Nathan figured out she loves bath time if we just put an inch or two of water in the tub and she gets to scooch around. Don't worry, I pinch this little bottom a bunch.
We had a Tryazon game afternoon for the kids with a new game, Astro Trash. It was pretty cute.
But not as cute as Juliet on Daddy's shoulder's!
Juliet really likes the little play structure at Patrick's speech class.
Juliet discovered my coffee mug at speech and it looks like the beginning of a lifelong habit.
She likes the slide!
You know how I can tell this is my daughter? She does this now.
She particularly likes screaming at quiet places. Speech, our favorite museum ...
And she's getting into everything around our house. Backwards hat courtesy of Patrick.
The girls and Daddy! (Dad, according to Eleanor. I get a lecture when I call him Daddy in front of her friends now.)
Portrait mode. Juliet is so pretty.
And like all our children, she loves monster cereal.
Tired baby.
The Target app has "augmented reality" and the boys and I took fun photos with it one evening.
Juliet with just enough slap bracelets.
Tired Patrick. I thought we were entirely done with naps for this guy but he (and Layla) have been so tired lately.
Luna Baby!
I got a set of PJ mask capes and everyone has been enjoying them, even the baby who gets dressed up as a villain on regular basis.
The kids had their fun run at school and Juliet and I were able to come cheer them on for their very hot run. Juliet enjoyed her piggie back lap on Bradley.
And Juliet enjoyed her fan club when she came to cheer on the 1st graders.
The kids are so proud when they get to hold Juliet without assistance. She's little but squirmy so we're pretty careful about who is holding her generally.
Juliet LOVES the kitties. Which is a bit of a problem when I'm trying to rock her to sleep at night and Meg comes to cuddle on my lap and Juliet gets very excited about this new development and starts grabbing at kitty ears instead of going to sleep.
Tired baby.
Juliet is in to everything now. Which is both exceedingly cute and rather naughty, especially when we're at the library.
A reading afternoon for all my four children.
Juliet reading with her big sister. It was cute until Juliet started trying to hit everything too much.
We had a grown-up game night with some of our favorite couples so we could try out a new game courtesy of Tryazon. We really liked this one, it's going to be on my Thanksgiving family game list.
And then Bradley and I prepared for our upcoming 5K. It's been so hot, it's been tough to get in training runs.
Eleanor and I get in training brunch dates? She helped go get a fancy Danish and coffee and baked goods from my favorite bakery, McClain's Market.
And then we spent the evening playing games together while Juliet tried to rain down terror. I love our cozy weekends.
Patrick is hilarious, by the way. Juliet lights up whenever he is around.
And she got in some art time with Eleanor.
Deanna Rose outing with the kids and Daddy on a day off from school! Nathan took the morning off to go out with us, it was very fun.
Sweet kids with Daddy.
Real live animals are not the most important part of Deanna Rose.
Although Patrick still does love the goats.
Favorite scenic photo bridge.
So happy on Daddy's shoulder's!
On the way out. Cute kids!
We've been tossing a blanket on our front yard so Juliet can hang out while kids play in this nice fall weather.
Nathan cut up a bunch of tree limbs that were blocking the basketball hoop and he had some enthusiastic helpers to take care of all the clippings.
Only slightly terrifying to give these kids tools.
But quite the crew! They were so good and so helpful.
And then they had some nice baths to take care of all the dirt and grime. So glad these girls have each other.
Although Bradley was definitely very excited about a cute little Juliet around the bath tub.
Check out these baby buns!
Sleep after baths is so good.
And Patrick asleep again. Poor sweet boy. He goes so hard.
I love how happy the kids are when I go to the library and get them new books.
And Bradley is the basketball champ these days, both at home and on shopping trips to Costco with Daddy.
I love fall. The kids have been loving playing basketball.
And Juliet on the blanket with company. So sweet.
This is a picture of me asking Patrick if he thought he might need a bath later. He thought the answer was no.
And then swings the next day! Juliet has been loving our park outings.
She also likes the shakey bridge. Never would have done something like this with the first baby.
Patrick is so lucky to be so adored by Juliet. He is also lucky that she loves it when he roars at her.
We went over to my folks' house and I made the poor decision of announcing there was a tree begging to be climbed in their backyard. Apparently it was quite difficult to climb and ouchie when you got up there, but it HAD to be climbed because the statement had been made.
