These are pictures from the 4th of July morning with my parents. The kids went to their house for the annual Firethorn parade and picnic. Brian and I hung out at mom and dad's and watched the "parade" go by, then met them all back at the clubhouse for hot dogs and watermelon. We took the kids home for a long nap (they were really tired after being out late the night before). We took them back to mom and dad's for the evening, where I hear they ate fried chicken and shot off fireworks on the driveway. Brian and I went to Larry the Cable Guy at Memorial Stadium with Kara and Wes and some of Wes' friends. It was pretty funny! Sunday was a nice quiet day in our house. Everyone was tired from so many days of late nights and activities. We ate pizza and had movie night that night, then an early bedtime!
I may not have mentioned that we went to Randy and Judy Bailey's (friends of Dale and Ellen) cabin on Middle Island in South Bend on Friday night. They live right on the water, so the kids got to swim and play on the beach. Then we ate dinner, played some games for the kids (the kids did their first pinata) and took a boat ride. It rained for a while, so we sat inside and visited while the kids played. Finally around 9:45 the rain stopped, so we watched a big fireworks display. The kids were surprisingly good for being up until 10:30 that night. They fell asleep in the car on the way home, thankfully.
The rest of the week went by very quickly! We had storytime and gymnastics, as usual. We went swimming twice, once at Madonna ProActive and once at the Woods Pool sprayground with Hannah and Haylea. Brian took part of Friday afternoon off and went with us there. It wasn't crowded, so it was a nice time. Afterwards, we took the kids out to eat at Red Robin. We figured out that it was the first time we had taken them to a sit down restaurant by ourselves, with no grandparent or aunt/uncle backup. Luckily the kids behaved very well and it all was fine. The kids (and me) also had a trip to my dad's office for cleanings on Friday. The kids did a super job of letting the hygienists polish their teeth and give them a flouride treatment. Will even had some tartar so he had to get scraped. He was a trooper! They were so good, I was pleased. Dad says that all are future orthodontic cases. Good thing we can get it for free!
The kids stayed at home with a babysitter on Saturday night for the first time. Audrey, one of my piano students, has babysat them before, but always when I was home and upstairs teaching piano lessons. We were invited to Lisa's house for her birthday party, and instead of imposing on any grandparents again, we decided to leave them with Audrey. They had fun and Audrey did a great job (the house was picked up and dishes done when we got back!). Yeah for finding a good baby-sitter, although it is expensive paying someone for 3 kids. We probably won't have her babysit on weekend evenings too often. Although, she is coming over 4 times in the next two weeks for a couple hours in the afternoon to relieve the grandmas of babysitting duty while I am at class (I'm taking a graduate class at UNL everyday for the next 2 weeks, 8:30 - 4:30).
The newest trick around here is saying rhyming words. I can say any word that I know has a rhyme like "cat" or "mop" and they'll come up with rhyming words. Although Xander is a cheater and always uses that vowel sound with a "d". For instance, if I say "shoe" he'll say "do". If I say "cup" he'll say "dup" (he does this even when the "d" word is a nonsense word). Uncle Chad tried it tonight and said "simple" and of course Xander said "dimple." Chad makes my kid seem like a genius! Will can write his name now, legibly enough that you can pretty much read it and of course, he does it all left handed. We have always been pretty sure he's left handed. I'll try to get a sample of it for you to see. Grace is becoming very precise in her coloring, she tries really hard to stay in the lines. No scribbling for her. I have also been noticing her lining things up. She put all the shoes by the front door in a line the other day while she was passing the time during her time out. Later Xander came by and said "these don't need to be lined up" and messed them up. How different they are!
Well, that's about all for now. I may not have much to post about in the next 2 weeks, since I will barely be spending any time with them. However, they are going to Fremont with grandma Pam and grandpa Mike next weekend to see Thomas the Train, so I think I can get some pictures and stories for you about that trip. Take care!
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