The other day I went to sit by the pool to eat a popsicle and lucky me, I didn't have to be lonely.
It's particularly hilarious with my mom because she doesn't invite the attention, she's definitely more of a cat person, but she's nice and will give Callie some gentle pets if she's nearby and that's good enough for Callie.
Juliet loves oreo desserts and we love watching her eat them.
But we prefer to be in on the climbing action.
Juliet still insists on climbing up and down and refusing to use the belay, but she's a good little climber and has fun so it's all good.
I left them unsupervised with my phone while I went to the bathroom.
Terrifying.
The climbing duo!
Eleanor wanted to show me a fancy trick. Once you're in a rock climbing club you do all sorts of fancy moves.
We were very impressed by Eleanor over in the bouldering area.
Proof that I was there. I still like climbing but I don't think I want to climb the 50 ft wall anymore. It's just so high.
We even did a fancy dinner treat because it was a celebration event of girl time.
Good news, it was yummy enough.
Patrick went to a rather chilly pool party the next morning for his friend Timmy. I think it was in the low 60's but they had just finished their pool and were excited to try it out.
I'm told he swam for about 20 minutes and then got out and ate a ton of pizza and treats. Great success.
Then he had to race off for a couple lacrosse games.
He played really well this season, we're really glad he's been enjoying it so much.
Followed by a sleepover with Juliet! They made it through the night which was excellent. More recent sleepovers with these two have not been as successful.
On Monday I took Juliet to the zoo.
We hadn't gone together in almost two years so it was great to get to check things out again with a big five year old!
We got to see the new aquarium, which is very nice but small and we're a little ruined after going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
That said, Juliet didn't really care about anything but the gift shop and got herself a really fun bubble toy that she dropped within five minutes of purchasing.
We made it to Eleanor's school strings performance.
Juliet and Eleanor and bun bun afterwards.
Wherever I am, Callie is also. She was beyond delighted when I decided to lay down on the couch for a rest one afternoon. Usually I pick going upstairs to the kitties. Callie needs cuddles too it seems!
Juliet has had such a great year at her preschool. I made sure I downloaded a bunch of the photos from the preschool app before the school year ended.
I was so grateful whenever I saw pictures like this. Zero desire to do this at home. But Juliet was so happy.
The big talent show performance! I think it went even better than the tryout and the crowd got into the We Will Rock You bit and I could see Eleanor was smiling.
Happy crew afterwards! Patrick was so nice and supportive even though he was crushed that his piano performance of Peaches wasn't picked. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was because he had his friends do it with him. He was amazing on his own playing the piano and singing along but then they had a weird little puppet show fight with stuffed toys on the side because I couldn't talk them into doing anything different. Oh well! We'll chalk this one up to a life lesson.
There was great excitement after school when we came home and discovered a turtle had invaded our backyard! Callie bravely barked at it a bunch. So much bravery.
And Eleanor had her final swim meet at Goldfish swim school! It's been a great place for her but she seems to be aging out and I'd like for her to be at a place where they at least dive into the water for races. It's looking like we'll have her and maybe Bradley on the swim team at the Jewish Community Center in the fall.
She did well and Patrick was so proud of her.
Bradley was over at grandparents for a sleepover so this was the swim meet crew. And Nathan too! We were all very proud of Eleanor.
The next morning Nathan and I got in our 13 year anniversary date. We wanted to go to an art museum and out to lunch at the plaza but child sports conspired against us so we did a nice little walk around the Arboretum instead first thing in the morning. Followed by brunch!
The Arboretum has gotten fancy but fortunately so are we!
Juliet's first t-ball game! It was so much fun to watch. She only tried to run the wrong way around the bases once but then she was good to go.
Standard stance when fielding.
Afterwards I asked her what her favorite part of the game was and she said "hitting the ball." I asked, "And running around the bases?" She informed me that no, she only liked the hitting part and the running part was in fact quite tiring. And fielding was super boring and she hated it. It was at this point I decided to start bringing treats for after the games. I'm beyond thrilled, I want her to have had a baseball experience and then never do it again. We're hoping for the same kind of experience with soccer. Fingers crossed!
