August 11

The kids found this "caterpillar" in our garden, munching on a milkweed today. 

They took a picture with my phone, confident that Grandma could identify it. She couldn't. Neither could Instagram. Neither could my quick google searches. I'm pretty sure that means it's a grub of some sort, or an undesirable critter?

Eli and I had blurry snuggles today.

In the evening, we celebrated my nephew Max's 7th birthday. I was there when he was born, and it blows my mind that he is 7 now. 

Emily and Billy held Max's party at a park that has a giant merry-go-round that my kids love.

There's also a splash pad, but the kids spent their entire playtime on the merry-go-round.

Also, a small milestone, but Eli walked up this entire set of stairs without holding on to anything. He is becoming such a big boy!

(Don't worry, Mom. He caught his balance, and I was right behind him in case he fell.)

The birthday boy!

Near our celebration area was this tree. The kids spent a solid 30 minutes trying to run or climb up its trunk.

Daisy was pumped to be the first girl to climb up the tree. Caleb was devastated that Daisy made it up and he didn't. 

Max got a Minecraft Xbox for his birthday, and he was thrilled.

Eli hid in a tree, wearing hand-me-downs from Jace.

After birthday cake, Grandma took the little two to the playground to play.

Chris asked my mom to snap this picture of us. He's sweet like that.

I kind of like him.

After we left the party, we made a pit stop at a local frozen custard shop. You know, because cookie cake wasn't enough, and we needed ice cream too. 

The kids didn't seem to mind.

Lily made friends with the kids from another large family there. She is definitely our social butterfly.

Yum!

August 10

Caleb had his first soccer practice of the season tonight! He's playing with the same group of boys and the same coach he played with last year, which is nice.

Eli was very interested in watching his brother play.

While he practiced, the little ones played with friends. Another mom has four kiddos about the age of mine, and the kids have so much fun with each other. It definitely makes going to practice easier for the younger ones.

It was a great practice, and I can't wait to watch him improve as the season progresses!

August 9

I only have one picture, but I feel the need to document for posterity that the kids had their first sleepover tonight. At the beginning of the summer, Caleb and Daisy made their "bucket list" of things they wanted to do. One of them was a cousin sleepover at Grandma's house.

I was skeptical that my mom would be willing to have 5 of her 7 grandchildren (Ryan doesn't count, and Eli's too young) spend the night for the first time all at one time, but she was totally up for it. In fact, at first I planned to keep Lily home, but Mom really wanted her to be there. So Chris and I dropped our older three off, and headed home to put Eli to bed.

They watched Moana, ate Rice Krispie Treats, and played many games of chase. Lily was adamant that she was going to snuggle with Jace all night long, but in the end it looked like this:

Everyone else was asleep, and silly Lily was being wild and crazy. Eventually my mom fell asleep on the couch, and so did everyone else. They all had such a fun time!

August 8

We had a babywearing meeting today, but first we had to meet Amber to pick up part of the babywearing library. We ended up ready for the meeting and in the van, ready to go way too soon, so we drove through Starbucks, then went to a park to kill some time before the meeting.

The kids all got cake pops and got to play at a playground, so they were quite happy.

Yum!

After the meeting, Chris' mom picked Caleb and Daisy up for Special Time (possibly their last one, since next Tuesday is "Meet the Teacher" day, and then school starts!) and I worked on pictures on the computer while the little ones napped. After about two hours, I heard Eli's door open. I called for him, but he didn't answer. Still, I didn't hear the door shut, so after a few minutes I went to check on him. I found this: 

He flopped onto the couch and went back to sleep. 

My kids never sleep anywhere besides their beds and occasionally the car. It was so sweet to watch him snooze like this!

August 7

How about too many pictures of the kids playing in Lake Michigan? That sounds like fun.

Maggie and Tim live roughly ten miles from Lake Michigan, but we were so busy doing other fun things during our visit that we didn't get to see it. I decided that wasn't acceptable, and suggested that we pack up early this morning and spend a few hours at the lake on our way out of town. Amazingly, my mom and dad had spent the weekend at a town about an hour away for a motorcycle race, and were also on their way home today. They were able to meet us at the lake and spend time watching the kids play. It was so special!

Maggie spent about 45 minutes there with us. We were all expecting it to be cool and windy at the lake, but it was actually sunny and warm. I specifically dressed the kids in long sleeves and pants, thinking it was going to be miserable.

They quickly stripped to their swimsuits.

Daisy found feathers!

Gosh, she's cute.

I mean, really.

When we first arrived, we all had a hard time determining where the lake ended and the sky began. It was pretty amazing.

We were blessed with perfect weather for playing in Lake Michigan, and the beach quickly began to fill up.

These kids had so much fun!

Daisy really enjoyed the sand.

(The bulldozer behind her was working to abate some erosion of the beach. It was noisy, but fine.)

Eli was cold, so I wrapped him up in a Towel Torso Carry using one of Maggie's blankets. I love this picture!

Then my parents arrived, and they had a great time chatting with Maggie.

Yeah, that's my man in the background.

This picture cracks me up.

And then it was time to leave, and get back on the road to head home.

Cleaning all of the sand off these kids was not an easy task! Thank goodness my parents were there!

Our family at Lake Michigan. I love it!

I also love this. Barefoot Eli only wanted to hold Grandpa's hand - no one else's. And then we headed home!