August "in-betweens"

Here is some of what we stayed busy with between all the visitors and fun in August.

I turn away for a few minutes and somehow without getting out of the cart the kids managed to get umbrellas out and open them. Gave me a good laugh when I turned around.

Cold Stone. Again. I think we have a problem.

One afternoon we took the kids to a splash we hadn't tried before. And it's always more fun with Daddy. Especially when I make him wear his swimsuit so he has to get wet with the kids. :)

One of very few pictures I took at Tatum's swim lessons. She is fifth from the right. :)

But I just found this one on Brennan's phone. :) It is from the last day of lessons, the only time he got to come and watch a little.

I played a lot of PAW Patrol memory during swim lessons.

Tatum with her teacher on the last day. She passed level 1! The first day of lessons she kind of flipped out. She was excited to go and then when we got there another little girl was hysterical. Tatum still sat with the group for awhile and then suddenly got up and ran over to me crying. I got her back to the group but she refused to participate. They didn't get in the water for quite some time and it was a big group (it was before they had split them into smaller groups) so the kids were just baking on the concrete feeling bored and confused. By the time they got up to get in the water Tatum refused. One poor teacher had to pick her up and try to carry her while she kicked and screamed. Kind of an embarrassing moment for me. I finally went over to intervene and she got in the water at that point. But she attached herself to this teacher from the start. Luckily she got assigned to her small group that first day. But any day she couldn't see her right away, or couldn't sit close enough to her, or they were staying as a large group Tatum would struggle. Luckily she powered through.

She passed!

Ice cream to celebrate. I guess Declan deserved ice cream too, for sitting through 45 minute lessons for two weeks.

Bahahaha. This picture is too perfect. Nice eyes, kids.

We went swimming with the whole family for Ella's birthday on their last day in town, but somehow I left these out of that post. Tatum decided she wanted to do the diving board. I wasn't super sure about it but Papa said he would take her if she could show him she could jump into the pool into deep water from a higher edge then the drain type edge you climb out on. She did it so he took her over to try. I was so nervous for her! I have always been such a water wuss ever since I was little. There is no way I would have been attempting the diving board at age 4. Her first try was unsuccessful. She got to where she would need to let go of the bars and turned right around. haha

She talked to Papa and then tried again immediately.

Success! She did it a million more times, she loved it!

We went to the opening night of Sauerkraut Days in Lisbon. It's amazing how a few months ago bounce houses were "too bouncy" and now he can't get enough of them.

Tired boys.

A new friend had a birthday party at the PlayStation. His grandma spoiled us all with pizza and pop and arcade tokens. The kids were in heaven.

And then they both napped. It was glorious! This was just after my sister left so they definitely needed a nap.

Picnic in the park while we wait for Grandma and Papa to be done with their shift at the temple.

Still tired. I tell you, this boy just hasn't been able to catch up.

One Sunday it rained with no lightening and the temperature was just about perfect for playing in the rain. Luckily the kids have an aunt and uncle and cousins who are more fun than mom and dad.

Tired again....

These two are always up for a game.

Lately you can often find Tatum reading to Declan. It's either a book we have read so much she basically has it memorized or she just makes up words based on the pictures. It is the sweetest scene every time.

We painted our kitchen island. It used to be green. We didn't hate it but we had some dark gray lying around so we just went for it. I love the way it turned out!

The kids were ecstatic to find this car cart at the grocery store. At first I thought it was going to be way better than the alternative which is both of them pushing their own own mini cart. But I quickly realized close quarters were not going to be better. They were still as loud and crazy as they are when they have their own carts. I can't win! I can be grateful that the loud sounds coming from them are happy and not screaming fits though...I guess. :/

Oh my heck, I seriously didn't realize how many sleeping pictures I have of Declan again. Only this time they are all during the day. Clearly it was a summer for the books, it wiped us out.

Haha, I took my very first "belly shot" at like 34 weeks. With the other two I took regular pictures of my growing belly. Not every week or anything crazy like that. But you can see the progression. Not for baby number three. Oops.

My first solo attempt at french braiding. Not too shabby!

Brennan plays ultimate frisbee sometimes on Tuesday nights. Sometimes the kids and I go with and play at the park just so we aren't stuck at home alone any longer.

Another day, another french braid.

They looked good on top but were a little differently done at the bottom. Clearly I could use some more practice.

Declan has finally mastered these read along books. The kids call them their ipad books. It's fun to watch him listening to them. He loves books of all kinds and can often be found just looking through books for significant periods of time. He'll read/listen to all 8 of the books in his set in one sitting. Pretty impressive for this always on the go little boy.

Another reading session brought to you by Tatum.

Playgroup was at Old MacDonald's Farm. We couldn't stay long because I had an OB appointment, but the kids really liked it so I'm sure we'll be back.

We stopped by the downtown library after my OB appointment. The kids could stay for hours. And after telling them they could only check out a couple of books we walked out with 12!

Brennan was volunteering for Habitat for Humanity through work that morning. He happened to be nearby so when he found out we were downtown he stopped by and had lunch with us. It was an unexpected treat.

Tatum's first homework sheet. Her teachers came by the house to meet her and left her with her first assignment. She loved filling it out.

The first day of preschool! How is this day upon us?! Tatum got to choose breakfast for her big day. French toast was the choice.

I am so excited for her but my heart is breaking at the same time. We miss having her all to ourselves!

Look at those two. The best of friends. Please, please, please let it stay that way forever.

Grandma got Tatum some kid nail polish. She loves to paint her own nails. This time Declan convinced her to paint his nails as well. He's pleased as punch about it as you can see.

Day 2, outside the preschool, in new PAW Patrol shirts from Grandma.

Out for lunch on day 2.

A couple random videos from August.

Some days Tatum does quiet time really well. Other day she will NOT leave me alone. This day was the latter. Oh boy.

Whew. And just like that summer is over. It was busy, it was crazy, it was packed full of fun. It'll be kind of nice to have things slow down (although who am I kidding? We're about to have a baby, I highly doubt things will be slowing down at all!) but also kind of sad to be starting the routine of the rest of our lives. Gone are the days of only having kids at home with no real schedule we are committed to keep.