Grandparents came and thoroughly enjoyed sports with no stress. Many points to my mom for hemming Juliet's shirt a bit shorter for after this game.
Proud parents! All the other kids were there but they mostly played on the playground and we're not sure they watched any of the game besides one or two of the times she was at bat.
We're going to be getting a lot of Eleanor and Maya time this summer. They can play nicely in the pool for hours.
It's slightly different when Patrick has a friend over. Austin lives down the street and they've been having fun swimming together too.
And I had about the best Mother's Day ever. We had a nice family swim and then everyone played a game of Qwixx together. I've decided to put the board game website on hiatus for a bit and it's actually been really nice because we're just playing old favorites. And we've never done a family round of Qwixx before this, usually I'm pestering people to try out a new game with me. Being able to play an old favorite as a group is a new experience for us! Turns out it's very fun.
My parents gave me some boxes of old photos to go through which was medium traumatic but I think I've thrown away at least 90% of the photos from my awkward period that spanned for most of my teens, so that was nice. But there were some cute pictures from my first digital camera. I think it cost $400 and was a 4 megapixel camera. Amazing.
Senior year homecoming pictures. I did save a few of these.
I volunteered for the coldest field day ever, which was fantastic. I finally wasn't worried about the kids getting heatstroke as they ran around.
Eleanor's friends were all cute.
Hanging out with Patrick and his buddies was a little different. But also adorable.
Tuba Bradley, three in from the end!
Bradley was excited to show off how he could make mug cakes thanks to his home ec class at school. I got out the ingredients and he took care of the rest!
Patrick is a genius and was able to reverse engineer the intimate folded notes that we found in my boxes of old photos and high school memorabilia and so he's been folding all sorts of things for people.
Juliet thought that was wonderful and he got some impromptu hugs.
Then later that evening Eleanor and I had to go retrieve Juliet after she fell out of a neighbor's trampoline. We have more rules about trampolines now.
One of my favorite things about this house is that we get to see sunsets here.
The view from the master bedroom is pretty nice.
Layla loves it too.
I love it when we have slow mornings and the girls cuddle like this to wake up before Eleanor has to go to school.
Playing Jenga with my little blondie. Again, time for the old games again! So fun!
Eleanor had an art exhibit at school. Candy themed!
And another strings concert. This was the day we had Patrick lacrosse, Bradley tennis, Eleanor strings concert, and Juliet preschool graduation. We were supposed to have Eleanor rock climbing as well but I switched that to Tuesday. May events can be intense.
And then it was time to be off to Juliet's graduation. They did pictures beforehand so the kids just had to wear a nice outfit and a little graduation cap for the ceremony.
The performance part of the program.
Getting her diploma
Her girl squad!
Eating treats with Daddy
Eleanor was thrilled about the graduation cap and Juliet generously offered to lend it to her for her own graduation the next week.
With Abigail, her bestie.
The whole class together. It was such a tiny class, it was a pretty amazing preschool experience. Very different from Bradley and Eleanor's at Awesome Kids where it was more of a pack them in mentality and there were at least 16 kids in their 4 year old preschool class.
Earlier that day having popsicles.
The next day Juliet celebrated by helping Grandma make cake pops as a practice run for Eleanor's birthday party.
They turned out great but they are very sweet and Eleanor said she might rather have regular blueberry muffins as her birthday treat. Which is unorthodox but fun and we're going with it! It's a pool party so there will also be ice cream and popsicles, I think muffins as the main birthday treat is a great idea.
Our friend's dog Ralph got out the other day and had a merry frolic with a delighted Remy and Callie. We returned him safely home and it cracks me up that even after making friends with Callie he still loudly barks at her every time we walk by on our way home on a walk.
Patrick had his final lacrosse championship game of the season while Grandma Colleen was visiting. His team played really well but lost in the first game, which was actually a blessing because if they had won too many games they would have screwed up our brunch plans for Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Grandma Colleen and Eleanor were at Juliet's t-ball game.
We brought treats for Juliet's game and morale was much higher.
