Science Camp

This week my 5 older kids have spent every afternoon at science camp.  A boy in our ward (who is home from BYU) put it on at his house.  The kids have done an assortment of science experiments and got to do some cooking each day.  And at the end of the camp (1:00-3:00), I signed them up for the optional swimming time (3:15-4:45).  So this week I've been without my older kids from 1:00-5:00 each day.  It's made for a quiet week.  I think Owen and I will be glad next week when they are back home all day.  It just gets a little lonely without everyone here.

Today Owen made a mess of chocolate chips, so he got a bath mid-day.  When he got out, I needed to feed Kate, so I only got a diaper on him (his clothes were upstairs, and I was downstairs, and I had a hungry crying baby).  Owen sat by me while I fed Kate, then when I sat her up to burp, he insisted "I hold Kate".  So I let him hold her.  He was so proud of himself.

I then laid Kate down on the floor to get some pictures of her in her cute summer outfit.  I started taking pictures, when Owen yelled "Me too!" and came running over to get a picture with her.

Kate has always had such skinny little legs, but they are starting to get a few rolls on them.

 Trying out some tummy time, but all she wanted to do was suck on her hand.

Since Kate was being happy, I took the time to get Owen dressed.  Then he asked to hold his little sister again.  I love how much he loves her now.  He really had a hard time when she was born, but he's come to adore his little sis now.  He is her watch dog, and is always the first one to come running to tell me, "Kate's crying!" He's very gentle with her, too.  I think these two will end up being pretty good friends.

Two Months

I took Kate in for her two month check last this week. She is 23.25 inches (85%), 10 pounds 15 ounces (50%), and her head was 39 cm (75%).  She is growing quite nicely.  She continues to be adored by everyone in this house.  She smiles when you talk to her, and has started to coo.  She loves to be outside - when she is fussy, we just have to step outside and she calms down immediately.  I've taken her for a few walks this past week, and she has loved it.  She is getting better at sleeping (but I'm still feeling very sleep deprived).  She still hates her bath, but will tolerate her diaper being changed if she isn't hungry or tired.  I still feel like our lives have been turned upside down and will never get back to normal, but that's ok.  This little girl is a blessing (no matter how much chaos she has created), and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Swimming

Last night we took all the kids swimming.  Scott has taken the kids a few times already this summer, but I've always stayed home with Kate.  Last night the whole family went.  It was nice to get out of the house and watch the kids play.  I haven't gotten out much since Kate was born, and I've begun to go a little stir crazy.  Maybe by the end of the summer, Kate will even get to take a dip in the pool.

We've hit that age where when I say, "Give me a big smile" this is what I get.

Aaron still loves to pose when I take his picture.

Owen loved jumping in to Savannah.

Asleep (Again)

Apparently Owen isn't the only boy around here who can't make it through a day without crashing. 

Asleep

This is becoming a regular occurrence - me walking into a room and finding a dirty footed little Owen sound asleep, passed out in random spots in the house.  He plays hard, then just crashes.  But he sure is cute when he does.

Mud Pit

I mentioned in my last post that we had to stop watering our lawn for a week and a half leading up to the tractor coming.  So, after the hole was dug, we needed to play catch up with the watering.  I ran the sprinklers during the night on Monday and then again on Tuesday during the day.  Can you guess what happened to our hole?  Yep!  It filled up with water.

We have horrible clay soil here, and we've always had a problem with standing water in the area where we were burying the trampoline.  That's one of the reasons we planned to bury it there, to help with drainage.  We had hoped that if we got through the first few feet of clay, that we'd hit more porous soil that would let the water drain away.  And when we were digging, we did hit nice loose dry soil, so we thought it wouldn't be a problem.  Well, we were wrong.

So, Scott made a trip to Home Depot and rented an auger.  Then he proceeded to drill holes deep into the pit and fill them with gravel.  It was very messy work (and Scott worked really hard at keeping his expletives to a quiet rumbling under his breath so the kids couldn't hear).  Oh, and you see the lovely shade of brown that our grass is?  I'm really, really, really hoping we have a lawn back before the end of the summer.

 

Scott finally finished the holes just after dark.  We hoped that we'd wake up to a dry hole this morning.  Instead, we woke to torrential rain--all day long.  I went out in the middle of the day, and estimated there to be about a foot of standing water in the hole.  But, then this evening I went back out, and there were just a few little puddles, which means the drilled holes are working.  Now if the rain will stop long enough for the mud to dry, we can proceed with the second step of burying the trampoline.  The trampoline guys will come out and dig ledges around the edge of the hole, shorten the legs of the trampoline, and then place the trampoline in the hole.  It will be so nice when it's finished!

Tractor Adventures

We've had our trampoline for a year and a half, and have always talked about burying it to ground level.  This summer we decided to finally do it.

First we had to stop watering our grass.  It had to be completely dry so the tractor wouldn't leave tracks.  I won't lie, it totally stressed me out watching our grass turn to brown over the last week and a half.  I've been told it will come back (I really really hope it does) and that it's easier than having to fill in trench marks left by tractor wheels.

The tractor arrived Monday morning.  The boys were all up early, and even went out on the back patio to wait for the tractor to come.  When it came driving up into our backyard, all the kids gathered around to see.  The tractor driver, Perry, was one of the nicest men I've ever met.  He let the kids ride in the tractor with him, and was so incredibly patient with them the entire time.

Once the outline was marked in paint, it was time to start digging. Even I was watching in fascination as he took the first shovelful.

And here's an awesome part-if you look closely at the picture above, you will see that Aaron is pulling the lever to dump the dirt.  Perry let the boys pull that lever each time he dumped the dirt.  How awesome is that? 

Nate had to take a quick potty break.  As he was getting back in, I snapped this picture.  Do you see that smile on Perry's face?  This is how he was all day.  We've got a lot of kids, and they all wanted turns in the tractor, so there was a lot of stopping to let kids in and out, and through it all Perry was kind and happy and smiling.  I really loved the guy, and so did the kids.

 Time to switch places-Nate's turn to pull the lever to dump the dirt.

 

Josh's and Owen's turn.

Even Savannah wanted to ride in the tractor (and so did her friend Quinn).

Time to take the dirt to the dump truck waiting in the front yard. 

After lots of trips to the front yard with dirt, it was back to more digging.

When they weren't in the tractor, the boys were on the swingset watching and waiting for their next turn.

The digging went on for about 4 hours, which translates to lots of turns for everybody (even the neighbors). 

And the icing on the cake was when Perry offered to let a couple of the kids ride with him in the dump truck to dump the dirt at the gravel pit.  Josh and Nate had been Perry's biggest fans during the day, so I picked them to get to go.  They slid up on the big bench seat in the dump truck, and Perry let them pull the cord to honk the horn, and I knew that this was a day they would all remember for a very long time.  I'm so thankful to this kind man who made this such a wonderful experience for my kids!