Friends in town, and Daddy away

The same day Chloe and Reid left from their visit with us, Josh took off on another business trip. That was Monday. Tuesday that week was super Tuesday at Save On Foods, so as is my norm, I loaded up the kiddos and went to the store. Little Philip fell asleep in the Ergo just as I was going to the checkout!

Hope and I had this idea to make an airplane out of a Kleenex box, so once we finally had a white-ish box that was empty, we made some wings from an egg carton, and there - she had a plane for her dolly. The girls know all about planes, because their Daddy flies on one all the time for work.

We went searching for some fun to occupy their minds while Daddy was away, and landed at the Loates' house!!! (It didn't exactly happen that way, it was pre-arranged.) So sweet to see their new house!

Philip made good use of Raphy's high chair and jolly bouncer.

A big box. Of Tupperware. 22 lbs of it, to be precise. They were having a rare sale on the modular mates I like to use in my cupboards, so I did a big order, some for me, some for Lorrie, some for Chloe. And I proceeded to try and fit it in the van with the three kids and a stroller and a trike already in there. I succeeded too, just not without some creative re-arranging. And the two guys in the pick up truck parked next to me at the PO just sat there and watched the whole time! Hah! Farm girl wins! :o)

Time for the farm girl to mow her lawn. How could I tell? The clover had overgrown the garden hose.

Some unique pole beans a neighbour lady gave us seeds for. I don't recall ever seeing a bean bloom yellow and white flowers on the same plant, but this one did. :o)

It was hot, but driving back from the store that afternoon, I saw the sundog around the the sun and knew the weather was about to change. (See the rainbow on the bottom left of the sun? We called them "sundogs" on the farm.)

Happy to have Daddy back on Saturday!

We took the kids for a walk to the park with a little picnic and caught up on each other's weeks.

A Costco run, and one of Philip's first times to sit in the kid seat on the front of the cart.

The girls spotted their Winnie the Pooh play set on the top shelf in their closet one day, and that captivated their attention for a wee bit outside.

Oops. Princess Hope got her first shiner, by attempting to roll down the ramp on the deck, but missed it and planted her face on the cement walk instead of the lawn.

Feels all important to have one of his sister's most coveted bath toys since they got out before him.

Eager helpers.

Another park outing, this time with friends. :o)

Joy being her charming self, and Jayln not minding one bit. (I think big brother Micah has her well trained.)

Micah and Philip, swinging away.

Trying something new in her hair - braids like Auntie Angie's.

Joy was all excited to help me unpack and pre-wash the free new set of Ziploc containers. :o)

Back at the Loates' for a baby shower on a very hot summer's night. Watermelon to the rescue. I don't normally let my kids be seen in public with just a diaper on, but it was soooo very hot that night, and he was just cranky from it, so it was a last attempt to console him in hopes of being able to stay and visit with the ladies a bit more. :o) And it worked. :o) And then I gave him a mini-bath in the kitchen sink before heading home. :o)

August Days and Visitors

Sweet little Philip, sitting up pretty well on his own now, and discovering new toys. The trouble with balls is that they roll away from you, and until you can crawl and chase them, that's not very much fun!

Poor kid - he had more colds and runny noses in his first year of life than both his sisters combined. (note the runny nose...)

 For the most part, it was a cool summer, but the girls took every chance they got to play outside in their swim suits. :o)

 This particular day, Philip was in need of a bath, but as the girls had been in the pool and were relatively clean, I got them doing a fun activity while I bathed just Philip. They thought it was great! :o)

They got better at this job as the summer went on. :o)

 That's Chloe and Reid gracing our table!!! :o) They came together for the same fateful ball tournament Reid played in last summer. (The one where they both were at our house the same week, totally unplanned by us but very planned by God.)

 Ah the weekend. Time for a story read by Daddy! This has been one crazy year of work for him, so any time he can give for loving on the little ones is a huge treat!

 I think they were playing "Belly Button Dr." or some such laughing game on the couch.

Just love how he looks up at me like that. :o)

 Ah yes. Then we had to give Reid his inaugural round of the Kleenex tickling game to see how long he could last. Hope and Joy had a grand fun time with it, and I think Chloe did too.

 Since Reid and Chloe both love ice cream, I decided their visit would be a good time to introduce the girls to ice cream cones. Hope and Joy take a while to warm up to new things, but I thought, "what childhood is complete without ice cream in a cone? None!" :o)

 

 It was such lovely weather while they were here, we ate outside a good deal of the time. Reid had already left for the pre-game warm up, and Chloe and I were gonna take all three kids to the game, so their "quiet time" was just snuggles on the deck after lunch that day. :o)

 Chloe has been so generous to our little girls, buying them so many cute dresses on multiple occasions. She blessed them again on this visit.

 I decided to have a little extra fun with our outing, and make a sign. Reid was #3, of course. :o)

Umm... don't ask. It was the end of the day, and I think Philip was crying. That'll be my excuse for not getting the whole sign in the picture. :o) It was almost time to start counting down the time to their wedding, but not quite. :o) 

 A new addition to my front garden - a lily!

 Not exactly what the busy box is meant for, but she did fit in it, and the bottom didn't break out, so it all ended well. :o)