I hung ou in the backyard afterwards and good news, I wasn't lonely.
Grandma Colleen had a lot of fun swimming with Juliet!
And my folks came over with Ethan for swim time. Katie came with Aunt Stephanie later the next week.
I got to go over to my parent's house to play Azul Summer Pavilions with my folks and Daniel and we were very fortunate to have a lot of assistance from little Ethan. Patrick was supposed to be entertaining him but the game took a while and then Ethan decided he really liked the pieces we were playing with ... it was a whole thing. But look at how cute he is!
Meanwhile, the girls watched a movie with Grandma Colleen and a tired Juliet may have had too much fun in the sun this day.
She woke up for bedtime stories with Grandma.
Patrick has been really into reading Where the Sidewalk Ends and he and Grandma Colleen had a nice time reading poems to each other.
Grandma brought Patrick a project he was sure to enjoy. All the state quarters! She didn't give him a complete set so he still has a few quarters to find but he's very excited to be on the hunt.
Then we had fancy Sunday morning brunch at Pinstripes, much to the delight of all.
Chocolate fountain!! Was this the reason we chose Pinstripes? Absolutely!
The crew during brunch.
Outside climbing around on the rabbit statues that were hot to the touch. They invented an athletic challenge because there is no other way with these two.
Cute group photo with Grandma Colleen by the fountains outside Pinstripes! It was a nice visit.
That afternoon Juliet was one of three hardy children who made it to a very toasty practice for softball.
But I mean, you see this and you think "tough stuff!"
I love her batting stance.
The next day was Eleanor's 5th grade graduation. She got to make a speech!
And she was voted most likely to design an app, although neither of us is particularly sure why. But she's smart and a problem solver, so perhaps that's why? Regardless of the reasoning behind it she was very happy about the recognition.
I even got her flowers because I was super fancy this time. She was so delighted and surprised because she knows that is not the norm.
Patrick got to get out of his class for the morning to watch the ceremony. He was very proud!
Grandma got to be there too! Grandpa was home with a fever. It seems little Ethan brought a few germs with him when he came to visit.
Me and Nathan by our lovely graduate!
5th grade lunch bunch. They got Chik-fil-A which was quite fun.
And then they got to go to Top Golf! Eleanor had never been before and I wasn't sure how much she would like it. She loved it and begged for us to go back so we made a family outing there the next week!
Meanwhile, Nathan got some help with pool maintenance.
A lovely afternoon swim with wrestling boys in the water. If you look closely there is joy on Patrick's face.
I had a nice Deanna Rose morning with Juliet and we met up with her friend Caroline. Juliet is starting to fit into some of my favorite outfits that Eleanor used to wear. I love the little coordinated shirt and skirt sets!
Juliet with Caroline and her sister Abigail and their Aunt Debbie
We stumbled across the end of an opening celebration for a new barn and scored some delicious treats!
Hay ride! I do not recommend doing this in shorts.
The pool has already made the move to this house so worth it. We're often able to get a crew of neighborhood boys in the pool although it often turns into a wrestling match over the basketball.
And then Katie showed up! There was much cousin joy.
Katie played at our house for one afternoon and these twisty stick toys were the hit of the day. Grandpa Dan got them for us a few years ago and they are still one of the kids' favorite toys.
Bradley came over and showed the girls how to make a few things.
So much fun on the way to pick up Patrick and Eleanor from school!
Patrick is supposed to be in charge of recycling but if there's a really good box he will use it for a bit before it's recycled. I can't believe the two girls fit in this box.
Callie got a bit worried when there was so much screaming so she came over to check on the girls and give them some reassuring kisses, which only resulted in more screams.
Then the girls chased Callie around and played keep away with her favorite soccer ball and Callie was deliriously happy about the entire situation.
The girls wanted to dip a toe in the pool and they informed me they wouldn't swim but they would be more comfy in swimsuits.
This took place about ten minutes later. With my permission. The pool is too exciting to not swim around in.
My parents took them to the zoo.
And Juliet went to Scheel's with Ethan on one of the days Katie wasn't around.
