There were all sorts of little water toys.
But the best thing by far was the giant slip n slide down a big hill.
We have a running joke that Juliet's favorite toy is people's heads. She likes eye buttons and nose buttons and pulling on ears. She has no shortage of siblings eager to have her do whatever she wants with their heads.
Everyone also likes reading to Juliet. It's pretty darn cute.
Juliet will sit and watch 10-20 minutes of a show with the kids upon occasion and her cuddles are eagerly sought after.
Eleanor got to go on a solo trip to Silver Dollar City with my folks a couple weeks ago and the boys were very good sports about staying home, especially after I got them fancy popsicles.
And took them to Chick-fil-A for lunch.
Meanwhile, I'm told Eleanor has a rather okay time being spoiled rotten by her grandparents.
She got to stay overnight in Branson so that meant lots of opportunities for delicious meals.
Apparently they walked into the park and Eleanor's first order of business was getting a mermaid stuffed toy that she remembered from last fall and getting a giant iced lemonade drink.
There were loads of big smiles in the pictures they sent me.
I love how proud she is here of how wet she and Grandpa got on the ride.
Meanwhile, I took the boys to a sprayground just over the border in Missouri.
It's just 18 minutes from our house and basically no one I know goes here, Kansas is so funny.
Holding hands and running around. When they aren't fighting they are best buds.
Poor Juliet. I was finishing up washing some dishes after her afternoon nap so I sent Patrick up to keep her company when we heard her waking up. It was quiet for a few minutes, then there was a lot of crying, and then the crying stopped. It turns out Patrick had managed to bump her head against the side of the crib while getting a blanket to "keep her cozy" but had been resourceful and given her a pacifier to help calm her down when she got upset. Poor little girl. Sometimes the love she gets is a little much.
She does think he's hilarious though, she always brightens up when she sees him because she knows she's going to get a lot of attention.
I'm so pleased that Juliet is starting to take an interest in the kitties.
The kitties may be slightly less pleased about this.
I love her cackle of glee in this video.
Here she is with my college friend Tauseef and his wife who were in town visiting. I have a picture of baby Eleanor with Tauseef too, he only ever seems to visit when I have a baby girl.
Meanwhile, my lovely parents watched the other three kids. Snow cones have been a big hit at the grandparents' place this summer.
I decided that we would take advantage of some cool mornings to go visit some Missouri parks. I don't remember what this one is called but we call it "Ropes Park" and it's heaven for children who love to climb. Eleanor talked Patrick into climbing to the top of a few structures and he whimpered once or twice while climbing down but I didn't have to rescue him so we're calling it a great success.
Everything was so high, Eleanor was fearless and loved it.
I think she's 30 feet up here.
The even had a spinny toy you could climb on.
Bradley took a break from climbing to cuddle little Juliet. We basically had the park to ourselves while we were there, it was fantastic.
On the way home we stopped at a roadside stand to get a seeded watermelon! Kids were really happy about the "real" popsicles waiting for them at home.
These girls are amazing together. The other morning I was getting ready for church and just plopped Juliet on the floor in Eleanor's room when I needed time to dry my hair and get dressed and there was happy play time for quite a while.
Eleanor is so great with her. But we're in for it when Juliet gets more mobile.
Meanwhile, the boys played Rock, Paper, Scissors, War together. We had such a great summer.
Please note Bradley reading while he is pushed on the swing by Addison and his siblings.
And everyone reading to Juliet at bedtime one night. Her bedtime is all over the place, we're not ever really sure when she's going to go down for the night so it's fun when she's in a happy mood and wants to read with the big kids.
My favorite thing about getting groceries at Sprouts is the nearby fountain. I gave each child a penny and they made wishes. I think Bradley wished Pokémon were real, Patrick wished PJ Masks were real, and Eleanor refused to tell us her wish because that meant it might not come true. Fortunately I don't think the boys expected their wishes to come true so no one was too upset by this bit of information.
Patrick had a tough time keeping up with the big kids all summer long.
This is what a lot of bedtimes looked like.
I came into my room at quiet time and found this one day. The midday naps are particularly terrifying because Patrick can tantrum a bit while waking up.
Juliet to the rescue! Do you know having a baby scream in your face makes you wake up cheerful? It works for Patrick!
We gave Juliet her first bit of solid food on the day she turned 6 months old. She was not a big fan. We did watermelon first, which does seem a bit severe of a first flavor, but the picture below is from applesauce!
The big kids were so so excited about this whole process and laughed hysterically at the whole thing.
I'm sad to say that no one seemed particularly upset when Juliet cried over her food.
However, everyone was very supportive at her doctor's appointment and nobody wanted to watch while she got her shots. Poor baby.
She is SO tiny!
