Daddy's a brave man

Early Saturday morning I saw Dave walk outside with a big box. Hmm... what's he doing?

Getting the kids' help.

Is that what I think it is?

Yep, sure looks like.

Front yard pool play for 90+ degree weather.

Right before bedtime, playing soccer ("football" as Ellie calls it) with a ball bigger than Theo.

Then a rousing game of Robot Turtles!

Daddy's master plan: backyard camping with the girls!

Popcorn and stories before they turn in.

It took the girls a while to settle down since it doesn't get dark until almost 10 here now, but the three of them slept out there all night!

Sunny Friday

It's started to get hot here, so the kids helped me put up our canopy so we'd have some shade to hide in. The girls here were dancing in celebration.  

Oh Lily. You don't have a bad side.

Avy rocking the hippy director look.

Hi goober :P

Theo found a lot of strawberries. Theo destroyed a lot of strawberries.

So, that's cheese she's holding up to her ear. She was walking around saying "Hello? Hello?" into her cheese, then would stop, take a bite, put it back to her ear and go again.

A friendly Thursday

First we had to send off Daddy. Sadly I didn't get a good shot of Lily stretching with Daddy. She's rocking the flowers-and-camo look though.

At the park with friends! Theo climbed up here himself. I'm so doomed.

We were at the splash park, and the splash part had just been turned on for the summer! We hadn't brought swimsuits or towels but that didn't stop the kids :)

This giant stone ball is sitting on top of a pipe pumping water up. With effort the kids could make it spin, and of course leaning on the ball gets you all wet ;)

Theo's trying to figure out where the water's going.

"Hey Avy! Let's hug! I love you. Mom, take a picture!"

Snuggling with some TV

Lily's shirt was a disaster, so I asked her to go bring me a shirt. She brought me a skirt. I giggled and told her that wasn't a shirt and got her one. She was adamant I was wrong. Here she is, having put on the skirt.

Our lovely neighbors gave us some of their flowers. Lily's holding one rose and was gently smelling it.

Theo's concerned that his is defective.

Momma: "You have to eat your avocado before you can have apples and peanut butter."
Lily: -GULP- "apple?"

Sweet boy.

More montage

Random collection of photos from the past weeks:

Jeanie and Loran went on vacation and let us cut some flowers. The girls each got a vase!

Dentist checkup. All four kids behaved beautifully and had perfect teeth.

Ellie's got them down.

And her last name! I didn't have a good shot of Avy's unfortunately, next time.

Tessa, Nora, Avy, and Ellie on the tire swing. Spinning like crazy kids.

"It'll fit!"

Lily stretching with Daddy.

One of our neighbors' dogs has decided she loves our house. Is it because of the myriad of kids willing to play with her? Or the infinite food scraps in the lawn? Who knows ;)

Mango popsicle face.

Both looking for dropped popsicle.

Everyone got a haircut, and now Lily has bangs! I can see her eyes!

At the hardware store. Theo trotted along peacefully, until he saw one of those crazy-tall stocking ladders. Then Momma became the worst thing ever.

I swear, Dave is just tickled pink by his "little women"

Story time! I was sorting through and throwing away our nearly-dead flowers and had left a trail of petals on the floor. I left the mess since I wasn't finished yet, but when I turned around I saw this: One of the babies had grabbed the dustpan from the shelf and both babies were industriously picking up petals and putting them in the dustpan. Theo wouldn't let me take it away; he wanted to be the one to dump it in the trash. Once emptied, they moved over to the other pile of petals I had made. Good kiddos!

No-bake drop cookies. For when you need to distract the kids.

It's like she's a doll....

They're getting smarter: this is their way of hiding from bedtime.

So photogenic!