June 12

My mom came over to watch the girls today while Caleb was at school and I went to a quick meeting. 

I asked Mom to arrive at 9:30, and Daisy could hardly wait. We texted Mom this photo at 8am; we had just returned from dropping Caleb off at the bus, and Daisy was dressed and beyond excited for Grandma to come over.

After my meeting, Mom stayed to hang out and ended up accompanying us to pick Caleb up at school and then to picnic at a  nearby park.

The kids were so happy to be picnicking - at a park - WITH GRANDMA!!!

Lily was particularly excited about Grandma. Several times I tried to take Lily from my mom, and Lily cried and clung to her. It was really pretty cute. Then I looked over and saw this:

Lily has been pulling up to her knees for about a month now, but this was the first time she pulled up to standing. We were so excited!

All of that fun and excitement was followed by a rough afternoon; Caleb and Daisy were especially crabby because they woke up at 5:40 this morning to play baseball with Chris.

Yes, you read that right.

See, we were driving home from the Botanical Garden yesterday, and we drove past Turtle Park. Caleb has been wanting to go there for a while, so he begged and whined to go there right then. I had a baby who needed a nap and dinner to make, so I told him  no. But I also told him that we could make a list of things he wanted to do this summer, and make sure we eventually did all of them. So last night, as I finished dinner, Caleb dictated this list to Chris:

Caleb's To-Do List - Summer 2014

1. Go to Creve Coeur Park - playground and beach

2. Go to Turtle Park

3. Go to the Planetarium and Science Center

4. See the Lego Movie

5. Play sports, specifically Frisbee, golf, and bicycling

6. Kickboard team

7. Fly a kite

8. Go fishing

9. Visit Daddy at work and have lunch with him

10. Play baseball - at dawn

Today, we crossed two items off the list: we went to the playground at Creve Coeur Park, and Chris, Caleb, and Daisy played baseball at dawn. Really. Chris was debating whether he should actually wake the kids up to play baseball at dawn, but Caleb took care of it himself. He came into our room at 5:40, announcing, "It's dawn!" and so they all hopped into the car, drove to a nearby baseball field, and played baseball - at dawn. And so they were absolutely exhausted today. But I wonder if perhaps they made a memory they'll never forget?