Sleeping on the Ottoman

Hannah still probably should take a short nap every day, but she abandoned that practice long ago when she noticed that her siblings weren't taking naps.  So she definitely had the shortest amount of her life taking naps out of the three kids.  But with that, she still sometimes falls asleep in random places, though not very often.  Today was apparently one of those days, as she seems to have rested her head on the ottoman and then fell asleep.  At least the top of the ottoman is cushioned, so it probably is decently comfortable for her.

Daisy and Zoey

This afternoon I noticed two dogs running around our cul-de-sac.  They seemed to be staying close to each other but were sprinting around from house to house.  I know all the dogs who live on our street, and these weren't among them, so I guessed they had run away from their house.  They were super friendly, so I corralled them into our fenced back yard.  The kids were elated to see that we had two dogs.  Clara immediately wanted to know if we could keep them.  I told her they belonged to someone else and that we were going to try to find out who owned them. She suggested that if we couldn't find the owner that we should just keep them as our new dogs.  I told her that wasn't likely to happen, but she didn't seem to give up hope.  The dogs had no tags, so I posted in our neighborhood Facebook group, and it wasn't long before someone who lives several streets over claimed them.  He came over to get them, and he told us the dogs names were Daisy and Zoey and that they had in fact escaped, and he thanked me for collecting them and reaching out.  Clara was a little disappointed, but she did seem happy for Daisy and Zoey that they got to go back to their family.

Clara the Rocker

 Our neighbors are moving and were kind enough to offer us some of their not-so-little-anymore girl's things that they didn't want to move. When I saw this pink guitar, I knew it would be the hit of the summer for Clara and I was not wrong. Clara loves creating and performing and she has loved her guitar.

 Unfortunately our microphone broke shortly after this was taken, but all the kids have had great fun with it. Clara is having more fun here than she appears to be. This was right after there was some disagreement in the band about who would be the lead vocalist. I think it's obvious who won and who lost that argument.

Clara also likes playing guitar at certain times while watching tv. This mostly come up with Phineas and Ferb because she wants to play like them during the title sequence. When she is feeling energetic, she also does the same dance moves as they do. She also does it anytime any show breaks into song. Someday I would like to put her in music lessons, but right now she only wants to play how she wants and isn't excited to learn to play real songs so I think it's definitely too soon. So far she also isn't excited about hygiene, brushing her hair, or wearing many clothes, so she may be more of a grunge rocker than a classical type, we'll see.

Early July

The kids were playing football. We only have one football helmet, so the girls wore bike helmets.

Joshua learned how to ride a bike with no training wheels. He is so proud! I thought he was ready and Jason taught him in a day. I actually think Clara is ready too. She is excited about it, but not enough to ask a lot so we may wait until spring to give Joshua his due time of being the big kid.

The girls love getting horsey rides from Joshua and he loves giving them. I worry a little bit about him hurting his back, but they all have so much fun that I don't interfere too much.

Joshua did swimming lessons again. I was really hoping he would pass this time, but he can't float on his back for five seconds. But he is close so hopefully next time. He can do everything he needs to do except he can only float for 2-3 seconds. I thought it would be hard to take the girls to the lessons, but they really were fine with drawing for about 25 min and the lesson is only 30 min, so it was only a few minutes each time that they were unhappy.

We also did VBS. The kids had a ton of fun. Last year, Joshua wasn't really ready so he didn't enjoy it. But this year both he and Clara were engaged and loved the activities and songs. I had a bigger role than last year so it was a time commitment for me, but it was more administrative so easier for me than teaching, which I have to work really hard at because it doesn't come naturally at all to me. I think we came away with some really great ideas for next year. I'm not sure what I can commit next year because I will likely be working, but I hope I can find a way to be part of it again because it's pretty fun and great to see the kids so excited.

Benjamin Turns Three!

Today we celebrated Benjamin's third birthday at Julie and Andrew's house.  They had a Hot Wheels/cars/automobile theme.  It was hot outside, and there were a lot of flies, so only Joshua was brave/crazy enough to eat outside.  The other sensible kids ate inside.

We then went downstairs to open presents.  After opening his presents, Benjamin got help from others, although Kirk's intentions were perhaps more altruistic than Clara's, as I think she just wanted to play with the toy too.

                               Meghan and Hannah as well as Joshua and I both ended up wearing similar outfits.

                                                                We got some good family pictures.

                                Mom and Ron made sure to get some pictures with Baby Daniel.

                                                                       Lucy was displeased.

Daniel was amazed by this birthday party thing and was probably wondering why he doesn't get one.  Be patient, little guy.  You'll get one in the spring.

My Improved Lawn Maintenance Life

When we bought our first house in Olathe in 2003, I asked for and received a trimmer/edger as a gift, as I wanted to edge along the driveway and sidewalk when possible.  But that didn't happen very often, for several reasons.  First, it had a two-cycle engine, so I had to deal with having the right gas and oil mixture, keeping it on hand, and keeping it fresh.  Also, it was really heavy.  I'm reasonably strong, but it was a chore to use. And lastly, I just didn't think that it (or probably more accurately my use of it) did a very good job.  So I basically stopped using it years ago.  Recently though, I saw a combination package with a trimmer/edger and a blower.  I thought about how I spend a lot of time along the back fence ripping out the grass up against it, when really a weed whacker would make the job easier.  So I bought it, and it's changed my life.  That may be a bit strong, but it's been great.  First, it's battery-powered.  The blower and the trimmer share a battery, which is fine.  Before I mow, I put the charged-up battery in the trimmer, and use it as a weed whacker to go along the entire perimeter of the fence, along all the decorative rocks that ring the trees, along the edge of the deck, along the concrete downspout things, along the outside of the house, and basically everywhere that I'd previously been spending extra time during the mowing process.  After that I can then mow the yard very quickly, and the total time spent is a fair amount less than I used to, and it looks better.

On top of that I then edge along the driveway and the front walk (we don't have a sidewalk in this house), so that looks way better.  Then I switch the battery to the blower (I do need to charge it while I mow), and blow the grass clippings off the driveway.  It looks great, and is really easy.  I'm so glad I made that purchase.  Joshua likes to ride his bike in the cul-de-sac when I mow the front yard, and I thought he might really enjoy using the blower, so today I asked him if he wanted to help, and he was really excited to do so.  Here he is helping me out, still wearing his bike helmet.

Shinedown at Starlight

 Shinedown is probably currently my favorite band, so when I saw they were coming in concert this summer, I wasn't going to miss it. But it was kinda weird to me that they were playing at Starlight. Halestorm opened for them, so it was a pure rock concert, which doesn't usually happen at Starlight. The show was good, but it felt a little limited, I think because of the venue.  For example, usually Shinedown has some impressive pyrotechnics, but there was very little of that.  I'm sure the theater has limitations on what you can do, so that probably affected it.  But it was still a good show, as I always love seeing Shinedown.