Memorial Day Weekend - Operation Disappearing Tree

Despite the rough day previously with the color run, we still had a great Memorial Day weekend with the Kenyons.

Playing dress up

Such a benevolent princess

Richard is a man of many talents so we were randomly talking about how I wanted to get the dead tree removed.  (Especially since I learned that the nice big green plant/weed that was growing up around the base and giving the space some green was actually poisonous.)  And he offered to go remove it.  I took him up on the offer.  :)

Comfortably watching the pre-action outside.

Video - The great tree take down.  It's pretty entertaining.  :)

Richard and his conquest

Hm...now there's a big dead tree in my yard.  What should we do to get rid of it??

The house behind us wasn't completed and still under construction so there was a ton of trash in the yard.  I often picked weeds and threw them over the fence.

These two were play buddies this weekend.

And these two were play buddies this weekend.

Eventually Emmalyn would let Natalie pick her up.  :)

That poor lump under there (Richard) was a good sport

All gone!  It's so fantastic!

Richard and Peter also capped off the old sprinkler that went to the old tree and ran a new sprinkler to the new tree and this great sprinkler in my garden.  I am incredibly excited about this.  My garden is the real deal!

We cut some cilantro from the garden to use in our fresh salsa

Makenna and I went next door to help Mary Ann decorate for our swim party

Happily playing with the cars

All the kids having fun together

Let's swim!

The boys hanging out

Double rainbow for good luck

The swimming was cut short by thunderstorms

I LOVE summer food!  I am looking forward to more grilling, more veggies, more salad!

The rain REALLY came down.

Since swimming was off the table thanks to the lightning, Maxwell and Makenna played Battleship.

Hanging out before bedtime.  They all get along so well.

On Memorial Day, we headed to lunch at Zoe's and then went to a new place by us that is an obstacle place for kids to play - similar to the obstacles on the show "American Ninja Warrior", which Maxwell loves.

Trampoline fun

Climbing over things

Cargo net

The kids worked HARD.  We bought 1 hour passes and half an hour in the kids were exhausted.  Maxwell was dripping sweat.

So tired she's just hung out on the ground.

Unfortunately, the Kenyons had to drive home after we were done.  We sure loved having them here!  It was a memorable weekend!

We finished up Memorial Day with more grilling and time outside.

Water guns and umbrellas

It's not exactly a pool but it works in a pinch.

The Rest of Memorial Day Weekend

Man, I sure love when my house is full of family or friends!  Plus it is really nice right now to have other people around who want to hold and take care of the baby.  :)

Thanks to all the fun we had yesterday, Emmalyn was outside more than she'd ever been.  I think it wiped her out because she nursed at 9:30 that night and then slept until 5:30 in the morning!!!!  Amazing! (Of course I didn't sleep that whole time because I kept getting up and checking on her.)

A little tummy time with her legs in the air (she has such scrawny ankles!)

Group harmonic playing

Peter and Richard took all the kids, except, the baby on a walk.  Us moms enjoyed having some quiet time to just visit!  Then we got some pictures via text:

The kids with their feet in the pool

Interesting...so the dads ended up taking the kids to the neighborhood pool, huh?  How did they get in though, the key is still here at home?... We guessed (correctly) that Makenna probably climbed over the fence to let everyone in.  

We were probably concerned for half a second and then figured it was fine...the dads could take care of it.  The kids looked like they were having fun.

Then a few minutes later we get this video via text:

video - impromptu swimming party

So much for just putting their feet in!  (We later learned that Max was the first to jump in and get all wet and then the others followed suit.  The boys took off their shirts and Makenna swam in her clothes.

Shortly after that, we got another text requesting Natalie's swimming suit because she wouldn't get in because she was wearing a pretty dress that she didn't want to ruin.  MOMS to the rescue!  We packed up snacks, drinks, swimming suits, towels, etc and walked over to the pool.  

The police were in the parking lot when we got there.  We joked that some neighbor had called the cops because of the hooligans that had hopped the fence and were swimming in their clothes.  (The cop wasn't there for us and left us alone.)

Enjoying the snacks the moms brought.  Thank goodness for thoughtful moms!

Enjoying being kid-less

mmmm pudding

Cutest smile ever

Emmalyn slept in this uncomfortable position the whole time

Max conned Aunt Kimi into carrying him home

It's funny to see the difference between moms and dads...  Dads go on a walk and one kid hops a fence and the kids end up swimming in their clothes because it wasn't fully planned.  Moms show up, fully supplied and organized with everything possibly needed.  Both are good, both are enjoyed by the kids, both have an important place.  I need to make sure though that I let those crazy dad moments happen in my kid's lives.  Life doesn't always have to be planned/structured/organized - a little spontaneity and craziness is good.

See how the view into our back yard has changed?  We now have a lovely view of heavy machinery.  They are starting to prep the ground and roads for the next phase of building.  Our peace and quiet, especially in the mornings has been disturbed.  Soon we will look in our backyard and have neighbors back there.  Too soon!

Everyone except Peter, the baby, and I went to get snow cones.  They ended up getting their snow cones in a torrential rain.  They all came back looking like wet dogs. 

Everyone helping make a yummy dinner of kebabs, watermelon, and pasta salad.  

(I had a mini meltdown earlier because I was feeling the stress of trying to do everything I thought I should be able to do yet in reality couldn't do because I was still recovering.  It stinks when my expectations of myself are too high and then I end up grump-ing on innocent bystanders who get caught in the crossfire.  Grateful that these people love med, forgave me, and supported me.)

Birthday cake time!  Max helped me blow out the candles (he was sooooo excited about the candles)

Brittany and Kimberly made me some yummy moist cocoa cake the night before when we were at the baseball game.  It was a lovely surprise.

That night, all the parents went out on a date to see a movie while Kimberly stayed at home with all 6 kids!  It was fun to go out even though we watched from the second row of the theater.  (Seriously, those are awful seats.  Why do they even put them there?!)

She survived!  All 6 kids were sleeping when we got home.  Very impressive Kimberly!!!!!

Morning conversations with Aunt Kimi

Maxwell loves his aunt

Sisters 

(I look like the oldest for sure - look at my face!  More aged and wrinkled.  Dang!)

Max LOVED playing with Uncle Richard.  They were good buds on this trip.

One last bit of fun together.  Kimberly's flight was delayed so we picked her back up from the airport to take her to lunch with all of us.

After this, everyone was gone and my house was back to normal.  :(  I wish I could have visitors every weekend, it's so much fun.  It was seriously fantastic having Michelle and her family here.

Sleeping baby who had to get used to not being held all the time again.

Proof that she's chunking up a little bit - little fat rolls on her legs

Emmalyn's getting older, she's now having more periods of being awake which is nice.  Plus, her skin is starting to look so much better - thank goodness!!!  Her cries aren't all the same anymore and I think I'm starting to get the hang of knowing which cry means what.  AND...I think we are really close to her smiling!!!  I can't wait.