Juliet walks very well now, she started consistently walking around at 15 and a half months and the perk of starting to walk so late is that she is very good and hardly ever falls. The kids enjoy their walking sister and Eleanor has been known to leave a trail of Cheerios around the house so Juliet will follow her. It works. I need to stop reading fairy tales to the kids.
I recently got a book of Grimm's Fairy tales. Original, unedited, in all their glory. There is a lot of violence and murder and the kids love it and request the traumatizing bedtime stories on a regular basis. It's fantastic. There is rapt attention even though there are no pictures, because you never know what is going to happen.
Staying at home together has mostly been very fun, except for the mornings where Patrick starts the day by screaming at Bradley. This happened the other day and I got Patrick out of their room and told him to come cuddle with me. He remained crabby. Eleanor came in to join the cuddles and I told them that this family is a team and we need to work together. This made Eleanor cry. We're great, everything is great.
I'm not saying my children are hoarders, but I was trimming Patrick's finger nails and he refused to throw away the trimmed part of the thumb nail because he loved it and wanted to make a train track out of it.
Patrick got hurt playing pretend Pokémon with Bradley and I told them to go roughhouse in the basement.
Patrick: That wasn't roughhousing!
Me: Then what was it?
Patrick: That was battling!
Bradley tried to hug Eleanor and got shut down.
Me: Cuddle me instead!
Bradley: But this might be her last day alive!
Patrick takes forever to do laundry. I told him I give him plenty of time, he just needs to use his body and keep moving and not spend 20 minutes telling himself a story in the bathroom. He informed me that his mouth was moving.
Patrick: I'm looking for something but I don't know what (aimlessly searching through his special drawer).
Patrick fell out of a tree. Cried and then immediately ran back over and climbed it again. Juliet fell and bonked her head while trying to climb up a slide. Cried until I put her down so she could climb it again. We can keep her, she's definitely fits in with the others.
I like to go for runs in the park with the kids and one day I was running with Bradley and he started running in a particularly crazy manner while yelling "I am running a mock!" It took a while to figure out what he meant but he had read something about running amok in a Calvin & Hobbes comic and taken it very literally.
This post has 208 pictures. It's for two months, things have been a bit busy around here. So I'll be skipping some captions, but including some stories and videos.
Bradley got some May Day flowers from his friend Caroline who lives down the street.
Making s'mores and camping out in our backyard.
Swing over the sprinklers.
Juliet had her 15 month doctor's appointment and cried most of the time because she was worried about all the grown-ups in masks and she doesn't know how to act when her sibling entourage isn't with her.
We were biking fiends through May. Patrick and I biked past the school one day.
Baby geese at the pond on the way to Mabel's house!
Bradley was the first to bike to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It's a 4.2 mile ride round-trip and there's a serious hill on the way. We were very impressed with him and it was a very fun surprise for my folks when we showed up at their house.
Then Eleanor had to do it. She was a champ as well.
My parents give the kids fancy fruit snacks for the car ride home from their house and Eleanor decided to make hers into a very sticky necklace one day. Yay ...
Juliet spent one lovely evening grabbing Bradley by the nose and shoving him into the little nightstand we have next to the recliner in her room. Bradley might be the nicest brother ever.
Tree climbing tricks.
Juliet lives to climb into the top bunk and bounce around. It is not my favorite.
The kids have been spending a couple hours two afternoons per week over at my parents' house. It is excellent times.
Eleanor getting to practice the piano with some Juliet assistance.
Winner and loser of game time at my folks' house.
Bradley had a school drawing assignment. Cute!
Good news, Juliet likes banana bread batter.
My Aunt Diana has started sending the kids some magazines and they are big fans!
Juliet is a big helper in all things.
Fun story: Patrick and Eleanor played outside on the path on the hill in our backyard for a really long time on the day before Mother's Day and came back inside after an hour or two with an impressive amount of wildflowers for a bouquet for me. I was properly dazzled, especially because I didn't know so many flowers grew on that back hill.
