Juliet has gotten a bit aggressive lately and says things like "I'm going to murder you if you don't give me what I want!" But the problem is that she says it with a cute grin on her face and then does a few growls so we laughed at her before we told her she needed to stop saying these things and I think that made her enjoy saying it even more.
She also recently told me "I'm going to punch your head out! Buuuut, not yours. Yours is too heavy. Eleanor's is just right."
We're giving Eleanor kitties for protection and we're working on the language the scary little four year old uses. But good news, no concerns about anyone pushing her around at school!
Bradley dressed Juliet up as Link the other morning and they were both so pleased with themselves.
Callie is ridiculously clingy and we love her. I was reading Juliet some library books the other morning so of course I was also reading library books to Callie.
I helped run a book club for Eleanor's class at the school and we had a fun and lively discussion in the library on Superhero Day.
The next day was literary character day and Patrick chose Captain Underpants. I did have him put on a shirt before sending him to school. 
Juliet discovered that she can fit in Callie's crate with her so Callie has been getting some bonus company lately. This ended when we discovered that Callie's crate was a little too big for her so she was pooping in it in the night from time to time. We had to partition the crate so Callie just gets about half of it now and that seems to have solved the problem. Pet ownership is not entirely glamorous at times.
Bradley had an art event at his school and Nathan and I came to see a candy themed art project that was entirely too cute.
Juliet came too.
Bradley and some buddies!
That night we took Callie over to my parents' house for our family dinner and we discovered that their backyard gets super wet when there is even just a little bit of rain. Callie loved running through the puddles and she actually looks a bit like a fox when she's covered in mud from the middle down. She got her first bath that evening, which was a bit traumatic but she was such a good girl about it. She's really a sweet and lovely little dog, we're so happy we have her.
Patrick played a new detective game with me and he's only medium scary. And no, I don't have to encourage him to make these poses for pictures, it comes naturally.
Bradley and Nathan made a trip out to Iowa to see Grandma Colleen and Kerry because Kerry has been very ill and it sounded like this might be the last opportunity to see him. We didn't send the whole crew because other kids had activities and we're a bit of a spectacle when it's everyone all together and this needed to be a quality time trip.
Bradley got to read to Kerry a bit.
And help in the garden.
He somehow decided that he really wanted to eat applesauce inside of a hollowed out apple and kudos to Colleen, she made that dream come true.
It was a really nice weekend, we're very glad Nathan and Bradley got to go.
Meanwhile, back home Patrick got to run into Mrs. Scarborough at the park and he was so cute and shy about seeing his kindergarten teacher. Actually, he almost missed it because he had been a huge punk about 15 minutes prior to this photo and I sent him home from the playground. And then Mrs. Scarborough showed up with a kid she was babysitting. I had Eleanor run home to get Patrick because he has always said that Mrs. Scarborough was his favorite teacher ever and he would have been devastated to miss seeing her.
He was less shy that evening at the mother son event at the school.
They had very cool face painting and the kids ran around and caused a ruckus and generally had a very good time.
Bradley was a good sport about missing this and we had some quality time over spring break to make up for it.
This is why Patrick and Cael are friends.
I actually left Patrick at the event and came home early so I could get Juliet to sleep. As expected, she was way too excited about her grandpa babysitting her and was being wild at bedtime instead of going to sleep.
Bradley's farewell breakfast in Iowa before coming home. He's getting so big! We have a really nice hotel we stay at for Fairfield trips and the best thing about it are the fancy continental breakfasts that come with the stay.
Meanwhile, I was dealing with this. At school they were talking about how the kids need to start at least recognizing their own name on papers and ideally learn how to spell it. So I've been working with Juliet and showing her what her name looks like and then asking, "What is the first letter of your name? Juuuuliet, Ju ju Juuuuliet." She'll pause and think and then cheerily respond, "P! No ... N!" We do this not infrequently and it's always a random letter, I don't think she's guessed J once. The other day she was helping me make her bed and she had decided she should have five stuffed toys so she was counting them out. I said, "Juliet, what letter does your name start with? Juuuuuuliet!" And she responded, "5! No ... 6!"
We think she may be more of a numbers girl than a letters girl. She can count to 20 pretty well.
We found a fancy dessert at Costco called Death By Chocolate and decided we must try it out.
That evening Juliet took her own braids out and declared that her curly hair was beautiful and insisted I take a picture to send to her friend Aria. After this night she tolerated braids for one or two more days and then insisted she hated braids and curly hair and never wanted braids again. Raising this girl is a bit of a roller coaster at times.
