Summahtime!

I love summer and the kids are loving it too.  We spent the day with family at Auntie Cathy's pool last week and had a blast.  We had a lovely day visiting 2 of our favorite gals, Barbara and Donna our NICU nurses.  We had a picnic in the park with Jason and his Dad while they were here in town.  We played hard with our cousins at the Tsika house.  We had fun going for ice cream cones with Sandy, and we are doing a lot of walking play dates with friends.  

We are also doing an Early Intervention play group on Thursday mornings, and it's great for them to socialize with other kids their age.  They are learning new songs, how to sit in circle time, we tried painting the other day (unsucessfully), group play, washing our hands in a sink, and other 'school' routines.  A lot of these routines are new to them, but they are learning quickly.  I won't lie, I am exhausted by the time the 2 hours are up, but it's totally worth the experience for them.  

The most exciting part of this summer is we have a new deck!  Miguel and my cousin David have been working hard the past 2 months, but I am happy to report we played outside all morning on it!  I am excited because we can finally play outside when it is just me here, and also because I can let them out the slider with no shoes!  They loved playing with all their water toys in today's hot weather. We look forward to many more summer days outside.

We've got lots of talking going on.  Sammy literally talks all day.  Can't understand a word he says, but definitely making sentences and tons of different syllables and inflections. He's having a hell of a conversation with whomever will listen.  Danny added another 2 word grouping...'get down'.  Glad he's keeping the theme going. Seriously I can't make this up.  He's working on 'clean up' as well, since this is our new activity.  Elsie, who has 30 different sounding screams now to go with her pointing, said book clear as day when I refused to acknowledge her screaming and pointing at one on the floor.  I guess she can talk when she wants something badly enough. Sadly, this means I have to endure long bouts of screaming to achieve this.

Climbing is the number one activity in our house right now.  They. Climb. Everything.
They climb on the couch, the end tables, the toy box, the piano, all their toys, the dining chairs and table, the dogs.  Anything is game.  And this is why Danny's new words are get down.

All 3 of the babies are finding interest in peeing.  Thankfully they take separate baths because this seems like the most popular place to practice. Sammy gets so excited when he pees that he then stands in the tub trying to force more pee out.  He tried so hard the other day, that he made the loudest toot ever, and scared himself in the process.  I've been calling attention to it when they are going to try to prep them for potty training.  Thinking about trying the 3 day naked.  Especially now that we can be outside on the deck for easier cleanup.  Just trying to build up strength and patience for this adventure. Gave it a practice run this morning.  All 3 had pooped so I figured I had some time to let them play naked and I could work on the peeing part.  Not more than 30 seconds into this test run, Elsie pooped in the pool.  In the 45 seconds it took me to get a bucket of soapy water and a facecloth, everyone was touching the poop, kicking it in the pool, etc.  It was a real shit show. I literally washed and soaped them all up then hosed them down.  This is going to be more difficult than I thought.

Here is a picture I think pretty much sums up our summer. Exhausting.

picnic in Boston Commons

Danny is starting to get this whole camera smile thing

Sammy was having a rough day, no nap = meltdown

full meltdown

He's so tired

Happy ice cream boy

Enjoying our ice cream with Sandy

Mommy and kids photo shoot...this is real life

yep. real life.

Mommy and Daddy out for much needed dinner time

Everyone's new favorite place.  The arm of the sofa

Hello?  Hello?  Yes, this is Danny...

Watching Daddy and David work on the deck

love this group of photos, shows their size differences and similarities.

Eating dinner outside 

Play date with Missie and Maddex

Sammy telling a story.  Love the faces.

playing at Barbara's

Love these two ladies.  

We totally needed a selfie stick. 

Buddy joins the group shot

At Early Intervention play group

the girl likes a challenge

painting with the teacher

Miss Abby at the park

Danny loves her

Elsie has really come out of her shell lately and is super expressive.  

playing with the camera phone

Not usually a lot of sharing, but here was a rare moment

the new 'it' toy in our house

playing at our cousin's house!

More couch pics

Mom, mom, mom, give me some of that food...

love this hat

a boy. a ball. and a stick.

now everyone has a stick.

you have no idea how hard group shots are.

this one is pretty good

my lounger

here is another montage of Elsie faces

oh boy

why sit on the couch when you can sit on the end table

poor Emmie

intensely watching Frozen

you mean this toy box is meant for toys and not a fort?

let me just climb through the kitchen window

playing on our new deck

snack time with Grammie

it's hot.  I think I'll sit in the water table

This first video is at Fort Rodman.  I am pushing Danny on the swing when I see Sam getting to the top of the hill with the wagon.  I turn to Amy and say 'I don't know if I should run to stop him or start the video!'

playing at the park

Danny.  Oh boy.  We've got our hands full.  Notice how he constantly checks back to see if I'm looking.  And how he tries to play off his actions.

Sammy telling a story.