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You may have noticed that I’m running a bit behind this week! Hopefully, that trend won’t continue and our week will start going much more smoothly from here on out.

It all started to go went awry on Saturday when we went to the Y as usual… but AliBoo and I were the only ones to emerge unscathed! There was apparently some sort of magnetic force on the balance beam because first LiliBee, then CareBear and finally Chris smacked their heads into it. Unfortunately, Chris was moving at full speed when he hit and spent the day with a pretty bad headache. Since it was only getting worse, he decided to go get checked out once the girls were in bed. After a few hours in the ER and a ct scan, they concluded that it was a concussion. I’m pretty happy that it wasn’t one of those freaky brain bleeds. He spent Sunday resting his head, so to speak, and seems to be mostly back to normal by now.

I spent the weekend doing preschool finances and working on fun activity bags for our big exchange at the park today. Due to the screwy weekend and the fact that no one under 5 years old would leave me alone yesterday, I barely finished my 23 bags o’ learnin’… but the exchange was so much fun! We met a bunch of other folks in the park and came home with 22 different and new activities that the kids can keep themselves occupied with when I need to get something done (or need a break, or we go somewhere boring). I’m pretty excited about it. Playing in the park was a lot of fun, too! It was actually our second park play date of the week as we met up with some of CareBear’s classmates at a different park last week. That was fun, but way too hot since that park is lacking in shade! CareBear had a great time being put in “jail” by some bigger kids, though.

In other news, we spent most of our week out in the backyard. I’m unable to post any pictures from that as the big kids have decided to be nudists again. Every time the pool or the sprinkler comes out, they take off all of their clothes! It’s actually pretty funny to watch.

AliBoo has her 4 month check up tomorrow. I’m curious to know how big she’s getting. She’s starting to get some pretty chubby legs and surprised me the other day when I saw how long she’s getting when she stretches out! She’s talking more and more and wants so much to sit up on her own. I love it when they start asserting their personality.

Other than that, our week is looking pretty mellow! I think I’ll teach the kids how to wash the car…

I’m actually writing this outside! In the sun! (ok, in the shade, I’m not much of a sun person) Using a laptop! I feel so mobile.

We’re finally wasp-free in the backyard so we’re able to enjoy the nice weather. Chris read somewhere that wasps will generally move on after 2-4 weeks and ours left at week 3.5… so I guess they were right. I’m just happy that I can kick the kids out of the house again.

We had a fun week last week. We celebrated my dad’s birthday with a picnic at Sunnyside Beach in Steilacoom. I’d never been there before but it’s a really nice park! We were there at low tide so the girls were able to do some quality beach combing and wading with Pas. We saw fish, crabs and even geoducks in tide pools. The girls had a great time and didn’t want to go home even after 3 hours of splashing around. AliBoo enjoyed the scenery for awhile and then took a nap in the pack on Chris, sometimes upside down while he was trying to catch clams without a shovel!

This weekend, we bought the kids a little inflatable pool. It’s been very popular around here, though they always end up making it into a mud pool eventually. I’m not sure what the appeal is there, but it makes the kids happy and keeps them occupied. It’s pretty fun to watch them, too.

AliBoo is officially a roller. She doesn’t do it every time I put her down, but she does do it intentionally now. She’s really good at going from her tummy to her back but usually only makes it halfway when she’s going the other way. Her other new trick this week is grabbing things… she’s actually been doing that for awhile, but this week she learned to put things into her mouth with reasonable accuracy. She’s been very proud of herself.

This week looks to be a good one, weather-wise, so I’m hoping to get lots of outside time. We have a potential park play date and several overdue errands to fit in along the way.

Well, we finally had a week of summer weather! Going up 30 degrees in 3 days was a little disconcerting, but it was nice to see the sun stick around for awhile. That’s all over for now, of course, but I like the cooler weather better anyway.

CareBear and LiliBee had a great sleep over down in Olympia last week. I hear that they spent a lot of time bouncing in the bounce house and running through the sprinkler. They also enjoyed popsicles, uninterrupted play with their cousin and exhausting Grandma. LiliBee came home with an amazing tan… she’s so lucky, the rest of us just burn in the sun! They were pretty tired when they came back but had a lot to tell me.

AliBoo and I enjoyed our “alone time”. We both missed the big girls, but it was nice to just have some mellow time to play AliBoo’s games… her favorite is “peek a boo”. She was pretty talkative and even started to giggle a little this week!  This morning, she rolled from her side to her tummy and then onto her back… I’m pretty sure it was just momentum from Lilia plopping down on the bed next to her (so the mattress sloped) and she was really surprised by it, but it was exciting nonetheless. She’s going to start doing all kinds of things soon. I’m not sure I’m ready for that!

Chris took me out to a movie last week while the big girls were gone (thanks to Grams and Pas for watching the cranky, “abandoned” baby). We went to see Eclipse, ate overly salty popcorn and avoided broken theater seats. It was great!

This weekend, we hit the Farmer’s Market. I’ve been wanting to go all season, but I was there to sit at the preschool booth so I didn’t get to look around much. Chris and the kids had a great time on the bounce houses and the playground, though. The girls talked him into getting balloons and shaved ice, too!

We also had a surprise play date on Sunday with AuntieT and Z-bear (finally)! The kids had a good time playing and snacking while AuntieT and I visited. Meanwhile, Chris spent the afternoon on the roof cleaning up after the winter (and the fireworks) and doing battle with the moles in the backyard. We’ve given up on getting rid of the wasps and are just staying inside for now but there’s still a chance to beat the moles.

I’m looking forward to some park fun this week and I might even catch up on the laundry.

I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July! It was unseasonably cold and rainy but at least we didn’t have to worry about the neighbors lighting our house on fire.

We spent most of the week unsure of our plans… CareBear came down with a fever and cough on Tuesday and LiliBee followed on Thursday. Luckily, they were both better in just a couple of days so the only real casualties were the park play dates and their planned sleep-over with cousin H.

Our 4th was busy and fun. We spent the afternoon down in Olympia having BBQ at Chris’ folk’s place. The girls had a great time playing and learning all about those pop-its (or whatever they are) and sparklers. The weather cooperated and didn’t rain on us so we were able to enjoy some outside time even if it was a little chilly! AliBoo was annoyed by the change in her routine, but she got lots of attention so that made up for some of that.

In the evening, we made our way back up to Puyallup to watch the fireworks from my parent’s deck. They have a great view of the valley so we get a free show every year! After more tasty BBQ and playing, we settled in for the show. AliBoo quickly decided that it was past her bedtime so she hung out with Chris inside. LiliBee liked the fireworks at first but thought that the close ones were way too loud so she headed in with the uncle. CareBear, on the other hand, loved everything about the fireworks show. She told me several times that it was the best night ever and would scream and clap every time something exploded. She pretty much wore herself out with her own enthusiasm!

We spent a very quiet Monday recovering and relaxing (resulting in this email being a day late!). This week will be lots of fun since CareBear and LiliBee headed off to their rescheduled sleep-over this morning. They won’t be back until Thursday so I’m glad the weather has turned around and they’ll get lots of fun outside time… especially since we’re still wasp-infested here so our outside options are limited. AliBoo is enjoying her “only child” status, of course. It’s a novelty for her to be the center of attention all day (it’s tough being the third child). Chris and I are taking advantage of the “vacation” and dropping AliBoo off with my folks for a few hours tomorrow so we can go on a movie date!