if the crown fits...

yes, we have other children besides ben but caleb is "too cool" for pictures lately - other than the ones on the baseball field and sarah is starring on rob's blog monday...

here they are, the 2 friends playing "Pretty Pretty Princess" board game.

ben collected the earrings, necklace, ring, bracelet and crown....i'm not sure if that means he wins or loses :)

of course, millie played along - do you think dogs need therapy?

tug of will, i mean war

i'm not sure millie understands ben is not her puppy. then there is ben, who thinks millie is his toy.

these two really seem to be big friends...works for me, at the end of the night they are both exhausted.

and yes, ben picked out his own pajamas...aren't they cute.

summer is slipping away...

yes, terrible pun but i gotta go with what i've got.

and, believe it or not, ben does not like going down the slip and slide...now, if it were in the middle of the street or something more dangerous i'm sure he'd try it.

(and in case you are new to the family blog....the 3 on the left are ours)

knock some sense...

ben dented the coffee table with his head the other day. he is very proud of his bruise / bump.

amazing the difference between the 1st and 3rd child when it comes to injuries. caleb SCREAMED the same if he stubbed his toe or fell out of a tree.....ben gets more upset about the fact that i pick him up to check the damages than the actual injury.

recycling

summer.....low key, lots of cleaning, some camp and i'm working. i usually don't carry any freelance projects into the summer but this year i did. oh joy. nothing like working at home with the kids here.

i just felt like i needed to post to prove i'm still here. if i get too creative in posting then i feel guilty, like i should be using that creativity for my work, if i use too much time to post then i think i should be spending that time with the kids...if i don't post, i feel guilty because i like to journal our ever-so-exciting lives.

here are some pictures of ben's version of recycling....he's digging coins out of the fountain at the neighborhood mexican restaurant. we're so proud.

maybe he can collect enough to help pay for rob's new mower.....or the margaritas.

he said / she said

it's sunday and this morning i was thinking...how quickly can we maneuver out of the church parking lot and grab lunch? i wanted to go to the pool. we don't have a pool...we want a pool...but we don't have one.

but we DO have a family pass to the local rec center - which includes the pool. it's no country club but it's better than the plastic kiddie pool we have in the backyard.

i was thinking, now THIS is summer...the kids were ready to swim, the pool was crowded, but manageable, and ben actually entertained himself quite easily in the little pool. not much whining at all - from anyone. i even told rob to turn the car around and grab his book...i didn't roll my eyes or sigh as if to signal the fact that taking the kids to the pool would actually require any help from him.

sun was out, pool was open, kids were happy...half-full.

well, my cup anyway.

check out rob's cup...recoveringperfectionist.typepad.com/

dog days of summer

i'm not sure if it's a good thing that our child and the dog-in-law were entertained by the same thing...

(well, you know what i always say...they get their good looks from me...this must be from rob's side of the family.)

just play the video over and over and over and over and over...and that is what we did for Memorial Day.

$150.00 dog toy

well, we've had a little problem this week.....

ben flushed millie's dog toy down the toilet. yep, $150.00 later the plumber fished it out (after our many failed attempts).

i will say i am amazed that after 10 years of kids that this is the first call to the plumber with this kind of situation. not bad.

by the way, the plumber said it was officially the first pink octopus he has ever pulled from the toilet. we're hoping it's our last.