Check! Check! Check!

This was one of the most beautiful weekends we've had all summer. I accomplished a lot and will just brag on myself a little. I should of taken pictures of all the before and afters. I clean all my windows - 20 of them! Half on Saturday and the rest this afternoon. I am so embarrassed by them. All summer I would look out and think "I've got to get them washed!" You can see how dirty the window sills were - this isn't even the worse of them - too embarrassed to show anyone those.

Okay - I've learned - this is REAL reason you have children. London was so eager to help me with washing her windows today. She did a really good job. I was impressed how she concentrated on cleaning all the spots off.

This is the best part about having replacement windows in a 100 yr old house. Just a side note - I helped Russ put all these windows in this house.

Finished product - windows done.

Laundry - is this a never ending project? I even got bedsheets washed. London also helps in this department. She will put the wet clothes into the dryer (I just lay them on the top of the dryer lid and she pushes them in). She will put away dish towels/cloths and her bibs in the correct drawer.

I cleaned out my flower beds - put away piles in the house - clean out my china hutch - grocery shopped - picked out new tile for the kitchen - played with London.

Now my week is free to play - sew - or just goof around.

Summer Goodness

I just realized that this is London's first popsicle!

oops - brain freeze ?

Can you believe that I let her have it even though she was wearing white pants - BLEACH

I think she enjoyed it

Creative

Little minds can be so creative - how creative can you get with Tupperware bowls? I never know what London is going to do when she starts playing with her dolls. I just wish I knew what she was thinking putting the babies into the bowls - what was the purpose. I can't wait till the day I ask her questions about what she is doing and get an answer.

In the lower right corner of the above pictures you will notice ALL my kitchen dish towels stacked up. Somewhere beneath is a little baby sleeping.

When she was done arranging them - she sat down and said "cheese" my cue to take a picture of them.

A 14 Yr Old??

Happy Birthday to Keyton

Does he look like a 14 yr old in this picture? Time surely does pass quickly. We are proud of you Keyton and the young man you are becoming - a caring heart for others. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Okay - maybe we need to work on the type of girls you are trying to "pick up".

Not Much

Monday - worked extra hours due to a coworker being sick and another having to take her mother to the doctor. John and Jennifer had their baby - Lily Ann (sweet name) and Brant (works with Russ) they had a 9lb boy! Russ could not remember his name but he was named after Brant's brother. It rained off and on all day. Yeah - did not need to water flowers. Tuesday - worked late again - took a walk down by river and London played at the playground. Beautiful evening. Wednesday - back to normal hours at work. Trying to find time to sew so I can get my etsy store open and we finally came up with a name. Another beautiful evening. Thursday - Russ was with the older kids and London and I went to the park and had supper then she played again. Friday - Payday! My parents are in town! Kassade and Keyton are here for evening! and London decided not to take a nap at daycare :( Just an average week - nothing overly exciting during the week. I think I only took a couple pictures. Looking forward to good weekend and off on Monday to spend time with my parents. It will be a beautiful weekend in Kansas and so we hope to spend a lot of time outside. Hope you have a great weekend.

Just Playing

London has been learning to jump. Here is a video of her in the kitchen with Russ.

Last Sunday Russ thought London needed to learn how to go down then slip and slide. The video below is how the first trip down the slide went.

Nice - real nice - after that she wouldn't go at all. So Russ and Keyton came with a plan and this she enjoyed.

This past week

It was HOT last week. London likes to help "water the flowers" really it is more like, London likes to play in the water while mommy waters them. She puts the hose into the watering can and pulls it out and then decides to take a drink. Over and over we repeat this process. Afterwards I started spraying her with the hose - she thought it was quite funny. She asked for a drink and I gave her the hose - next thing I knew she was chasing me with the hose trying to get me wet.

These are taken after the "hose chasing" episode.

What a cute little belly!

She looks like she posing for a photo shoot - she could be a model for a magazine like Chasing Fireflies.

She was waiting to see the trash truck the other morning.

She has been consistently stacking blocks of 7-9 high. We built this tower together.

First time eating corn on the cob by herself. After every bite she would say "Mmmm".

Another evening playing in the tee pee tent with daddy. I had made this for Keyton for his 7th birthday.

Mt. Rushmore

A few parting words

Badlands National Park

The spent a day at the Badlands. This is such an interesting park - there are many different areas from prairie grass lands to an area that was once the bottom of a sea you will see sedimentary rock called Pierre shale full of fossils. This area has been described as "peaks and valleys of delicately banded colors - colors that shift in the sunshine. . .and a thousand tints that color charts do not show." There is very little in the Badlands and when it is hot - it's hot and the winter is cold and windy. I can't image how they ever passed through this land on horse or foot.

Kassade and Keyton want to hike up this hill - the next pictures will show them on their little journey. It was much further, larger and higher than they thought.

If you look closely you can barely see them towards the bottom of the hill. If I knew how to draw arrows to point them out - I would do that for you but I haven't figured that one out.

Keyton is ahead of Kassade (she is still towards the bottom).

They finally made it.