Summer Fun

We've had a lot of fun at home this summer.  

We collected all sorts of bugs, leaves, sticks, and one day we even harvested some cat tails.  (Ashley was thrilled).

The kids constantly made grand plans.

Our neighbors have a pool and a hot tub and everything fun, and three girls our kids' ages who are always having their gymnastics friends over.  One day Everett was spying on a pool party with a whole bunch of girls, and I had to take a picture.  He's going to really, really like living next door to them in about six years. . .

But when our kids aren't swimming with our very generous and friendly neighbors who are always feeding us and inviting us over (it's ok; you can be a little jealous), the sprinklers do the job in our yard just fine.

Ashley still doesn't like water in her face, but after a few swimming lessons, she no longer panics when she is in the pool, as long as she has a flotation device strapped to her body.

Her first few lessons with her best friend's dad went pretty well, but Ashley started to get more and more anxious as each lesson came on.  I nudged her every day to go and try because I just want to know that if she fell into water she'd be able to keep herself alive for at least a little while.  One day before her lesson, Ashley had what I can only figure was a panic attack.  She started breathing heavily, trembled with a little bit of a wild look in her eyes, and crouched over the toilet, convinced she was going to throw up.  I helped her get herself together and went to see her off to her lesson.  

She and her teacher, who she knows well, were working on floating.  Ashley could float as long as she had goggles on. . .and was holding onto her teacher's arm (so she really couldn't float at all).  Her teacher's main objective for that lesson was for Ashley to float, let go of his arm for one second, and grab back on.

Ashley couldn't do it.  The moment she let go, her body seized up in panic and her legs kicked out wildly until she was upright again.  

As the minutes slogged by, Ashley grew more and more upset.  I could tell she was on the verge of tears, but she was desperately trying to fight them back so her teacher wouldn't see.  I took Ashley away for a bathroom break, held her for a minute, and asked her if she'd like to end the lesson a little early.  Relief flooded her body.  

She gave the teacher her apologies and we went home.  Poor Ashley is terrified of the water.  After a whole summer of swimming next door, she is now brave enough to go into the deep end (with floaties, of course), so that's progress!

We had the opportunity to have a few discussions about how fears are not really logical (I explained that I am still scared of the dark, even though I know nothing will hurt me), but that sometimes we have to face them anyway, even when it is painful.  I am proud of how brave she was.  I don't think anyone but I knew how difficult it really was for her.

And most importantly, she is proud of herself!

But she is never more relaxed than when her feet are firmly planted on the ground.

As I was taking pictures, William came over with a mouth full of water to spew on me.

But he couldn't do it for all his giggling!  I sure love that kid.  

James loves wrapping himself in a towel and then getting wet.  Make sense?

It must make plenty of sense to him.

Although James thinks he is a "big boy" just like the other kids, he doesn't have quite the stamina they do.  I constantly found him curled up throughout the summer, sound asleep with his beloved Moose.

Sweet little guy.  I never could resist giving those sleeping cheeks a little loving.

Spring Creatures and the Circle of Life

Our kids had a lot of fun this spring with the neighborhood animals.

One day the kids found a bird on our lawn.  It wouldn't fly away.  I don't know if it was injured or very old, or sick, but it wasn't looking great.  The kids were convinced they could nurse it back to health, so they cornered it with a bowl of grass and seeds.

They were worried about an animal getting to it that night, so they gently guided it between the fence post and the fence boards you see by Everett.

The bird didn't respond to much, so I would have been surprised if it had been alive the next morning.  It wasn't.  The poor bird was still tucked safely in the fence but it didn't make it through the night.  After a few tears, the kids understood and just knew it was flying around in heaven.

 And, the kids have a ton of neighborhood rabbits to distract them.  Some of the fuzzy bunnies even started getting pretty enthusiastic with their burrowing.

