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I’m writing this email with one hand, to the soothing sounds of a slightly fussy baby and two very noisy children… everything is back to normal!

The girls had a great time at their sleep-over from what I hear. They had a camp out in Grandma’s backyard, complete with snacks and light up bracelets. CareBear tells me that they played “the whole time” they were there and that they had pizza. Sounds like everything went well!

AliBoo and I missed them, of course, and thought it was way too quiet around here. AliBoo didn’t have anyone to watch besides me, but she managed to amuse herself anyway. She is quickly learning to sit up by herself (she can manage a few seconds, anyway) and loves the new perspective. Her biggest news of the week, though, is that all of the drooling and chewing is paying off… her first tooth is starting to poke through! She’ll be 5 months old tomorrow so I’m pretty sure this is the earliest first tooth we’ve had around here.

We were able to spend a few hours at the Ren Faire on Saturday. (I’m so happy that the weather cooled off as there’s no shade out there!) I enjoyed a bit of “window shopping” and the girls loved listening to the music. LiliBee was fascinated by the pickle wench. She’s a little pickle obsessed right now and eats 3 or 4 of them a day. CareBear loved all of the “princesses” there and told many, many people how pretty she thought their dresses were. We actually got to sit down and watch a little of the horse show this year, and it was amazing! The horses are so well trained and it was fun to watch them “dance” with the people. Hopefully, we’ll get to watch the whole show eventually.

Sunday did not go as planned… Chris spent the whole day at work dealing with power and network outages. He didn’t get home until after the girls were asleep so they’re under the impression that he’s been at work since yesterday morning! I tried to tell them that he came home last night but had to go back this morning, but that just made them sad that they didn’t get to see him so I think I’ll let him explain it tonight. Hopefully, he’ll get a day off sometime this week to make up for losing half of the weekend.

I’ll be busy with preschool start up for the next few weeks, but that should settle down just in time for the Puyallup Fair! I hope it all goes smoothly and that my “job” will settle down… making the preschool budget makes my brain hurt.

We’ve managed to survive the heat wave so far! I’ve discovered that either going through the pregnancies or the fact that there are usually three kids hanging off of me makes it so I’m a big wimp when it comes to hot weather. Bring on the A/C!

We actually had a lot of fun this week, though. We had a preschool play date on Wednesday, compete with dam building (supervised by Chris). The kids had a great time making the creek into a pool and all of them ended up wet and muddy. The sign of a good day.

On Thursday, we hit the park again. This time, we met my folks there for a nature/exercise hike. The park has an exercise trail with stations that give you different stretches or activities to do. CareBear and LiliBee had a great time running from sign to sign to see what was next. They attempted everything, though some of the bars were way too high for them to actually reach. It was a really fun adventure!

This weekend, we headed out to the Pierce County Fair in spite of the heat. It’s such a nice little fair with lots of stuff for smaller kids to do! We visited all of the barns in search of stamps (the kids got a prize for collecting all 8 stamps on a piece of paper) and then ate shaved ice to cool off. AliBoo got to ride in a stroller where she could sit up and see everything, which she loved. (And carrying her in the pack when it was 95 degrees sounded like a bad idea.) LiliBee got to go on a couple of rides with CareBear as the ride operators were very nice and pretended not to notice her standing on her toes to reach the line. They spent a lot of time at the “heat relief station” (a couple of sprinklers that the park had set up) while Chris and I watched some belly dancers perform. A good time was had by all!

This week is weirdly quiet… CareBear and LiliBee are down in Olympia having a sleep-over with Cousin H! They’ll be gone until Thursday, which will (hopefully) give me time to prepare for my preschool board meeting and get the budget ready for approval at orientation in a couple of weeks. AliBoo and I spent this morning doing her favorite things (nursing, snuggling, napping). I think she enjoys not having the big kids waking her up every time she nods off!

I’m hoping to make it to the Ren Faire this weekend, but mostly I think I’ll enjoy the relative quiet around here before the bustle of school starting up!

