...I used to write blog posts here about what was going on with our family?
I should do that again. Especially considering that the last real post I wrote was about the month of May.
We have some catching up to do, so let's get to it...
In June we had a power outage, and when it was over we decided it would be really fun to play with dry ice.
It was.
Our little friends Gianna and Marielle had a sleepover at our house the night their new baby sister was born. It went really really well...all five kids were asleep by 8pm, and I managed to still get out for a 10k race that I had signed up to run the next morning. Success.
I love this picture of Teresita. I think it's one of my favorites. She looks so teeny tiny and adorable with her little puffs.
We don't actually have any pictures to document our biggest events in June. First, we remodeled our bathroom. After nearly seven years of being careful not to step on a certain corner of the bathroom floor for fear that we would fall through because the floorboards were rotted out under the tile, we decided it was time. Figuring out when to do a renovation like that is tricky though. Power tools + our children = no good. We decided to do it the week of Vacation Bible School, because the older two kids would be occupied from 9-12 every day which meant I would only be left with trying to figure out what to do with all three of them from noon until five when the contractor was finished for the day. The bathroom turned out really well, and we survived the week of long days away from home. It ended up being hot enough that we had picnics followed by afternoons at the pool most days, which no one seemed to mind.
The kids LOVED VBS and are still telling stories about it and singing the songs they learned. We had been talking about VBS ever since the dates were announced in the bulletin. Ana Luisa was excited. Juan Pablo was too, until he found out that he and Ana Luisa would be in different groups, each with kids in their own grade level. He said, "You mean...we are going to be...separated?" They are about 20 months apart in age, which means they have been able to take a lot of classes and do most things together. Ana Luisa is little miss social butterfly, but Juan Pablo tends to get a bit more anxious about new social situations and I think it gives him a little extra confidence to have her with him. When I dropped them off the first day, I took Ana Luisa to her class first, knowing it would be no problem saying goodbye. Sure enough, she practically pushed me out the door after greeting her teacher and getting her nametag. Juan Pablo, on the other hand, was very nervous and wanted me to stay. Teresita and I hung out for about half an hour that first day until he felt more comfortable. After that he did great and was excited to go every morning...and disappointed when it was over at the end of the week. Though when I asked if maybe he would like to go to St. Thomas School, where VBS had been, he quickly replied that no, he wanted to go to our homeschool and just go to VBS in the summer. Fine by me.
With VBS over and a brand new bathroom in the house, we were ready to celebrate the 4th of July. We signed the kids up to run a 100m dash downtown right before the parade. They got dressed up in their race t-shirts and running shoes that make them super fast. Ana Luisa actually ended up getting new running shoes for the occasion because she had outgrown her old tennis shoes.
We met their buddy Jack at the starting line.
Both kids were very proud of their medals though, and we had a fun morning watching the parade and going out for pizza with friends. That evening the two big kids got to go to Abuelo and Abuela's house to stay up late and watch fireworks and make s'mores and catch fireflies.
Teresita went on a bike ride in July and decided it was the best thing ever. She was really excited about the helmet for a while and wore it around the backyard even when we weren't going on a bike ride.
Jeff likes to be superdad and pull all three kids by himself. This actually didn't happen much because we got a kid bike seat for Juan Pablo to attach to my bike so that we can have a two-person bike and ride together. He likes to help me pedal downhill.
We spend a lot of time outside in the backyard in the summer...
And one of my favorite things that happened this summer was that Teresita really started to play with Ana Luisa and Juan Pablo. She doesn't talk yet, but uses gestures and signs and grunts to communicate and the older kids have done so well including her in their play. She follows them around and mimics everything they do. It was so nice to have long days just spent playing all day. This also meant we got to a point where I could do things like actually finish a cup of coffee in the morning, sit outside with a book for a bit while the kids played during the day, or even clean the house during daytime hours while the kids were awake! All things that I hadn't been able to do for over a year since Teresita came home. It has been so fun to watch her grow in her relationship with their siblings. I love that even with her delays and all the things she can't do, they still are all such good friends and playmates.
In July we also took a very crazy but fun day trip to Holland, Michigan to spend a day at the beach. And forgot the camera. We ate dinner at a restaurant on a lake, with a giant playground right next door. You would think that after an entire day of playing in the water, walking almost a mile to get to our car, then playing at a playground for 45 minutes while waiting for our dinner, the kids would just pass out and sleep the whole way home, especially considering that we left at 8pm, a full hour later than they usually go to bed. Yeah, you would think that but you would be wrong. Ana Luisa was the first one down at about 9:30pm. Juan Pablo followed at about 10:00. And Teresita? She stayed wide awake until we got home at 10:30pm.
We went back to the west side of the state to spend a couple days at Oma and Opa's house in South Haven. We ended up with a cold day for the beach, the kids had a great time splashing in the water and playing with their cousins. On the way home we stopped at the zoo in Battle Creek, which it turns out is amazing! And of course we forgot the camera, again.
And I will stop there for now and continue on with August in a different post...
I should do that again. Especially considering that the last real post I wrote was about the month of May.
We have some catching up to do, so let's get to it...
In June we had a power outage, and when it was over we decided it would be really fun to play with dry ice.
Our little friends Gianna and Marielle had a sleepover at our house the night their new baby sister was born. It went really really well...all five kids were asleep by 8pm, and I managed to still get out for a 10k race that I had signed up to run the next morning. Success.