It can be exciting for Callie too. She is such a nice dog.
Letting Callie see her belly button.
So many cuddles to be had!
She's such a pretty dog. And she loves the couch.
The amount of cuddles can be a but much, especially when Eleanor and I are trying to play a game and Callie decides she's a lap dog.
March madness hit hard around here this year, Nathan even took the boys out of their last day of school before spring break so they could see a couple games. They played in downtown KC, it's pretty fantastic to have it be so conveniently close!
All of the three bigger kids did brackets this year too. We would have included Juliet but when asked if she liked KU or K State she responded, "I like Cheez-Its!" We had a number of games on the tv at home in the evening and she would walk by and say "Go Chiefs!" It's so nice that she so clearly takes after me for some things.
And in the surprise of the year, Eleanor and Patrick had a sleepover! Eleanor was setting up this canopy in order to play pretend sleepover with Juliet and Patrick sort of invited himself in on the party and when it got the night time he hopped in bed with her and wanted her to tell him scary stories and we could tell she was actually very pleased to do so. Yay sibling friendship! These two actually generally do really great whenever they hang out together, it's Bradley and Eleanor that duke it out to see who is the true boss and that is what leads to the most conflict.
Cozy sleeping picture!
More coziness. Saturday afternoons are meant for naps, especially when you have a love starved kitty that wants to cuddle you.
Eleanor and Juliet enjoying the canopy and tablet time together. Eleanor is very resourceful and later got this canopy down all by herself and I'm not asking too many questions about how she accomplished this because it was very high up.
Layla has been a very good sport about the amount of Juliet affection she's been getting lately.
Seriously cat, if you can't escape the four year old it's kind of your own fault. That said, we are working on Juliet to make sure she is kind to the kitty.
Callie had the best spring break with basically nonstop cuddles from the kids.
We had a fantastic spring break even though we didn't go anywhere. Eleanor had a Girl Scout climbing trip planned for the end of spring break so she want to ROKC to practice a couple times. I took Patrick and friends with us!
Patrick is so strong.
He and Timmy are such a good duo. They had an amazing spring break, I took Timmy for morning activities for three days in a row and then Patrick played at Timmy's house until the evening each day. The love is real.
He has requested to join a rock climbing team. And to start doing martial arts with Timmy. He's already doing three sports at the same time, it was an easy and hard no to these requests.
Eleanor and her friend Daisy at their class! Daisy also went on the rock climbing trip with Eleanor.
We are in fact trying to get Eleanor on the rec climbing team at ROKC. She's such a good athlete and just needs options that aren't contact sports. I'm with her on not having any interest in that kind of experience.
Eleanor looks so good when she climbs!
The next day Eleanor and Juliet got to go to Great Wolf Lodge with Grandma and Grandpa because cousin Katie was visiting so to make things more or less even I took the boys to Dave n Busters for the mornin. They each got to bring a friend. Bradley brought Alex, Patrick brought Timmy.
Timmy won at the basketball Connect 4 game and this was his victory dance.
All four could play the Minecraft game together. There was a fair amount of joy.
We were there about two hours and ended with air hockey. It was so fun. We rarely have down time like this so it was a big treat.
That afternoon Bradley and I were alone in the house because Patrick was at Timmy's and the girls were at Great Wolf Lodge. We had a fabulous time playing a new game called MicroMacro: Crime City. It's basically Where's Waldo but you're solving crime. We absolutely loved it and we talked it up so much that Nathan and Eleanor decided to go through it on their own.
Back to rock climbing the next day!
Eleanor was afraid of the 50 ft climbs when she first started out (rightly so!) and now she handles them like a seasoned pro.
I could tell the climbing teacher was eyeing the seven year old scampering up the boulder like it was nothing and I once again had to tell Patrick that he couldn't add another sport to his schedule.
Meanwhile, a rather nicer smooch for Grandpa when he was picking up Katie after she spent an afternoon playing at our house with Juliet.
It was a bitterly cold morning when Eleanor met up with a group of Girl Scouts to go to Horseshoe Canyon in Arkansas for their climbing trip.
She took the home cell phone with her so we could text during the trip. I sent her a picture of myself pretending to weep into her pillow because I missed her so much.
I also sent her pictures of the animals and of Juliet after a bath. It turns out both Eleanor and I really enjoy her having a cell phone and being able to text.
These are the kinds of pictures I got back. Yes, that is a goat's rear end. She really enjoyed taking pictures of the goats on this trip.
She took a lot of scenery shots. It certainly was pretty where they went!