Turns out they don't grow on the back hill, the kids had walked down the hill and to the park path and gone about a quarter of a mile down the path to a place with a lot of flowers and had a jolly time picking flowers on their own and then coming home. I didn't figure this out until the next time they decided to go on a fun flower adventure, and Patrick's friend Mabel biked by and I went out to the backyard and loudly called them and they weren't there. They came home after a few minutes and we had a good talk about how you need to talk to me before you leave the house and at least bring a walkie-talkie with you. And quite frankly, Patrick is too young and a little too naughty to be trusted on his own at the park, even with a sibling. Bradley and Eleanor have gotten to go out on their own armed with a walkie-talkie twice now and it's beyond exciting for them. I just can't believe I didn't figure out what Patrick and Eleanor had done with they walked inside with all these flowers though. Oops.
Nathan chopped down a tree with an axe and allowed me to take a cute picture of him doing it.
Mother's Day danishes! I don't know who enjoyed Mother's Day more, me or my pastry loving Eleanor.
We went by the Monahan's and borrowed a cap and gown to take preschool graduation photos of cute Patrick.
Of course this happened.
Socially distanced graduation picture with his best friend.
Patrick has been giving me bitey kisses lately. Lucky me.
Nathan is rarely lonely while working from home.
Layla in particular is a big fan.
We finally met the Chewie's owner and she asked me "Are you the person who takes pictures of my cat?" I said, "Yes, yes I am."
Patrick and I had a bit of a wait at the dentist's office and this happened.
Oh Patrick.
We got a bunch of nerf guns thanks to Bradley's friend Noah passing some on to us and it's been a bit ridiculous. The kids love them.
Nathan and his buddy Keith made an axe throwing target.
A bunch of guys came over because we're only really doing outdoor hangouts during the pandemic. It was good times.
We got Patrick a school desk like Bradley's and he's pretty pleased about it!
After school ended Eleanor's teacher came by to say hi and happy summer. This is what a socially distanced end of year photo looks like I guess.
Patrick and Eleanor had a sleepover in the toy tent in the basement one night. Juliet wished she could have been involved.
Last day of school. Eleanor was supposed to have something fancy to eat for breakfast so I used this as an excuse to go by 3 Women and an Oven and buy a dozen macarons. I'm a genius and shared some with my parents and my mom got on a macaron baking kick. I've gotten to use the phrase "we're drowning in macarons over here." It's pretty darn fantastic.
We went on a very short, very hot hike with some friends one weekend morning and kudos to people who take small children on hikes on a regular basis. The children survived, but barely. It was one mile out and one mile back.
The adventure part of the hike. None of our friends' children found it necessary to climb over everything they could find, I guess we're just lucky our children are the climbers.
Eating macarons from Grandma Kathy.
Trying to play Blokus with a baby around is exciting. Also, this is the face Patrick makes when I tell the kids to smile.
Juliet demanded we get a scooter out for her when she saw the big kids scooting.
Eleanor and I have been doing occasional brunch dates with games and we both think it's the best thing ever.
Why my house is a mess: I asked Bradley to throw away his garbage and I was informed this wasn't garbage, if you looked at it closely it could be a new type of Pokémon with long legs.
Yoga time. The baby gets really excited when we get out the yoga mats.
In her end of year paperwork I found this letter Eleanor had written to our neighbor Addison.
Eleanor baking macarons with Grandma.
Patrick helped too. How cute are the aprons my mom made for the kids?
Apparently there is batter in the mixing bowl, being able to hold it upside down without it spilling is a big deal.
Juliet likes to play with crushed ice while the big kids have icees.
We got in a trip to Iowa and we had a wonderful time playing in Grandma Colleen's garden.
Grandma convinced Patrick to try eating a flower.
Juliet took a little time to warm up to Grandma Colleen and Kerry but it wasn't long before she was following Grandma Colleen around everywhere she went, hollering and demanding to be paid attention to.
It was not a tough sell. Cute baby had a blast.
Patrick found a new favorite stick/tree branch he carried around everywhere.
Snack time!
Game time (of course). We specifically brought a flower themed card game for Grandma Colleen because we know our audience.
Juliet made herself right at home.
Group picture!
Grandma with her girls.
Meanwhile, Patrick made a "trap" by balancing his giant stick on a tree limb.
