2019 :: week 30

July 21

We are on the cusp of a huge tomato harvest and I cannot wait! Tomatoes are my favorite and I planted two extra tomato plants this year. I love them all, but am most looking forward the cherry tomatoes. Lauren and I fight over them and call them "garden candy."

July 22

Monday we spent a lazy afternoon at the pool. We have officially reached the part of the summer where my motivation is waning and energy and patience are low. It would probably help if this little guy slept a bit better at night, but that's neither here nor there.

July 23

I have had a headache all week. I don't know if it is the weather or my hormones or both. Regardless, I was thankful for the free lunch program at Rosehill because I didn't have to prepare lunch for the kid today and it provided us with an opportunity to get out of the house. This year they offer yogurt and a muffin daily in addition to rotating more traditional entrees. Elliott won't even try most of the entrees, but likes the sides, so I felt wasteful getting him a meal when I knew it was most likely ending in the trash. He loves yogurt so this feels like a win.

July 24

Emily and I took the kids blueberry picking Wednesday morning. The temperatures dipped a bit and we decided to take advantage of the relatively "cooler" morning, even though Tyler wasn't able to go with us. He was attending a headstart program at his elementary school to prepare him to start kindergarten in the fall. I posted this photo on instagram, along with this caption: A beautiful morning at The Berry Patch was just what the doctor ordered after another rough night with Miles. The four month sleep regression may be exhausting me this week, but we are going to make the most of our last few weeks of summer, even if it kills me!

July 25

I think I've enjoyed almost every recipe I've tried from Mels Kitchen Cafe over the years and her "Skillet Vegetable Lasagna" was no exception. I was especially excited to use zucchini, tomatoes and basil from my own garden. I clearly need to work on my foot photography skills.

July 26

Friday I took the kids to Science City. We had a fun time, but it is a lot harder wrangling three kids plus one in a stroller. They recently debuted some new "brain" activities that the kids enjoyed. They also had fun building with some large blocks until a kid named James started hoarding the blocks. Will was very upset about this until I jokingly said, "We've got a hogger!" That is the phrase the kids say to each other when they don't share well.

July 27

We finally redeemed our rainchecks to Theatre in the Park (that we got after Annie was rained out) and saw Matilda. It was such a good play! We let each of the kids pick out a treat at the Dollar Store and then stopped at Papa Johns to get some pizzas so we were set for food. The kids enjoyed running around and tossing a football with Anthony while we waited. I found the soundtrack to the play on my amazon music so we have been listening to some of the songs while we drive around. Lauren especially likes "When I Grow Up!"

2019 :: week 29

July 14

We are always excited when Dad gets home from church. He typically gets home between 3 and 4, occasionally getting home earlier and rarely coming home later.

July 15

Monday night was the activity formerly known as "Mormon Night at the K." It is now called by the much less catchy "Family Night at the K, sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Despite the name change, it was the best game we have been to as a family in years. The weather was nice, the kids had great attitudes and the Royals beat the White Sox 5-2. We got there a little early and let the kids do some activities at the Little K. It should also be noted that this was Miles' first baseball game.

July 16

The downside to staying up way past his bedtime to go to the baseball game is that Elliott was VERY grumpy the next day. He was so unreasonable while we were at the pool I told him he had to take a time out on the chair. Next thing I knew he had passed out. We had been planning on leaving, but I knew he wouldn't sleep again if we went home so we decided to stay a little longer so he could sleep. Sometimes it is hard to be 3 1/2.

July 17

Lauren and Will started Camp Kemper on Wednesday morning. I think this is Will's fourth and Lauren's second summer attending. I really like these classes because the kids visit the museum to learn about different types of art, then mimic the style as they create their own pieces using high quality supplies. The theme for the week was "Food Art" and the kids had fun using various mediums to create food-inspired creations. A few kids from the neighborhood ended up being in their class which was a fun surprise.

July 18

While the big kids were at art camp the little guys and I have a few hours to fill up. We decided to visit the Clifford Exhibit at Crown Center on Thursday. Elliott loves Clifford and had such a fun time. His favorite activity was delivering mail to each of the different houses. Clifford is one of my favorite PBS Kids shows.

July 19

Friday was a extra fun day at the pool. The city arranged for a night of "Live Music at the Pool," and invited Battery Tour to play music while we swam. They played a few of their own songs, then DJ-ed requests the rest of the evening. "Old Town Road," and "Sunflower," were very popular, with "Baby Shark," bringing down the house. Elliott and his buddies went crazy when that song came on. I packed a picnic dinner and we stayed until the pool closed. It was a very enjoyable evening.

July 20

Anthony spent Friday and Saturday with the youth and several youth leaders from our ward touring Nauvoo. They went to the temple to do baptisms, attended the pageant and went around the town.

2019 :: week 28

July 7

When I came downstairs from saying goodnight to our kids Sunday evening I was struck with how gorgeous the sky looked out our back windows. This photo does not do it justice.

July 8

I like to start the week off getting a lot of things done. Monday is my laundry day, and I start that as soon as I'm up for the day, typically before 8am. Will has piano lessons at 9am, and while is there we usually buy gas, stop by the post office, or pick up a few groceries. This week Will got invited to go to swim with his friend Ben, so we dropped him off at Ben's house and then headed to the library. Lauren and Elliott both selected a few books and movies, then took advantage of the children's area. Lauren colored and Elliott played Legos. Monday afternoon we folded laundry, then went to the pool.

