Parks & Friends On Repeat

Gorgeous weather means this butterfly and I ate lunch outside. (Yes, she did wear her wings to the post office earlier that morning).

Sunny afternoons = another round of building a fort from fallen limbs 

 

The big kids asked if they could walk home from the park. I am not ready to let them do so without supervision, so I told they could as I would trail them in my car. I'm sure other drivers wondered why I did loops in the one parking lot between the park and our neighborhood. They were so proud of themselves and their newfound independence. 

Making alfajores from his Argentina passport box. 

 

 

We had a gathering of moms and kids over for lunch one day. The only photo I got was of Colleen and Ian playing Candyland. These two now pick on each other like a brother and sister.

Stuti & Sachit's parents had to leave early to go for their citizenship interview. So they dropped the kids off at our house at 615am. They played until our kids were up, and then everyone thoroughly enjoyed being together until the school bus took the big kids. Then Colleen and Sachit ate breakfast and went off to Sachit's daycare. They really enjoyed the morning together. 

 

We met friends at a park after Bible study. The moms were tired of pushing the tire swing, so Colleen volunteered to push the group. 

 

Michelle took these awesome photos of Arthur & Colleen on the tire swing later on. 

 

"Mom, would you take a photo of Pink Baby & me?" 

 

Amelia decided that she wanted to hang her own artwork up in her room. So we gathered some of her favorite things and started her artwall. She worked on the sparkle art for months. 

Just because 

The grin on that blue-capped girl is representative of how she feels about swim lessons. 

She only naps once or twice a week now; it never fails to melt my heart. 

All About Colleen + Sewing Success

Colleen finally had her first dentist appointment. She requested to use her own sunglasses and had zero problems and now wants to floss like the hygienist did.

 

 

 

A friend purged some dress-up clothes and passed them on to us. She loves it!

She is taking photos of Pink Baby & then showing the photos to her. 

Pink Baby and Colleen did their nails and celebrated Pink Baby's birthday. She requested that I make a birthday crown and provide a birthday gift for their birthday picnic.

 

  

 

She wanted to show me the clips she put in her hair. 

We spent Friday night at our neighbors for dinner. We discovered that Shruthi used to take Krav Maga so she helped Austin with some of his sparring. 

On Saturday, we finally finished reinstalling all the parts, waxing the machine, and doing another round of oiling. We threaded the machine, wound the bobbin, plugged her in and started sewing! Amelia and I were thrilled that not only did it function, but the tension required only a little adjustments. Success! 

 

Daddy got a photo of us with the restored machine, moved into the sewing room. 

The Flu

Colleen and I met Arthur & Michelle for a walk at Duke Farms. We had fun exploring and climbing together.

 

 

The weather was so nice that we went to the playground after school. The big kids were super-focused on teaching Colleen how to climb to the top of the web. They were very patient and encouraging. 

 

At 3:50am, I hear Austin walking into our room. I expect "Mom, I had a bad dream," but no, he says "Mom, my tooth fell out." Seriously, who loses their first tooth in the middle of the night? 

Unfortunately, that very next morning, Amelia woke up with a fever, and I started feeling flu symptoms. We got Amelia and I both to the doctor where Type A flu was confirmed. I moved into Amelia's room to try to isolate the germs; Patrick was able to work from home to handle all the food prep. Colleen was kept entertained in the hallway outside while Amelia and I tried to give her space. Amelia's fever broke after 3 days; mine took 5. We found so many things to be grateful for while being sick. Friends brought us meals, and Patrick was able to keep everything running. 

Amelia and I played games, worked on projects and listened to audiobooks while stuck in our sick room. 

 

When our fevers broke, we came out of our room but it still took a few days to bounce back. Colleen missed us a lot. She would run up and squeeze my leg and say "I can hug you now Mama!" 

This one's personality is big. 

Getting sunshine to help us improve. 

Amelia and I did make some slow progress on the sewing machine. We rewired the electrical parts and were satisfied when they worked!