Mud, glorious MUD!

 We started out this week on Monday with a 2 mile walk in the sun.  After sweating thru that, Noah declared he needed a haircut.  So out came the clippers and he went from this... 

 ...to this.  I think it makes him look even older (gulp!).

 For the summer, the boys have behavior charts with skills they need to work on.  If they earn the expected number of stickers, they can get rewards.  This week it was a trip to the Oberweis in Schaumburg with a splash pad.  

 Isaac has really settled into a nice schedule.  He is sleeping through the night consistently now and takes great naps too.  He loves being out in the shade so long as it's not too hot (the fat rolls get sweaty) or too windy (he holds his breath when the wind blows too hard, ha!).

 We've been having our fantastic nanny, Laura, come over once a week so that I can get some errands run and do fun things with the older boys.  This week we hit our local pool and of course had to get some Spiderman ice cream.

 The pool is the perfect place to make such a sticky mess.  Easy clean up!

So then on Friday, we did it...  We hosted the MUD PARTY!  As my good friends, Michelle and Philie and I have descended into the darkness that is Pinterest, we decided we needed to plan out some of the bigger kid projects together.  So we picked 3 dates in 3 months (June, July, August) and decided we would each host 1 event.  We have very basic themes June - Mud/bugs/messy play; July - Bubbles; August - water.  The idea is that we would try all the big projects together that you would never be brave enough to do on your own.  We invited some other friends and suddenly it became 120 pounds of dirt and 13 children under the age of 6.  Whoa baby!

We started out with snack, ants on a log...

 There were 4 pools.  The dragon pool with water, one blue pool with wet mud, one blue pool with dry dirt, and one baby pool with water.  Things quickly went from this...

... to this where all the mud was just combined everywhere.  IT WAS AWESOME!

 I think Hugo (who is around 18 mos) takes the award for MVP of the mud.  He was the official taste tester, good stuff!

Leo (who just turned 1) secretly crawled off and was in the pool in his clothes and sandals before anyone stopped him.  Hilarious!

The 6 mommies just let them play.  We had great aspirations of structured play and lessons (literacy plans, science plans, art plans).  But when you get into it, the kids do the best when they just play!  And that's what they did.  

Sam was very into the wet mud play!

 Ari and Evie were into the worm area, finding worms and chatting with them as they carried them around the yard.

 You know you are doing it right when this is what the "clean" pool looks like.  Connor rocks it!

 We had a "mud kitchen" set up where the kids could use utensils to make things.  But mostly they enjoyed carrying water from the pool to add to the dirt.

 The girls (who were highly outnumbered) preferred to try out the art area.  We had tire track painting, and egg carton bug making.  

 Erin W wins the award for coolest mom as she created the impromptu water slide.  I'm sure this will be a steady fixture in the backyard now!

 We managed to feed all 13 kids (10 big kids and 3 infants) on the deck.  It was surprisingly not too chaotic.  The kids all got along pretty well, considering they didn't all know each other.  We finished up lunch just in time before some storms rolled in.  

 How do you clean up after an epic dirty playdate?  Why, a 4 boy shower of course.  And mother nature did a number in the yard washing away most of the dirt/mud!

We played inside for awhile before folks headed home.  Leo spoiled Ellie by sharing some veggie sticks.  Look at his "I got away with it!" grin!

 Isaac did very well too!  He slept most of the morning when we were playing and then hung out with all the gals after lunch.  Piper did a great job holding him, especially since he's more than half her size the buddha boy!

So we survived our big playdate.  I think we'll definitely considering hosting another one next year.  It was a blast.  This weekend we just hung out and did the usual stuff around the house....

Yep, I'm pretty sure I'm raising 4 boys.  But what can I say, I LOVE IT!

Happy Fathers Day!

We have had a BUSY last few days.  It's nice to sit down on Monday morning and have no plans and no outings.  Whew.  Sam has been dabbling in the art of potty training.  We've met with mixed results and we're not pushing it.  I'm pretty sure this is what the iPad was designed for, no?

 I realized I had a Groupon for Santa's Village, so we headed there on Friday.  It was me alone with the 3 monsters.  The weather was perfect and I knew it was going to be a good day when the big man himself greeted us at the front entrance!

 Noah was our adventurous one who went on all the rides.  He even wanted to try out the roller coaster, but wasn't big enough to go on his own.  Sam preferred to watch Noah and yell, "Make sure you sit down, Noah!"

 We got to feed lot of animals including this hungry donkey.

