Fun in August

With Paul back at work full-time, the boys and I have filled our days with fun activities so we don't miss him too much. It hasn't worked, though, I guess. Eli reports every night that his "bad thing" for the day is "Daddy going to work" and Eli's "good thing" is "Daddy coming home for dinner." I should have known, there is nothing that can replace Daddy for Eli and Micah--and I love that!

Remember the chicks that we visited at Concordia? If not, you can visit my post about them here. Anyway, our friend, Rachel took them to her house with the rest of her chickens. We got to visit them all of them and see how the chicks have grown.

This is "Sunshine"--the only yellow chick that hatched. Micah remembered that Sunshine pooped on him, but he pet him anyway.

Rachel let the boys feed all of the chickens, too!

There's a relatively new indoor play area near us that we visited. We had a great time playing and exploring!

 

Joshua had fun with all of the balls he could find.

This ramp was for matchbox car racing!

We also went on a small hike in the woods at a local park.

We found berries...

and deer!

I've been wanting to make a play kitchen for Eli and Micah since I saw the idea in Family Fun Magazine.  I've even had boxes sitting in the garage for months, but haven't made the time to assemble it. Well, we finally got around to it a few weeks ago and the boys love it!

Since Micah (right) and Eli (left) have been needing shorter naps, I have started "school time" with them to keep their brains and hands busy but the house quiet for Joshua who naps during our school time. It has been good for the big boys to get some undivided Momma time and it's good for me, too! During school time, we do lots of things like reading, writing, scissor skills, and exploring. One Friday, we made Gak and the boys loved it!

We even let Joshua play a little when he got up from nap.

We also made colored ice cubes and painted with them while they melted.

 We hosted almost 30 cross country runners at our house for breakfast a few weeks ago. Paul created a 5K course through our neighborhood that ended in our backyard. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from the event (30 highschoolers doing jumping jacks in our cul-de-sac would have been a great picture!) but we did take this one of the almost 100 pancakes we made for the kids. Thankfully, we had some really great moms of the runners come over and take care of everything else that went along with our pancakes. It was a really fun morning and may become a new cross country tradition.

Before Joshua was born, I brought these Cabbage Patch dolls home from my mom and dad's house. They were mine when I was a girl. Eli (right) and Micah (left) haven't had much interest in them until this week. When a friend returned Joshua's baby clothes, the boys asked if their babies could wear the clothes. I agreed and they each chose an outfit. Now, they carry their babies everywhere! 

They've been so sweet to their babies and their baby brother, too!