Wrapping up our June

Now that I've finally completed all the Utah posts I'd anticipated, let's wrap up our month of June (in mid-July). Should be easy, considering I've detailed most of it quite thoroughly.

We started the month with Coraline's tubes (more here). That evening we were outside spending quality family time together when Nell started coloring sidewalk chalk all over herself. Of course, the other two joined in. Silly kids. They weren't so happy when it was time to wash up, but they sure were giggling as they rubbed chalk all over themselves.

We spent that first Saturday cleaning out the garage (really, that took less than an hour). The kids enjoyed playing with all of the boxes we'd been waiting to recycle (sometimes our bin is so full it doesn't fit all our recycling, but our trash always fits). I love the moments when they play so well together and require so few "things" to entertain them. This was one of those simple childhood moments where they were just happy to have each other and their imaginations.

Ben and I enjoyed a lovely date that evening. Reid and Nell lucked out and went to a birthday party, so only Coraline had to stay home with the babysitter. For our date, we went to a fancy Mexican restaurant and then to the adult session of Stake Conference. Ben had to leave the conference a little early to pick up the kids. They were at a Church friend's birthday party. It was really nice of them to invite both Reid and Nell. This family has two boys Reid and Nell's age, and it was the older of the two's sixth birthday. It was dinosaur themed and even had a volcano cake (something Reid has asked about in the past). They were in heaven the whole evening, I'm sure. We heard all about it the next day, and they each had a big bag of goodies to sort through. 

Sadly, as Ben pulled in that evening he noticed our Owl had died. He didn't let the kids see it, and only went out for inspection after they were asleep. We are guessing he ate a poisoned mouse. Or maybe the stress of the crows got to him, but I read up on Great Horns that night and they actually eat Crows, so I doubt that was it. Who really knows. 

I knew the kids would be devastated, but both my mom and Ben's sister Lauren suggested we hold a funeral in memory of our yard pet. So we did just that. The kids were pretty into it. And of course, as any good funeral home director would do, Ben gave the bird a thorough inspection while the kids stood by and watched. We couldn't pass up a good science lesson, right?

Speaking of science, we would have gladly donated it to the local DNR, but when Ben called they shot us down. We were told to dispose of it, so the funeral (and inspection) were the perfect solution. 

In other wildlife news, earlier this same week our neighbors came home from their Montana bear hunt with a kill. The two big kids and I went over to check the beast out (Coraline was napping). It was pretty cool to touch his fur and claws. Nell was a bit frightened at first, but she warmed up to the idea. Reid thought the whole thing was exciting and it sparked a lot of curiosity. 

We attended our (other) neighbor's graduation party that weekend as well. We've really grown close to a few families on our street and definitely have a soft spot for Noah. He was born premature at 23 weeks! He has cerebropalsy and is one of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. Just a few weeks before graduation he was crowned prom king. The school he goes to has more than 500 kids per class, so it was a pretty big deal. We were more than happy to go celebrate with him and his family. 

Plus, there was a bounce house. 

(video)

I read a book on minimalism during the first few days of the month. I loved it and have been meaning to write up a book review on it. The things it made me ponder are totally worth their own blogpost. Maybe I'll get around to it someday. 

Week #2 was when we celebrated Reid's 4K year, more on that back here. It was so nice to have Sam stay the night and part of the day with us. The kids loved having her around to watch them as they played outside. They were eager to wake her up the next morning and sad when she had to go back to Illinois. 

Reid enjoyed his last day of school. He came home with a bunch of little trinkets, so Nell and I took the time to hear him explain what each of them was for or what it represented. Then I made him go through and choose three of his favorite things to keep for his memory box. The rest went in the trash. He handled that a little better than I thought. 

(picture)

(picture)

One morning Reid came out of his bedroom dressed as an arctic explorer and on another (late morning) I snapped a cute photo of Lou napping with her baby. 

On Friday we had our gender reveal ultrasound. I was pretty confident it was a girl, but Ben was guessing boy. We didn't actually see any anatomy confirming either, but the technician said she was 99% sure it was a girl because of the two flat lines that showed on the bum. Reid actually handled this news really well. I was proud of him, because I know exactly how badly he wants a little brother after having two little sisters. 

We decided to celebrate the welcomed news of a healthy baby by going out to the kids favorite restaurant -- a Chinese buffet. It was also our last night together before we took off for Utah, so it was nice to do something a little special as a family. 

I detailed most of the highlights from our two week Utah vacation pretty well back here, here, here, and well, you get the point (there are 9 posts total). But I've still got more random little tidbits to share. Like this hilarious one second selfie video that Nell took while at Church that first Sunday. 

 Or these super cute shots of Lou in one of my old outfits.

There were also special videos and pictures we took to send Daddy.

(playdoh video)

And finally these shots from the many different mornings I woke up with my kids by my side. We follow a pretty strict no bed share rule when we are home, so it was fun to snuggle my kids in my mom's big king sized bed. With Coraline, it was mostly out of necessity. She has a habit of waking up most nights, and at home Ben just goes in and puts her back to sleep (fixes a blanket, changes a diaper, calms her, or whatever her needs might be). But if I'm the one to go in and check on her all bets are off. She is not going to return to a peaceful sleep. So she always started in her own bed, but ended up in mine more often than not.

One particular night Reid was having a hard time going to sleep, so I let him come snuggle me until he fell asleep. He thought it was such a treat I promised him we would have a sleepover one night with both he and Nell. Thankfully this was one of the few nights Coraline didn't wake up and need to come to bed with me.

It's such a small thing, but snuggling up next to their little bodies really is such a pleasure. I sure love them, especially when they sleep. 

Back in Wisconsin, our van started giving Ben transmission trouble. So we returned to a bit of a disruption. We started looking for a new vehicle right away, but I was willing to hold out for something I really wanted. The kids and I had to use Ben's car when necessary. Coraline had both her 18 month check up and a tube follow up during our first few days home. The kids were good to all squish together in the back seat.  

To finish off the month I started sorting through all of Reid's old clothes. I always thought it would be hard to get rid of his clothes if I never had the chance to put them on another little boy. But it wasn't. Maybe it's because the book on minimalism still had me in the mood, or maybe it's just because I'm tired of holding on to six years worth of boy clothes. I don't know, but it felt so nice to purge!  I sold 80% of all his summer clothes. I also started selling some of our more "boy" themed toys. This was a bit harder, as Nell plays with boy stuff more than girl stuff -- and I try not to be gender specific in our play room. But it was getting pretty crowded in the playroom and most the objects that take up a lot of space are all boy themed. So out they went. By the time I was done, we'd made over $200 -- in just a week. Can't complain about that!

In one more year I'll start getting rid of all our baby stuff and a bunch of our girl clothes. I can't wait. I'm not entirely convinced we won't have a fifth kid, but I told Ben that at this point it doesn't matter -- I'm done holding on to things we bought/were given six years ago! If we end up having that 5th (and it's a boy) I'll just buy things all over again and that is okay. It's a chance I'm willing to take. Bring on the purge!

Near the end of June, we finally started our summer routine. I wrote a little bit about that back here. But that post didn't include this picture, which was taken on the very last day of June. It was beautiful month.