Grandma helped hold Juliet while I helped big kids climb the tree and Juliet helped Grandma with her glasses.
Bradley and Patrick have been super snuggly lately. Bradley keeps talking about bringing Patrick into his school for show and tell and Patrick has been very supportive of this plan.
And happy news, Bradley has a new school desk in his room! I was working at the Giant Sale at our church and noticed a desk on sale for $20. It fits perfectly in the boys' room and has been pretty perfect for our boy who likes to make his own Pokémon cards.
I sent Nathan with Bradley and Eleanor to a Royals game with Stanley Elementary families. Apparently they let the kids board a golf cart with a stranger who gave them a lift to the entrance to the stadium - without any parents. Hilarious. Only in Kansas City would this happen.
The kids loved the ride and loved the game.
They had quite a few friends at the game, which made it extra fun.
The kids at our school are so sweet, I'm told it was a very fun time.
Bradley has super cool flip sunglasses for his regular sunglasses now.
Please note there is a sign directly over Bradley's head that says, "Please do not climb on these letters." Nathan claims to not have seen it. Dads get away with everything.
Fountain picture by the stadium.
Meanwhile, Patrick and Juliet and I went over to my parents' house for some afternoon fun.
Patrick was very pleased to finally not have to share Grandma with anyone.
I took the kids to Freezing Moo to celebrate Bradley kicking a bad habit and not picking off his fingernails anymore. We're all about positive reinforcement/bribery around here. Because it works and it's fun!
And we got out Halloween decorations which included a Halloween headband, which Eleanor quickly put on Juliet so she could be fancy.
Bradley reading to Juliet. She's the center of a lot of attention around here and everyone is okay with that.
Everyone loves pushing Juliet on the swing. She gets so excited and smiley. I barely ever get a turn pushing her.
Patrick showing off his dangerous new trick. His goal on most playgrounds is to figure out new ways to scare me (not kidding, this is his actual goal).
They all played by the creek on the way home. Everyone fell in a little bit at least or got covered in mud, it was bath time when we got home. Which is the mark of an excellent park outing in my opinion.
Our first full group Seahawks picture of the season. Yes, the girls have matching cheer outfits. We finally found something that Eleanor would happily agree to wear on game days.
I was the only one not dressed up. Whoops.
Big news - Bradley has learned how to ride his bike! Nathan is a champion and spent a few hours with him out in the park a few weekends ago and Bradley picked it up in no time when he was finally given some one on one attention for a bit. We're so proud of him but not as proud as he is of himself. He's really into biking a loop around the sidewalk in front of our house and down a little grassy incline so I told him what mountain biking is and he desperately wants to try it out.
Meanwhile, cute sisters together!
Fun montage from our trip to a fall festival to see what it is like to live with a Patrick. Please note all the smiley faces … except Patrick who is yelling about his pumpkin.
Throwing his pumpkin (it's right in front of my head in this photo).
HUGE and very nice smile. And about to get a bit of a scolding. Oh Patrick.
This was the Ironwoods Park Fall Festival. It was cute and nearby and cheap and easy and there was face painting and s'mores so everyone was very happy.
Eleanor got her face painted right before it started to rain, which was very lucky.
Cotton candy!
Cute little butterfly girl.
All the kids really liked this pots and pans drum contraption.
We were really happy that they limited each child to two s'mores.
Patrick made friends with the police dog. Most of the kids at this thing wouldn't go near this guy, not little Patrick!
And in some champion parenting, there was one last spot on this train ride and it was raining and we really didn't want to wait for the next one so we tossed the kids on and waved as they drove away without any adults with them. They made it back, great success.
I did another 5K with Bradley and Patrick and Eleanor did a fun run at the Louisburg Cider Run. This picture rather perfectly sums up these three kids.
My mom agreed to do the fun run with Patrick and Eleanor after I told her how we did training runs through the park which were basically just long walks. However, it turns out that when it's a competition Patrick will run his head off and Eleanor will too because she is unwilling to be beaten by her younger brother. Grandma was ditched instantly.
Grandpa with a cute and happy Juliet.
And the finish line of the fun run! Eleanor finished just ahead of Patrick and Grandma is nowhere in sight.
They were so pleased to get medals.
