The NEW COUSIN is here!!

Andrea (of Andrea and Greg Berube fame!) gave birth to baby Eamon James yesterday evening!  So, naturally, we packed as many people as we could into the van today and trecked down to Rochester to see the new little cousin!  The kids were SO excited...another cousin!  What fun! :)

They all wanted to hold him as soon as we entered the room, but I don't have pictures of Cora or Finn because I had to "help" so much...haha.

Finn was so sweet...he kept telling us all to be quiet so we wouldn't disturb the baby.
Ironic, coming from Mr. Finn...

Either going in for a kiss or to smell that new baby smell...

Big yawn for Grandma

Sleepy smiles

Then on to Berube business:  bringing good food wherever we go.
Normally we do a steak dinner to a new mother/father, but Andrea requested this cake.

Done and DONE.  :)
Putting it together in a hospital room was tricky.  

Cora was singing to Eamon.  So cute.  I got video of that one too...

I am sorry the video is fuzzy!  I didn't have time to focus it quick...wanted to catch her singing before she stopped.  :)  

Looking amazingly good for having given birth about 15 hours earlier!
(But she generally looks pretty darn good anyway...this was no surprise.) ;)

They loved when he held their fingers.  

Summer Tuesdays = Day-O-Friends for my children

Most Tuesdays, we head over to our church for Mom's Coffee Hour from 10:00-11:30 or so.  This summer we bring home Anja and Elena to swim with us after MCH = total Love for Layla, but my other kids as well.  :)

Today MCH was canceled, but the kids were still invited to play at Amanda's house (she sent me the pics below).  What did I do with my 2 hours of free time?  I went to Target to buy allergy meds, then went home and showered in peace and quiet.  I am solidly in the "Mom Zone."

Rites of  childhood summer:  sheet forts outside

Big fan of picking berries, especially any kind that might be harmful to humans.  :)

After Ms. Amanda's house we picked up Anja, then Elena, and then came home for pizza and swimming.

THEN birthday cake, because Elena turned 10 last week and Anja turned 10 yesterday!  We let the candles burn too long and they burned down into the cake and melted the frosting...haha.  

melted top

The summer of learning chores: "washing the kitchen floor by hand"

I've got a big old list of chores/life skills taped to my fridge, and this summer we'll be learning about 3 a week, then having regular "exams" to see if they remember how to do them.  :)

Today it was washing the floors!  Layla did a really great job right from the start.  Finn...had...well, a unique approach. He also has very high estimations of the quality of his work, not founded in reality.  ;)  It's gonna be a fun summer! 

This is also the summer of starting some financial literacy with the kids.  I got Layla and Finn a "Money Savvy Pig" piggy bank from ebay.

The goal here is to teach them what sorts of things we need and want to do with money, other than just spend it on fun things for ourselves.

We had a talk today about how doing chores is just something we all have to do, because we're a family, and we live together, and we all need to help keep things clean.  However, if they want to earn EXTRA money, they can ask me to do extra chores, and I'll have coins for them to put in their piggy banks after they are completed.  

I think we may start giving them an allowance of $1 a week..or something small like that.  They'll have to put it split up equally into each of the 4 categories, and there will be some guidelines on what they can do with each category, BUT one of my biggest goals here is also to give them enough money so they can make mistakes with it and learn from that now.  I want them to blow all of their spend money on something lame, and then find something cooler to buy the next day...gosh those are lessons that only life can teach, am I right??  ;)  Haha.  Mean Mommy, yes.  But this is going to be good, folks!