First week of summer vacation

Summer is here! Although it doesn't feel like it too much. I had been worries about how this week of having everyone home by myself everyday would go, but I shouldn't have worried about it. 

Friday Ashley, Mason and Christopher came up to babysit so Joe and I could go to a wedding, and to hang out for the Memorial Day weekend. The big kids were definitely excited to see their cousins roll up!

Saturday we took the whole gang to the KC Northern Railroad. The babies feel asleep on the way, so I stayed behind while Ashley took the big kids on the train. 

Mason didn't want to go at first, but I think he changed his mind pretty quickly!

We had a lot of fun playing all weekend long, dodging raindrops. The kids were definitely sad on Monday when it was time to say goodbye. At least we will be seeing them again in a week as we head to Florida. 

Tuesday started off slow, with lots of snuggles and tv time in bed. 

It was nice not to have any plans! We finally had a couple of dry days, so we made sure to hit up the playgrounds as much as possible. 

Wednesday we decided it was time to let the butterflies we have been raising since caterpillars go free. 

Joseph was super excited and did a great job of being super gentle while letting them climb on his hand. Maddie, well, was less than gentle. We may have had one lose part of his wing on his way to freedom. 

Thursday we headed to the library for a program called bubbleology. The kids had a blast playing with the bubbles, a baby pool of shaving cream, and Joseph was able to be a "human bubble!"

We made sure to check out plenty of books and movies for the upcoming road trip too.

Afterward, I snuggled with Jack while the big kids napped. I definitely can't get enough of cuddling with this sweet boy!

Joseph and Maddie spent plenty of time loving on him too. 

Friday started with a trip around the neighborhood for the annual garage sale. We found a little mermaid dress up dress for Maddie. Although it's a bit too big right now, she was thrilled to play in it and managed not to trip too often. Joseph figured out that garage sales are fun and used his spending money to buy a buzz lightyear toy. 

Friday night was just another night of hanging out, indoctrinating Jack to our boring ways. 

Jack is definitely becoming more alert. Today he spent more time awake and hanging out. He's also starting to actually look at us, which makes Maddie and Joseph even more interested in him. 

Things are about to get even more exciting!

Friends

Maddie has really enjoyed going to her parents day out program this year. She has gone for at least two days a week, sometimes three and has become good friends with a couple other girls who are regulars. I'm not sure if they will all be back in the summer and fall, but it had been fun watching her develop her own little group and get so excited to see them each morning at drop off! All I hear is, "where's Layla? Where's Mallory?" And then she runs to give them big hugs when she sees them and tells them how much she missed them. She really is so sweet!

And a random cute picture of the kids at naptime during stories. Jack isn't sure what's going on, but I think in a matter of weeks he's going to be more and more entertained by Joseph and Maddie. They both love their little brother like crazy!

Preschool Graduation

Joseph's last day of preschool was this past Wednesday. I can't believe he's done with preschool already! He's grown so much in the last two years and learned a lot. 

Thursday was his graduation. His class sang a song they've been practicing for weeks, "get up and go gecko." Joseph has been singing it to us at home for a while and learned all the words. He did a great job during his performance! 

Maddie wasn't sure what all the fuss was about but stayed relatively quiet and had fun hanging out with some of the other little sisters. Of course she wanted to do everything he did, so she has also learned the song and wanted her picture taken on stage too. 

They are both very excited for summer to start (not that they really know what that means, other than lots of time to swim and a long trip to Florida soon!) but Joseph will definitely miss his teachers and friends at sunbeams. I'm so glad we found the school when we moved and had such a good experience! He is definitely ready for kindergarten in a few months!

"I put my hands in the air like I just do not care!"

Such a rough life :) this momma is thankful this little guy has proven to be a good sleeper so far!

Third kid...

First nap in his crib! Only took 3 weeks. 

Fun with friends

Tonight our neighbors came over to meet Jack. They have two boys who are spaced right in between our kids, and Maddie and Joseph love playing with them. Especially when Owen lets them drive his "gator."

They were having such a great time, giggling hysterically, even as Owrn kept falling off the back. 

Almost makes me want to get them a big power wheels car of their own. Almost. 

For now, it's way easier to be thankful for good friends with fun toys!

Behind the scenes of baby pictures

This weekend we were lucky enough to convince Lisa to come out and take Jack's newborn pictures at our house. After some flight issues, she arrived late Saturday morning, and we spent a few hours Saturday afternoon taking Jack's pictures. I was amazed at how good Jack was- he stayed sleepy way past a feeding at didn't complain hardly at all. We snuck a few in with Maddie and Joseph at the end, and took more pictures Sunday. I can't wait to see how they turned out!

Jack is still doing great. We are so incredibly lucky to have such a sweet, calm, laid back baby. He doesn't mind being in his car seat , which is awesome since he spends so much time in it. I'm still waiting patiently to see a sleeping stretch longer than 3.5 hours at night, but he is so cuddly I don't really mind the frequent wake up sessions. We have his two week checkup this morning; I will be interested to see just how much he's grown !

Bathtime - A Family Affair

Jack's third bath at home was a well attended affair. Both kids wanted to help out, and Jack didn't seem to mind too much. 

One week!

The little man made it to one week old! He's been so easy going and willing to share smiles and a few giggles already. Definitely a keeper!

Miss Maddie has been relishing her job as big sister. She has taken on the roles of lotion applier and keeper of Jack's pacifier on her own. Of course, this means that any time he isn't using a pacifier (which is most of the time), she's doing her best to stuff it in his mouth. She definitely doesn't seem to understand that he doesn't want one as much as she does!

Friday Joseps had school and Maddie stayed home with Mimi and me. She helped Mimi make a cake and thoroughly cleaned the kitchen sink afterward. Such a big helper!

While Maddie seems very accepting of her new brother and doesn't appear to have jealously issues (yet), Joseph's tendencies to act out have increased in the past couple of days. He asked me to pick him up from school on Friday, which I was happy to do. I left Jack home with Mimi and whether he was upset about that or people asking where the baby was, it set Joseph off. So I took him to get a smoothie, something that we only do on occasion. When I asked him how it was, he replied "it's really good mom. Way better than a little brother." Hmmm. ;) hopefully we will settle into our new routine soon and his emotions will even out as well. He still definitely loves on Jack and asks to hold him constantly, so I think he's just trying to adjust. 

Maddie loves snuggling with Jack, especially first thing in the morning. She used to come into our room, climb into bed next to me and "face cuddle", but now she'll give me a good morning kiss and assume her position as close to Jack as physically possible. It's really quite cute and I'm so glad she's being good about adjusting to a new morning routine. 

Mimi stayed with us all week and left to go home Saturday. It was so nice having her around to help keep the house running, entertaining the big kids and letting me focus on resting and attending to the baby. It's going to be a hard reality tomorrow morning when I have to get everyone fed and out the door on time for school by myself!

Tonight was a gorgeous night, so I opted to take everyone for a walk while Joe did some work. Other than a brief meltdown from Maddie when she got too tired to walk but didn't want to ride on the front of the stroller, it went really well. Jack's expressions as we first started out were so funny- he was just looking all around and going completely cross-eyed trying to take everything in. And then promptly passed out for the remainder of the time outside. Hopefully we will make this a nightly event as it felt really nice to get outside and get a bit of exercise, and it wears the kids out too!

It's a rough life