First Day of Summer Break

Summer's last day of Kindergarten was on Friday, so today is our official first day of summer break. We went to the park (right next door,) ate corn dogs and popsicles for lunch, went to the dentist, then went "swimming."

It's a whole bunch of pictures, but it captures a little of the fun before everyone started crying that it was too cold . . .

One of the most difficult things I've had to do as a mother . . .

was fix Claire's hair the way she had had it in a dream. She described it and explained it, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it to defy gravity and do exactly as she had dreamt of.

We finally compromised for a crown braid.

Reading and Good Lighting

Since everything had been boxed up for our move, when we began unpacking boxes for the playroom, everything we opened was new and exciting. The playroom was not the first thing we unpacked, so it had been quite a few weeks since the girls had any of their toys--which was no problem because they've spent so much time outside.

Here, we just opened their box of books. I'm not sure how long they stayed like this, but it was quite a while.

Here's a clip of them all reading. Claire is doing some "silent reading," but the rest of them are reading out loud. Pip busts into "I am a Child of God" in part of it. 

Before Basil could go down the stairs, she would sit on our front porch and look out over the street. The lighting was pretty good, so I caught a couple shots.

 At our old place, the light was shining nicely on Pyper, so I took some pictures to capture her sweetness.

Claire's Dream (October of 2013)

When you want to go bowling but all you have is a bean bag and three girls . . .

The Past Few Months

Have been busy and full. We were able to move into our new house, and are still working on getting it fixed up. We focused on the yard first, mowing the weeds ("wild flowers" as a neighbor called it), 

(halfway through mowing)

putting in a garden, 

(the green tree on the left is a cherry tree)

and resodding a small area with free sod from a friend. With the weather nice and warm, we wanted the girls to be able to play in the yard.

And then we cleaned out the garage and sold a bunch of things at the Liberty Lake garage sale day. Now we are moving on to our bedroom, which needs to be recarpeted, and I think we are going to paint as well. It's exciting and fun to make changes and progress on something that is our own! 

Our Visitor

A week after we moved in, our friend Jocileia came to visit us. She lives in Rio de Janeiro, but came to the US to visit her sisters in Portland and DC. She made it up to visit us for a short weekend, and we had a wonderful time. She started taking English classes in March, so it was so fun to watch her communicate with the girls. They would sit and talk for hours, "What is this?" and the girls would answer her, "Nose." And "what is this?" "Dress." Then she would try to pronounce it and the girls would correct her. It was so fun.

I overheard one of the conversations with Claire and Jo. Claire said, "Do you shave your legs?" 

Jo: "Shaveyourlegs?"

C: "Yeah, shave . . . your . . . legs?"

Jo: "Like in soccer?"

C: "Yeah."

Jo: "No. I no have. My sisters have. But I not have." 

I laughed and laughed. I have no idea what Jo thought Claire was saying, but it was hilarious that they were having a conversation like this.

We miss her and can't wait for her to come back and visit us again.

 Rhett photo bombing their pic

 Jo came to a soccer game. She took this. Great picture!

Swingset

Since we actually have a backyard now, I've been scouring Craigslist for a swing set. My only requirement was that it had four swings so all the girls could swing at the same time. We found this one and went to check it out. The lady was selling it for $25. The girls all got out and tried it out, and as she stood there watching them have such a good time, she said, "You know what? You can just have it. It needs to go to a good home." Woohoo! I was pretty excited about it.

I went back, took it down, loaded it in the van, and then brought it home and set it up. The girls played on it all day, and the next and the next and the next. They still spend hours out there every day pushing each other, rotating swings, trying out new things, etc.

The swing set is pretty old, and the yellow seat finally broke, so I got a new one. Eventually we'll replace the brown one as well, so no one goes flying out of it. But for now, the girls are careful and we are having a great time.

Phone Pics
We finally got all my phone pics saved into drop box, so I'm working on posting them. I might double post some--I don't remember if I've posted them or not.

Note: Our girls do actually have clothes. I'm not sure why more than half our photos are of the girls in their pajamas. ???

Claire had a sty in her eye, so we were having her put a warm wash cloth over it. Pip got out her own and had to do the same.

This is where we feed our animals

 Summer came up with this--putting a rubber band on the legs of the chair to shoot the car across the floor.

Summer's drawing of "Erol" (Ariel)

 I told the girls to come here and the sun was so bright Claire got down like this. Pip followed. And for some reason, they were wearing matching shirts that day, so it's extra funny.

Claire's self portrait with her golden hair

Pip bundled up for the cold. Not a clear picture, but I love her face in it.

Summer is always coming up with new ideas. Here she has put a couch cushion over the mop. Then she jumps on the one side to see how far the red backpack will launch. Not sure what's up with her creepy face there.

I enjoy soaking my feet occasionally. This time, Claire decided to join me and soak her's as well, while looking at a book. I got up to do something, and when I came back, Pip had taken over.

We had a water jug in our van over the winter months, and it somehow got a little hole in it. One day, when I pulled it out, I saw this: our very own stalagmite made of ice! Is that cool or what! I showed all the girls, and they just wanted to eat it. But I told them how neat it is, and I am still baffled at how it was created in our van, drip by drip, freezing on the car floor. So cool.

One day, the girls came running in like this, saying, "We are all cowgirls!"

I was in our front yard weeding (yes, the park is our neighbor), and suddenly, Summer and Pyper came zooming by like this. I couldn't believe it. Summer said she was trying to teach Pyper how to ride a bike.

Pippy had her six month checkup at the dentist. The assistant pulled up a stool for Claire, and Claire sat down, then took Pip's hand.