A few summer fun photos.

We took a break from our school books to spend a morning at the park and have a picnic.  It was HOT.

Because of the warmer weather, we've had some indoor playtime, too:

We had some great friends over to visit, and they brought popsicles!

The kids helped with some extra chores to catch me up.  Here's a good example of what that looked like:

Leonard helped me pull some (ENORMOUS!) weeds along the back fence,

where we found this completely stunning single rose.   We didn't even know it was back there.  It was hidden by 4-foot thistles.

We're going to make a ring of stones around it so it doesn't get tilled up when we try to make lawn out of the backyard area. 

More fun from the week:

This is why we can't have nice things. Or toothpaste.

It was a day like any other, except that Simon had decided he "is a big kid" and "wants to pee on the potty" the day before.  We went through our routines relatively uneventfully, save for the occasional baby shutting herself in a closet or toddler unpacking a cabinet.  Simon left us often to use the potty.  He had done well the day before and was doing well still.  He even remembered to use the potty when we were all in the basement playing and doing our lessons.  Whenever he left for the bathroom, he came back a few minutes later. 

That afternoon, we went outside to play.  The kids rode their bikes and played make-believe while I read my book on the porch.  Despite its being a very good book, I found it hard to concentrate on the story.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing...  The quiet clink of gardening tools kept breaking my concentration.  ("Mommy, I'm gonna go in the house and go potty.")   A heavy breeze was blowing, causing the wind chimes on the porch to chant beautifully. ("Mmm hmm, go ahead...  Come back when you're finished...")  Someone was grilling vegetables nearby.  The aroma wafted over on the breeze.  The little girls giggled at something in the flowerbed.  Leonard prattled on about construction vehicles to the dog, who seemed to hang on his every word.  I could hear the very distant tune of an ice cream truck and the delightful whirring of air conditioning units. 

So I was kind of zoning out.

Several moments later I asked Charlotte, "wait, where is Simon?"  
    "I think he's still inside the house," she answered distractedly, meandering toward the backyard with a handful of dandelions. 
    "Oh, no..." I said aloud to myself.  I leaped from my chair and through the front door as if chased by a swarm of angry wasps.  How long had it been?  Five minutes?  Six?  Ten??  Perhaps we were still in the realm of normal.  How long did it take him to use the bathroom?  I couldn't remember exactly.  Images of destruction flashed through my mind:  Brand new carpeting smeared in red Crayola paint.  Diaper contents fingerpainted all over his crib.  Butter in his hair.  Entire rooms coated in an avalanche of baby powder.  Whole lip balms devoured because they "smelled nummy nummy."  A hallway masterpiece done in thick, black permanent marker.  Eyes swollen and reddened from being sprayed with perfume...  Whole novels torn to well-written confetti.  Handfuls of jewelry transformed into wads of hopelessly tangled frustration.  Toilets clogged with toys and baby wipes, causing torrents of filthy water to flood the bathroom floor.  My feet couldn't fly fast enough to the bathroom door.  I screeched to a halt by the sink and said with thinly veiled suspicion (and flat-out fear) "Simon!  What are you doing in here?" 
 "Umm, I'm just dippin' the paper," he said, smiling innocently.  His underpants were around his ankles and in his hand was an entire roll of wet toilet paper.  I did a quick status check of the room.  3 more new, toilet-dunked rolls of toilet paper in the trash can.  Some water dribbled on the floor.  A whole tube of toothpaste, which I had just bought and opened the night before, squeezed more empty than I had ever seen a tube of toothpaste squeezed.  Every drop of that sucker was in an enormous glob of swirly blue in the sink.  

We cleaned up the mess and headed back outside.  As I sat down in my chair and picked up my book, I sighed with relief that the situation was not as bad as usual.  I got through half a page before I was pleasantly interrupted by a small, cool hand on my knee.  "Mama?  Yum!"  It was the sweet baby girl, with a huge mouthful of dirt and the cutest smile I'd ever seen, despite the hunks of earth.

Too bad we were out of toothpaste.  

Five months. FIVE! Here are more pictures than you will be able to scroll through in one sitting.

Life has never been so busy over here.  In the last months we bought a house, moved, got the world's sweetest dog, finished the school year, started homeschooling, put up a fence, cleaned red finger paint out of our new basement carpet, hung drywall and spent over 100 hours painting.  Let's see if we can catch you up!

