Same face for Eleanor as my five year old pretends to take selfies with a mirror that goes with her princess castle.
Oh dear goodness. Me too? These poor kids didn't stand a chance. Juliet is often not a big fan of her baby carrier.
We sorted it out by propping her up a bit more. She does love being outside at least.
We went to the park with Patrick and like all my children, all he did was try to find dangerous things to do at the park so I could be properly impressed.
Danger accomplished.
Check out these swing skills.
However, this also makes him very tired and when he came in to cuddle with me at quiet time he fell asleep. The cats get a bit needy at nap time as well.
Naps are great, they make a boy ready to take on the world and help hold his sister. Lucky Juliet.
She's constantly stuffing her fist into her mouth and sucking on it and it's so cute.
Eleanor was so proud when she dressed her up as Snow White.
Really Eleanor is proud anytime she gets to touch or hold her little sister.
Bradley is too. I'm happy to report that Juliet certainly gets in her kiss quota every day.
And in happy news, Bradley was promoted in cub scouts!
Holding patches I probably have to find and do something with.
I wish I could keep all of the Bradley art that came home this past year. Here he is writing about becoming a Paleontologist when he grows up.
And his secret code manual for Pokémon.
We had all four kids baptized at church a couple weeks ago!
Our friends the Rutherfords stood up with us as our sponsors. I was a little nervous about how the kids would do in front of everyone but they were so happy and eager to be baptized.
Bradley marched up there with zero hesitation. Tyler Tollefson, the youth pastor, did the baptisms.
Eleanor was well-prepared as well.
Patrick was a little short and Tyler tried to have Nathan help hold him up but Patrick yelled "I can do it myself!" and shook him off. The congregation laughed and Patrick did indeed get to be baptized without parental assistance.
And finally Juliet. She enjoyed it the least but didn't cry. Such a good girl.
And then I was given candles that we can light each year to commemorate the kids' baptisms. It was a really nice ceremony, the kids loved it and I'm really happy we were able to talk to the big kids and have them understand what they were doing and what the baptism meant for them. It required a fair degree of willing participation on their part and they were so happy and eager to be baptized.
And then everyone came home and got cuddles and rest after such an exciting morning.
Followed by an afternoon of Nathan taking the big kids to the movie event of the year, Detective Pikachu!
They handed out Pokémon cards to the kids, the theater had a playground inside it (really, Overland Park is ridiculously geared towards children), and the movie was fun and exciting.
Meanwhile, Grandma hung out with me and Juliet and we had a rather fabulous afternoon together as well.
Bedtime smooches for Juliet. A nightly tradition.
And what most mornings look like for me now. Kids and Meg cuddling me while I nurse Juliet.
And then Patrick shows off his snapping skills. He really is quite good! I guess practice makes perfect.
Everyone reading with Daddy for bedtime! Because we're singing lullabies to Juliet now there has been renewed interest in what "their" songs are (I've learned a new lullaby for each child which becomes their song) and I now spend a fair number of bedtimes singing to the big kids. I probably sing Juliet's song, La La Lu, more to the big kids than to her at this point. It's pretty sweet, even big kid Bradley isn't too old for lullabies and I get some sweet cuddles while I sing to him.
Sometimes it doesn't take any songs to help Patrick fall asleep. He just needs some quiet time in his room with kitties. It's funny, he officially doesn't take naps now but I'd say one out of every three days he ends up falling asleep for a bit during quiet time.
Grandma has been sewing again and made Eleanor a new fancy dress that she is crazy about.
Juliet isn't old enough to be jealous yet. Soon!
Patrick tells great stories.
And I adore watching him sing "I'm a Little Teapot."
Here's Patrick singing I'm a Little Teapot while Juliet demonstrates which fingers she likes to suck on. It's pretty cute, this is what I did as a child instead of sucking my thumb and I guess it's quite rare.
Same fingers!
Juliet generally takes her bath with Eleanor now and both girls love it.
