Summer 'Round Here

I've not been very diligent about keeping up this little blog of mine with the day to day going on's around here. I guess I haven't felt like there has been many exciting things to jot down, but I guess it's really the little things that make up the big picture right?

For the last few days the twins have been having a bad flu bug. Lot's of throwing up and diarrhea. Kale's gotten the worst of it, but they seem to be on the mend today. Only babies and children can throw up one minute and then be out playing outside as if nothing is wrong the next. Needless to say however, I've been cleaning and doing laundry and running on a small amount of sleep since last Thursday night. At one point on Saturday I went into the laundry room and it felt like it was about 100 degrees in there because I'd been running the washer and dryer non-stop. Having babies that are sick is the worst because you can't get them to throw up consistently in a big bowl or in the bathroom and it's hard for them because they don't know what is happening and it scares them. The only upside is that they've actually wanted to snuggle and rock and have me hold them which they haven't done in a long time and I found that I've missed that a lot. While rocking them both the other night, one under each arm, I watched a special on TV about a woman who was paralyzed and in a wheelchair who was about to give birth to twins. I couldn't imagine that and I felt so, so blessed for having my full physical abilities to care for these sick babies of mine.

On a brighter note, we've been enjoying the slower pace of the last few weeks and having Riley at home more this summer because he's not coaching has really made a difference. The kids want to sit around the fire pit and make smores every night. We usually indulge them, but some nights I just don't want to put everybody to bed smelling like campfire. The other night we tried the toasted coconut marshmallows (which were not a huge hit since I'm really the only person that likes coconut) and we also tried Reece's peanut butter cups instead of plain Hershey's chocolate which we all agreed was really good, but the concensus was the plain chocolate was better. I guess sometimes a classic can't be improved upon much. The kids are getting to be pros at roasting the perfect golden marshmallows and I think Riley holds the record for most marshmallows that have caught on fire. Ha!

Since the twins broke my treadmill and I haven't replaced it yet, I've been getting the kids out of the house every day for a morning walk/bike ride. I load up the twins in our big honking stroller (which I think equals out to me pushing about 100 pounds) and Kendle and Morgan ride their bikes. Instead of riding her bike today (because she had a flat tire and we couldn't find the pump) Kendle decided to run our little route. She is getting to be a good little runner. The kids go fast so I have to really book it to keep up with them and even still they always beat me. Morgan peddles so fast on his bike and just flies, I have to run sometimes to catch up and make sure he stops at the end of the block. It is a good little jaunt and is a good way to get everybody out of the house for a bit and get some exercise in before lunch/nap time.

We finally got our first little red tomatoes today and looks like more are almost ripe. I can't wait to start having an endless supply of them. I think I can almost turn into a semi-vegetarian during the summer. Today for lunch I had a baked sweet potato cut into cubes, some avocado, and corn on the cob. So filling and so yummy. None of the kids are big fruit and veggie eaters in general, but during the summer they have at least one thing they love. Kendle loves watermelon (and corn on the cob before she got braces, now she has to eat it cut off the cob which she claims just does not taste as good), Morgan loves corn on the cob as do the twins and he also likes fresh peas in the pod. Riley and I have been getting our fill of cherries, strawberries, and raspberries. Kendle has been begging me to make more jam, so I will have to get around to that one of these days.

I think a good way to measure how much fun the kids have had that day is by how dirty and tired they are at the end of the day. The twins and Morgan look just like pig pen from Charlie brown, I swear they even have the little dust cloud following them around. Nothing is sweeter though than taking those happy, dirty little boys,  and getting them all bathed and jammied up and tucking them into their cozy little beds at the days end. It's good to kiss their freshly shampooed little heads goodnight and know they will sleep soundly till morning. The kids are all brown little peanuts from the sun and Cooper and Kale's hair is bleached blond. I never thought I'd have children with hair like that. I love this picture my friend Natallie took of them on the 4th of July:

I adore their cute little profiles and chubby cheeks, I just can't kiss those cheeks enough.