Multi-tasking

So, I was at the post office today picking up a package (that I had never received any sort of notification about - lame!). I was signing a receipt while holding Caleb by the arm with my left hand, blocking Elinor from falling off the counter where she was sitting, and calling out to Emily who was across the room. The man behind the counter smiled at me and said, "Who said women couldn't multi-task?".
Yeah, really... who said that? Does anyone say that?
Even with everything else that was going on, that was what I had rolling around in my head for the hour after leaving the post office.

Olympics!

So I have this sort of crazy awesome friend with endless energy and big ideas. She loves the Olympics and decided we should celebrate the opening ceremonies (and her birthday) with a mini-Olympics for the kids. We ended up with three families and nine kids - 6 of age to compete - and some pretty exciting games.

OPENING CEREMONIES

Caleb liked using his torch as a trumpet.

marching boys.

 THE GAMES
They did some balance beam balancing...

and tricky tricks.

Then we had a complicated relay involving balance beams, water balloons, bean bag tossing, and balloon popping (via compression by little kid tushie). The kids loved this.

Lining up to go. Divided into teams by family.

To the water balloon station.

Across to the beanbags.

Caleb's first attempt.

He was all about accuracy and endeavored to utilize any advantage available to him... including standing right in front of the board and dropping the beanbags through the holes.  Emily, on the other hand, was all about efficiency and tossed her handful of three all at once.

Balloon popping. No lightweights in this family! I think this was the only shot I got of this part because they always popped it first try.

We filled buckets with cups of water next.

Then there was discus making and throwing, but I ran home for refreshments so didn't get any pictures.

Next up was hurdles. They raced by age.

Here are Caleb and Will.

And Ben and Emily. These guys were fast! I only managed to snap one picture.

CLOSING CEREMONIES

 All to appropriate music, of course.


 and the refreshments.

Amazing cookies made by Reianna.

I made some Olympic torches and a flag fruit tray.

I did not think the kids would eat all that cheese - it was almost a pound of mozzarella! But the tray was empty by the time we got back home.

Here is a better view of those cupcake torches out of the bread pan.

 The kids had a blast even though the humidity was pretty bad. I have to admit, the next morning I woke up feeling like I was the one who had run all those races. The kids are none the worse for the wear though.
What a fun day! Thanks, Reianna and Cassie!

Happy Birthday Emily!

Today was Emily's fifth birthday. Most of this girl's games consist of pretending it is someone's birthday or Christmas, wrapping presents, and then handing them out. Needless to say, she has been looking forward to this day, her REAL birthday, for a long time.
After a late night, Emily and Elinor woke bright and early ready to party.

Unfortunately, Caleb decided to sleep in an extra hour, so Emily practiced being patient for a while. She spent her time decorating with Joseph.

Streamers in the kitchen, balloons in the living room, and Emily's special touch for the clock.

When Caleb finally did wake up, Emily found herself with eager helpers in the present-opening process. She was thrilled with everything she got.

A little puzzled by this Mini-Wheats box (she figured out that the actual present was inside). I loved hearing her later on in the day exclaiming, "These are the best presents EVER!"

She calls herself Dr. Tiana in this game because she knows she is not a real princess, so she can't be Princess Tiana.

Emily helped decorate the cake with a rainbow of Skittles and marshmallow clouds. She recently learned the order of colors in a rainbow and loves to draw them and talk about them.

 We had a few friends over tonight to eat cake with us and celebrate Emily. We tried to make it clear to Emily that this was not a birthday party, just a fun evening with friends. Afterward, Joseph and I found ourselves wondering where the line is though. Hmmm.

The inside of the rainbow cake. I would have been way too intimidated to try this if my friend Jenn hadn't mentioned that it's one of her family's favorites. It was easier than I thought and I was grateful that it actually stayed together and looked sort of how it was supposed to.

Tired, tired Elinor.

We love our Emily. It is a hard job to be the oldest kid in a growing family, but she is learning and getting better at it every day. I am excited for the new things that she will get to do this year as a big five-year-old and I feel privileged to be along for the ride.
Happy Birthday, Emily!

Summer

My days have been good since Monday. I wanted to post some random pictures today. I was excited when I sat down to upload the pictures that I had 45 in the file. Then I realized 41 of them were from Monday while Caleb was "napping" in my bed. Most look something like this:

Em put this sign up on her door a month or two ago. I thought it was pretty cute. Caleb added the Target dog.

Then, a couple of days ago she drew this dividing line in chalk. We read a book (Ivy + Bean) where a girl's room is divided into smaller "rooms," each with a designated purpose. Emily really wanted to do that, but it's harder when you share a room with two younger siblings.

I like how she wrote both names out from the center line.

We have been swimming almost daily this summer. Emily is a little fish and loves swimming all over the place. Caleb started out terrified of getting water anywhere near his face or head. His first session of swim lessons were sort of a bust. They got him thinking about it though, so this session has been much more successful. Just within the last couple of days he has started going under the water. He is one proud little boy!
I haven't taken any pictures since he started the new swim class, but here he is with his friend William and the teacher of the class that he finished. He did not deserve that certificate. :)

We went to a nature night about snakes this evening. It was pretty neat, but I have to say, probably the best thing about it was that it was late so I made all three kids take a nap earlier in the day. I felt so rejuvenated after those couple of hours of sleeping kids! The kids seemed happier afterward too.

Good old HEBuddy. That suit had to be pretty miserable in the heat.
Good thing it's a permasmile because I'm sure whoever was inside was not smiling.

All three little monkeys.

I do love summer. I can't believe Em starts kindergarten in a month!

One of those days

Today was one of those days...
A sample lady at the grocery store commented that I (and my nine-month-pregnant belly) looked like I could use some wine.
A passer-by suggested offering it to the kids instead.
I normally would have been offended, but I couldn't help but silently agree.

Thankfully, days come to an end. The kids went to bed at 7:30 and I was asleep within ten minutes of that.
Good thing I get another chance tomorrow!

Corpus Christi!

This week we were excited to go to the beach for a couple of days. The kids have been looking forward to this trip all summer, so it was a big deal when it was finally time to go. "A trip to the beach" has been the theme of all their games since we got home.
Anyway, we were able to stay in a condo right on the beach, which was super nice. It was also Elinor's first time experiencing the sand and the waves and she loved it. The weather made me nervous a couple of times but it never rained and it was always warm, so it was good.
One thing I love about the beach is that there is something for everyone to do. Everyone had their own projects.

Father-son collaboration

Filling this old bottle was vitally important to Miss Emily.

El worked at various projects.

Sisters working together. Love El's tongue here.

All three at work in the quarry.

A lovely picture taken by Joseph, the light-sleeper and early-riser.

"Can we stay a little longer please?!"

A fun end-of-summer trip before the baby comes and school starts and life gets crazy again!

To be a pioneer

You don't have to push a handcart or leave your family dear, but it might be fun to make your own butter.  

For singing time, we brought a bunch of baby-food jars, some cream, and some rolls.  While singing pioneer songs, the kids shook the jars of cream.  We dumped the butter into this country crock container.

We ended up with a lot more than I expected.  It was fun, and the kids sang well.  Then we all had rolls with butter.  The idea came from sugardoodle.  It was a lot better than my idea of doing stick pulls and lighting fires with cow chips.