nap time

Sometimes I know Leah has woken up early from her nap. I can hear her quietly and happily playing, so I usually just let her play for a few minutes, you know, so I can squeeze in a few extra minutes of whatever it is that I am doing. Usually when this happens, I open the door to a train wreck that happened in her room, and sometimes she is dressed like this: 

I promise this is not choking her, mom...

I'm not gonna lie, I kind of like her style.

Strawberry picking

We have been strawberry picking several times in the past couple of weeks/months at this wonderful mennonite farm down in montezuma. I have TONS of frozen strawberry's, and I made two batches of jam, so I think we are set for a while.

The three babies did great the whole time. You can't really tell, because we wiped them mostly off, but they were completely covered in red strawberry juices.

The four older ones did pretty well, too. It's always an adventure taking seven kids under 5 to a huge blazing hot field and expecting to accomplish something.... but, we all managed to go home with about 10 pounds of berries each! And hey, if all three of us ladies go again together next year, we will have 10 kids under 6!

pool time

The past couple of days we have been playing in our lovely pool.

I put the slide in it, and it makes it just that much more fun for Leah. Now she can do something other than try to hold me underwater.

Eli likes it for about 30 minutes, then he starts freaking out.

I'm a wimp in the heat. The only way I enjoy being outside in these blazing summers is if I am in water, so, this 70 $ pool, in my opinion, is the best money we have ever spent.

Tea Party

Several times a week, usually when Elias is napping, Leah and I have a "tea party".

We usually drink apple juice and eat crackers, but she calls it her tea and biscuits.

She'll take a sip, and then say "I'm acting like a lady!" I have tried to get her to talk in Jane Austen fashion, but she's not really picking up on that.

In other news, Elias had his 9 month checkup and he is in the 14th percentile for height, and the 98th percentile for weight. He is a chunk!!!!!!

He's pulling up, crawling like a maniac, and is generally super cute and fun.