Clean Up Crew

On Monday, Joe and Clara's grandparents showed up to visit. Clara got to spend the whole day with them. Then when Ted got home from work he and Grandpa went to pick up Joe. Joe gave Grandpa a high five at school to signal his approval with the visit. Once we were back at the house, Joe showed Grandpa how to sweep the porch, and Grandpa ensured Joe got all the dust into the dustpan.

Back to Work, Back to School, Back to Sleep

Ted went back to work this morning, and Joe back to school. So it's just the Girls, and Raleigh (he is much put out). Clara follows no pattern whatsoever, except that one can usually count on her to be sleepy. So this morning, we managed to get both children fed, Ted showered and dressed for work, and Joe dressed for school. Clara cooperated by sleeping in until Ted was done showering and dressing, and then after nursing was all, "I gotta take a siesta. I'll see you on the flip." So thoughtful as this allowed her mother to eat and get dressed!

We already miss the other boys.

It's RAIN-ing, it's POUR-ing

Skipping back to Saturday, after we went to Target, we came home and remained outside where Ted and Joe worked the front 40 before heading off to Joe's music class. Clara caught some rays in her bucket. Eventually, it was time for snack for Joe. What you see here is Joe snacking as he slid down the stairs and crawled back up them, all the while singing with Julie the final word of each line of It's Raining, It's Pouring. Imagine: RAIN-ing, POUR-ing, OR-ing, HEAD, BED, ORN-ing, but with falling down sometimes included at the end and giggling throughout. Julie was mystified by the falling down until in telling this story to Kendra, Kendra asked if there was something about falling down, but then corrected herself to note that was Ring Around the Rosey. Same tune, Fans. It's all coming together now, right?

Outside?

Today was mostly spent outside, at the request of Joe. We started around 8am. While Julie and Clara stayed indoors (it was a bit chilly in the early hours) Joe and Ted went all around the yard and dug out the dandelions ("lil ellow owers"), Joe went on the slide, played with the hose and watering can, found the rake to push around, and finished with a wagon ride around the neighborhood. On the wagon ride we met Sarah and Graham who had a similar start to their day - must be something in the air. We got a reprieve with nap time, but upon waking from said nap, Joe spotted his shoes on the ground and immediately asked, "outside?" We tried to amuse ourselves on the porch, but he wanted the real outdoors. So the whole family went outside. Julie and Clara (in the Moby wrap) picked a chair to settle into, while Joe went back to the same wonders from the morning (he is taking a lap around the garden in this picture). We managed to get Joe to agree to eat dinner inside and off to his bath and bed, but dreams of the outside are being had for sure!

First Family Outing

This morning we took the whole family to Target to pick up a couple things. The kids behaved themselves in the back seat. We thought we might need two carts, but remembered they had the special carts, which Joe thought was great! He liked putting his feet up on the opposite bench seat. It was a successful outing!