And then I sent them back to get Grandma and finish the race with her. Please note that once again Patrick is ahead of her, so he ran back and found her and then promptly ran back to the finish line, ditching her yet again.
Me and Bradley before our run.
Our cheer crew. Many thanks to my mom for telling them stories for while we were gone.
Bradley and I ran the first quarter mile I'd say, and then had a nice walk and chat until we got within sight of the finish line. Then Bradley ditched me and raced for victory. It was a very fun time and Bradley was very cute.
All of the runners with our medals!
And Grandpa with the baby who thinks maybe we could have ran a little faster, this was all very exhausting.
The next day we had a special lunch at the church after the service and our cute boys leapt at the opportunity to be on the stage for an activity. Which is hilarious, because whenever this happens in a show and someone has to perform, Bradley freaks out. But in real life he's totally fine with it and loves it.
We love our church so much. Nathan was a good sport about being a parent volunteer and the boys were SO EXCITED to get to dance on stage with him.
Nathan was out with the big kids somewhere so I just had Juliet and Patrick in the park one evening. Patrick talked our neighbor into going with us and Addison was rather amazing and gave him a piggy-back ride all the way home from near park. He is not a light kid.
Patrick with his other favorite girl. The Mabel love has only increased with time.
They did a little puppet show for me and Mabel's mom Julie during a playdate a week or so ago.
I found this cute note after Bradley dumped out his folder on the island before heading to school one day. To Noah, I am writing you a letter because you are kind, generous, and helful. I like playing tag with you cuz you can run really fast! You are my bestey cuz you are positive and generous too! Noah, you are the best friend I could ever have. Your friend, Bradley S. P.S. I want to make a club with you and Grant K and Max Holden H. I am looking for more people.
Juliet would be a member of the Bradley fan club. She always smiles and stares at him whenever he's around. Holding her is tricky though. She loves messing with his glasses.
And she's very squirmy.
On Nathan's birthday evening he decided it was time to teach Eleanor to ride her bike too.
It's so great having the park right behind our house, it's been fantastic for practicing on bikes. Eleanor got the hang of it so quickly! When you are motivated and have a good teacher you are set up for success!
Patrick came out and rode a scooter around during the bike riding lesson and apparently this combined with a morning at preschool was rather exhausting for a little guy.
He should be tired, he does so much. Here he is demonstrating his "cute" noise he makes when he wants something. I did once have to tell a woman at Costco that that was what it was because she looked very concerned when he started making the sound at me while we were walking through the toy aisle.
He even does magic.
And he's a back up dancer for Eleanor whenever she performs for us. Thanks a lot Eleanor, for teaching Patrick the phrase "last one is a rotten egg." There have been lots of rotten eggs around here recently, although sometimes Patrick is gracious and tells me to go ahead of him so I won't have to be the rotten egg this time.
We got out the box of old Halloween costumes. In other news, Juliet's hair is resplendent these days.
The kitties get a little desperate these days when I have a baby in my lap and it's cuddle time.
Juliet is really happy to get in on family game time now! Good thing the big kids find it hilarious and adorable. Also a good thing that we have a table in the play room for games that don't need baby interruptions.
Having Patrick at home with me and Juliet while the big kids are at school has been invaluable.
She appreciates the more energetic level of attention from her big brother. I am sadly lacking in this regard, I just want to read her boring books and things.
Eleanor finally has a good friend at school who is a boy and it's been adorable getting all sorts of notes home from him. She begged for a playdate with him so we met up with him and his little brother at a playground on a day off from school and I think they barely talked and just ran around playing near each other. But she was very pleased by the whole thing so we're calling it a success.
Eleanor with another friend who is a boy. Graham is in Eleanor's grade and he has an older brother Holden in Bradley's grade AND they ride the bus so we just had them get off on our stop one day so they could play video games in the basement. It's great Eleanor has been trained up, she'll have lots of guy friends if she keeps up her Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros habit.
Juliet has one favorite book, it's Peeka-Who. There's a mirror at the back of the book and she gets so happy when she sees her reflection. She recognizes the book and gets happy when we sit down with her with it, you forget how little they are when they know things. She already knows how to open doors if I leave them cracked open. She just pulls it all the way open and scoots through. So much for not baby proofing for this kid, I'd been trying to keep an eye on her but we've been having to build little barriers with the ottoman and boxes of diapers to keep her contained in the living room or out of the cat food and shoe area.
