Joyful June

 Adrian

Our poor little guy had a rough Thursday night because he had a low-grade fever and was miserable which broke my heart and made it hard to get him enough sleep. Luckily the rest of the week was great and he feels much better now! He had his first swimming day while the girls had swimming lessons and it was fun to see how he reacted to floating. I would hold his head and let his butt float and he was kind of surprised at first but after the 15th time started to get worried about it so I let him just enjoy the warm water. He had some good cuddles with his sister earlier today and I love seeing them want to sit next to him and love him.

Claire

Tuesday was the girl's first swim lessons and with how much they love swimming, I hope they learned something. They were able to explain some of the things the teacher taught them when Daddy asked how it was and one was jumping off the edge and quickly turning around to grab so they don't drown if they fall in. It was pretty practical so I'm glad they included that with the other things I saw, and they were extra happy we got to stay and play afterwards in the short pool. Claire was great at hitting the ball when they started practicing baseball with Daddy! They've done it a few times since I bought it for his activity boys' night so they like it and it's a good reason to get outside under our new patio cover. The boys put the plywood up on Friday night so we have shade for the day, but we have to wait on the roofing until next week. We will see if the girls will help me paint the wood...

Shay

Shay is not great at hitting the ball, but we love that she doesn't get discouraged and still wants turns and gets a hit now and again to be excited about! She didn't have goggles that covered her nose so I noticed her getting water in her nose and getting sad about it so we went to the store to get her a brand new pair of goggles. Made her feel pretty special and they like shopping with me because they get to see all the toys and start begging for them. There was a whole endcap full of different Barbies that they wanted to have...yay. I'm having a great summer with these girls most days because they have a very fun imagination that they share with me. I like that I've given them some good things to do like swim lessons, gymnastics class, homework, and reading so we can visit the library. Some days they read like 10 books!

Hot Summer Work

 Adrian

I thought people would enjoy seeing the view I get sometimes when I want to get ready any day Chris isn't around to hang out with Adrian and the girls don't want to play with Buttercup. They both want to be around me so they sit right outside my bathroom just waiting for me to be done. Adrian successfully had one long nap this week, which made me feel like I had too much time with the girls working on homework! I had to come up with other things to do to keep them busy like practicing their gymnastics and doing a really interactive circle time reading a book and asking them questions. I've played pick a boo with him for the first time and got him to laugh! I wasn't even fully hiding but would just look away and when I looked back it made him super happy! I love his smiley giggles when people pay attention to him because it makes him such a happy baby. Makes up for not wanting to be put to bed unless he is feeding. He does grab for things in front of him even by accident and will hold onto toys which makes the girls want to share with him.

Claire

Her dog obsession is back in full force because not only does she have so much fun with Buttercup running around the house and playing chase, but she has also asked to watch 101 Dalmations every chance she gets. It's been at least 3 times and she chose it for our date as well and then we found out that there are TV shows with the dalmation puppies. Super fun for her! 3rd tooth fell out this week, and she got a visit from the tooth fairy who came super early in the morning while she was sleeping in because she almost missed our house...They both wrote letters to tell the tooth fairy they loved her and she wrote back saying she loved them too. The magic is still alive and I didn't break her heart, but it was close. The goofy pictures still continue and they ask me to take pictures of them making funny faces. I'm glad I've been able to take them to the park every day and give them a happy summer, even though Claire has started to complain a lot when I tell her we need to do homework before they can watch anything. 

Shay

This week's was Shay's date with Daddy! I had got them a few outfits from a charity closet that was going on Saturday morning and she picked the outfit special. She also came home early so she could share her ice cream with Claire which makes the idea of having a date a little pointless, but they feel special so I guess it is good enough. She has some funny ideas these days and the free park lunches had some oranges for the first time so she had to play with them and give Claire the idea for orange smiles. She also draws so many things these days and is getting too good at being creative, I just love it. There were other toys from the closet that I brought home and finally got a very appreciative thank you from the girls when I shared the toys with them. It makes it worth it to hear them say thank you for things I get them. I think it was because they weren't at the store with me buying it for them that they said thank you, but it's just a hypothesis. 

