that too. Elias hadn't been on the train since he was brand new, so he was REALLY happy! He also loves the turtles. 

#godbrothers

Station 14

We chose a fire station to tour this summer and it was the best tour we've had so far! The three fire fighters who gave us the tour were incredible with kids. They were having as much fun as our kids were having. 

They showed the kids everything they wanted to see, and they let the kids touch everything that was safe to touch. 

It was our first has-mat truck tour and by was it interesting. I learned a lot. 

Seriously. Look at that boy's face. That much joy just because he gets to sit on the truck. He may implode if he actually becomes a fire fighter. 

They showed us exactly how to use the crowbar and ax to break through a locked door. Good thing we don't have those tools lying around the house. 





One of the fire fighters suggested we make a punch card to see if we can tour all the stations in Lincoln, and then get a prize. I told him we would bring him our completed punch card to claim the prize. He said he would buy us Jimmy Johns! I should've written his name down...dang it. 

The Theater

This summer the movie theaters were having a $3 kid movies series, so we thought it would be a good chance to have a first movie theater experience. 

We went to Curious George because we thought there would be almost no scary parts. I mean, come on, it's George for crying out loud. But turns out that Man with the yellow hat has an insane amount of anxiety and it's really exhausting to watch. 

It also turns out that by the time we got there early, watched 20 minutes of adds, 20 minutes of previews, and the first 20 minutes of the movie...our kids were done. Screen time max. 

Lewis could.not.watch any more. He was begging to leave. So we sat in the lobby for the last hour of the movie. Luckily, the maintenance men had a full to-do list. 

Augustine liked the experience pretty well, but he doesn't love Curious George so he wasn't super impressed. Oh well. I can't say I'm disappointed that my kids aren't impressed with watching tv on a huge screen for a ridiculous amount of money!

A New Route

We took a new route home from the farm because we had to stop and see the Guenther's! It was so fun to see where they are living now and spend time together again. We miss them a lot at home. 

A push mower is now on Augustine's birthday list. This place is a kid haven. There's so much to explore and do. 

Angelyn whipped up a delicious dinner for us, and we brought pear crisp. Wyatt's there too...he's hiding behind Lewis. Lewis was very worried that he couldn't visit Wyatt because "the country hurts my tummy" (read: motion sickness if we aren't careful), but he did just fine!  

I loved seeing where they are now, and the kids didn't have any squabbles. They used their play time to the fullest and had a great time. 



The new route is here to stay.