Repeating June

Looking through the photos, it looks like July has been a bit of a repeat of June. Sue came for a visit, we went camping (albeit in the backyard this time), yard play, the occasional crafting. Routine can be nice sometimes :)

Tomatoes and basil from our garden!

Portraits by Henri

The carrot and radish harvest (Hen's hand for comparison)

She's graduated to letting a few drops hit her head. "Massive" progress in three years. 

This is as close as Hudson would get. And yet he begs to go to the spray park every day. I just refuse at this point. It is SO MUCH WORK to get them sunscreened, dressed, walk in the blazing sun down there, sit on a hot bench for an hour while they refuse to step foot on the blue, and then haul them home while they scream about the unfairness of being pulled away from all their "fun". If they really want to get sprayed I'll turn the hose on them. 

We went to a fun parade for the 4th

Barnabas being all festive

First time willingly sitting for me to do her hair decently

Lots of houses getting torn down recently, so we shamelessly plop ourselves down on neighboring sidewalks to watch.

She seems to be over it, but Henri went through a little "write on everything during naptime" phase. Rubbing alcohol is amazing!

They play great together. 

We got a bubble machine since I was practically passing out every afternoon for their pleasure. Now that it doesn't require mom to over-exert herself, the kids aren't all that in to bubbles. Go figure. 

Followed TheVegan8's recipe for some amazing soft serve vegan "ice cream" using as its secret ingredient sweet potatoes. Sooooo delicious!

The Molitors were back in town so we got them for an evening of happiness

And then we met up with Kelsea and Reid later in the week to wander Cambridge while our car got fixed

I know it's just nostalgia, but I can not remember why on earth we moved out of Cambridge. Best place on earth, and so much easier to raise kids in the city than in the suburbs; great parks, tons of people watching, dedicated walking paths that go for miles, sidewalks to everywhere that get plowed, great eating and my favorite grocery store, bus and train outside the door.....yeah, it was good to be home if only for a few hours. 

Lesson; don't photograph at night if you want the color to show up. But a really cute (I thought) reversible baby bonnet for the newest baby Molitor girl to be arriving in the next few weeks. Other than burning my fingers on the iron steam, this was a fast and fun project. EDIT: Totally forgot to give credit where it's due. I followed exactly the amazing tutorial here, and just made a second one during nap time with even better results.

This is a happy leopard. 

We had friends over on Friday night and "camped" in the backyard. It was pouring while I set up, hence the tarp to help with the screened porch part. 

Easiest way to camp, all the fun. I put Hudson in the house in his own bed so he slept great (we kept the monitor with us so I could get him if need be). Grilled hotdogs, made s'mores in the firepit, the kids had a blast staying up WAAAAAY past their bedtime and playing with flashlights, and then next morning we went out for brunch. 

And the girls did their nails in the morning, lol. Teenagers already. 

With just a few days left, I think our month will close out quietly. Plans for the weekend are taken up with birthday parties to attend, and then next week is the last game of the regular softball season. Why yes, it has been an extremely long season this year, But there's still the playoffs, so there's the potential to go yet another month. Yay.