Call Day #67, 6/25/14

The girls love VBS! It's set up so that the kids go from one activity to another with their class, including such things as a puppet show, play, games, snacks, crafts, etc. Here's Eleanor's group.

The preschool crowd does much of what the older kids do but it seems they substitute playing on the playground for more advanced crafts.

I think it's so funny how my girls "match" their outfits. Stripes go with stripes, right?

We had dessert after dinner, a relatively rare thing. Claire ate hers from the bottom up. Weird.

Oliver had half of an ice cream bar. Here he is copying Claire who used the stick as a tongue depressor to look in my mouth. He's putting it in his own and saying "ahhhhhhh."

Pre-bedtime reading. Magic Tree House book.

Books before bed for everyone. Oliver's getting ready for bed in our room since he's sleeping in our closet for a few days. We have lots of house guests!

Call Day #66, 6/23/14

Erik didn't have to go in til 11 today so Oliver got some time with him this morning. Here he is pointing at dogs in a book, of course.

Eleanor and Claire weren't around because they were already at VBS for the morning. Can you spot Claire listening to a story?

While the girls were gone, I prepared dinner. Oliver was kept happy while I cooked sitting close by in his seat and handing him different kitchen gadgets to explore.

When they got home from VBS, Eleanor wanted to start another large puzzle. This one was more than half done by the end of the day.

Heidi is in Durham with us for a few days (yay!) and joined us at swim practice this afternoon.

Eleanor putting her face in the water for short stints even though she doesn't like to.

Oliver got very wet since Claire kept squeezing a water-soaked ball over his head. My favorite part of this interaction was when she told me "it's like anointing David king by pouring oil on his head." This week's VBS theme is the life of David.

Spaghetti-mouth at dinner time.

Call Day #65, 6/19/14

We went to play with friends this morning. All the girls spent some time coloring.

And, of course, dressing up--their favorite!

We watched a movie about the American Girl Kit this afternoon. The girls have listened to me read all of the stories about her so it was fun to watch the movie and see how it compared. We had popcorn too which hasn't happened in a long time so they were really excited.

Nanny came around dinner time to help out for the weekend since I'll be out of town. They played a clapping game before bed.

Oliver has been looking through the books the girls get from the library lately. He seems to be gentle enough with them to let him flip through them.

Call Day #64, 6/17/14

Eleanor's been doing puzzles a LOT during these days of no school. She picks 500 piece ones and does them over and over. This one was done yesterday and today (with help from Mommy and Daddy).

We went to the Main Library today because they have lots more books to choose from (especially easy reader for Eleanor). Claire was extra excited about picking out books.

She came running when she found the Angelina Ballerina section. Think we went home with 5 or 6 of those.

Oliver was happy to wander up and down the aisles. Unfortunately, this also meant helping himself to books on the shelves. Have to keep an eye on him!

The water fountain was actually at Oliver level! He thought that was great and entertained himself with it while we checked out our big piles of books. He was soaked down the front by the time we were done.

Playing in the grass outside the library.

We walked to a park nearby, had a picnic lunch, and played. It was so hot out today (high 95) that we went straight from the park to Pelican's, a shaved ice place. A cold treat is perfect on a day like today.

Claire played by herself this afternoon (after I split them up since I was tired of the bickering). She was proud of her building and had an elaborate story to go with it.

Then it was time for swim team. Oliver insisted on feeding himself at the pool. He did a pretty good job.

Eleanor has been practicing diving for part of each practice. Today her coach was one of her favorite neighborhood friends, Adam (standing next to her).

Practicing from the edge too, which is what they've done more often in the past.

Call Day #63, 6/12/14

A last-minute morning playdate with friends was just what we needed today. The girls have such fun with these friends! I can hardly catch a picture of them all together because they disappear upstairs to play. They're only still when they're eating!

 Oliver hangs out downstairs with the moms. He's quite happy to play with different toys. As usual, he finds whatever balls might be available (in hand).

Eleanor changed into her swim suit much earlier than necessary for swim practice. She's always eager to get to the pool. While we were passing the time til we left, she signed up online for the summer reading program. She's excited to start earning points on Saturday.

On days when we have a full morning, Oliver's been having late nap times. Today he didn't wake up til we were almost ready to leave so ate his snack at the pool. The practice time we were assigned is our normal dinner time so he's always hungry then anyway.

Claire's favorite activity while Eleanor practices. She throws the circle floatie out in the water and then uses it as a target to jump onto. She usually wears the floatie on her arms as well. She was super excited that I let her swim with just the ring around her waist for a while today!

Call Day #62, 6/10/14

We're enjoying the freedom of not having school to start first thing in the morning. Want to paint your toenails? Sure, why not.

Always multi-colored.

 Unfortunately, we had lots of errands to run. After the post office and Aldi, we came home to unload groceries. Since we were about to head out again, the kids opted to stay in the van. I found them out there coloring. Eleanor was doing a great job keeping Oliver happy. She kept handing him crayons and had him set up with a coloring book.

In addition to normal swim team practice, today was team picture day. This made for a long day at the pool since we had to get there at the beginning of the first group's practice time and stay through the end of Eleanor's practice with the second half of the team. Oh, and if you're looking for Eleanor, she's in the front row, eight from the left. Her coaches are Justin (back, far left) and Chloe (back, second from right).

We took dinner and that passed some time. Eating cherry tomatoes poolside. A few minutes later he was happily splashing in the water too.