Everyday stuff

Andrew often comments on how great the arrangement of bunking Miss M and Big Will together has been since Tiffany moved in.  He can't go to sleep without her and now he wants to sleep with her in her bed.  He's the biggest lover in the family for sure. 

You'd have to be a lover to sleep with Miss M b/c she sleeps like a crazy person.  I walked in one night to find Big Will being continually beat in the face by her food.  I finally picked him up and put him in his own bed. No one should have to endure that sort of abuse.  

She can't sleep up and down on the pillow. She rotates around the entire bed.  Every night.  

The Village closes down a few streets once a week during the summertime and there is food and music.  The kids found the balloon artist and got balloons made. Will's balloon lasted almost five minutes before he hit it on the ground and it popped.  It was complete devastation.  I don't think we can go back b/c I can't handle balloon animals popping leaving the kids in hysterics.

Our new favorite thing to do is go to Menard's. It's not really very close. It's actually further away than Target and I refuse to go to Target b/c it's too far away but sometimes you need to make yard Jenga and Menard's calls your name.  The kids were in shock that you can buy a toilet at a store and spent a significant amount to time running in and out of the showers. It was excellent entertainment.  We went back today, to buy mulch, and ended up spending 30 minutes in the showers, and not buying mulch.  I spent $10 on Off mosquito stuff and tent stakes.  Pretty cheap date.

Andrew and Big Will sanding my Jenga blocks.  

We were able to play an intense game that night as some friends popped over to hang out.  

She's a unique little lady.  We are struggling to get the potty training thing down. We take one step forward and two steps back. Or else it feels like it. She's stubborn (politely stated independent) and does things on her time.  She won't be pushed (or bribed) into anything. It can be exhausting. I am exhausted right now thinking about it. I can't pull myself off the bed.  She also has been creating knots in her hair again. I don't understand why but they keep getting bigger. She's going to have bald patches soon. It's a good thing she has light colored hair as I am hoping this makes it less obvious.  If you look inside the lid of her blue cup you can see the knots we just finished cutting out.  She likes to save them after I cut them out.  

 Miss M playing dress up from the baby house the day we sanded and made Jenga.

 She quickly changed her role. This is very common for Miss M.  She can easily change her clothes 12 times in a day.  Her room is proof of it. She throws her clothes out of her drawers and onto the floor as she shuffles to find what she's looking for. It also exhausts me and makes me want to scream. Before summer is over we might go back to the basic wardrobe principle again where she gets five shirts/shorts/underwear so there's less mess to be made each day.

 In a moment of weakness at Costco one day I bought a 10 foot by 6 foot inflatable pool. It's probably going to the be best and worst part of my summer but it won't ruin (much) of Andrew's grass.  I put a tarp down under it so it wouldn't get poked with mulch/rocks and staked that to the ground.

 Joe and Cater having an evening swim.  Thankfully they are both clothed. It isn't uncommon to find one of them without clothes.

 And then I bought a tarp to put over it to try and preserve the water a little from bugs/leaves/general grossness.  So far it's working pretty well. It's just a matter of staking it on and cleaning the pool out every day.

 Sometimes I find Willie crashed out on the floor.  And I leave him there.  This is what a new 10 foot inflatable pool will do to a kid.  I just wish it had the same effect on Cater.

 She just keeps going and going. It's almost like she's unstoppable.  She's got some fashion sense :)

To encourage the kids to use their imagination (and not harass me all the time) we got boxes and went on a hunt for treasure.  We found a lot of rocks (or broken concrete). We are going to paint them later this summer or as soon as they ask for the next project.  

 

I am really looking forward to summer and the fun we are going to have each day.  On a macro level, summer will hopefully be memorable times for the kids but on a micro level there could be a lot of yelling due to pestering and fighting.  I hope macro ends up winning in everyone's memory.