Sometimes when I read to the baby it's only sort of for the baby's benefit. Oh Meg. Please note she's sitting on Patrick's lap here. Desperate for cuddles. The other night she tried to cuddle on my lap while I was trying to get Juliet back to sleep in the middle of the night. It backfired for all involved. Juliet perked up and started trying to grab at any part of Meg she could get a hold of. Meg tolerated it for a bit and then had to run away and sit out in the hallway to wait for me. Juliet was now wide awake and wanting to play. Only took another hour to get her to fall back asleep. I've been rather tired lately.
Fortunately I have great help even when I am sleepy.
Reading to Juliet and big kids at bedtime.
Eleanor had her first girl scout campout a week ago. She got to stay in a cabin at Ironwoods Park with about 20 other overexcited 1st graders. Bless her leaders. I'm told it got a little cold at night but she had a marvelous time.
Meanwhile, Nathan and I went to Brewfest at the Arboretum with a group of friends. So fun!
We even made new fancy friends.
The next day was a chance for yet more bike riding with our bike obsessed children.
They're already riding like pros, although I'm doing a bit to try to teach them rules of the road so they don't run over people. Patrick got run into a little bit by Bradley once, we're trying to make that not a thing, especially since Bradley seems to have a need for speed rather than safety.
But guess who else got a biking lesson! Nathan is amazing, we went from no kids riding bikes to all three older ones on bikes in the space of three weeks. He's using Eleanor's old Frozen themed bike and has a pink cat bike helmet that used to be our neighbor Addison's, he's quite the good sport about his gear.
The kids have been so excited and proud to all be able to ride their bikes now, especially when I watched Eleanor's friend Ava after school one day and we had her bring her bike over. Unfortunately, Eleanor's chain fell off her bike almost immediately after she rode it to the park. Nathan had just left town on a work trip and Eleanor had a few dark looking days ahead of her of no bike until his return - until Grandpa Steve came to the rescue!
One would think she would have been more appreciative and less chatty about the problems she saw with the quality of his workmanship.
There was a LOT of Eleanor chatter as Grandpa worked on her bike. Fortunately he thought it was rather hilarious and thoroughly enjoyed the pictures I got of him with his spunky little granddaughter.
Speaking of spunky, I have another child who comes crawling over as soon as I open the dishwasher. She's so proud of being naughty.
Here's Patrick being the goodbye person at his school. Kids could come up to him and ask to high five, dance in a circle, or get a hug.
Many chose hugs and it was so adorable. Patrick is such a lovable giant.
That night we had pizza (it's a very popular meal and fits the amount of work I find appropriate in meal prep these days) and I decided to go ahead and get a dessert from Papa Murphy's while I was at it. This was cause for much joy.
It lived up to the hype. I even had one, and I'm not super into desserts these days. Yum yum!
They had a spirit week at school and I helped Eleanor achieve high levels of fashion for clash day. We even put hair chalk in her hair, she had a rainbow of color which may not be clashing but is certainly fun.
And then she played with a delighted Juliet. This baby is so lucky that she has these three for older siblings.
We finally retired the stroller and got out the wagon for Juliet park outings. Everyone likes this new development.
Swings are even more fun with a buddy!
How cute is this baby? No wonder we're all obsessed with her.
She was slightly less delighted by the wagon on the walk home.
Patrick is crazy about her but is beginning to get a bit bothered about her following him around and trying to play with anything he happens to be touching. Hah, it's different when you're the one being followed, isn't it Patrick?
And in exciting news, we had a double dose of kids losing a tooth last night! Eleanor was at the point where she could do what she called her "tooth trick" and would make this face all the time.
But good news, Eleanor's tooth fell out when she bumped it on a toy after coming home from school.
Bradley's tooth coming out was a little more exciting. Patrick and Eleanor had gone out to play outside and so I begged Bradley to let me do the door knob thing where you tie a string around a tooth and the other end around the door knob and then shut the door. He was extraordinarily nervous about this idea but agreed. Because I bribed him, okay? I said I would pay him $2.
It took many many tries, the tooth kept slipping out of the string.
Finally, I tried to tie it too firmly and the string slid up and nipped the tooth off at the root. I still gave a happy Bradley an extra dollar for letting me try and he better watch out, we're really going to do this for the next tooth!
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