That said, she took zero pictures of herself or her friends besides one or two selfies in the van they drove in for the trip. I had to have her have Daisy send her some of the pictures she had taken so I had any Eleanor pictures on the trip.
Apparently the climbing was very easy on the trip. A little bouldering and only one big climb and Eleanor estimates that was only 30ish feet.
But she had a blast and was so happy about the trip, and that's what matters.
Apparently her tent was on an incline and everything was freezing cold so she wore a ton of layers and was actually sweating in the night but also sliding on top of her friend Daisy in her sleeping bag so that was a bit of an adventure. Sounds like some good character building! She has another Girl Scout tent camping experience coming up in April and she still wants to do it so that's a very good thing.
Meanwhile, Bradley and I got our game on. This kid is so good at games, it's actually bad because I'll post a video talking about how easy a game is to figure out but it turns out not everyone has a child like Bradley.
Patrick reading to baby Ethan. Ethan was a big hit on this trip, he's getting more and more fun to be around although the evening they came over to our house Callie perhaps loved him too much. We told her she couldn't jump but all she had to do was turn her face up and she could lick the adorable toddler right in the face.
Me eating cookies with Katie!
More smoochy pictures. Katie always cooperates for these and Juliet is a huge pill. Sighhhh.
Callie is the nicest dog in the world and tolerates all the nonsense that is thrown her way on a regular basis.
She doesn't suffer entirely too much though. She so happy with these kids.
A final picture from Eleanor before heading home! It was cold but it was fun. I love that she likes adventures! She and Daisy probably have a number of these Girl Scout trips in their future, out of the girls in their group they are the most willing to try out activities like this.
Callie got to meet the neighborhood cat Chewy. Callie wanted to love but alas, Chewy said "Hisss, go away!"
What on earth could be under the blanket in this photo?
Oh, it was just a blanket fort for a preschooler and her puppy. Oh sweet Callie.
Callie was delighted that she could get closer to Layla outside and not fear hisses and claws.
Saying goodbye to cousins. Ethan is a hugger. Juliet is such a punk.
Katie is also a hugger. Juliet adores Katie. Juliet refused to hug back.
And then she made faces and growled.
We've been playing a ton of the memory game Gigamons together. Juliet has gone crazy for board games in the past couple months and shocker, I am so so happy about this development.
Callie finally isn't afraid of the car. She loves being with us and tries to come over to go out to the car with us whenever everyone starts putting on shoes to go somewhere.
Basketball with cute cousins.
MicroMacro crime solving with Uncle Daniel!
Ethan loved Callie and was delighted to cuddle her until he got smooched too much. Callie was in heaven.
Katie was terrified of Callie but pretty quickly started to come around to her.
It helps when the dog is just being cozy near you and isn't trying to jump up on you, she's just trying to sniff you. And loud screams don't bother Callie at all! It's par for the course around here.
Finally, a look of love for the cute puppy.
Daniel was lovely with his nephew who just wants to cuddle him and talk to him about video games. They have a pretty nice relationship these days, which is really neat to see. Daniel even got him a new video game for his birthday and I think it's something Pokemon and I know nothing about it and don't really care about it but Uncle Daniel does and that makes Bradley so happy.
Callie rolling around at the playground in the park. She's cute but ridiculous.
Juliet and Patrick sweetly playing in our front yard where everyone driving by can see what our darling family does for fun. Sighhhh. Patrick is at least laughing in the picture while Juliet is bashing away at him with the giant stick.
Brother basketball game! Around here shirts are very optional over about 50 degrees.
Tired and sweet doggy.
After school pickup of kids is Callie's favorite thing. Yet more kisses for Eleanor ...
Juliet had a play date at her friend Caitrin's house and got to check out a monster sized bouncy planet toy. I'm so glad we finally have some friends for Juliet, she cares deeply about having friend time these days.
And yet another mother son event, this time at our church. Patrick won the basketball shootout for his age division and got a ball and a tumbler cup for me.
Bradley could barely tear himself away from Mario Kart in order to come shoot some baskets. He did very well in that as well and we think he probably came in second for his age group. The boys had a fabulous time!
And the next morning Eleanor and I had a mini book club where we went out to brunch and talked about two books we had recently read. Pax and Pax Journey Home. Eleanor had been reading Pax at school and kept saying I needed to read it too and so I did. I discovered there was a sequel and so we both read that too. It's so fun to have kids getting older and getting to do things like this with them!
We went to The Shack and Eleanor thinks it was the height of a dining experience, which I agree with completely. So yummy!
