Summer Part I

Nothing's safe now...

So life gets busier somehow. For some reason it has been harder to keep up with the kids, and I think Tatum (her sparkling personality, amazing talents and her age) is a huge part of that. I also think the kids have been feeling a little cooped up on the hot days. Usually Kaia and Brandt have been pretty good by themselves in "quiet time" but this last month has been trouble. I have gone in to find them giving all their stuffed animals haircuts, to drawing all over themselves (faces included) in marker to be zebras and dinosaurs, to "cleaning" their carpet, bookshelves and beds by squirting lotion all over everything and wiping it in. And Tatum is not exempt either. She can climb about anything, has learned to drag a stool or chair over to something she can't reach, will drink out of the toilet any chance she gets, and also loves to eat anything she can reach out of the trash. Needless to say, I purchased a new, covered trash can for the kitchen this month. And it's only June. Sigh. On the bright side, the kids are great little helpers when they want to be and Tatum is even pitching in these days. She loves to do laundry. She pours the soap in and watches the bubbles, then races off to the nearest hamper to grab some clothes and throws them in the washer. So cute. We had a lot of fun too. From splashing in puddles (Side note: 20 minutes after this picture was taken we were in our tornado shelter. 3 small children and a rattled mommy in a 3x3 closet makes for some memorable times)...

to fun with the hose and sprinklers (Side note 2: When I came outside to find them soaking wet in their clothes Brandt must have thought they were going to be in trouble, which they weren't, because he says defensively, "Mom, we're just having fun." Like I missed the whole point.)...

played in the river with our friends the Christensens,

Kaia and Brandt had a campout in their room,

caught some frogs in the backyard,

and picked blackberries. Well, Tatum mostly ate them as you can see. They didn't come out so well though so she will never be eating blackberries again while I'm changing her diaper. EVER!

We also had a fun little science project. Brandt finally caught a caterpillar at the zoo to go with his collection of yellow leaves and brought him home. Kaia took over from there and Daddy helped her put some leaves and branches in a mason jar and punch holes in the top for some air. She took care of the caterpillar for a couple days or so and then it just seemed to get lethargic and spun this silky web thing around himself and didn't move again. We assumed he died and just kind of forgot about him and left him on the dresser. Well a couple of weeks later the kids are looking in there and Brandt says, "Look, the caterpillar has wings Mom." I was changing his sheets and didn't even glance over thinking yeah right. He's got to be so shriveled up now he looks a little deformed. I just said, "Really?" Then both Kaia and Brandt start talking how it changed into a butterfly so I go over and take and look. Sure enough, amazingly it had changed into a moth. We thought the poor moth was dead from starvation since it wasn't moving, but the next day the kids saw it moving around. I think he was still trying to get all the way out of the cocoon. It was really cool for the kids to see the metamorphosis first hand. I remember doing that myself as a kid. So fun.

Jared also finished up his residency this month. Congrats to my hard-working hubby. He had several days off to spend with us and really spoiled the kids and myself. Kind of nice to use the bathroom with no interruptions and run some errands in 30 minutes instead of 90. He is so great with the kids--they just adore him. Now off to the next chapter of our lives--the real working world :)