Lots of other stuff

We had a BBQ with our church ward this week and enjoyed time getting to know people and good food! Adrian's bedtime is pretty early so we left when he started getting fussy but it was longer than normal because we had a few people who were enjoying his cuddles and cuteness. We also got to witness the strawberry moon that happened this last week! I thought we had missed it because the first night I heard it was happening it was already past the deep red and only a little pink but then it happened the next night too. The girls were already in bed, but I had fun. We are getting a patio cover! I doubt anyone knows how much I've been wanting one, but I am very excited and impressed that it is already so far along after only one day of Chris and his friends working on it. He has someone who started as a patient but became a friend who knows what he is doing in charge and making it look amazing. My contribution was making breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the guys and keeping the kids and puppy inside while they worked. I'll also probably be the one in charge of painting it with protectant and white paint to match the house.

Happy Father's Day!

  Chris

We started a new tradition this weekend with Chris taking the girls out on dates, Claire got to go first to an ice cream place in town. We told her about it in the morning and she kept asking all day if it was time yet, she was wearing the cute outfit she picked for the date all day and when Daddy was getting ready she told him to match her! I love that my family supports my desire to match enough to actively choose to match as well. Even today when Chris got to choose the dress each girl wore he picked all matching outfits! I can't believe I completely forgot to get a picture before they left, and I should have taken one at our movie date night with Shay, Adrian, Buttercup, and myself. I definitely feel blessed to have such a wonderful daddy for my children and I'm grateful to have his support in everything for our family. He works so hard and we all did our best to make his father's day special like cooking his favorite meals (crepes for breakfast and cordon blue for dinner), making special books from his kids, letting him pick what activities we did, and choosing our church outfits!

Adrian

What a cute little boy I have! He has started to squeak while he's talking and I don't know what it means...I know the tired sounds, the hungry frustrated sound, but these new sounds confound me so far. They just seem like he is testing out his voice box and doesn't need anything from me and it's so weird. He has his extra giggle moments and wakes up pretty happy most mornings, as long as I have fed him anytime after 3am. As long as his tummy is full, he is a happy boy. His tantrums do seem to happen right as I'm trying to cook dinner though, it must be the end of the day grumpiness and he doesn't want to be patient and wait anymore. Sunday's are nice because Chris can hold him while I cook, Claire and Shay get bored after 5 minutes or if he gets even a little fussy they don't know how to hold him to make him better. I can still distract him from crying if I give him my full attention between cooking but he laughs like he is worried and then goes back to grumpy as soon as I look away.

Claire

She came up to me randomly when I was blow drying my hair and asked if I could take a picture of her doing a face and you can see the face. She just wanted to see what she looked like probably, but it was really goofy. She is doing really well when we do homework together and I've noticed that some of the math they are trying to teach is annoying and unnecessary. I can appreciate they are trying to help students do some of the math in different ways or to help them eventually do the simple addition in their head but I don't like trying to force her to understand the ways they are trying to make her do problems that she can already do in her own way. So I've started crossing out some of the steps they want her to do that she doesn't know what to write and asked her to do the problem. I would rather keep math a happy experience and I don't like how I act when she gets it wrong over and over because the activity isn't a good one.

Shay

We were able to go to a splash pad that is right in town this week with some of our church friends and we love it! I had no idea we had one 5 minutes away and will probably start trying to go more often as long as Mommy remembers sunscreen! Both girls got a minor sunburn and we had to put aloe lotion on them. I was able to sit in the shade, but I will bring a place to sit in the future because it is cement in the only shade around! There is also a dog park that it would be fun to let Buttercup run around in because she needs to learn how to play with other dogs. I keep thinking how great it is that she wants to learn! We finished her big pre-K book and we have had the 'boring' writing practice recently so now I'm scrambling to think of math she can learn and more 'fun' homework. Earlier this week, she created her own math problems when she was doing her creative coloring and playing.

