Cleaning and scrubbing will wait ’till tomorrow, but children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs! Dust go to sleep! I’m rocking my baby. Babies don’t keep. – Ruth Hamilton

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Cousin Craziness This Summer

How many times do I mention my kid's cousins on this blog?  I think almost every post has something about cousins.  My kids have two cousins in this town that are close to their age and during the summer we spend almost everyday with them.  Then only a few hours later they have three more!  

During the raining part of the summer we tried bowling with Cohan and Ireland.  At first we thought there might be multiple games, but we quickly learned one game was enough.
When we came home from bowling that day, I saw my sister-in-law from St. Louis and my niece in my yard.  They thought we were out of town and had to stop by for work.  This turned into Lucie staying with us the remainder of the week.
On the 4th of July we had friends over, but the majority of the kids were...
Cousins!

Luckily these three have these special people in their lives because they are the most antisocial kids!  They prefer to just be with each other when in social situations.

Unless we have special friends over:) 

We did have a break after the 4th and they enjoyed time with our chickens,
Avery and I had a date getting our nails done,
We visited the library,
We snuggled,
and Avery went to ballet camp.  

But of course her brothers and cousins came to watch her perform.
A little McDonalds to celebrate with Papa H.



We had a fun dinner enjoying their cousins new house!


Then Lucie and Gretchen came to stay with us for a week.  It was a fun week, but 5 kids all day everyday was a lot for me:)  At least they will have the memories.

I took them in their PJ's to get two new chickens for our flock.


Of course we spent time at the pool.










two cool dudes!







Once again, we have used today to regroup and gear up for more fun in the sun with their best friends!

Summer Time in St. Louis


Since my parents sold their lake house, we have been going to St. Louis a lot more this summer.  We have spent a few weeks there with my parents and have done a lot of city things.  
We spent time eating delicious dinners which my parents cooked for us each night.

Of course a target run ended with new PJ's and a backpack.

We took a trip to the Magic House and met up with cousins-if you are ever in St. Louis this is a fun place where you could spend an entire day.  We were there over three hours and didn't even get to half of this place.





We also got to have days with cousins.  Gretchen is sweet and plays with the boys.

With a pool on the roof top there was a lot of swims.  It was perfect to run up there before dinner.



One trip was for Mack's doctors appointment.  We only go every 6 months now, so both Mark and I like to be there.  This time was different.  We were told all great things about Mack that put us at ease for now.  He is slowly weening off his medicine since we haven't changed his dose and he is growing.  Our doctor did say he may have to go back on it during different phases in his life-such as his teenage years when his body changes.  Over all the message was to let friends and family know he can be treated just like other kids.



When my parents kept the kids for a weekend, they went to the City Gardens.  This is a really neat sculpture garden right down town-walking distance from my parent's house.  They have a huge spray area and little pools.  They really aren't meant for swimming and probably aren't treated like a pool, so my parents didn't let Mack get in them.  When we were driving home from the doctors appointment we asked Mack what he wanted to do.  We thought it was a great time to have alone time with him, but nope he wanted to go back to my parents to get his siblings and walk to the City Garden.



Surprisingly they were having a birthday party for the garden.  They had music, a bubble van, a balloon maker, face painters, and fun!  We couldn't have planned a better day to go!


Dancing with the bubbles.







My climber.


We did enjoy some nights out to eat.  This little one had sun in her eyes and needed my sun glasses.


I don't get as many workouts in as I should, but one morning I went with my dad.  I didn't realize it was going to be 6 miles:/


Another favorite place is the Botanical Gardens. I love this place because adults can enjoy the surroundings and the kids get excited for the children's area.



I didn't get any of them climbing in the jungle or jumping in the spray yard.




On our last day, we went to my cousin's new house.  We had 10 cousins together for a swim party.  It was an enjoyable day swimming.




That night my parents gave us tickets to the Cardinal game and we took the kids.  It was the first time they sat for so long.  We made it until the 8th inning!  It was VERY hot, but as I watch how engaged they were I was shocked.  Mack was busy watching for cotton candy, Avery loved searching for Fred Bird, and Lincoln watched the ball the entire time. 




On Saturday I went to my sister-in-laws baby shower with Nanny and when we came back we loaded the kids in her car.  She drove them back home where my friend and her daughter watched the kids over night.  It was a big day!  My other sister-in-law turned 40!  It was supposed to be a surprise party, but my niece made sure she knew about it that morning.






Its fun to be able to have so much fun with family-on both sides!  We seem to spend a lot of time with them and I wouldn't have it any other way!  It did take a little while to recover from this fun!