And here are some end of season lacrosse pictures of his team. It was a very good season.
Juliet wrapped up gymnastics, thank goodness. She was actively complaining every time she had to go for the last few sessions. I'm at the point where I'm relieved every time we eliminate a child activity!
There was an end of school year bouncy house celebration at one of the neighbor's houses and Bradley was good enough to try to give Eleanor a piggy-back ride over there when she said she was tired. But it turns out Bradley is boney and it hurt to be given the ride so she ended up walking after all. So brave.
And Maya is already spending a fair amount of time at our house, she and Eleanor are great pool buddies. I'm just so happy about this pool. It's amazing.
We still went down to Linn Valley over Memorial Day Weekend! Patrick and Nathan woke up early to go down for the fishing derby.
Patrick caught a few fish and had fun but wasn't the winner this year, which is just fine.
Then we went down to Linn Valley to meet up with Nathan and Patrick. Juliet and Patrick had a blast planting "seeds" on our lot.
And then we met up with the Rutherfords and Svabs at the beach area of the big lake and Patrick and Juliet had a great time playing in the sand with them. Bradley and Eleanor didn't do anything the entire time we were there, they sat in shade and read through a big pile of books. We're going to have to adjust some of our Linn Valley plans if we want everyone to have a good time there. I'm thinking more mini golf and playgrounds and going out to lunch somewhere fun. I'm working on it.
And then I hustled home with the older two and dropped them off so Juliet and I could go to yet another birthday party for her friend Aria over in Belton Missouri. Quite a bit of driving for us this day. But I really love this friend and we were glad to get to go to the party.
The rest of the weekend felt super restful after all this. Some nice pool time with a shark fin we were gifted by the neighbors.
Eleanor and I went shopping afterwards and she tried to talk me into these cups with snack containers on the top at Walmart. They're amazing but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
And then the neighbors invited the kids over for a movie night - Ghost Busters! The kids loved it and again, just another wonderful thing about this new neighborhood. So many nice families, so many kids.
And good news, the Monday of Memorial Day Weekend we did in fact make it to Top Golf. But Juliet is silly.
With a very pleased Eleanor.
With my cute Bradley boy
It was a lovely time.
None of our kids really know how to golf but what is great about Top Golf is that doesn't really matter, they have so many little games and different holes to hit to that you can have a fun time no matter what.
Good news, Patrick figured out how to build a fort in the water.
Typical evening in the pool! We're loving it. It has already exceeded all of our expectations.
Patrick had a fun three days at Outdoor Education Lab (OEL) until we opted out of sending him to the final day of camp because he got so many ticks. As in, he was earnestly asking if he could ask the Guinness Book of World Records if he was the winner in this category. He picked about 15-20 ticks off himself at camp each day and then we would check him for more at home. I thought we were doing okay because he would hop in the pool after camp each day and surely that was taking care of the ticks. No. No it was not. I had Nathan check him over right before we were supposed to leave for a date on Thursday night and he found another 17 or 18 ticks, mostly tiny ones in his hair, but then Nathan decided to be thorough and do a prison style check on the poor kid. This was good, because there were two down in Patrick's private area. A few days later one bite spot had swelled up and Patrick was claiming that everything itched so I made an emergency appointment with the dermatologist, which turned out to be highly justified because while the tick bites were okay, he had poison ivy. And they were able to treat a few molluscum spots while they were at it. His legs were a mess of bumps and spots, it was very impressive. And to top it off, a few nights later I noticed a pink itchy area on my forehead - poison ivy. Children are just delightful, parenting is a joy at all times.
Juliet with her best buddies from her class, Abigail and Olivia.
Practicing her favorite song they were planning on singing at graduation.
I got to go to one of Patrick's lacrosse practices on a pretty perfect evening. I ran a couple miles around the track and then got to sit and watch big puffy clouds in a pretty blue sky while Patrick ran around on the field.
Turtles move surprisingly fast.
Her events were 25 Breast Stroke, 50 Free, and 100 Back. This was despite setting a record in practice for her 25 Fly. I tried to talk her into switching events for the meet with no luck!