He had quite the vision for a waterfall cake.
He ended up with two cakes - a Pokeball cake and a waterfall cake! I love that my mom has done this with him for a couple years now, it's such a fun tradition.
The party crew that evening. They basically just had six hours of video games, football at the park, and a movie and then yet more video games. It was a perfect Bradley birthday.
Nathan got tickets to yet another basketball game and got there early so the boys could be cute and win free things.
My dad went too!
However, most of the free items had beer logos on them so Patrick spent the afternoon wearing a Bud Light headband.
They had a fantastic time and everyone wants to do this again next year.
My mom and dad also took Juliet and Katie on a couple zoo trips during Katie's visit. The first attempt was very cold so they turned around and went home almost immediately after arriving at the zoo.
The second attempt was much warmer and we even sent Bradley along with them so they would have someone that could read the map and give them good directions around the zoo.
So cute and so fun!
Apparently they were a bit wild by the end of the trip.
But they were cute and sweet so they got Dippin' Dots. Childhood me would never have believed that my parents would purchase food at a zoo or anywhere in public. My my my how things have changed for grandchildren!
It's worth it though when this one is desperate for cuddles and curls up in a little ball in your arms.
Throwing leaves for Callie. Juliet loves this and so does Callie.
Waiting together for the kids to walk out of school.
Callie loves have taken over this house. Callie is doing so well and the kids are just nuts for her.
She'll bring her tug of war toys over to children and is ecstatic when they have a little rumpus with her.
Bradley's actual official day of birth arrived and Juliet insisted on going to the store with me to get him a present. She was so cute and delighted about giving it to him.
He was pretty pleased about all the loves he got from her, although they were a bit aggressive at times.
My older children taught Juliet how to hang from the edge of the platform swing as they swung it around. I was not delighted but Juliet is SO proud.
Callie likes to stick her head out of the window while we drive at slow speeds. I'm relieved she's gone from hating the car to loving it.
And finally present time. Juliet was so proud to have Bradley open her gift!
This face gets me. The sheer joy!
At school they post pictures of kid activities and they had a neat device for coloring eggs!
And then on the final day of the month Juliet and I went shopping and I promised to purchase a treat for her but quite frankly, Sprouts had a pretty pathetic selection of yummy things and Juliet was saying she wished she could have a donut and then we realized Grandma makes really yummy donuts. We gave Grandma a call asking if she could make donuts with Juliet sometime soon and she said, "Yes, how about today?" Joy of joys!
Juliet and Grandma did an amazing job.
And what an end result!
I love having my folks just a few minutes away from us, it's pretty amazing that we can have impromptu activities like this.
I also got a big shipment of games from HABA this day! I said I'd play anything they wanted to send my way and apparently they took me at my word!
Game obsessed Juliet was beyond delighted.
Dazzled by game rules in the unicorn game. She also looked through the rules on her own and figured out the setup without me. Rather impressive.
And our new favorite, Hedgehog Haberdash!
Juliet was the winner!
And it's so fun to play with the hedgehogs after the game!
We had a family dinner with my folks that night which we always follow with a board game. Lucky Grandpa, Juliet is very good at board games so he had a perhaps excessive amount of helpful suggestions as he learned a new game.
We have high hopes of getting my mom to make more of this for us sometime! She would have many willing grandchild assistants.
Patrick being a beast. I love it whenever he wears this tiny athletic tank top.
Patrick and Timmy racing! Timmy is actually super fast and won most of these.
Callie knows that Eleanor adores her and that she can get away with smooching her face. I like this picture because Callie is getting both mouth and nose in a single lick. I have told Eleanor that this dog sometimes eats her own poop and it has nothing to stop moments like this.
We had dropped Bradley off at my folks' house on the way so he could make his birthday cake with Grandma.
Patrick had his first lacrosse game that afternoon. What a cool dude! He did pretty well during the game but he became super mad whenever he got taken off the field which turned into a bit of an issue. To be fair, with twelve kids on the team and only four kids on the field at a time play time is lower than we think it should be. But he got stepped on once and asked to be taken out so we're going to talk to him about playing through some of these things if he cares about being out on the field. This is why I prefer tennis ...
But it was fun to watch him run around!
My parents both came to watch along with Bradley. There was great joy when Grandpa arrived!
Happy birthday!
Callie with Patrick the next morning. They love each other so much.
But the cats still hate her. Poor Callie.
And if you think this little girl has us all wrapped around her little finger, you're absolutely right. Videos like this do Nathan in.