Sleeping together in one hotel room was interesting.
Juliet was way too excited by the change in sleeping arrangements so she played around a ton and finally went to sleep an hour past her bedtime.
Meanwhile, we discovered that Patrick had poison ivy from a park outing a few days before so he had to sleep on the floor. This meant Bradley and Eleanor were together on the bed. Eleanor had a nose bleed in the middle of the night and both she and Bradley woke up around 4:30 and started talking and I had to tell them to go to sleep, it was nighttime. Juliet fussed and cried off and on from the middle of the night on. Then Bradley woke up at about 6:30 and started telling himself stories with shooting sound effects and trying to cuddle Eleanor too much, so I moved him to my bed instead. Juliet had woken up at 6:00 and Nathan had taken her out to the hotel lobby. I figure I literally got 2-3 hours of sleep that night. We're not going anywhere overnight again this summer.
However, we got some great pictures in the garden again the next morning.
No grandkids in this picture? Is this allowed?
Juliet discovered her first roly poly and this was her reaction.
Fortunately, Eleanor came along and Juliet was amazed at her bravery.
Bradley loved getting to make a dinosaur themed fairy garden with Grandma.
Jump rope, chalk, and bubbles to end our time there.
Car ride home. Wahoo!
More roly poly time.
We got out the wading pools and Addison and her step-sister Izze came over. If only Juliet got enough attention.
A nice perk of all the macarons is the extra frosting which goes into graham cracker sandwiches. It's our official pool snack of the summer!
Eleanor helped me take Meg on a walk to see if it would be worth getting an official cat stroller for our kitties.
Meg put in a strong no vote to this idea and yowled for the majority of the walk.
Trying out skateboards over at Addison's. Juliet is crazy about Addison and if we talk about her Juliet will yell "Adaaa!" and run over to look for her.
It might be mutual though. It's hilarious to receive texts from the neighbor girl where she has used snapchat filters on my baby.
We inherited a bunch of baby clothes that the neighbor girls had used on their dolls and the monster slippers fit Juliet perfectly.
We had our first piano recital! The kids did so well. Patrick was even involved because Eleanor taught him Hot Cross Buns the day before the recital.
Summer reading time can be too cozy sometimes.
Bradley and Juliet have been such great buddies lately.
My new favorite thing with Bradley is to have him cuddle and read next to me or play Star Realms on a tablet during quiet time.
Patrick helped me make chocolate mousse one afternoon.
Fun part of having three cats: when I furminate them we call all the hair we collect Fluffers, our new kitty. Patrick and Eleanor get really excited to make little balls out of the hair and carry them around.
Can you tell that the baby knows she is being naughty when she stands in the Barbie pool?
Bradley had a playdate with his friend Luca where they biked around the park together with walkie talkies, came back and had a squirt gun fight, and then played video games on the back deck. Juliet loved Luca.
Classy baby swimming pool.
We found a box turtle in our yard and Juliet about lost her mind over it.
Patrick had a very belated birthday party exactly two months after his birthday and he had four little girls over to play in wading pools.
The poop piñata we picked out for him. He was beyond thrilled.
Pinata time!
Cake time.
Eleanor got invited to the Creekside pool to swim with a friend so of course we brought Juliet along too. The baby was very popular.
Then we went home and had a water balloon fight with some water balloons Patrick got for his birthday.
We were also gifted a baby slide that Juliet adores.
Sometimes Eleanor is too nice for her own good.
Juliet's face when she's asking for something. She wants help getting on my shoes.
She loves to brush her own teeth now! Big girl!
We had popcorn and soda the other night and it seems we've been holding out on Patrick. He loves ginger ale and keeps asking for it now.
Yay Midwest. We get to rake leaves even in the summer. Good thing we have good helpers.
The darling children discovered that if you put chalk into water you could make a kind of colored paste to smear all over your body.
The end result! Yay ...
I had a lovely birthday. I started the day with coffee and pastries with Eleanor.
Then Bradley and I checkout a new little bookstore and stopped by the library to pick up all our books on hold.
Patrick and I went on a run together. It took about 20 minutes to go a mile, even with bits where we ran very fast, because we stopped to look at butterflies and pick flowers.