I love this video because you think the teammate is going to tell her to stand up but then she joins her.
Cozy time watching a show after church. Eleanor was ecstatic that Meg was cuddling on her lap. Callie was desperate to be anywhere near her kitty buddy.
Fancy Juliet doing tricks with Daddy!
I think the favorite event was the 40 yard dash. The kids all raced. Patrick is very fast. I actually raced him too and I would like to note that I pulled back at the end and let him win so I wouldn't look like a jerk on field day. But I'm still faster than him. At the moment.
The best part was the 5th grade tug-of-war competition where they matched up the boys against the girls. The girls won! The screams of joy from all the girls from grades 3-5 were something to behold.
We went to Bradley's band concert that night and Juliet found some of Eleanor's friends who become her default new moms whenever they're around. We both love them.
I appreciate Juliet telling me about her "tells" in Rock Paper Scissors War.
Juliet and her friend Bo at the concert. They lived just up the street from us and we never hung out but now the kids get so excited whenever they see each other!
Getting ready in her classroom with her friend Olivia.
Singing the cute song Juliet had been practicing for a couple weeks.
Barely getting wet. Definitely staying on the top step.
Another day, more pool day for cool girls. I asked if they could do a cool pose for me and they obliged.
Patrick had a piano recital and got to play two songs, including Peaches!
Eleanor's 5th grade clap-out on the last day.
With all the other kids who did the derby.
Meanwhile, the rest of us based our day around Juliet's social schedule. She started out with a birthday party just up the street from our house.
At least he liked the camp. Got to fish and run around in a lot of tall grass while playing kickball and hide and seek. Shocker about the ticks.
Look at this cute girl at the dentist! She has a bunch of cavities it turns out. Whoops. It's her four molars in the back, they have all sorts of grooves in them so it's not too surprising I guess. Poor girly. We have a couple appointments scheduled to get them sorted out.
Then I had another amazing climbing day with the girls! We opted out of Eleanor going to her final class but wanted to take advantage of her last few days of having a membership so we could use a guest pass. Juliet got a lot more comfortable climbing this time and even tackled a bit of the big wall!
Proof that I actually climbed something.
My favorite bit was running into one of Eleanor's instructors who was teaching a summer camp of 16 kids on his own and he ignored all of them once he saw Eleanor because he was excited to have her show off a difficult route for them. We'll see if she rejoins the team at some point, it's been pretty great.
But the absolute best part of the outing was when we went to the bouldering area and Juliet discovered a route she was comfortable with and she was so excited to do it over and over again.
She loved it because she didn't have to climb back down, she just climbed all the way up and went over the wall. Eleanor helped her at the top each time.
Eleanor showing Juliet one of the blisters or calluses on her hand. I love how much these girls love each other.
Juliet's first blizzard! We couldn't believe she had never had one before. Maybe she has? But none of us could remember it happening. There was great joy over the blizzards.
The older two left with my folks for a trip to Branson for Silver Dollar City fun so we had a cozy morning playing games together.
Playing The Game of Life Goals together. Patrick was rather nefarious and kept playing mean cards on me and Juliet. But clearly he felt terrible about it.
Building a fort on a super rainy afternoon. This was the remains of a fort that caused a bit of neighborhood drama because Patrick, Gray, and Hendrick chopped down a few big bushes behind our neighbor's house for good fort material and the neighbor was very upset about it but didn't actually talk to us, they posted on the neighborhood Facebook page. It was a whole thing and we're having the boys replant some trees. Forts are in our backyard now and no cutting down live things to make them.
I was supervising the fort from here, with the assistance of Sookie.
Charleigh and Juliet had a craft filled afternoon.
And Bradley and Eleanor got to share the magic of Bucc-ees with my folks on the way to Branson!
My parents were quick converts once they realized the magic of Bucc-ees.
Cute photo from Fritz's! The kids had a wonderful trip with my folks.
Here is a bonus video of Patrick trying to get out of the pool without his feet getting wet. Pretty fantastic!
Video of the girls in action!