Teresita loves being in pictures.
I love this picture of Teresita. I think it's one of my favorites. She looks so teeny tiny and adorable with her little puffs.
We don't actually have any pictures to document our biggest events in June. First, we remodeled our bathroom. After nearly seven years of being careful not to step on a certain corner of the bathroom floor for fear that we would fall through because the floorboards were rotted out under the tile, we decided it was time. Figuring out when to do a renovation like that is tricky though. Power tools + our children = no good. We decided to do it the week of Vacation Bible School, because the older two kids would be occupied from 9-12 every day which meant I would only be left with trying to figure out what to do with all three of them from noon until five when the contractor was finished for the day. The bathroom turned out really well, and we survived the week of long days away from home. It ended up being hot enough that we had picnics followed by afternoons at the pool most days, which no one seemed to mind.
The kids LOVED VBS and are still telling stories about it and singing the songs they learned. We had been talking about VBS ever since the dates were announced in the bulletin. Ana Luisa was excited. Juan Pablo was too, until he found out that he and Ana Luisa would be in different groups, each with kids in their own grade level. He said, "You mean...we are going to be...separated?" They are about 20 months apart in age, which means they have been able to take a lot of classes and do most things together. Ana Luisa is little miss social butterfly, but Juan Pablo tends to get a bit more anxious about new social situations and I think it gives him a little extra confidence to have her with him. When I dropped them off the first day, I took Ana Luisa to her class first, knowing it would be no problem saying goodbye. Sure enough, she practically pushed me out the door after greeting her teacher and getting her nametag. Juan Pablo, on the other hand, was very nervous and wanted me to stay. Teresita and I hung out for about half an hour that first day until he felt more comfortable. After that he did great and was excited to go every morning...and disappointed when it was over at the end of the week. Though when I asked if maybe he would like to go to St. Thomas School, where VBS had been, he quickly replied that no, he wanted to go to our homeschool and just go to VBS in the summer. Fine by me.
With VBS over and a brand new bathroom in the house, we were ready to celebrate the 4th of July. We signed the kids up to run a 100m dash downtown right before the parade. They got dressed up in their race t-shirts and running shoes that make them super fast. Ana Luisa actually ended up getting new running shoes for the occasion because she had outgrown her old tennis shoes.
We met their buddy Jack at the starting line.
Because there were so many kids, they started splitting them up into different heats based on age. Ana Luisa didn't want to be apart from Juan Pablo and Jack so she decided to run with the five year olds. Juan Pablo had been taking the whole thing very seriously, sprinting up and down the driveway and around the yard all week to practice. When their group took off though, Ana Luisa didn't know what to do and she froze at the starting line. Juan Pablo turned around and went back for her, then held her hand until they got about halfway through. Then he took off sprinting and finished the race on his own. He is the sweetest big brother.
Ana Luisa really didn't seem to get what the whole thing was all about. Right after I took this picture she spotted me and tried to come with me, thinking she was done. I had to wave and point to the massive balloon arch finish line for a while before she turned back around and finished the race.
Both kids were very proud of their medals though, and we had a fun morning watching the parade and going out for pizza with friends. That evening the two big kids got to go to Abuelo and Abuela's house to stay up late and watch fireworks and make s'mores and catch fireflies.
Teresita went on a bike ride in July and decided it was the best thing ever. She was really excited about the helmet for a while and wore it around the backyard even when we weren't going on a bike ride.
Jeff likes to be superdad and pull all three kids by himself. This actually didn't happen much because we got a kid bike seat for Juan Pablo to attach to my bike so that we can have a two-person bike and ride together. He likes to help me pedal downhill.
We spend a lot of time outside in the backyard in the summer...
And one of my favorite things that happened this summer was that Teresita really started to play with Ana Luisa and Juan Pablo. She doesn't talk yet, but uses gestures and signs and grunts to communicate and the older kids have done so well including her in their play. She follows them around and mimics everything they do. It was so nice to have long days just spent playing all day. This also meant we got to a point where I could do things like actually finish a cup of coffee in the morning, sit outside with a book for a bit while the kids played during the day, or even clean the house during daytime hours while the kids were awake! All things that I hadn't been able to do for over a year since Teresita came home. It has been so fun to watch her grow in her relationship with their siblings. I love that even with her delays and all the things she can't do, they still are all such good friends and playmates.
In July we also took a very crazy but fun day trip to Holland, Michigan to spend a day at the beach. And forgot the camera. We ate dinner at a restaurant on a lake, with a giant playground right next door. You would think that after an entire day of playing in the water, walking almost a mile to get to our car, then playing at a playground for 45 minutes while waiting for our dinner, the kids would just pass out and sleep the whole way home, especially considering that we left at 8pm, a full hour later than they usually go to bed. Yeah, you would think that but you would be wrong. Ana Luisa was the first one down at about 9:30pm. Juan Pablo followed at about 10:00. And Teresita? She stayed wide awake until we got home at 10:30pm.
We went back to the west side of the state to spend a couple days at Oma and Opa's house in South Haven. We ended up with a cold day for the beach, the kids had a great time splashing in the water and playing with their cousins. On the way home we stopped at the zoo in Battle Creek, which it turns out is amazing! And of course we forgot the camera, again.
And I will stop there for now and continue on with August in a different post...
1 comment:
Such a beautiful little family.... and a big kudo to mom and dad -you are doing a great job!
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