Every Day with Eli: June 2017

June 30

Today was the final day of VBS and the kids performed for us. I didn't get pictures of Caleb or Daisy, but you can see sweet Lily in the pink dress:

All three of my kids did such a good job singing and doing the motions. I was seriously impressed at their level of participation!

Snuggle selfies.

And then it rained.

Daisy was yellow girl. Also yellow is the cone in our neighbor's yard where their oak tree used to be. Theirs was just removed this week.

Splash! She was so happy.

Eli, not so much.

Later, I got out my camera and remote and tried to take a self portrait.

Meh.

But my kids are cute, if slightly out of focus.

(Caleb is obsessed with Harry Potter. Have we discussed this yet? Kid always has his nose in a book. I love it.)

June 28 and 29

Combining days again. Don't judge. I just need to plow through these posts!

The older three were still at VBS, so Eli and I met my parents at Denny's for breakfast, then went back to their house to play.

Mom will probably hate that this picture shows their deck, but I love that Eli is driving cars on the window.

In the evening, the kids had swim practice. It was chilly, so I wrapped Eli up in a towel torso carry and then he was happy, happy, happy.

Hi, Caleb!

Day 2 of VBS, so Eli and I were scrambling to fill our days. Amber had an epic handwoven wrap visiting her, so we met up for a playdate so that I could try it. Yes, we are both geeky like that. I love that God has given me friends who are nerdy in the exact same ways I am. It's a beautiful thing.

We got to the park a lot earlier than Amber and crew, so Eli and I had some solo playtime.

Yeah, my baby can swing on big kid swings. But he's totally not a big kid, so don't even say it.

The park had an awesome building area that Eli loved!

Oh, and there was a hammock tree. It was amazing.

Also amazing? This wrap.

The colors are not my favorite ever, but it was seriously everything that a handwoven wrap should be, ever. It's also worth about $800, which is why it's so amazing. It was so amazing that I actually brought a weighted doll to wrap because I knew it was likely that Eli wouldn't let me wrap him, and I didn't want to miss a chance to try this wrap. So I wrapped a doll at a playground like a crazy woman.

Hammocks!

Hammocks! Can you spy Eli's little bottom?

Boo!

Selfie!

June 26

VBS #2 started today. First, though, snuggles.

Almost every morning, at least one child climbs into my bed and snuggles me before I wake up. Today it was Daisy.

We also had some playtime before VBS. The swings are up on the swing set, and the kids are so happy. Also, check out that freshly stained deck!

The VBS theme was Galactic Starveyors, and the kids were impressed with all of the space decor. Lily is peering out of the rocket with her "telescope" that is really just a tube of construction paper. It doesn't take much to impress her!

Happy kiddos!

Also, swim meet tonight! It was shockingly cold, the host pool was way too small and there was nowhere to sit and even less parking, and the whole evening was awful, so this is the only photo I got. Caleb swam well, and Daisy didn't swim at all. However, she hinted that she may be willing to swim at the next home meet!

June 25

I have a gap of like a week where I somehow didn't take any pictures with my big camera. I'm not sure how that happened, but whatever. Probably I was super-busy with paid photo sessions and didn't feel like getting it out for personal pictures?

Caleb did his hair like this for church. I don't think there was a specific reason for the hair style, he just thought it would be funny.

Snuggle bugs.

Cutie Pie.

Also, this happened today. 7 weeks after our tree came crashing down and smashed our swing set, we finally have a replacement thanks to some very generous and helpful neighbors. We are so blessed, and the kids are so thankful! It still needs to be cleaned, sanded, stained, have the swings installed, and get a new canopy put on, but it's better than nothing!

June 23

Our Friday adventure today was the Magic House. We have a membership, but I don't often take the kids there because 4 kids at different developmental levels + 1 adult = craziness. It is no fun. Instead, I let Chris take them two at a time for special dates. But today, we made it happen.

It was crazy.

But it was fun.

My cuties! (And my reflection!)

Driver man.

Caleb made a giant ice cream cone!

And much too soon, it was time to leave again.