Isn't this picture sweet? I thought so until Eleanor came down with pink eye about a day after this photo was taken. Luckily no one else caught it!
Nathan finally got to go axe throwing while on a work trip and apparently he's very manly and good at it. Surprising? Not for a man with his flannel collection!
However, he also got about three hours of sleep that night before catching an early flight home to us so it was difficult to stay awake during a family game of Mario Kart.
Everything is so much better with Daddy at home. Juliet's ponytail makes me extra happy in this picture.
Sigh. This was the day we found out Eleanor had pink eye. So many pictures of her cuddled up by Juliet. We're so lucky the baby didn't get it. Nightmare.
So much togetherness ...
Reading with the boys! I've never plopped Juliet down on a child's lap and gotten anything besides a delighted response. The boys have greatly enjoyed additional time together now that school is out, the other day I walked by Bradley's room as the boys were roughhousing and heard Bradley holler, "It's huggle time! It says so on the clock."
Bradley helped Nathan cook a big waffle breakfast for us last Saturday! I gave the kid a real paring knife and had him cut up strawberries and bananas and Nathan had him make the batter and pour the waffle mix onto the griddle.
He was so proud and celebrated by pouring half a pound of syrup on his waffle in addition to a mountain of whipped cream and fruit. He did not finish it all and that is probably for the best.
My wonderful Dad came over to help Nathan build a big shed to compensate for our lack of garage storage space.
They were fortunate to have excellent helpers who sat in the shade and drank iced lemonade.
Until they figured out it would be more fun to play in the back with squirt guns and a wading pool.
Almost done with the shed!
Patrick helped me entertain Juliet while this was going on. He has assured me that he doesn't care when she cries and is willing to hold her anyway but I do rescue a baby rather quickly when this happens.
And the completed shed! It took 5 hours of work on a hot day to assemble this, they were champs.
And then Nathan took it upon himself to spend his afternoon on a 3 hour Nintendo Labo project with Bradley.
You make your own controls for a new Nintendo game, it's quite fancy.
Bradley was very cute playing it. We've had the kit since Christmas so it was high time they built it!
Then we did more park outings with the kids. Juliet says the stroller is better than her carrier.
Eleanor is spending most of her summer upside down at parks. I have friends who have mild heart attacks watching all of her tricks. I like to think I'm pretty relaxed about letting the kids set their own physical limits outside but I did draw the line when she was trying to hang upside down from the platform swing in our backyard and have the boys push her.
Juliet's first time on a swing! Patrick pushed her and she loved it for about a minute before she realized the swing dug into her arms a bit. Then she was done.
People keep asking me how Patrick is doing with not being the baby anymore and I keep telling them how much he loves it. He was so ready to be a big brother.
However, he's still our neighbor Addison's special little guy and I don't think Juliet is ever going to infringe on their special bond. He spent about half an hour the other day throwing himself into Addison's arms on repeat and then she's have him climb up her like a monkey. He weighs 43 lbs and she can't weigh much more, she's very strong.
Did you know pretending to be a monkey can be very tiring?
Patrick and his cute Daddy. Patrick is just the best sometimes. I took him with me to go get groceries the other day and gave him a penny to make a wish at the fountain by the grocery store. I was very curious as to what kind of wish a four year old would make. Turns out I didn't have to wonder for long, Patrick couldn't wait to tell me how he had wished for a monster to come alive and be nice to him. The entire drive home he wouldn't stop talking to me about when he would meet his monster. It's been over a week and he still keeps bringing it up out of the blue.
We've also trained Patrick to say "sun's out, guns out" because he mostly wears sleeveless shirts when it's hot out. And I've been trying to highlight the importance of drinking lots of water and made the error of telling the children that you can tell if you've been drinking enough water by the color of your pee when you go to the bathroom. The entire house now gets shouted updates from Patrick after every bathroom trip. "My pee was dark! I need to drink more water!" Every time. Every single time.
