Finn's hat

A few days ago I asked Finn:  "Where is your hat??"  He replied:  "I don't need one anymore!  I'm handsome without it!" And there you have it.

Three full years, folks.  Three full years, he wore that striped hat.  Sigh.  It was the cutest phase ever.

The good news is, he has a new obsession:  ties and bowties.  He is requesting to wear only shirts with collars now, so he can wear ties.  So, hooray for the new cute obsession! :)

Finn

Today Finn saw me changing a poopy diaper.  He also saw Cora eating a small piece of chocolate while I was changing said poopy diaper.

He almost LOST HIS MIND with anxiety that Cora was eating her own poop.

I died with laughter.  :)  Kids are great entertainment, at times...

Today

At 10:45 this morning Jonas and I were laughing, because by then we were returning from an hour spent at the beach with our kids, and we knew a great many people we know were just getting up.  We just can't relate to life like that...haha!  

Here was our morning:

6:45 = Cora up for the day, so Jonas and I are up too.  This was sleeping in for her!!  She snuggled with Jonas for a while, so that was nice.

7:00-8:00 = Jonas takes Cora down stairs so I can try to get more sleep.  I tried, but my brain would not shut off.  So, after about 45 minutes of feeling guilty for being in bed and awake I went downstairs too.

8:00-9:00 = Leisurely cooking and consuming of breakfast. Finn wakes up.  Skyping with Sue Schaefer.

9:00-9:30 = Layla finally wakes up, Jonas mows front and back lawn (sorry neighbors?  We did wait 2 hours after waking up...) while kids watch.

Decide we are going to head to the beach, check weather doppler and see a storm coming in for the rest of the day...pretty sure we can still get a good amount of time in so go anyway.  

9:45-10:45 head down to the beach, 2 blocks away.  NO ONE is there.  The weather is perfect, and the water is warm.  Swim out to the floating raft as a family.  Jump around and play in the sand.  Glory in being alone in a lake in the middle of the city.  :)

10:45 = See lightning in the distance, pack up and head home.

11:00 = The rain begins.  It rains ALL DAY LONG, heavy rain, and doesn't stop until 5:15 p.m.

Schaefers = feel smug for fitting a fair amount into the pre-10:45 a.m. time range.  ;)  (Yes, we do know, had this been at Scooter Schaefer's house, the list of things accomplished pre-10:45 would be much, much longer.  And probably more useful too...) 

In addition to that, we did our first group cousin photo shoot with baby Eamon in the early afternoon, and watched 4 kids here from 5-8 while their parents were on a date.  Full day, maybe, but it sure seemed like we had loads of free time on our hands while it rained this afternoon.  I had Jonas bring in some boxes of my teaching crap from the garage attic so I could go through it and officially decide to throw away most of it (no, NOT the books...sheesh.  I'm not a barbarian.)  :)

The weather has been nasty hot here for the last 5 days, but this day was the end of it!  Tomorrow is going to be lovely again, as we expect from MN summers.  Maybe the AC can finally get a little break too...

Annie Jr.

This past Thursday morning I took Layla and a friend from church to Annie Jr. at the Stages Theatre in Hopkins.  The show started at 10:00, but the homeschool group that I got cheap tickets with wanted to meet there by 9:30.  Hopkins feels like the end of the world to me, on the other side of the Twin Cities, and to get out there by 9:30 required me dropping Finn and Cora off at my parent's house by 8:45 at the latest, I estimated.  That was NOT including construction (tis' the season...) and protests/riots (have had my travel derailed by those lately...), so...yeah.  In the end, we ended up leaving by house by 8:20 for a show that started at 10:00 a.m.  It seemed like SUCH a long morning...haha!

Layla and her friend really enjoyed it, but guys...Finn.  Oh, man, Finn broke my heart that morning.  He thought he was going to the show too (which I understand...he has gone to all of the other ones), but this seemed a little old for him, and it didn't have any pretend characters in it like he loves.  So I thought a friend time for Layla would be best for everyone, and then Cora wouldn't be alone at Mom and Dad's house.  Oh boy, was that ever the wrong choice.  His heart BROKE when I told him.  When he got up Thursday morning he put a tie on because he thought he should dress up for the show.  When he found out he wasn't going he slowly removed the tie and hung it back up.  I have rarely felt as bad for my children as I did in that moment.  He kept trying to brainstorm ways that he could fix this situation.  He wasn't mad, just seriously sad.  My poor guy.  :(

Layla and her friend Ainsley

Also, it turns out, having children has ruined me for watching pretty much anything...ever...without crying:

Orphan Molly crying out "Mama! Mama!" in her sleep = Lisa crying.

Orphans singing about how no one loves them and they don't ever see Santa = Lisa crying.

Annie holding out hope for her parents for 11 years = Lisa crying.

Annie having to choose between the fake parents and the real Daddy Warbucks = Lisa crying

and on, and on, and on.

I am a mess.  :)

Bayfield with the Gustafsons

We had a truly delightful trip up to Bayfield with the Gustafson family this past weekend.  :)  We only joined them for Saturday and Sunday, then drove home Monday morning, but our time there was completely perfect for a mini vacation.  

My pictures are a little mixed up...we did the beach (bottom) first thing on Saturday, then lots of time in the hot tub.  :)  

On Sunday we did the hike below, through a wonderful ravine and out onto lake Superior.  Finn was in HEAVEN, you guys.  He was talking the entire time, narrating everything we saw, and making up stories about it.  He decided that this place they are all in below was called "dinosaur land," and unfortunately Layla though that meant there were REAL dinosaurs there, so she was sad and afraid for half the hike until I was able to get to the bottom of that.  

This was a GORGEOUS hike.  They said we were going to have rainy weather that entire day.  I'll take it!! :)  

Finn in Science Boy heaven...

The view of Lake Superior from the deck

Where the adults ate their dinner.

A neighbor saw all the kids and came over to give tractor rides!
So nice...so country.  :)

A beautiful almost-full moon over the lake on Sunday night.