 Noah did the rocket ship solo and was up in the air for most of the ride.  He said this was his favorite part of the day.  My little daredevil!

 After a nice lunch for all in the shade and an exhausting trip to the bathroom, I strapped on Isaac in the carrier and we did a carriage ride all together.  Love spending special time with my boys!

 Santa had asked us to check on his reindeer, so we did.  They were doing just fine, enjoying some dips in the little kiddie pools of water that were out for them.

 We wrapped up our visit with a pony ride.  Noah rode all by himself, no trouble.

 Sam actually opted in for this one and I walked with him to make sure his little booty didn't slide off.  Sam said this was his favorite part of the day.

 I had promised we could get a special treat at Santa's Village, but we were dying to get out of the heat/sun and head home.  So, instead of buying 5 dollar ice cream cones there, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way home.  Good times!

 On Saturday we geared up for Father's Day by creating two of these, one for each Grandpa.  Thank goodness for Pinterest and my good friend Andrea, because I'm not the world's most proficient crafter.  But I'm pleased with how it turned out :)

 Beloved family pet, or comfy couch cushion?

 On Sunday we spent the day at Papa's house.  Isaac is big enough now that Papa enjoys holding him.  You can't tell it now, but I'm pretty sure all that hair came from Papa!

 Our boys are so lucky to have cousins that take care of them, spend time with them, and float around the pool with them.  Don't they look like they could all be siblings?  I tried to convince my sister in law that they were all hers, but it didn't work.

 Isaac loves being outside.  He just sleeps and enjoys the fresh air.  

 The pool was chilly, but the kids didn't mind.  Noah swims like a fish with the life jacket on.

 And Sam enjoyed playing with Auntie Kimmie and splashing just about everyone there.

 Hope you all had a lovely Fathers Day!  Please enjoy this latest hair style of Isaac's.  I have to have my fun now before he demands the trim his brothers have!  

Aaaaaand... we're off!

Well, we're off with a bang into some summer fun!  We did a CRAZY trip to Ikea with the Worsts.  Two mommas and six kids was a bit ambitious on our part, but we made it and purchased at least some of the items we intended to.  

Isaac's making great strides this month.  Look at how strong he is!  We recently moved him in to sleeping full time in his crib in his own room.  Just last night he slept from 10pm-6:15am, not too shabby!  The hair is just NOT going anywhere and I love it.

 The boys and I spent the night before Isaac's baptism at my parents house as Mike had to go to a wedding and it just made things easier in the morning.  Uncle Josh and Noah got creative with a box.  This is an IronMan variation, can't remember the model name but I'm sure Noah could tell you.

 The night before Ike's baptism we saw a rainbow (nice timing by the big man upstairs, eh?).  Noah was thrilled, "It's the first real life rainbow I ever saw!"  So we had to capture the moment.

 Pinterest is quickly becoming our go to place for projects.  This last week we did Duct Tape rocket ships.  Yes, we have Spiderman duct tape.  Are you really that surprised?

 Roselle had their community garage sale and I scored BIG.  I had been trolling around all morning searching for superhero stuff only to find massive amounts of things that my boys would not be interested in (barbie scooter, dora roller skates, etc).  Towards the end of my 2 hour window, thanks to grandma for babysitting, I came upon this great playset.  For 35 bucks you can't go wrong!

 The boys LOVE it and I love that we can play outside for hours in the shade.  It is fantastic.

 And Ellie even likes the "clubhouse" area below.

 We went to Fred's baseball game in Palatine.

 Spunky Dunker's donuts in the morning sunshine, don't mind if we do!

 Another project: homemade birdfeeder.  The plans called for a cutesy bird picture on the outside.  We had to change that up.  We haven't had many winged visitors, perhaps they are a bit intimidated...

 Mike and I realized just how much you can get done in a real 2 day weekend with 2 adults at home.  It was great and of course the boys got face paint!

 What happens when you leave them to wash their newly discovered rocks for the rock collection while you feed the baby?  Well, at least the rocks are clean...

 Noah is taking an "Intro to baseball" class with the park district.  It's not like organized, team, t-ball.  They simple practice skills like throwing, catching, and batting.  It was a little hard because the bat was much heavier than our plastic t-ball set one from home.  But he's still improving and enjoying himself.

 And chub-chub baby has begun bonding with his doggie.  He's definitely interested in watching her move around the place and smiles a lot when she comes near.  Ellie on the other hand, enjoys snuggling up to him.  I think she's thinking "whew, this one is calm and won't jump on me."  Not yet, at least.

 So the summer fun has begun!  Plenty more to come :)