This is pretty typical, and a fair representation of their personalities, I'd say.

June 19, 20, 21, 22

Sorry, friends, but I'm lumping days together here. I'm just trying to catch up!

Grandmother found this dress for Lily, and it's one of her new favorites. When she spotted flowers at swim team practice that matched it, she was so excited!

He was not swimming, because it was swim team practice time and the pool was closed. I have no idea why Eli was naked.

Snuggles!

Also, Eli has been working on his knock-knock jokes.

My dear friend Amber and I are both babywearing educators with our local chapter of Babywearing International, and Amber decided to pursue higher accreditation and become an Advanced Babywearing Educator. I was so excited for her that I offered to supervise her five children while she did her skills assessment.

That's 8 of our 9 children around my kitchen table, eating lunch.

It makes my heart so very happy.

This also makes my heart happy:

Goodness, he's cute!

Sweet baby, reading in the sunshine!

More swim practice pictures:

Shades off.

Shades on!

So cool he needs two pairs of shades!

I think he is seriously the cutest of any of my children.

Too many Eli pictures? Never.

June 18

My husband is such a good man. He was willing to spend his Father's Day in rural Iowa, visiting my grandparents.

We started the morning with breakfast in our hotel room, and then a quick visit to the park next to it while Mom and Grandpa went to mass. (This park was the site of the music festival last night, so there were lots of people tearing down scaffolding and stages and whatnot.)

There is a cool spider web/climbing pyramid in the playground, and Caleb felt like hot stuff when he climbed to the top. Then he dared me to climb it, so I did. He was shocked that I was able to make it up there, so we took a selfie to celebrate.

It was much cooler than I thought it would be, and I hadn't packed appropriate clothes for the kids. I forgot cardigans, pants, hoodies, anything long-sleeved... So Chris agreed to take the kids to the water park and I stopped by the one store I thought would have something: WalMart.

I was wrong. It turns out that WalMarts in rural Iowa have a lot less stuff than the ones back home. I found a pair of pants for each kid, but no long sleeves at all. Boo. But I also happened to check in with my mom, and she and Grandpa were breakfasting at a nearby restaurant. I was able to join them and chat while Chris and the kids swam, and it was so perfect. Since it was Father's Day, I even paid for Grandpa's breakfast, which tickled him to no end.

After (second) breakfast, I picked up Chris and the kids and we went back to Grandpa's condo. Caleb brought a set of pincers/expanding tongs he made out of Legos with a special kit, and Grandpa was very interested in them. It turned out he had an antique automotive tool that was very similar.

It quickly became Eli's favorite toy.

These two had so much fun!

Then Grandpa took us down to the garage to see his actual toys.

Eli's mind was blown by all of the trucks.

Lily loved dancing in the bed of Grandpa's pickup.

Grandpa loved watching the kids dance.

In the afternoon, we visited Grandma again. Once again, we were able to play in the courtyard.

This time, the kids discovered a cool swing.

Grandpa and Grandma humored me and let me take way too many pictures. Also, the boys love matching. Aren't they funny?

That's four generations of family in this picture!

I love that Grandpa can still elicit this look from Grandma.

They will have been married for 65 years in October!

After our visit, we went back to Grandpa's house and I managed to pull together a really great meal! Mom and Grandpa got steaks and hot dogs from the grocery store, and I pilfered his bachelor's pantry and refrigerator and came up with some great side dishes. Then Mom and Grandpa wanted to take the kids out exploring. It was close to bedtime, but the northern sunshine was so bright that I decided it would be fine.

Hiking? This is totally up the kids' alley!

(It was really a flat gravel trail, but they were still excited.)

See? Excited.

My one goal of the evening was to get a picture of Chris with his kids. It was Father's Day, after all!

Goodness, I love these people!

I was frustrated that these kiddos were being so goofy, but Mom loves this picture. I suppose it is an accurate representation!

Sweet girl.

There was a lookout tower, and when we climbed to the top we could see this walkway out into a marsh, with corn fields and wind turbines in the distance. It was really lovely, especially so close to sunset.