February was gorgeous and treat-filled:

Andy built a huge cabinet for all our homeschooling materials:

We went to the museum with Grandpa and Great-Grandma on a no-school day:

 

We got a piano, which you can see behind Marion if  you can take your focus off her sweet, adorable face:

We made "wave bottles" with water, vegetable oil, food coloring and glitter:

Andy taught the kids how to put together their own Lego sets:

We got a snail (he came unexpectedly in a houseplant), whom the kids named Turbo.  He eats cucumbers and lives in our dining room:

A lot of the time we ended up with a kitchen mess that looked like this:

I need either a maid or a child who can reach the countertops...

March was lots of fun:

The kids were excited that the warmer weather finally allowed them to eat outside and ride their bikes:

 

We went to Lincoln's first birthday party, where Marion decided that she adores balloons:

We met the lovely Rusch family at Organ Piper Pizza for dinner:

Simon ate some blue Play-Doh:

Andy took Charlotte to the Daddy-Daughter Dance at school:

April started to really feel like spring!

Easter was fantastic:

(The confetti is from cascarones.  You crack them over each others' heads for good luck.)

Grandpa took a great group photo on his porch, a yearly tradition since it's rare that everyone is dressed up, clean, smiling and in the same place.  Gotta take advantage of those portrait opportunities!

We went to the Guziewskis annual egg hunt, which never disappoints!  Hunting eggs, flying kites, playing in the most toy-filled, exciting, kid-friendly basement we've ever seen...  What more could one want?  Thanks for including us again, Guziewskis!

We've been having bonfires out back, sometimes with toasted marshmallows:

Here is Simon with his friend Peter before both families moved from Pewaukee:

Simon's 3rd birthday!

 

Simon's birthday party was at our friend Katy's new paint studio in Elm Grove.  It was lots of fun!  I highly recommend booking a party or doing a wine & paint night at Elm Grove Art.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are Andy and Marion fixing a broken pipe in the bathroom:

 

Simon helped me put in a new fairy garden house and stepping stones after a certain little sister damaged the original ones:

 

And this happened.  It's laundry detergent.  I can tell you that story over a serious glass of wine sometime...  $5 to the person who can correctly guess how long it took us to clean up the slippery fallout.

 

 

Thirsty 4th of July kids waiting for Daddy to build a "s'mores fire."

 

Leonard with a magic wand sparkler:

Simon with a (terrifying) sparkler that shot flames and made lots of noise and changed colors:

 

Mmmmm...  S'mores...

 

 

 

Grandpa's tractor:

My baby girl is gorgeous, but this is a really good picture of my husband, too ;)

Leonard and I spent a Saturday out together.  We visited Barnes & Noble, got a treat at Starbucks, ran some errands and went through the car wash. 

The kids say it's very important that I include this picture of the very cool truck that delivered our fence panels: 

 

Beautiful guy relaxing in the shade:

Sleepy boys:

 

 

Guardin' the garden:

Marion and Great-Grandma, both frowning.  I don't remember why, but I thought it was a funny picture.  

Sisters!

Charlotte's new job, whenever we make eggs, is to take this setup onto the kitchen floor and wash all the eggs.  It takes forever to wash 18 eggs, 2 at a time in the sink.  This is a huge help!

 

Brewer's game!

We went to see the Lego Americana Roadshow exhibits at the mall:

Gwennie is still trying hard to catch a chicken:

 

Simon gave me these flowers and told me I was the best mom in the world.  Without prompting.  He is great!

We've now been homeschooling for a month, which is turning out to be lots of fun and sometimes looks like this:

 

and sometimes looks like this:

and often like this:

We've been going on lots of field trips, like this one to the museum:

 

We've had lots of incidents in our new house, like this one where Simon sprayed tons and tons of perfume in his eyes.  He was sleeping in our room at naptime while the boys' room was still under construction, and it would just be totally un-Simonlike for him to NOT get into something:

Another interesting incident was when I took Leonard to his eye exam and immediately locked the car keys inside the van upon unbuckling the boy.  Of course of course of COURSE the optometrist wouldn't see him because my wallet was locked in the van in the same purse as my keys, so the only thing to do was cry wait in the parking structure for 45 minutes for AAA to come unlock the van.  And to try not to think about how Andy was losing half a day's pay to stay home with the rest of the kids while we failed in our noble quest.  *sigh*  Leonard did have fun sitting on the hood of the van, though:

Charlotte learned how to vacuum (YAY!!!!):

I learned how to make delicious scones:

 

Simon helped Grandpa cut the grass at the farm:

We met a new baby goat:

And had frozen fruit bars:

 

Marion got a new big-girl bed,

which she adores,

even though she sometimes gets out of it during the night and can't find it again in the dark.  Then we find her sleeping on the floor and we take pictures.

We hope you're having a great summer!  Come visit us sometime at the new and improved Six-Headed House :)