Photo Shoot!

So what do you do if you normally take your kids to Sears for pictures and they close?

You look around town to see if there are any other places to take them.

And when you discover there isn't any,

you get creative and take them yourself!

Obviously Leila was not dressed for it, I decided to practice with her and see how she would do.

I think that I need another person with me to get her attention a bit better.

Stella was not interested in having her pictures taken,

so I will definitely need a helper for her pictures.  I don't really need any of bunny.

And for those of you curious about how to DIY - take a sheet, tape it to your wall, and voila, you have a background!

 

Trucks, Banana Bread, and more Swing Set

I've got to say I think there is something to the whole boys and trucks thing. I bought this set of trucks for Leila, thinking she would like them too, but she was not interested in them at all.  I think that I forgot to get them out for Stella at this age, and I must say she is kind of interested in them now, but Henry really took to playing with cars right away.

Leila is already passing on the baking knowledge I am imparting, she helped Stella stir the banana bread batter.

More conversations with the girls worth remembering:

A: Are you putting on lipstick?
S: No, it's makeup.  I'm gonna eat it.

S: Leila is special.
A: Stella is special too.
S: No, I'm Stella Joy, leave me alone.

S: I'm a princess, you be the witch.
A: ok.
S: Will you be my friend?

J: I love your pigtails.
L: What about my headband?

J: What time is it?
A: 10 to.
J: Ok, 10 to 6?
L: No, she said it's 10 to!

We love going for lunch with Duie to Russ'!

This past Saturday Jer attached the upper railing and the canopy bar along with installing the swings.  We also now have sand in the sandbox, which the neighborhood cat has found, so we need to get a cover ASAP.

Henry hung out with me in the shade and we assisted with the swing installation.

They are up!  I am so glad to have this in the backyard, they kids are already using it daily.  Leila is already learning how to use the big swing and to pump her legs to swing herself!

Lately the girls have been reading themselves to sleep.  We haven't told them not to, but are pretty much pretending we don't know about it (even though I pick up all the books every night before going to bed).  This night Stella fell asleep reading.

Henry is starting to eat more baby food, and he is really getting into it - with his hands.  Ugh, he is a messy eater!  He manages to smear it everywhere.

Swing Set Weekend

I will start this blog post off with a cute picture of Henry, who is starting to crawl!
We decided to build a swing set from some plans we got online recommended by a friend (thanks Marcie!).

July 4, after breakfast with the family, Jer and I headed to Menard's and picked up a bunch of lumber in Rich's truck (thanks Rich!) while Jer's parents watched the kids.

Jer spent the rest of the afternoon cutting the boards to the specified lengths.

Another gratuitous Henry shot...this one he has drool coming down.

Day two we went to Home Depot for the slide, swings, and a couple of brackets.  Then Jer and I assembled the two sides of the tower.  It seems like we should have been able to get more done, but we do have three children running around most of the time.

Saturday morning we enlisted Rod and Ken to help assemble the parts that need multiple people holding things together.  Dad came too, and at one point we almost had him swinging.

I did not get a shot of all of them hanging from the bar, but I am pretty sure that they each did at some point.

Here is the audience, mom, the kids and me watched most of the morning, playing with the water table occasionally, and enjoying the donut break with them.

The guys worked together as a team and got the main parts up before lunch.

We had to get a group shot with the girls up on the tower.

After lunch Bill came to help Jer some more, screwing down the deck boards, adding the boards that block the kids from falling off the tower, the ladder, some boards that keep the kids from running into the swings, and a bench inside the sandbox.

While they were out there working on the swing set, I managed to put Stella's name up on the wall, hang some pictures, 

and put together their new shelves.

Then we called it a day.  More to come: installing the swings, removing sod and adding sand to the sandbox, and a roof!