July 30

It was a gray, gloomy day today - definitely not a good day for picture-taking in my house that already lacks great light.

However, I did catch this one moment of sunshine, right after Daisy woke up from her nap:

The first thing Daisy wanted to do was hold her baby. Lately Daisy has been very camera-shy (read: completely ridiculous about having her picture taken), but when I asked her if she wanted me to take a picture of her holding her sister all by herself, she shyly whispered, "Yes." She was so proud to be holding her sister, who she loves so much.

Sweet girl.

*sigh*

Will they always love each other like this? Probably not, but I hope in the long-term they do. Meanwhile, I have thoughts of future hypothetical theoretical Baby #4 in the back of my mind, and I'm thinking about Daisy and Lily sharing a bedroom. I wonder if they'd like to share a big bed, like my sisters and I did when we were very young...

But I'll try not to get too far ahead of myself. Right now is special enough as it is!

And Chris just handed me his cell phone; apparently he's been taking pictures of his adventures with the kids all week.  If you've already read previous posts, you may want to look back over the past week (as far back as the 23rd!), because I'm about to update some of them with pictures from Chris' "Daddy Day Camp". It's appropriate that I do it tonight, because today is the last day of Daddy Day Camp. Chris is going in to work tomorrow and Thursday morning (he doesn't dare try going in Friday morning, since it's our 11th wedding anniversary!), which means I'm on my own with three kids. We'll all sorely miss having him home with us, but I suppose someone  has to pay the bills...

It rained overnight, so this morning when Chris took the big kids to visit a new park, they both wore their rain boots. Caleb made friends with another four-year-old who happened to have a soccer ball.

I can only assume that this is my sweet darlings splashing in a puddle. Too cute!

Lily and I were waiting for our family on the front porch when they returned, and we were rewarded with copious amounts of hugs and kisses.

Lily is still everyone's favorite!

Any guesses how long before it takes her novelty to wear off? I'm thinking as soon as Daddy goes back to work and they realize that Lily is taking up most of Mommy's attention and time, they will start to resent her a bit...

Tonight was a rare night that our children ate all of their dinner without fussing, fighting, or complaining, so Chris had time to take them to the lake for a run afterwards.

Though Daisy's avoiding the camera, I'm guessing this was before she fell climbing out of the BOB and scraped her forehead, chin, and knee.

Oh, and skipping rocks at the lake! When they returned, I asked Daisy what she saw. She replied, "Rowboats. We saw rowboats. We did not see any sailing boats!"

I love that she always tells me what she didn't see, or didn't do, or didn't happen, in addition to what did. The girl is definitely thorough!