This burrow appeared overnight in our little playhouse.  We examined it for a while, the kids shoved some vegetables down the hole (because the swarming rabbits obviously aren't getting enough to eat).  Someone shut the door to the playhouse as we left the burrow, and then we watched with amusement as the rabbit came searching for a way back in.  We moved the house and Joel dug out the burrow, and that was the end of that.  

Except it wasn't--several more burrows appeared in our yard before the rabbits must have decided that our yard was not the right place to call home.

But there was a little nest of teeny babies by our fence.  Every time we went outside to play, the bunnies would scatter like ping pong balls from fence to tree to bush and back to the fence.  The kids never tired of chasing them.

Ashley discovered that she loved holding the bunnies.  I discouraged it (obviously, since I was the one taking pictures. . .) and demanded lots and lots of hand-washing.  ("Don't touch anything until you scrub your hands!  No, don't touch that!  And I said don't touch your face!  Actually don't touch anything on your body or anything else, anywhere, ever!  Let me get the door for you!")  But Ashley loves animals too much to resist.  

"Come on little fella," she'd say, "It's ok."  And then Ashley would tell the bunny all sorts of things she thought it ought to be aware of.

One day we discovered the decapitated remains of one of the baby bunnies on the sidewalk.  Everett and William and James were sad, and Ashley was devastated.  They were sure it wasn't an accident.  "Who would do such a thing?" Ashley wondered all day to no one in particular.  It did seem pretty suspicious--a natural predator would not have left the remains behind, and there was no head to be seen.  But the mystery will never be solved.



There are two ponds by our house, and in the spring they are filled with cute little ducklings.  The kids had a lot of fun watching them swim and occasionally wander through the neighborhood, bopping along in a wiggly trail behind the mother duck.

When we went to the ponds one day, we noticed there was a mother duck with two healthy looking babies and a scrawny duckling tagging along.  When it got close to the mother, she'd peck at it until it floated away.  The kids immediately banded together with some friends to rescue the duckling.  It wasn't difficult, and, duckling in hand, they went around to each of their three mothers (including me) to beg for a home to keep the duckling in.  My cold, black heart permitted me from saying yes, but my softie of a neighbor (who loves animals) agreed to bring the duckling home.  It was a win-win for me.  The kids could go visit and I didn't have to worry about maintaining another little life under my roof.

Unfortunately, that duckling didn't make it through the night, despite being set up cozily with a heating lamp and plenty of other comforts.

When my neighbor told the kids, they were all pretty quiet, until Ashley interrupted to ask for another cinnamon roll.

I guess at that point Ashley had gotten used to the way of the circle of life, and I guess it's safe to say this spring has been pretty educational for us all!

William and T-Ball

This spring, William had his first experience with t-ball.  I am not sure if, for the most part, he enjoyed it.  He had times of excitement and energy but he also spent a great deal of time hiding behind Joel or hanging back from the group.

I took plenty of pictures of him one day.  I happened to have the camera with me, and William happened to be extra-excited about the game, which could have had something to do with the fact that I had told him it was his last one.

William really seemed to enjoy hitting the ball, but he was pretty timid.  

His coaches were very friendly and bit by bit, William started to warm up to them.  By the last game, he even looked like he was having fun!

The outfielders all stood in a pack behind a yellow line, and the hitters got to run around the bases without worrying about getting out.  

William was always happy to come running in from the outfield.

I was just glad to see him grinning and running around.

And being pretty silly at times!

There is the William we know and love!

(If you look closely, you can spy some forehead bruises and a subsequent bandaid tan line.  Our William hasn't changed!)

I think the best part of spring sports is having a reason to run around on the freshly revived grass, with warm sunlight dancing through the breeze after a long, cold winter.  

William seemed to feel the same way.

Ashley and Softball

Ashley has hated every sport Joel and I have signed her up for.  She dreaded going, didn't enjoy being there with a team of kids she didn't know, and only the treats gave her just enough motivation to drag herself there.

