A little war-paint?

What fun can be had with such simple ingredient: water and dirt. My oldest two kidlets were very brown by the end of their foray.

She's pretty proud of herself.

The bathtub is filthy! It took two baths to get them clean. But it was so worth it. What better way to spend a summer afternoon than to watch my children enjoying nature.

Trampoline fun.

My little orangutan in a cage. You should have seen what the static was doing to her hair.

2 Months Old.

Have two months passed already?? Her whole body wriggles in smiles. She intently watches your face while talking and cooing. She has found her hands and placates herself with a fist instead of always insisting on mommy time.

She's laid back, happily entertaining herself in her bouncy seat or just kicking around. (That in and of itself is a foreign concept. My other two would never do that.)

She's a cuddle bug, happily laying her head on my shoulder as I work.

Her fat baby cheeks are heavenly to nuzzle and kiss. What a living doll!

Got Green Drink??

Ker-Splash!

Cherries, cherries EVERYWHERE! Tis' the season for fruit processing. Last week was strawberries. This week a friend tipped us off that a grower in the area would deliver to my door cherries for $1.00 per lb -is I purchased at least 20 lbs.

Mmmm, cherries for ice cream, jam, smoothies, and just simply eating. 60 lbs of cherries. That's what I decided to brave. Every spare minute yesterday was spent pitting cherries.
Two hours in the backyard, a baby across my lap my nap alternately nursing and sleeping I painstakingly pitted cherries one at a time, while my children played with their kittens in the grass.

Speaking of kittens, this was their first time outside. I thought it would be best if Jasper ( German Shepherd) were locked in his cage. Lucas my wonderful helper was assigned that task. First he put him in and placed the water bucket in front of the door. No go. Jasper just pushed the door open sliding the bucket back. So I took over and slid the latch shut.

Moving back in the house we moved back into the house. Lunch time. By this time my poor old cherry pitter was beginning to show it's age. The plunger was dislocating about every third cherry. Needless to say, the process was going VERY slow.

I called Andy's to see if they carried a cherry pitter. Bingo. After nap time every body was loaded in the car and onto Andy's we went. In a moment of insanity I decided to carry sleeping Abigayle in her car seat and let my older two loose with the mini shopping carts. Very interesting to be carrying a heavy car seat containing baby and running after my fast walking children heading off disaster over and over. They had fun.

Approaching the checkout, I noticed the checker was the one who seemed interested in my black kitten a couple days previously . She asked if I still had her. "Yep" "If you bring it back by 3:45 I'll take it. " Ah, such motivation! Hurrying out to the car, quickly buckling my kidlets in we made tracks back across town. Alas, the time when we pulled out of the parking lot was 3:33. It's 10 min each direction. I hurried as quickly as possible praying all the time that she'd wait for me. 4:00 we pulled back into Andy's parking lot. There she was and the last kitten has found a home! ( Now just if somebody would be willing to give momma kitty a home....)

The new cherry stoner is a dream- literally 10 times faster than the old one and no more blisters! I have 4 gallons in the freezer. That is about 30 lbs.

Back to the ker-splash part of the story. in an oversight,Jasper had remained locked in his cage when we came back inside. His loud whining and yips let us know he was more than ready to get out.
My helper was assigned to go let him out. Seconds later, shrieks pierced the air. I thought it was the 'I'm hurt' cry. Rinsing my hands, I quickly hurried out the door. Waddling towards me was my oldest baby in tears. What was the matter? When he'd slid the latch, Jasper lunged out of his cage, the door smacking into Lucas sending him flying backwards, seat first in the water pail.
"Mommy! I wet my pants!" I tried to comfort him while partially stifling my laughter. He didn't wet his pants. Jasper had done it for him."Jasper's naughty! We need to get rid of him!", he declared.
"Should we get rid of you when you're naughty?" I asked. "NO! Don't get rid of me mommy!" he wailed. "No Lucas. I'm not getting rid of you. But we're not getting rid of Jasper for being bad either. He didn't mean to push you into the water bucket."
I don't think he believed me.
On to other news... We have a potty trainer! Almost a week now. She is insisting on underwear. Accidents are almost non-existent. It's wonderful. Dresses have been the attire of choice. She can run around bare bottomed without showing her bottom. Perfect. She has seemed to be hiking her skirt up and out of the way when she uses her potty. Until yesterday... Ahhh TMI.
She has been eating a bunch of cherries. She accidental pined her dress under her while relieving herself. When the little voice called, "momma come wipe me!", little did I know what was in store. Suffice to say the clean up entailed need soap up to her shoulder blades, a shower and the dress in the washing machine, all while Abigayle screamed from the bouncy seat. Poor girls. Fortunately she forgot to ask for her 2 pieces of candy for a job well done. I wasn't in the mood to parcel it out just then.
It has been heavenly to only be changing newborn poopy diapers though. Such a busy life I lead. Now I must go and finish my cherries while my baby sleeps and older children happily (?) play.