You know, it wasn’t until I put the “subject” on this email that I realized that it’s 8-9-10! Cool!

Anyway.

We had a pretty fun week around here! We spent Tuesday evening at a “carnival” that they put on over in my folks’ neighborhood for the National Night Out. There was a circus train to shuttle people to and from that was very fun to ride. CareBear, in particular, was very excited about riding the train and talking to the other people in out “car”. Once we got to the carnival, there were hot dogs and cotton candy to eat as well as lots of bouncy houses in which to jump. CareBear wanted to “dunk the kid” at the dunk tank so my dad paid for her to take a shot… and she hit 2 out of 3 tries! It was pretty impressive. Lilia took a turn too, of course, and they let her walk up and hit the button to dunk the kid after she was out of balls. It was a very fun time.

We also had a nice picnic in the park on Chris’ day off. CareBear and LiliBee spotted baby fish in the lake and watched the dragonflies flying around. They also spent quite a lot of time rolling around in the field while I tried not to think about goose poop. Those geese stay down by the water… right?

AliBoo is very interested in watching all of the activities, but she can’t quite figure out how to join in yet. She does appreciate the entertainment, though, and spends a lot of time smiling and laughing at her sisters. When she isn’t busy chewing on things and drooling, anyway! Her newest skill is scooting herself around by pushing with her legs. She doesn’t have any directionality yet, but she doesn’t stay where we put her anymore. She’s also very pleased with herself. (Except when she scooted herself off of the bed, that made her pretty mad and about gave me a heart attack, but at least she didn’t get hurt at all!)

Over the weekend, we had the usual classes at the Y and I got to go to a candle party practically by myself! AliBoo and I had a lot of fun looking at all of the things I can’t buy until the kids are much older and visiting with people I don’t see very often. She was quite the social butterfly.

This week is looking a little busier, a trend I’m pretty sure is going to continue until school starts again next month! We’ve got a couple of playdates in the works and the Pierce County Fair is this weekend. I’ve got some stuff to work on for the preschool (by the way, we’ll be having a garage sale in a couple of weeks if anyone wants to donate and/or shop for anything!) and I’m slowly trying to whip the house back into shape after my post-partum slacker-ness.

Well, we had a nice week with no big injuries that I can think of so I think it was a good one!

We had another picnic in the park on Wednesday with some of the preschool kids. CareBear and LiliBee had a lot of fun exploring with Chris and then they fed the ducks some of their lunch. The rest of our week was mostly spent hanging out at home, believe it or not! Chris and the girls decided to move their playroom into the bonus room upstairs over the weekend. It’s about halfway done, I think (I’m staying out of it…) and they’re thrilled with the change. It does give them more room to spread out and they’ve been playing up there for a couple of weeks anyway. Plus, there’s the piano and the pool table to play with up there, too. I am going to pare down their toy collection, though, and donate a bunch to the preschool garage sale in a couple of weeks. The old playroom is now an office (again) for Chris and my treasurer and crafting stuff.

AliBoo had her 4-month-old doctor appointment last week. She’s up to 13.5 pounds! According to the doctor, she’s doing very well and is right where she should be. The poor kid got two shots, though, and was less than happy after that. She’s been working on her rolling skills but hasn’t quite figured out the back to front thing. She did manage to catch her feet with her hands and was very proud of herself.

I can’t believe it’s already August… it kind of snuck up on me! I think we’ve got a lot of stuff going on over the next couple of months, especially with all of the fairs going on and school getting ready to start. This week looks to be pretty mellow, though, which is a good thing.

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!

We had a brief summer last week! It was sunny and nice and we played outside. And today, it’s back to cloudy and we can’t go outside because wasps have taken over our backyard and I can’t tell where they’re coming from… anyone have tips on getting rid of them? At least it’s warmer now!