And Juliet and I had slide time.
In the evening Nathan and I went over to a Susan and Adam Krenn's house to play outdoor board games and have dinner. So fun!
They got a bunch of mini bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt cake for my birthday. Yay friends!
Juliet has been all about feeding the big kids lately. Bradley doesn't like germs so he is her least enthusiastic participant in the fun activity.
Eleanor and Daddy making French toast for Father's Day brunch! Yum!
Bradley made a board game and he loves making people play it with him.
At my parents' pool, eating the snack of champions.
Eleanor had a lovely 7th birthday, particularly because we came through on the digital watch she had been begging for.
It has cute games where you have to run around in order to catch virtual monsters. It made our park outing very exciting.
How the stroller ends up being used. Shocker.
Then Eleanor and I went over to my parents' house for a very special afternoon making pizzelle cookies.
She beat Grandpa at a board game.
The bakers with our finished product.
Then we went home and I dyed Eleanor's hair two different colors with food coloring.
It turned out a little light but very pretty, we were both very proud of ourselves and want to dye it again soon.
Birthday dinner was Chick-fil-A and pizzelle cookies with ice cream and Nutella were a pretty amazing birthday dessert.
We also got a surprise package from Ms. Kathy at the UPS office! All the kids, but Patrick in particular, love making copies and getting colored paper from her when I have to go make an Amazon return. She hunted down our address and sent the kids a bunch of coloring pages. Amazing, just the sweetest gesture. I made sure I brought some of the pages Patrick had painted for her when I went to the UPS store a week or so later.
We can finally go on playgrounds again, they lifted the official ban. Juliet is so happy about this.
However, then I remember what my kids are like at the park and I'm kind of okay with not going again.
Swings are more my speed.
And we even got in some afternoon baseball one mild evening.
We broke out the Let's Go Fishin' game for Juliet and she is a big fan.
We got to meet a friend for coffee because I was inheriting diapers from her daughter who is 5 months younger than Juliet. Juliet is so tiny. Juliet was also less than dazzled with a new baby friend, the pandemic has not been great for her people skills.
Cute picture with my baby!
We went blueberry picking as a family one very hot Friday morning.
Bradley got hot after about 15 minutes and wanted to go home but we put him on baby duty and this resulted in a very happy baby and big brother.
Addison and her step-sister Izze came with us too. We had quite the crew.
And Nathan took the morning off to join us! It was so nice. But very hot.
Juliet soon figured out how berry picking worked and was very dedicated to grabbing any berries, ripe or not, and throwing them into a bucket.
Family photo!
Buddy time. Juliet was so busy and so happy.
Meanwhile, I got a new shirt and took a picture to celebrate how awesome it is.
Eleanor's outdoor birthday party went great, she had a really fun time.
Bradley really likes when Eleanor has friends who have big brothers his age. Grant is a friend from school and he played video games with Bradley during the party.
Eleanor's unicorn piñata.
Juliet was very busy at the party and ate any candy which was left unsupervised.
Nathan gets some serious street cred for making tailgate style video games happen in the back of his car. I wanted him to get an adapter for his old tv to make this work but it turned out a new tv was only $125 so that's what he got on his Walmart run 30 minutes before the party.
Eleanor's beautiful mermaid scale ice cream cake! The poor woman at Dairy Queen had to work very hard to hunt down the special cake siding to make this, we texted back and forth quite a bit. People here are so nice.
New birthday dress and choker necklace, so fancy!
And it turns out maybe Juliet wouldn't be so little if we fed her proper things. She loves to shove entire pastries in her mouth.
And look at this post bath baby who is actually wearing a towel. Usually I pull her out of the bath and she runs naked down the hall as fast as she can. She thinks it's hilarious and it's lucky I agree with her.
Video dump at the end of the post! Enjoy!
Poor Juliet falling on repeat.
Juliet reading.
Bradley and Patrick had to make up a skit for cub scouts.
Juliet kisses now. A bit of tongue is involved.
Standard day. Mom. Mom. Mommy! Mom.
The kids love Juliet kisses.
And this is what happens around here when the baby cries too much. Poor kitties.
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