July 9

Tuesday was Chick-fil-A's annual "Dress Like a Cow Day." It has evolved over the years, but basically if you dress up like a cow, or put polka dots on your shirt and ears on your head, you get a free entree. The kids had fun creating their simple costumes, and I enjoyed the subsidized meal. Most of my spots were rubbed off my shirt when Elliott jumped in my arms and clinged to me when he spotted the cow mascot roaming the restaurant.  Our restaurant had a fun wheel for the kids to spin and both Elliott and Will won a free milkshake, which helped calm him down.

July 10

While we were in Florida two families brought Nintendo Switches to play. Will's cousin Weston earned money for his Switch and Will made a deal with Anthony and I to likewise earn money towards a Switch for our family. He has been very entrepreneurial ever since we returned from our trip. Here is his watering our friend Sarah's flowers. He has been watering her plants and getting her mail while she was out of town. He spent hours weeding our beds (which got out of control when we were out of town) and I am so pleased with how much better they look. It is fun to see him get creative with ways to earn money.

July 11

We had a busy Thursday! Lauren went to the Kansas City Temple (about 35 minutes away) with her activity days group. They walked around the grounds of the temple, visited the waiting room, met with the temple president and matron, picnicked at the neighboring church building, then stopped for ice cream on the way home. While Lauren was busy with her friends Will had a playdate with his friend (Seth) from his Cub Scout troop that is not in our ward. We combine scouts with a ward that shares our building, so this is a new friend that he typically only ever sees on Wednesday nights. He had a great time and is already asking when we can have Seth over to our house.

July 12

Miles has not been sleeping great this week. Teething, four month sleep regression, who knows? All I know is that before we went on vacation he would give me one 6 hour stretch a night. Now he is back to waking up every 2-3 hours. Friday evening Will and I went to the pool and I read while Will worked on his diving. It was nice to just read and relax. The book I read is The Wednesday Sisters. It was the book club pick for July and I didn't get it finished in time for our meeting Wednesday night, in part due to my week of poor sleep. Anthony, Lauren and Elliott watched E.T while Will and I were at the pool.

July 13

We had a very productive Saturday! It was our turn to clean the chapel in the morning. Anthony prepped and painted the decorative gate in the front of our house I cut the three boys hair. We moved our storage around in the basement in preparation for the next step of renovations next week. When it was finally time to go the pool we were all ready!

2019 :: week 27

June 30

Sunday was a long day of driving. It was about a seven hour drive that took us over nine hours thanks to road construction near the stadiums in KC. The last hour was the worst. Sunday was a lot like Saturday except that Anthony and I listened to a podcast about MLMs after finishing Evicted.

July 1

Ms. Julie (Will's piano teacher) graciously let us move Will's 9am piano lesson to 10:30am "in case we were feeling tired after our trip" and it turns out we were. We spent the day doing laundry and getting groceries and then finally heading to the pool. It felt good to get in the pool Monday afternoon. The water was cool and I convinced Elliott to let me take him around the deep end in his puddle jumper. We learned on this trip that Elliott doesn't really like the water and he definitely doesn't feel comfortable in his puddle jumper like the older kids did at his age.

July 2

Elliott and Blaise looking at their shadows made me smile. These two have a bit of a frenemy relationship going on. The biggest news of the day is that Stevie came over and started framing out the rooms in our basement! I was so excited to walk downstairs and see how much progress he made in just one workday. The basement finishing project is getting real!

July 3

Miles had his four month check-up Wednesday. He continues to drop percentiles, going from the 57th pecentile at 2 month to the 24th percentile, weighing in at 14 lbs. 2 oz. Even though he isn't "fattening up," he is perfectly squishable to me. I love his chunkly legs and cheeks and pouty lips. We haven't fed him solid foods yet, but our pediatrician instructed us to feed him Inspired Start baby food. Inspired Start mixes pureed fruits and vegetables with the eight most common allergens so the kids can get early exposure in the hopes of preventing allergies. It was a busy day of appointments for Miles. In addition to his well-child visit he had a physical therapy appointment as well. His neck is looking a little more loose and his arms appear to be marginally stronger.

July 4

We had a fun 4th of July. We cleaned out our garage so we could temporarily move some stuff out of our basement now that Stevie is framing it out. In the evening the Wilsons invited us over for a potluck BBQ and then walked over to the golf course to watch the fireworks.

July 5

My dad generously spent the greater part of the day working in our overgrown backyard. He pulled out shrubs, trimmed the deadwood out of our apple tree, and pulled up a lot of ground cover. Will and Lauren helped him bundle the yard waste while I worked on weeding our poor garden. Our garden had become very overgrown while we were away. It was a very humid day and we were all dripping with sweat long before we finished. In the afternoon I took the kids to the pool mainly because I wanted to feel refreshed.

July 6

Saturday was a very busy divide and conquer day. I took Lauren to a baptism for her friend Evie in the morning. Then Anthony took Will and Elliott to see the Blue Angels and I took Lauren and Daphne to Quinn's birthday party. While the girls were at the party I went to Hy-Vee to get some groceries and picked up some teether toys for Miles. He has been biting me a lot when I feed him and his bottom gums are very puffy.