Our new house came with lots of curtains, drapes, and valances. We are slowly removing them as we work on each room. The kids have absolutely loved the curtains in the kitchen. Because I have no vested interest in them, I have let the kids have free reign – even Kaitlyn.
Craftiness in the kitchen floor.
I rarely let Teague attempt to eat a “whole” apple (and instead cut up slices) because he can’t do it and then most of it gets thrown away. Today he definitely proved to me that he could.
Peek-a-boo.
Alex has been obsessed with diamonds lately. I’m not sure exactly where he got the idea. Sonic is always searching for emeralds, but Alex is truly focused on diamonds. He is always asking about mine or if he can have one. He wants to know how much they cost and where you get them. Then he asked if we could go to the places (mines) where you dig them. Today he wanted to draw a mermaid with a huge diamond on her finger. He did the basic drawing. Wade added some detail. Teague got the super special job of coloring the diamond – red, by Alex’s request.
Group drawing effort – of a mermaid with a huge diamond ring (Alex’s idea).
She likes chili!!
Wade went to Milwaukee for a Fantasy Football Draft. The boys and I decided to make brownies. Alex decided we needed Chef’s hats. This is what he came back with for each of us.
Daddy just thought he could take a nap on the floor.
The day she learns to open these boxes, I am really in trouble…
Daddy has the best projects.
Daddy has the best projects.
Kaitlyn thought about giving Reggie a pat.
Doesn’t everyone ride their tractor around with last year’s Halloween robot headpiece?
From what I understand, they were playing a version of “vet.”
Just waiting for dinner to finish grilling.
She’s up to something. I’m just not sure what.
Granny and Pop sent new books!
I’m guessing the real Superman could have reached the crane. Teague was so close.
Let me point out that she did this to herself.
Pros: She can’t stand up.
She can’t turn herself back around.
She never realized either of the above.
Cons: She can’t reach her food.
Wade and I are project people. We love working on houses and do best when we have a master list. (I think our KC house was the only year in our history of owning houses we didn’t have a cork board with paper squares of projects.) When we created our own personal system back in Anderson, SC in 2005 (see here) and it’s worked well for us ever since. When we sat down this week to start writing down projects on individual squares I also realized we are still using the same pad of paper from 2005 – it was a HUGE stack of paper and has served us well over the years! Wade made our current cork board in Anderson and it was the first thing we hung on the walls here in Barrington. Now we are ready to start checking projects off the list!!
The boys have a new video game and needed a little help on the hard part.
Wade thought it was funny the one second I chose to take a picture was the one he was playing and not the boys.
A bike definitely not built for two.
I give up! Don’t shoot!
She wants to be a big kid so badly.
I know for a fact that neither of my boys ever wore more than a single piece of clothing more than a single season. Kaitlyn doesn’t appear interested in growing at a rapid pace and is fine in most of the clothes she wore last spring.
Kaitlyn at 10 months. (9 month jeans and 12 month top)
Kaitlyn at 13 months. (same 9 month jeans and 12 month top – bow is slightly bigger)
Big brother Alex.
Monkey gets a ride.
Daddy’s girl.
Today all the neighbors (we have three families in a row with elementary age kids) met up at the beach. The kids even caught a frog!
Brothers are there to help you out of the water – even when they are the ones who caused the problem.
She’s a girl on a mission.
Surprise, Surprise. Kaitlyn doesn’t sit in her new highchair any better than than the hook-on chair, shopping carts, Granny’s high chair, restaurants, etc. I haven’t been using the 5 point harness simply because it’s another time-consuming step, but something tells me I should…
I’m not ready for the comic books yet.
Teague loved going to the beach with Leah while the big kids were in school.
I can’t turn my back for a minute…
Don’t tell Alex, but we went to the beach while he was at school. One of our neighbors is in kindergarten and they don’t start till next week. She and her friend invited Teague for an afternoon at the beach. The weather has been perfect and we had a wonderful afternoon.
First day of school. First grade!
This boy gets So excited about cheese. Today we found a HUGE block of Muenster at Sam’s club. He carried it the whole way home.
She discovered that the parking ramp has sounds. It’s now her favorite toy.
Alex had his first day in his third school in three years. (We are horrible parents.) He seemed excited to go and happy when he got home. (It probably didn’t hurt that our bus stop is basically a party stop. Having five kids in elementary school together is a lot of fun – next year it will be six!)
We tried out the beach with our neighbors today. The boys loved it want to go back tomorrow.
That sneaky nap struck again.
That look means time for a nap.
Our neighbors invited us to the neighborhood beach and we were so excited to try it out! The boys loved it. It’s tiny, but we had it to ourselves. The backdrop is gorgeous. There is a lifeguard there all summer and even a boat for the kids to use. (That was Alex’s favorite part.) Thankfully Kaitlyn was content to play at the edge of the water and in the sand. The big kids mostly played with the boat and the floating docks. My neighbor (Maria) and I got to sit and talk. Summer could stay just a bit longer.
I love to watch these two together. Kaitlyn and Iris both love baby dolls. The problem is they both really love Kaitlyn’s small baby doll. Sometimes it gets a little heated when a newly one year old and an almost two year old try to work out who gets the doll.
Meet the teacher.
I love that we have this window seat in our living room. Maybe in our long, long term plans it can become a bay window.
They look like they know exactly what they are doing, right?
I took the kids and headed to Milwaukee for the day. We spent the day at the pool and then I left the boys at Amber’s house to spend the night.
