Rainy afternoons

This summer has been so... RAINY!  Every afternoon around this time it seems like another thunderstorm rolls in off the coast and we are stuck indoors.  So we try to think of things to do.

Sometimes we go over to a friend's house:

 Sometimes we invite like 100 kids over to our house (its always funny when Eric gets home from work and walks in on this!):

p.s.- there are quite a few kids who weren't on the couch for this picture!

Sometimes we play dress up:

 Or make a tent:

 Or just take the slipcover off the playroom couch and jump on it naked (the kids, not me)!

Gettin' dirty in the backyard

Summertime means long hours spent in our backyard!  It's always shady and cool, with a little breeze coming off the pond... so on hot afternoons you can usually find us there.  Plus we are lucky to have so many friends for neighbors so there's always someone for the kids to run around with.  I love how Zoey and Lyla are big enough to join in the fun now.  They crawl around, following the older kids and getting so, so dirty.  I'm not sure why it makes my heart so glad to see dirty kids, but somehow it does!  It means they're having fun!!

Full tub, full heart!

It's the 4th of July!

 I love the 4th!  Watermelon, BBQ, fireworks... what's not to love?  It was always fun at my house growing up since my sister and mom had birthdays that week... so there was always plenty of cake too!  Luckily, Siena was born on the 2nd (same as my sister) so we can continue the tradition of partying all week.
This year on the 4th we were busy all day long.  Eric and I started the day off by getting in some training for our upcoming triathlon.  Eric did a full sprint tri with some friends in the neighborhood and I did 2/3 (just bike and run).  Hopefully we'll be ready in a few weeks! 

Later we took the kids and Berkeley on a hot, hot walk.  There's a little trail near our house that leads to a stream where Berkeley loves to jump in and get wet.  He's getting a little old and frail, so this time he kind of waddled and and just sat down to cool off in the water.  The stream was pretty high from all of the rain we got with Tropical Storm Debby.  If it weren't for so many bugs and the HEAT, we could've stayed out there all day!

In the afternoon, our neighborhood 4th of July party was supposed to start around 4pm... but it was raining... pretty typical for Florida summer days.  So several families came over to our house instead to wait out the rain and start eating BBQ!  At one point we decided to count how many kids were running around... 13!  We were pretty excited when the rain stopped and we could go outside to join the rest of our neighbors!  It actually worked out pretty well because I was able to get Lyla and Zoey fed and in bed before we went out (the party was at our next door neighbor's house so we were in our shared backyard all night).  We ate more, drank more, played cornhole, and watched fireworks over our pond.  We're lucky to have friends who put a lot of money and time into the fireworks show... they do a professional job! 

Siena is THREE!!!

Our little Siena turned 3 this week!  So fun, so silly, so cute... she makes us smile a million times a day!  We had a little Dora-Minnie Mouse party to celebrate with some friends in the backyard.  In our house the birthday kid gets to choose whatever they want for dinner and that night Siena chose "ladas!"  (AKA enchiladas)  I asked her if she wanted white or red enchiladas and she said, "um, how 'bout GREEN!"  So we had green enchiladas, a Dora cake, a Minnie Mouse balloon, and lots of presents!

Status update

Here's what's going on in our house...

Chase is a reading machine.  He's reading everything he can get his hands on, including our bedtime stories every night.  He's sweet and thoughtful and lately he loves to do the dishes for me!  But he's also highly emotional at times and can cry easily at the slightest disturbance in his plans.  It's tough for us to know when to console and comfort him, and when to say, "get tough!"  He continues to love puzzles, and math, and building things.  And he's always popping out quirky bits of knowledge or thoughts on how the world works... like this one:

"A bank is somewhere you keep your money.  Like if you're going to run in a race and you don't want to carry your money with you, you can just take it to the bank and they'll keep it for you.  Isn't that right Mommy?"

Chase just lost his first tooth and his second is getting ready to fall out!  He is growing up way too fast!

Siena is at such a fun and cute age right now.  I just adore her voice, her face, and the way she giggles!  She very much wants to be a "big kid" and do things herself, but she's still needs help with so much.  She loves to play games like Uno, Yahtzee, and dominoes.  She carries her babies around and asks me to change their clothes for her, and she loves playing "Little People."  One thing she's struggling with right now is swimming.... which is so surprising if you saw her in the pool last summer!  She was jumping in and swimming like a champ before she turned 2!  But now for some reason she is so scared to get in the "big" pool, even with a puddle jumper on.  She's been taking swim lessons, which has helped some, but I don't think it's a matter of learning skills for her... she just needs to get her confidence back! 

Zoey is still my snuggly sweet girl.  She'll throw her arms around my neck and nuzzle into my neck at naptime, and has even been giving big kisses!  Just melts my heart!  She loves to climb into my lap and loves to be tickled.  She was slower to stand up than Lyla, but now she's the one that I think will walk first.  Just yesterday she started standing up on her own from crawling and she's eager to practice!  She says "mama", "bye bye", and "book"  ("ba").  And she's been signing "hot", "thank you" and "all done"!

Lyla is always on the move, always curious!  She'll sit in your lap for a book, but after it's over, she's got places to go!  She giggles at the books and the animals she sees, which is so adorable.  Her little gets are always moving, especially when you're trying to get her to sit still for a diaper change or wardrobe change.  She says "mama", "bye bye", and "uh oh"!  She loves to give kisees too.  She LOVES the pool, and so does Zoey, they both totally think they can swim and just try to get away from you the whole time!  I bought them puddle jumpers as well, which helps, but they are definitely a handful in the water!!  I will definitely have to try to get some pictures and video of them in the pool... but right now we're just trying to keep everyone alive!  :)

My little blueberry pickers!