First let me re-cap our day. We were pretty busy for the most part. I got up and got everyone fed and ready so we could meet some friends on the East side of town to play at a park. The kids had fun, it was a beautiful day–warm and sunny, but still a nice breeze.

We came home and jumped on our usual routine–lunch, and then nap for the boys. (Or rather, the nap that wasn’t really a nap as both boys had slept the last 10 minutes of the ride home–thus re-energizing themselves enough that they would not sleep again). While the boys napped (er… hung out in their cribs making noise, playing and intermittently fussing), the girls and I had some fun dying play silks with Kool-Aid. (Playsilks: think silk scarves used in play–they are really quite fun and can be anything from dress up clothes, baby blankets, dancing props, picnic blankets…whatever). The girls had a blast with that project and even more fun playing with them once they were dry. They are still playing with them this morning and are very proud that they put the color on themselves (they were white to begin with). Once we got the boys up, and snack was eaten, we sunblocked up again and sat by the pool. That sound so much more glorious than it really was (well, for me anyway). The kids had a fabulous time in the kiddie pool. I had fun playing lifeguard :) After a couple hours, it was time to go in, get dry and start dinner.

Dinner was delicious–we made one of my favorite dishes: Apricot-Ginger Glazed Salmon. So simple, yet so yummy. Even the kids will eat this one–and all of them are very fussy about which meats they will eat, and how they are prepared.

After dinner we split into teams. There was much sunblock and sand to be washed off of the 4 small people in our charge. It was boys against girls- Adam bathed the boys in one bathroom, I bathed the girls in the other. The boys were done first (they don’t have all that hair to wash! Nor all the pretend play that seems to happen whenever these 2 girls get together). Once everyone had hair combed and were properly jammified, the 2 teenies went to bed, and we set the girls up with popcorn and a movie. Finally, the man and I got to relax for a while. The girls really didn’t need us much while their movie was on, but once bed time hit, I knew any relaxation would be over. The teeth were brushed, the tucking was done. A slipped out with a goodnight and wandered back downstairs (with monitor in hand because I knew they would need a little bit of “supervision”). I sat down in my chair, with a sigh, and flipped on the monitor.

Yes… Let the giggling begin.

There were no less than 10 treks made up the stairs by us (mostly me) in the next hour. There were tiffs to mediate, shushing to be done (Lidia’s room borders the boys room on one wall, and they were getting loud enough that they were waking the boys), and drinks of water to be gotten.

There was much giggling to be done, in proper little girl fashion. Of course, I expected this, and it did make me smile, fondly remembering my own sleepover days. After that hour, suddenly things became quiet and we knew that the exhaustion of the day had finally caught up with them. So they were asleep by 10:30–earlier than I had expected, really. Lidia is a master at keeping herself awake, no matter how tired she may (should) be.

I was hoping after this late night, they would sleep in–not so much luck, on Lidia’s part anyway. Lidia was up watching t.v. when I got up at 7:30 to get Liam up. Gavin slept til almost 8–Naomi, until at least 8:30 (I believe Lidia may have suck in and woke her up when I wasn’t looking).

All in all, however, it was a successful sleep over. Lidia had her usual melt down once or twice, but she is 4. What can I expect, really? She isn’t all that used to someone being here full time, getting into all her stuff (the stuff in her room that the boys aren’t allowed to touch).

Today, I’m hoping to take it a little easy and get some things done in the house (though that will be hard with the weather being so nice outside!)

I’ll leave you with a couple pictures from yesterday.

3 of the 4, enjoying the pool–Liam really preferred to splash from outside the pool…

Gavin loved being in the pool with the girls…

Liam stayed in the shade, a lot, too, so it made it hard to get any good shots of him…I guess he’s all about sun protection ;)

Awwww… BFF?

We’ll start with the Princess, since she’s the eldest.