Summer in Full Swing

 Adrian

It has been just amazing to have him so wide awake and playful! He is almost 4 months old and is constantly smiling and giggling when we play with him or even look at him. He still resists staying in tummy time for very long but is getting used to going down for naps without having to be fed to sleep. He took his longest nap yet this morning and is back to getting at least one long 6-hour stretch of sleep at night. He had some shots this week and was a brave little boy being able to calm down with a hug and cuddle. He was grumpy the rest of the day, but is much better now and doesn't even remember it! I was surprised by my best friend who came to visit while she was in the area and left Adrian for about 2 hours for the first time! 

Claire

Now that we are getting out of the house for free lunches at the park every day, she is able to see some of her old friends from school and is really happy about it. She has seen someone every day and Shay is just as excited so I'm glad she isn't sad about it. We've even seen some church friends there. I usually have to bargain with them and tell them how many bits of their food they have to eat before they can go play. I know they won't eat it all, especially Shay, but I get them to at least eat a little of everything. We missed Monday because the weather was too rainy, and there was one day that it started to rain so we left early and went to the library. Other than that we stay there for a good hour and a half most of the time and Adrian is a good boy who naps or plays with me in the shade.

Shay

She had to get one shot when we went for Adrian's shots and she was really brave, especially since she got to have a really pretty bandaid! I love to watch her improve when we do homework together and she's going to be done with the book we've been working on soon so I'm brainstorming what else would be good to do to challenge her. We started doing circle time every morning so she can learn the days of the week, the months, and the seasons. I also got books from the library about shapes, rhyming, and telling time so we are doing a lot of things! Luckily they also have plenty of playtime and they come up with games to play together like Elsa and Anna, PJ Masks, and puppies...they invaded her space for at least 2 days with that game!

Hello June

Adrien

Summer is fully underway and we are getting down a schedule! I've been working really hard to get Adrien on a schedule so he will sleep longer and I can get more things done instead of being interrupted. He has very solid awake times because he is happy and so cute, but his naps are never more than an hour and a half! usually only 45 minutes though and it seems like I can't do a lot, but luckily he likes to sit in his seat and hang out with me while I finish things if he's fed and happy. The girls still like to play with him, but they often get distracted and won't sit with him the whole time I'm trying to do dishes or whatever chore I'm working on. Luckily they are understanding when I'm stuck sitting down and are patient when I say I will do something as soon as I'm done feeding him. 

Claire

I thought they would be driving me crazy by now, but they are playing together pretty well, and making sure they do homework takes up an hour of time in the morning. They have most of their toys down from the closets because they kept asking for them and cleaning up what I told them to clean up. I was surprised but we will see how long it truly lasts. Claire has lots of fun playing with Buttercup now that she is used to the safe games and is getting better at not biting. They like to run around and get chased more than playing with the toys, and then they get made when she catches them and jumps on them. I just keep trying to remind them that they need to have a toy to play with her instead. They do wear her out and want the games to keep going, but I know when she lays down during fetch she is done! We got to play with some cousins on our trip to Blackfoot this weekend, but it wasn't a very long time because Chris had a work thing on Saturday and we had to be back for work on Monday too.

Shay

Having her sister home to play with is great because she doesn't have to beg me to play with her when I have to take care of Adrien. Whenever they ask to play a game I always suggest a board game after they have done all their cleaning up and homework and a chore if I have one for them. Usually, the chore is putting laundry away, but I'm thinking about getting a mini vacuum downstairs since they aren't really good with the broom yet and Buttercup likes to eat crumbs. They found a slide on one of the rest stops we had on our way to Blackfoot yesterday and Shay is the one that reminded me to get pictures of them being cute. She asks me to take pictures of her when she holds Adrian and when she does funny things. I'm glad I have her so you guys get good pictures! I don't know if I need a full new section for Buttercup, but I tried my hand at grooming her and the girls liked to help when she was being blow-dried while I brushed her. She turned out pretty cute!