We had a fun trip to a park downtown to picnic with some of the preschool kids. CareBear and LiliBee were explorers for awhile and AliBoo enjoyed the warm weather. Our other preschool trip for the week was to the Kid’s Expo at Bill’s Fishin’ Hole. It was apparently the first year for it so turnout was a little on the slow side, but the kids had a great time fishing (those were very hungry fish so there was lots of catching going on). They were also able to make picture frames out of popsicle sticks and hand feed some of the trout. CareBear decided she didn’t like the floppy fish and so LiliBee has been obsessed with that ever since… even though they haven’t been floppy for a couple of days now! We had a wonderful trout dinner last night cooked by Chris.

CareBear had her first dance class on Saturday. She was very excited to wear her new outfit and could hardly contain herself waiting for the class to start. It was very cute watching all of the 3-4 year olds learning how to curtsy and plie. Meanwhile, LiliBee had fun in gymnastics doing obstacle courses and getting Chris to jump into the foam pit with her. Not a bad way to spend a morning!

The rest of our week was pretty boring with the usual shopping and errands. We’re getting the hang of our summer (school-free) schedule. The kids have been enjoying the change of pace, I think.

This week should be fun. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing, but there are play dates, sleep overs and fireworks watching in the works! It will also be Lucy’s worst week of the year. She really hates firecrackers so she’ll spend most of her time cowering behind the claw foot tub in the bathroom. I just hope the weather gets better and the wasps go away!

Happy Summer! No, really, it’s what the calendar says. It’s summer. Really.

We had a hit and miss kind of week… one play date called due to rain, one called due to illness (them, not us, this time) and we ended up skipping Meeker Days. I was looking forward to going to that but the weather combined with the flaky kids kind of made it more trouble than it was worth! We managed to enjoy or weekend anyway, though.

We went for a rainy picnic in the park last week. CareBear and LiliBee didn’t seem to mind the wet play equipment and enjoyed themselves quite a bit! I would have thought that they might object to the wet pants, but apparently the lure of the slides was too great. Of course, our “picnic” took place in the car. It’s Washington, we’re used to that.

The girls had a fun day down at Grandma’s. They got to play with cousin H all day and I hear that LiliBee learned how to drive the jeeps. I know she’s been jealous of the kids who could drive them so I’m not surprised. I asked CareBear if she was going to drive the jeep, too, or just let H and LiliBee drive her around. She’s decided that she likes to be chauffeured.

Meanwhile, AliBoo and I had a day all to ourselves! We did all of her favorite things: snuggling, nursing, napping, smiling, screaming. It was a good day for AliBoo… she got all of the attention!

Our biggest news of the week, though, is the bed hopping that’s been going on! We brought our “guest bed” into the girls’ room this weekend for CareBear. She is officially in her “big girl bed” and loves it. She likes to tell me that she has the biggest bed in the whole house. LiliBee moved out of the crib and into the “little girl bed” (toddler bed). That leaves the crib free for AliBoo, whenever she’s ready to move out of our room. We took a special shopping trip to pick out new blankets and sheets for the beds so now there’s a whole lot of pink in the room.

Father’s Day was pretty mellow. The girls and I made Chris breakfast and gave him his homemade gifts and card (his “real” gift he bought for himself at the radio convention!). We had a mostly leisurely day and Chris got to watch his Sci-Fi shows practically uninterrupted.

This week is getting busier by the minute! I have lots of treasurer stuff to catch up with and I’m still doing half of the publicity for the preschool. This weekend is the start of the new session at the Y. LiliBee is taking toddler gym again and CareBear is taking her first dance class! We’ll also be out at Bill’s Fishin’ Hole in Orting for their Kids Expo on Saturday… our preschool has a booth there and I’ll be volunteering from 1:30-3. If anyone is in the area, feel free to stop by! It’s free and they’re even going to have raffles, stunt planes and a slime booth (whatever that is, I’m sure the kids will love it though). I’m hoping that our play dates actually work out this week, but I’m not counting on it!