Summertime stuff

 

So I think most days last week were okay...we are getting into our routines and I've figured out some ways to handle all the fighting. One way that's been working is to let Zach watch The Magic School Bus on Netflix like he wants while Gabe plays Nintendo DS (thanks again, Emily!). We had some fun activities planned, like the first of a summer kids movie series and planting flowers. We also had errands and doctors appointments for me, which they didn't necessarily like but that broke up the days some. Shopping, planting, etc. just about exhausted me this weekend but the kids had fun...we even got them a sprinkler. I got to enjoy time at Starbucks on Sunday morning, and we've picked out some paint chips for the nursery and hope to pick up actual supplies next weekend. Not much time left; I'll be 30 weeks along in a few days. She's kicking lots, and I've gotten to the "what is that body part sticking out?" phase--she feels huge in there. You can be sure I'll be packed for the hospital within a few weeks :)

Oh, they made a good mess, indeed.

The end result.

We've made them start bringing chairs in to talk to people on skype, and they have to sit, otherwise it is too crazy!

The old table, and their basement art area.

Thirteen hundred

Thirteen hundred is the exaggeration Gabe uses to describe lots of things lately, such as how high he can count, how many minutes I've made him wait, or how many cookies he wants to eat. It's his default of sorts. And it just about describes how many things we did/people we saw/time-outs the boys earned on our latest trip. Time-outs aside, I think we had a pretty good time and really enjoyed hanging out with family. If we just saw you a week ago, well, then you've either seen these photos, or you were there, and I have no new photos yet. To say that summer vacation is not going well for us is an understatement. Never in the time since Zach was born have we experienced more tantrums, misbehavior, fighting, crankiness, and general not-listening. In a word (and something that I hate): drama. It started while we were away from home and has just gotten worse since we got back. So we are working on it.

As I selected photos to post I noticed that Gabe looks extremely happy in many of them, which isn't how I remember things at all. I guess we were up and down. On to the photos...