June Quicktake Photos

Here's seven quick summer (collage) photos, and their lengthy caption, from June.

Each summer our local library hosts a bunch of spectacular live performance kid shows. One afternoon we went to a Magic Poodle show. Reid was fortunate enough to be chosen as an audience member volunteer and the dogs did all sorts of tricks with him. Nell was pretty heartbroken she didn't get to go up with him, but I think petting the dogs at the end made her feel a little better about the whole ordeal. 

We had a lot of heavy, late spring storms. We even experienced a blackout for several hours one afternoon. The kids thought that was pretty fun. Once the rain stopped we headed outside to play in the ditches. The power was out for about 3 hours, but luckily our basement didn't flood. 

I spent a couple days trying to potty train Coraline, but she wasn't thrilled about the interruptions in her playtime. I figure I'll have to try again when Reid and Nell are back in school. She loves wearing underwear and using the toilet, but she was totally willing to run around in wet undies if that meant she could keep playing with her big buddies. 

Life for Mara involves a lot of sleeping and eating and sleeping and eating. She also rolls around, chews on stuff, smacks people, and screams out every now and again. But mostly, we're working on perfecting her sleeping and eating habits. It's hard work being such an adorable baby!

We've tried doing a little mommy school while the little girls' nap each day. It hasn't been super successful. But on these two particular days, Nell asked me to take photos to send to her Aunts (which I never did). The top photo was taken during our only successful math session. The bottom photo was one of the days I just gave them each a preschool bin and let them work/play on their own. 

This photo doesn't capture what I was going for, because I wasn't willing to leave my spot at the kitchen window. But, if you look close enough you'll see a neighbor friend over to play and you'll see that they are playing with random bits of board and lumber. When we cleaned out our garage we threw all the stray lumber we had into one big pile. But we weren't able to sell it because the kids immediately started playing with it. It's now been over six weeks and it is still their favorite outdoor toy. Cracks me up! 

All that rough and tumble outdoor play means we have extra need for baths. Nell took a late nap one afternoon, so I let these two enjoy a bubble bath. I love how well they play together. They spend most their time giggling at each other's antics, and it makes my heart so happy.  

Love these sweet kids of mine and the lovely summertime we get to share together.