She had a grand time collecting dandelions…

But there’s always time to monkey around…

Next in the birth line is Gavin (still my Peanut Butter)

He finally figured out how to make the dandelions work…

But not without a few mishaps…

And last but not least my lil’ Jelly, Liam gives the dandelions a try…

But moves on to rocks and sticks…

This weekend we journeyed to the pumpkin patch for a little fall fun. The Grents went with us, as did 3/4’s of the Tanck family. A great time was had by all–so much that Lidia just couldn’t handle it anymore. By the time we got home, Lidia was a total mess. This year we went to Schuster’s Playtime Farm, different than the place we had gone to the previous 2 years. They had this little barnyard area with some animals, a fort, some little sheds turned into themed play houses, slides, tires to climb on, a giant roller slide… Plenty or things to wear out the mini-people. They even have a little animal “train” (the engine looked a bit like an ATV ;) ) the kids could take a spin on. Of course, there was the traditional hayride to the pumpkin patch and the picking of the pumpkins. I genuinely enjoyed myself and I think everyone else did, too.

I’ll post a few pictures to be enjoyed here, but the rest can be found in the gallery.

The last weekend in July, we headed off to see the Michigan family. We had a great time. Lidia especially enjoyed swimming in my sister’s pool with her cousins. We even got the boys in there, their first swimming experience. At first they were unsure, but after some time they relaxed. The weather was beautiful, we had a baby shower for my niece, and we even took the family out geocaching. I think it’s safe to say at least some of them are hooked! I’ll share one, but you can see more pictures in the gallery (a sub album of the Michigan Family album)…

Of course, I get a great picture of one boy and his brother’s in the background with his finger in his nose… Boys!

Also in the past few weeks, the guys have learned many new tricks! They both figured out how to put themselves into the sitting position from their belly–something that has made them quite happy. They learned this one day apart, too–first Liam, then the next day, Gavin did it. As shown in the previous videos, Liam also went from crawling backwards to crawling forward (and on all 4’s–not the army crawl). He’s a little shaky still, but he certainly gets where he is going. Gavin has also begun crawling on all 4’s, rather than his initial “army crawl”–which was quickly followed by the ability to pull himself up to his feet on the furniture! The video posted previously is only the 2nd time he managed to get to his feet. He did this as we were preparing to leave for Chicago for a family wedding. The guys are also eating mostly table foods with us now. They still eat some baby mush, but for the most part they are gumming away at our foods and loving it. Sometimes it takes a lot of energy to gum down all that food, as you can see from my Peanut Butter’s sleeping, messy face.

Last Wednesday, we went to Olbrich Gardens for their annual “Blooming Butterflies” event. We had a great time spotting the lovely butterflies and plant life, along with the various waterfalls and large pond Koi. Inside we were able to view the butterfly hatcheries and watch butterflies in chrysalises and brand new butterflies taking their first flight into the garden. Lidia remembered the “Butterfly Lady” from last year and was disappointed that the same lady was not greeting guests in her beautiful butterfly attire on this visit. We took a small stroll outside, too. I had not actually walked around the outdoor gardens before. They are breath-taking! I would love to go back some time just to enjoy the outdoor gardens.You can find an album with many pictures from our visit in the gallery.

This past weekend we took a small trip to the Chicago area to attend the wedding of Adam’s cousin, Robb. We headed down Friday night, so as not to be rushed on Saturday morning–a wise decision. We were able to do some relaxing and swimming in the hotel pool on Friday night–the boys’ 2nd swim experience. They seemed to enjoy themselves once they relaxed. Lidia–The Fish–loved it, of course.
The wedding was at a neat little church in the Ukrainian village area of Chicago. It was a lovely wedding and reception. We had a nice time! Worth the trip. My one regret was that in all the rush and such, I did not get a good picture of all 3 kids in their sweet formal attire. They were just adorable! I find that I have so many babies in my hands, there just doesn’t seem to be room for the camera, too! I did get some shots, though. I will share a couple here, but the rest can be found in–you guessed it–the Gallery!
By the way, Congratulations Robb and Theresa!! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us!

Lidia thoroughly enjoyed her first Kiddie Cocktail–and her first taste of soda (to my knowledge). She probably won’t taste it again for a long long time–but it was a special occasion, after all.

Liam was Mr. Grins all through dinner. He would get this look on his face every time I showed him pictures on the screen of the digital camera–it was quite funny.

Poor Gavin just didn’t have it in him to stay up and party past bed time. He just went to sleep instead.

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