So I was skeptical about signing her up for softball, but I decided to take a gamble.

It turns out that softball is quite possibly Ashley's thing!

Ashley loved all aspects of the game.

She gave hitting her all.

(Iowa is so windy in the early summer that the wind constantly blew the ball off before the kids had a chance to swing at it!)

She gave running her all.

And Ashley gave throwing her all.

Despite my good intentions, we never really practiced her skills.  And yet Ashley had a knack for it all.  Ashley seemed to not only pick up the body movements pretty well, but really enjoy what her body could do.

Even when those pesky through-the-legs grounders passed her by!

Ashley's favorite outfield position was first base, because the coaches had all the players throw the ball to first base no matter what, and Ashley always wanted a chance to handle the ball.  But her second favorite position was catcher.  The coaches helped the girls bat, so the "catcher" was really just in charge of retrieving the ball after the first baseman's throw.  

And boy did Ashley stay focused on her task.

She kept her eye right on the ball and jumped to catch it.  She never needed to be reminded to pay attention and she was always the first to volunteer when her coaches asked for help.

And that is how I knew Ashley loved this game.  Ashley does not like to focus on anything she doesn't love.  But she gave this game 110%.

And if any of that didn't already tip me off to her enjoyment of the game. . .

The delight and satisfaction on her face each time she played certainly did.

Good job, Ashley!  "I love to see how you love playing," I said each time we went.  And I meant it each and every time I said it.

Ashley starts with a real softball league (uniforms and everything, boo-yah!) in two weeks.  Exciting stuff!

Charlie is Three Months Old

**This post is for our family journal and will be interesting to no one else.  Feel free to skip!**

Yes, we are still having a lot of fun with Charlie, and yes, I have been taking too many pictures.  I think I am falling more and more in love with the baby stage as time goes on.  I can't help myself.  I have whittled down hundreds (yes, hundreds) of pictures I've taken of Charlie in the last month to these fifteen.  That's as few as I can stand to post.  

Yes, I probably have a problem, and no, I'm not seeking treatment.

But I am not the only one who is awed and amazed by the newest member of our family.  

Charlie gets plenty, and I mean plenty of attention.

He loves being squished and patted and messed around with.

Charlie giggled even when William was pulling at his mouth like this.  Charlie hates being left in a quiet room; he is much happier when he can see and hear the kids running around like crazyheads.

This was three weeks ago.  He still had most of his hair at that point.

This was a few days ago.  He's lost most of his hair except for some stringy pieces on the top.  He has really light fuzz coming in underneath.  He may go blond for a little while like Everett did.  

He is still our happy guy!  He loves smiling at everyone, and he has started laughing which is amazingly fun.  We all make enormous fools of ourselves trying to urge another giggle out of him.  The beginning laughs are few and far between, so it is a real treat when we finally hear one.  We will enjoy hearing more and more laughter out of this little guy as time goes on.

But he makes us laugh a lot with his facial expressions.

And he coos and jabbers even when no one is there to talk to.  He rarely lays quietly or even very still.  He loves to move and make tons of noise.

Everyone in our house thinks they are Charlie's favorite.

I just smile because I know he likes me way better than the rest of these fools.  No, I'm not competitive at all, why do you ask?

Even though they love to cuddle him, the kids are all disgusted by his spit-up and drool, of which he has plenty.

Even William knows that right after feeding is a bad time to hold a baby.  "I'm not going to hold him right now, Mommy.  Charlie will probably spit out milk on me."

And then we all go back to cooing at the things his little face does.  Babies have it so easy.  No one would think it was charming if I went around looking like that.

But how can we help being charmed when Charlie loves winning us over with his grins?

Why is he so happy all the time?  Someone needs to bottle this up.  

Every time I smell this child, I feel a rush of endorphins and my heart seems to blossom right through my rib cage.

I don't know how I can help it, when I get to kiss these cheeks every day.