August 28

Today was our turn to serve in the nursery at church, and it was our first time in there since Eli has moved up to the toddler classroom. That means that Chris and I spent the morning snuggling babies that weren't ours, which was simultaneously liberating and strange. Eli is doing great in the toddler classroom, though, so hooray!

I had two photo sessions scheduled for this evening (one as the photographer and one as the subject), but both got postponed for various reasons, so we had the whole afternoon to spend doing whatever. After our weekly Costco trip, we picked up one of their ginormous cheese pizzas and went to the park where Chris and I were married. I texted my mom that we would be picnicking, and she and Dad met us there to feed fish and play. It was perfect. We finished the picnic with some tree climbing.

Eli was adamant that he be in the tree, too, and not some dinky low branch. Thank goodness Grandpa (or "Papa", as Eli calls him) was there to help him out!

I love these little monkeys in a tree!

Happy boy!

Grouchy girl. 

Seriously, who can be grouchy while climbing a tree? 

Lily can.

She's a sweet monkey. Don't you love her daisy tank top, flowered skirt, and flowered flip flops? If you had thrown her in a field of wildflowers, she would have been totally camouflaged.

Hi, Eli!

We got home much too late, but Lily and Eli were eager for their naps. Then Chris and I got to work on a serious issue: the marble countertop we installed in our master bath in 2013 has an undermount sink, and that undermount sink has gradually become... un-mounted. It had four clips holding it in place, and it was down to one clip and the plumbing keeping it up. Yikes. Thankfully, my husbando is on top of things, and he researched and purchased a perfect solution.

I just had to lie under the sink, in the cabinet, holding the bowl in place while he did some of the work. So this is my first "under the sink" selfie. Hopefully my last, too?

We made some delicious gluten-free pumpkin pancakes for dinner, then went to the neighborhood pool for a quick swim before bed. I brought my camera, but forgot my memory card. Whoops.

When we got home, the kids changed into their jammies, but begged for a chance to run around outside before bedtime. Um, ok?

Running.

(Eli's footie pajamas are not so conducive to running outside, so he ran sans jammies.

I mean, really. This kid is too cute.

Daisy had been the most vocal advocate for running outside, but once we were out there, she chose to draw with chalk instead of running.

How about some video of the running?

She looks weird, but Lily was running as fast as she could in her kitty cat jammies.

Eli now yells, "FAST!" before he starts running. It's hilarious!

Sidewalk sitting selfie.

There. Now she looks fast.

Downhill is so much more exciting than uphill!

Soon, Caleb was pooped!

Oh, goodness. I have all the puffy heart eyes for this baby.

I mean toddler.

Can I still call him my baby? I think I will.

And then, Caleb challenged Chris to a race.

They lined up,

And they were off!

Caleb ran his little heart out, and can you see how happy Eli is to be part of the race?

Chris ran 10 miles before church this morning, so I'm not sure if that was what slowed him down, or the fact that he was carrying Eli as he ran, but he couldn't keep up!

This picture of my three boys, all so happy, makes my heart burst a little.

And then it was time for bed. Everyone except Eli came in when I called.

Eli still had a little more running to do!