We followed this up yet another amazing park on the Missouri side.
Meadomere Park. How cute is Bradley pointing out the "fossil" he just found?
Juliet was exhausted after an exciting time at the doctor's office.
I love park outings. Ours is off limits because we're tired of Patrick managing to find chiggers despite all our efforts to keep him off the grass. He then comes in to our room in the night and refuses to go back to sleep without company in his bed.
Juliet woke up in time for some swings with Eleanor.
Boys on the swings. They were inseparable on this outing.
Nathan and I have been battling Candy Crush addictions on our phones lately and the kids have been very excited about grown-up games. Even Juliet is into it and whacks at the phone if you leave it near her.
I managed to accidentally bonk Patrick on his nose while this was going on and he insisted he needed a Band-Aid and who was I to say no to a kid this cute?
Speaking of cute, we finally started playing a Pokémon game Nathan got for Bradley back at Christmas which is basically Dungeons and Dragons meets Pokémon. I was the "Dragon Master" for the first time we played and narrated while Bradley went on an adventure. Not too surprisingly, he's obsessed with this game and is even creating his own adventure to go on.
We've gotten in a fair amount of pool time at the end of the summer. We have a new floatie for Juliet that doubles as her bath floatie and she will probably do much better in it next year when she's a little bigger.
Meanwhile, I got to soak in some Patrick cuddles. I love it when he's a little tired after swimming.
And this is how they watched shows after we got home and had everyone take a bath.
6 month old Juliet is so much fun, although heaven help you if you have something she wants because she will holler until she gets it.
Watching her siblings play is probably her favorite thing to do.
That and going on laundry basket rides with sweet Bradley.
He's medium good at holding her - he's still not allowed to unless he's under adult supervision.
Laundry basket ride! So fun!
Eleanor's face here ...
Juliet is so happy to sit down and watch shows with kids. I'm so grateful for this.
Bradley got his first professional haircut in anticipation of the beginning of the school year! We made it seven years before we paid for a kid haircut, not too shabby.
Good thing he had Patrick there for moral support.
The final result! So handsome!
Juliet is a magical child in many ways. THIS is how she put herself down for a nap the other day. No pacifier, nothing, she just rolled around a little until she fell asleep.
Magic baby.
We took Juliet with us and left the three big kids while Nathan and I went on a trip to Seattle to visit friends and family and to go to a wedding.
It was very exciting! Juliet was such a good baby for the entire trip and we are so grateful to my parents for watching the big kids for five days while we were gone.
Meeting her great-grandma for the first time! Juliet was a big fan.
So much love!
Reading together.
And then it was naptime for everyone. Nathan and I got up at 2am Seattle time for this trip.
After naps my Auntie Bren came by and got to meet Juliet.
This was such a perfect time to take a trip with the baby, she was excited about everyone and liked to play but wasn't getting into things yet. As I write this she keeps wriggling over to the fireplace and trying to pull herself up onto the little ledge.
We also made my family play bunches of games with us. It was research for my website and it was very fun!
Naked baby with a toy!
Okay, she was a little naughty on this trip. Outlets are such fun ...
More games over at my Aunt Jackie's and Uncle Bry's fancy beach house.
Other side of the table.
We made my cousins hold Juliet which was hilarious as it seems no one on my side of the family is a baby person.
Actually, my Aunt Jackie was the one who made Anneliese hold Juliet right before we left. Juliet enjoyed it!
And then it was off to the wedding the next day. It started at Juliet's normal bedtime in KC but that didn't stop her hanging in there for four hours and partying the night away.
So much good baby dancing.
She smiled for our picture with the bride on our way out.
But may have been done by the time we say goodbye to the groom, our friend Dave.
The next morning she was rested up for our exciting Top Pot donut outing with my friend Serena!
With Serena's crew.
And she made a new baby friend when we went to a park to meet up with a group of friends who all have cute kids now.
And we spent the remainder of our trip with Nathan's Aunt Tina.
Juliet thinks she's going to become a harpist.
Cute baby skin!
Nathan with his aunt before we got on our plane to head home.
The trip was fun but it was so nice to be home with our whole crew again.
We had lots of laundry to do but it was very difficult to put it away because of our kitty rule. If the kitty is resting on the clean laundry then you can't do anything besides pet the kitty.
Eleanor may have had her fill of brother time while at my folks' house. She made a "don't disturb" sign for her door.
If you flip it over it says "come in."
That said, I don't think I saw her alone much before school started.
Generally there were at least three people her in her room at all times.
Nathan took this video of Patrick. I know he probably won't marry Mabel, but I love that he loves her so much.
And poor baby, she made it through so much of our trip like a champ but it was the back to school night waiting for snow cones that finally did her in. Poor sweet baby!
