Chilin in the Pool

Popcycles in Gramma's pool Paul swimming with his cousin, Tyler

Kathleen, Elyse and Ashley

Matt's brother Jon is staying with my in-laws for the month of August while he does an ER rotation here in Saginaw. Yay, more cousins to play with. We kicked off the month with a pool party at Gramma and Grandpa's house.

I don't think I mentioned before that my in-laws moved...closer...and now they have a pool.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Tuesday nights are family dollar nights at the Dow baseball diamond. Hotdogs, drinks, and icecream sandwhiches are only a buck. We joined aunts, uncles, and cousins for a night at the ball game. It kills me just a little bit to pay seven bucks for each of my kids who don't watch the game and spend the whole time playing on the toy structure at the back of the stadium, but we all had a great time. Matt had to work and didn't show up the first hour and a half. I couldn't have handled all four kids by myself between standing in the concession lines for an hour and trying to watch them all with a hundred other kids on the playground. Between three aunts, two uncles, a set of grandparents, and set of in-law parents, we managed not to lose any children. My kids finally have cousins to play with! One of Matt's brothers moved back to Saginaw and they have three, soon to be four, kids. Here's Elyse with her cousin Ashley.

And here's Luke playing peek-a-boo with his cousin Kayla. Luke loves playing with kids younger than he is. I think that's why he loves nursery so much now--he's one of the oldest kids in the room.

Jarom sucking his thumb. He doesn't normally do this, but it's cute, right?

Paul

We haven't had any lost teeth in our house for almost a year and Paul ups and loses two in two days. Thanks Elyse for pulling both of them out for me. Ew...(shudder)...I hate loose teeth. Paul's smile looks so different now. He's also having a hard time tearing into his food.

A couple funny things with Paul this summer:

He never learned how to skip in Kindergarten. Galloping--he was awesome. Skipping--not so much. I guess he's been practicing and he's finally got it down. But now he doesn't walk anywhere anymore. The boy skips everywhere. To the bathroom, out to the mailbox, to go make his bed. Matt says he remembers doing the exact same thing as a kid.

The other day Paul came up to me and said, "Mom, I have beards on my legs." Yupm, he's my hairy child.

Paul thinks he's old enough now to walk in parking lots without holding my hand. "Mom," he whines, "Why do you make me hold your hand?" So I tell him he's too short for cars to see him, especially if he dashes out without looking first. Next time we're in a parking lot, he raises one hand ram rod straight in the air. "Paul," I ask. "What are you doing?" "Well, now I'm tall enough for cars to see me." And off her skips across the parking lot with a heil Hitler pose.

Hoffmaster State Park

We just came home from our annual camping trip to Hoffmaster state park. Fortunately, all four kids slept well and thanks to camping cots, Matt and I did, too.

I love Luke's grape soda mustache.

Miniature golfing at Craig's cruisers

Ice cream at the Whippi Dip

Luke's sporting a European swimwear look this summer. We call them parachute swim trunks, but it's actually a reusable swim diaper. I've been too lazy to go and buy swim trunks to go over them.

Hoffmaster is a state park full of sand dunes. The beaches on the Western side of Michigan are great because of their sandy bottoms. I actually climbed this bad baby. Go me! For every step you take up, you slide half way back down sinking calf deep in sand. The kids frolic up and down these with little effort. Oh to be a kid again.

There's a creek that runs through the camp ground. Where it empties into Lake Michigan, it forms a shallow pool that's a lot warmer and the kids enjoy playing in because it's shallower, too.

Paul in Lake Michigan.

Elyse running down a dune.

Jarom

Things that have changed with the fourth child:

1. I don't get a shower every day anymore. I never understood before how some of my friends couldn't find time for one. Now with Jarom, I understand. Sad to say, I've even gone two days. Sunday we woke up late for church and yesterday between laundry, grocery shopping, errands, and babysitting for out-of-towners, I didn't find time again. Ick.

2. I can't grocery shop with all the kids anymore. Three was do-able on my own. Four is suddenly impossible.

3. Getting ready in the morning takes twice as long.

4. I have selective deafness. It's amazing what I'm able to tune out. And sometimes I forget to tune back in. I catch myself saying, "What? What did you say?" anytime an adult talks to me.

5. I have more gray hair than I used to. And it sticks out funny from the rest of my hair.

6. My whole body sags.

7. I am now an oddity here in Michigan. "You have four kids and you're how old?" On the flip side, doctors and nurses listen to me when I tell them something. People stare at me when I leave the house with all four. It's like a daily parade for folks. We've even been honked at in parking lots.

8. I really, really don't care if the blanket I'm using has a half gallon of spit up on it. And even though I can bend over and reach things, my floors are just as dirty as they were when I was nine months pregnant.

9. I pay more library fines. In ten years maybe they'll be able to add a wing named after me and my kids who can't find their books!

10. I wake up almost just as tired as when I went to bed. I'm hoping this only lasts for the first year, but I'm not counting my chickens....

Box World

For the first time in our marriage, we are the proud owners of...patio furniture! And a boo-koo lotta boxes. The kids converted half the garage into box world. They each had their own room and a swimming pool in the center. Too bad box world went into the recycling truck today. That kept them busy for three days straight.

Slurpee Faces

Every once in a while you need a slurpee to combat a hot summer day.

Paul in the Sand

I'm not sure I'm getting these texture things down, but here's another try.

Textured

This photoshop lesson was kind of weird and I don't love the end result. We had to overlay three different textures onto a photo. This is Jarom on his blessing day.

Vintage-Hand Tinted

So here's the latest I learned in my photoshop class. What do you think?

Fourth of July

Jarom at the fireworks A bunch of cousins

We had several of Matt's family in town for the fourth of July: a sister and fam from Yakima, WA, a brother and fam that just moved back to Saginaw, plus the parents of two of the in-laws. We had thirteen of the grandchildren together for the fourth and they had a blast over the weekend. Here we are at the Saginaw fireworks.

Photo Frame Ups

Here's what I've learned so far in my online photoshop class: adding frames, word art, and brushes.

BTW: the babies are Jarom (left) and his cousin Steven. They were born about a week and a half apart.

Saginaw Zoo

We bought a membership to the Saginaw Zoo. It's not much of a zoo. There's a petting area and a few other tiny exhibits, but there's also a train and a carousel. We took the boys while Elyse played at a friend's house.

Jarom Luke and a tortoise

Paul's wanted one of these zoo keys for the last few trips to the zoo and I finally broke down and spent the whopping $3 for one. I've never seen a happier boy. He told me it was the best day of his entire life. You can put the key in these boxes by the exhibit and they'll tell you about the animal and sing a song.

The boys at the fossil dig.

This totally cracked me up. In front of this monkey is a big sign telling zoo goers to not feed the monkeys. And then I see this little guy ripping a yellow pages to shreds and eating random pages. I don't know how he got the thing--made my day.