Week #2

Liz spent a big chunk of her second summer week at Vacation Bible School, but still had time for a playdate, her "mother's helper" job, and play time with her sisters.  I tried to make the time Lizzie was gone, fun for the little girls too.  One day we went to open play time at a semi-local gym.  Ellie's favorite was the trampoline.  For Lainey it was a tie between the tramp and the rings.

This last week the girls also got haircuts.  It was Lainey's second and Ellie's first.  Gabrielle did wonderful.  I was surprised by how still she sat.  Alaina was fine after I promised that she would be able to keep her hair "long like Rapunzel's" as per her request.

I intended to do a science experiment with the kids every day, but this is the first one we've gotten to (and we watched it all week).  The girls loved seeing the leaves change colors.  I need to get a hold of some white carnations for round two.

We had some nice afternoons at home and an evening barbecue with friends.  Also, I enjoyed attending one of my book groups, a baby shower, and a family birthday party (the last two with Liz in tow).

 One evening the girls gave everyone massages (the karate chop to your back kind).

Thursday evening Lainey started to run a temperature.  Needless to say, we stayed home Friday.  Lainey was sick enough that she asked if she could take a nap and then actually fell asleep.  In the afternoon Lainey "wrote" notes to everyone in the family, saying she was doing it so people would know that she loves them.  Later she decided that Drew's love note was actually a birthday card and asked us all to sing "Happy Birthday" to him at dinner.  Since it was such a sweet request and she was sick earlier we indulged her.  I stuck a candle in Drew's tortellini and Alaina helped him blow it out.

Friday was the hottest June day on record (142 years of records) which helped set the stage for the massive and destructive thunder storm that hit later that night.  It downed trees, flooded roads, left millions without power, and resulted in multiple deaths.   The kids slept through the whole thing, but Andrew and I sat on our bed and watched the amazing lightening (despite official warnings to stay away from windows).  I'd never seen anything like it.  The entire sky lit up.  It was like someone was flipping a light switch off and on in quick succession.  We were fortunate--our power stayed on.  Also, Saturday morning we were relieved to see that our trees were in place and our cars and home had not suffered any damage.  More about our area's derecho here and here.