Doing Summer

We've been doing summer a little differently this year.  Last year we spent several days each week at the pool in the mornings, and were outside playing constantly.  This year, with the arrival of Baby Sis, plus Miss having school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, swimming on Monday and Wednesday mornings, and our standing play date on Fridays, and with naps in the afternoons, well, we haven't been outside as much so far this summer (except for the two weeks we've spent at the Farm already, of course).  This summer we've been chilling out around the house a bit more when we are home.   

It's different, but still fun.  The big girls have taken to putting on their own dance parties.

The little baby play table next to Miss is what she was playing the music on.  My little budding DJ...

Lass initially just wanted to watch.

I won't dance.  Don't ask me.

But of course she started to get into the music before long.

And eventually really let loose.

Miss is really into playing her games and being crafty.

She and I made the "crown" she's wearing from rolled up strips of a Snow White page she colored and yarn.  The idea came from our summer babysitter, who brought over this craft and made necklaces with the girls one day.  Yep, I now have a babysitter who does crafts with the girls.  Her own crafts, that she prepares and brings with her.  And cleans up.  This is huge.  I love this.

Baby sis is just such a little lover.  She's the happiest little baby.

She has started to giggle a tiny bit.  Here is the progression of one of her giggles:

Miss takes an art class on Wednesday mornings before her swimming lesson.  Yesterday Lass and Sis and I  ran a few short errands and then sat outside and had a snack while waiting for her class to finish.

It was the perfect spot for a little snack picnic.

So far summer has felt very full.  Maybe it has been a little too full, with school and swimming and art and play dates and travel and all the other day to day stuff that has to fit in there too.  But it has been good.  Today was Miss's last day of school for the summer, so we will have a bit of time freed up for pool and park mornings or just playing outside in our own yard a bit more.  Tomorrow we leave for Kentucky to visit my parents.  My Grandma will be visiting them too, so we will celebrate her 90th birthday and have a family reunion this weekend.  I can't wait for her to meet Sis.  My parents haven't seen her since the week after she was born.  She's three months old today.

It's gonna be a great trip.

I Gotta Get Me One of These

And when I say "one of these," I'm referring to a huge, obnoxious trampoline to put in my backyard.  For my kids, of course.  Yes. For my kids.

During our recent weeks of traveling we spent some time with my sister-in-law's family.  They have a trampoline in their backyard (along with a pool and lots of chickens, it's like child heaven there).  The girls loved it.

They played "Monster" with my husband and his brother.

They jumped and jumped and ran and jumped some more.  They laughed and screamed a lot.

Miss made up a game called "Kitty-Cat-Cat Ball," which she played with her older cousins.  The rules according to Miss: "You throw the ball up in the air and try to catch it. And if you miss it, you have to do something else." Right on.

This was her proud pose every time she caught the ball.  I love, love, love this pose.  I just wish this photo would have captured the priceless look on her face too.

Her cousin was pretending to have trouble catching the ball.  Here she was telling him, "You have to keep trying.  I know you can do it!"

Add trampoline to the long list of things I once thought I would never do or buy for my children that I am now scrambling to buy and have rush delivered.  I don't know why I used to think I wouldn't get one of these.  It's great exercise.  The kids can be entertained for hours in there.  And with the zip-up safety cage around it, it's like the world's largest playpen!  Entertainment + Containment = LOVE

And who am I kidding?  I can't wait to get in and jump around myself too!

Braving the Pool

I took the girls to the pool this afternoon for the first time this summer.  It's pretty hot here, so I figured it would be a good way to get some outside time after naps (or non-nap in the case of Miss).  My husband had a meeting, so I braved the pool on my own.  Through having the girls in the water at my sister-in-law's in the past few weeks, we have learned that Lass is fearless when it comes to the water, so I was a bit nervous.  I figured we'd be okay though since the pool has zero-entry and I put a floatie on her.  At first it was super easy, and I wondered what I had even been nervous about.  Sis sat in her car

seat in the shade and Miss and Lass splashed around harmlessly in less that one foot of water, pretty much right by my feet.  Then a friend, who is about two months older than Miss showed up.  It was great for the girls to be able to play with her, but her arrival disrupted our little peaceful, safe, easy playing.  She and Miss immediately headed for deeper water ("deeper" in this case meaning one to two feet) and of course Lass went right along with them.  They were playing "horsey" on some of those pool noodles.  That, in addition to the slightly deeper water, was enough to throw Lass off her balance a bit, and twice I went running though the water and hauled her up after she lost her footing and went face first into the water.  With the noodle under her she couldn't quite get her feet back under herself.  After the second time, I had to call it quits for Lass for today.  I think I'm going to get a more substantial life jacket and maybe we'll try it again in a few days.  That girl freaks me out.  She's my little dare devil.  

I really would love to have some photos of our pool time to post, since it was mostly lots of fun and the girls were, naturally, oh so cute splashing around.  But between hawk-watching Miss and Lass, trying to keep the sun off Sis (she was perfectly shaded in her car seat, but then got fussy, so I put her in the Ergo), and making life-saving dives for my middle child, the camera never made it out of my bag.  So instead, I'll share with you a few of the photos from last week at the farm.

Of course my husband did tons of fishing and the girls were very excited to see some of the larger fish he caught.  No filleting this time, though.

Foos-ball-room for the princesses to dance in.

We had a very big and somewhat scary storm the last night we were at the Farm.  It blew up right around snack time, so we took our stuff to the basement for a picnic.  The girls seemed unfazed in spite of all the thunder and lightning, the 40-50 MPH winds, sideways-falling rain and hail. 

Of course we celebrated Father's Day morning at the Farm before heading home.  During the week prior to our trip, I had the girls make Father's Day paintings.  They painted canvases for their Daddy.

Then Miss did paintings on paper for my Grandpa, my Dad, and my Father-in-law (Lass lost interest after her canvas was done).  At the end as she was finishing up the painting for my Father-in-law, her Papa, she decided it would be funny to stick her face in the still-wet paint.

She seems to be our little budding artist.  She really loves to paint anything.  She got really into painting some gourds with my Mother-in-law when we were at the farm.  She seems to understand the power of art to make people smile too.  When she created her painting for my Grandpa she said, "I think this will make Great-grandpa happy."  Yes, I think so too.