Bradley had what he would describe as the trip of a lifetime when my parents took him to Branson to go to Silver Dollar City all on his own. No siblings, no parents! Only spoiling and fun. Here they are at Steak n' Shakes on the way there.
They immediately went on as many roller coasters as they could at Silver Dollar City.
A frozen lemonade cup just for Bradley with $1 aka unlimited refills.
The Huck Finn water ride where you could shoot people with water as you traveled along. Shooting Grandma as she took pictures brought Grandpa and Bradley great joy.
Another water ride.
Dippin' dots were at the theme park. I still have never tasted dippin' dots, my parents assured me it was a huge waste of money when I was a child. My my my, how things change ...
Breakfast of champions at the hotel the next morning.
More dippin' dots?? Bradley is forever ruined for going back to this place with his parents.
Getting "robbed" on the train ride.
A cool hall of mirrors.
Getting into some trouble.
Grandma rode the bigger roller coasters with Bradley!
Grandpa earned his keep as well. I don't know what this horrendous ride is where you have to haul yourself up to the top of a tower by hoisting yourself up by a rope.
Lunch before leaving to come home. They picked a perfect couple of days to go, my parents got season tickets so they got to go in the park an hour earlier than anyone else and the forecast was terrible that day so it was not busy and they didn't have to wait at all for most of the rides.
Tired boy, ready to go home.
A group photo. Apparently they heard thunder as they were walking out to the parking lot to leave, they couldn't have timed things better.
They had time to stop by a magic shop before leaving and Bradley was so excited to show his siblings and some friends his new tricks as soon as he got home.
After Bradley's exciting trip to Silver Dollar City with grandparents Patrick was promised a special outing of his own. He got to go to Deanna Rose all on his own with Grandma and Grandpa and he was so excited. He got ready early and sat out on the front step and waited for them.
It was worth the wait. Grandparent trips to Deanna Rose are a lot fancier than trips with Mommy.
I am told that he was a little unsure about the horse ride and first told the people running the ride that he didn't like the horse that they had brought him. They assured him it was a wonderful horse and then they foolishly tried to help him get on it. He hollered that he could do it himself and they let him mostly do it on his own with just a little boost at the end to get him in the saddle. This from the boy who tries to make me help me get him into jammies every night because "he can't do it."
Fortunately it was a very satisfactory pony ride once everything was sorted out.
The exciting discovery was made that Deanna Rose has dippin' dots ice cream. We think Patrick like it.
But oh this boy with the goats. So much joy.
He's always loved the goats, we're just glad he isn't trying to kiss them anymore.
I've also never braved the wagon ride on my own with multiple children. So this was Patrick's first time going for a ride. I'm told it was very fun!
He's been on this tractor loads of times.
And this tricycle. I do some things right when I take them to Deanna Rose.
All in all it was a fabulous time and he was a little tired when he got home.
Good thing we did some shows for tired kids in the afternoon. Juliet enjoyed watching for approximately 30 seconds.
And then we had a fabulous time at Grandma and Grandpa's pool that evening! It was a little chilly and Juliet gasped a bit whenever we dipped her toes in the water so we didn't do any legitimate swimming with the baby.
It was very tiring to swim, even if it was just dipping toes in the water.
And then the big kids tackled the big climbing structure after they got out of the pool.
We have been making great use of the amenities at my parents' neighborhood, we went and played tennis this morning!
The kids had a great time. I love that this is a tennis family!
Bradley has a pretty sweet backhand.
Patrick mostly ran around like a goofball and told Daddy that he already knew how to play tennis so he didn't need to practice. When he actually hit a few balls he did really well.
And then Nathan and I had a fun brunch date with Juliet! She's 4 months old today. Such a sweetie, it's good she likes being smooched!
And here's a hilarious and somewhat long video that Eleanor shot herself, giving a tour of our house. She covers all the important stuff and it's definitely behind the scenes. Enjoy!
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