June 3 Swimming and Playing

Thursday:  Kaity and I visited Versluis Park again--Kaity swam--I ALMOST swam. Here's the thing--our temperatures have warmed up nicely--it was 85 degrees today with a nice steady breeze blowing--almost zero humidity--perfection! BUT ... the water was SO cold. I just could not force myself to get in beyond my knees. I was able to play ball with Kaity, though. We have one of those cool fabric balls that you can get to skip across the water. It doesn't sink. Kaity and I played catch for a long while ... until so many people arrived that there wasn't really room to do that anymore.

I had a hard time at Versluis today. I'll be honest! I am not a big fan of a huge crowd of people--especially rough kinds of people. Let me define "rough" for you in this instance: a whole bunch of very young mothers, not at all interested in taking care of their screaming children--and those screaming children never ever happy--and the mothers complaining and cajoling and bribing ... yuck. Bad. Loud. Annoying. Very sad!

Kaity swam for about an hour. I stayed IN the water with Kaity most of the time. These pictures do not show how crowded it got--so you will just have to trust me about that.

There are two playgrounds at Versluis. This one is especially nice in that it is under shade trees. Kaity played here for quite awhile after she was finished swimming.

Kaity loves playgrounds. She is so physical, so athletic.

I took a few pictures to demonstrate just how pretty this place is. It's really lovely, isn't it?

After playing on the playground equipment, we drove the 5 minutes to my house where we ate dinner and played a game of "Sleeping Queens". 

My heart is sad tonight because of a difficulty between Emma and Jesse. I am praying that the two of them can resolve it, and forgive each other. They do not seem to hear each other's gripes very well--they will do very well for awhile, but then something will suddenly happen and words are spoken (which cannot be taken back). Please, Lord, help Jesse and Emma to come to an understanding with each other. Please meet their needs, Lord.

June 1 A few pictures at THEIR house

Tuesday:  Baby Callaghan, who is now officially ONE, has never been to my house. It's embarrassing to admit that--but it's true. I see him every week when I pick up and drop off the other children--but he has never visited my house. That will probably soon change--but I have a difficult time picturing taking care of all FOUR of them at once. To be sure, Cal is a real sweetie--and the other kiddos love him to pieces. But three non-pottied kiddos at one time is a bit much for me!

When I dropped off the other kids today, I stayed and played awhile at their house--outside and inside. It is always fun to do that when the weather is nice enough to play outside. They always want to show me all of their cool summer/outdoor toys.

Aidan behind a wheel ... can't you just see him some day at the wheel of a car?

Erin keeps right up with Aidan ... actually, HE has a difficult time keeping up with HER!

I can't think when the last time was that I posted a picture of Kelly! Cal is quite fond of her (!!). She is the nicest of moms!

Kelly has turned the water table into kind of a sand table ... but the kids ADD water on top of the sand ... so it's kind of a MUD table. No harm. They love playing with all of it and have so much fun.

Cal is beginning to call the kiddos by their names--rather crudely, but definitely distinguishable. Aidan really gets a bang out of the baby.

That's a lot of pictures for one day! We had so much fun today, and I am so thankful for every single minute of it.
 

June 1 A few pictures at my house

Tuesday:  The kiddos do really well during the hours they play at my house. They know the ropes! They know where to find every little thing that they love to play with! I'm so glad!

These MagnaQuibix are an expensive toy--remember--my cousin Annie sent me THREE separate sets of them! What an amazing gift this has been for my little ones. They build and build with them. I love them too!

Aidan was very proud of his GI-GUNDO house, super pleased!

Erin doesn't build quite as much as Aidan does--probably because when she attempts to build, Aidan immediately steals whatever blocks/tiles/cubes she is using. She gives in to him pretty easily--but I often am sad for her. She just moves on to something else and waits for when Aidan has tired of playing with a certain toy and then she claims some space and builds stuff too.

I love my little house because, even when I am "fixing" something for us to eat, the kiddos are never far away.

Erin decided to make herself completely comfortable and at home while she waiting for her eats.

Erin kills me.

Brendan was playing with one of my word games while he was waiting for his pasta to heat up.

Matey is always, always, ALWAYS close by ...

Aidan ate his usual chips and goldfish and chocolate milk today ... no surprises there. He also totally bombed on the potty thing. I TRIED to remind him ... but he just wasn't interested in the entire process today ... so I did a LOT of changing!

Aidan always makes himself a layout every week too ... this week, he was quite content with a rather small oval.

We also watched a video ... about 5 little puppies and some treasure in Egypt. I can't remember the name of it, but Brendan really likes this story. Brendan was quiet today and not as interactive with the other kiddos this week. Perhaps he was just tired. Anyway, we did have a good 5 hours just playing here at the Beach House.
 

June 1 At Rogue River Park

Tuesday:  We began our time together today at a park not far from where I live. We got here some time around 11:30 and played for 30+ minutes. There were a bunch of other kids here playing elaborate hide 'n seek games, etc. I tried very hard not to include them in my pictures. Erin was a little bit shy of the new faces.

See this look on her face? Oh my! You are something, Erin Lucia! Too cute.

Aidan was bossing Erin around (see below) but he went unheeded ...

Aidan learned how to put himself upside-down underneath a piece of playground equipment. Way to go, buddy!

These two chum around constantly. How nice that they have each other.

Brendan remained in my car for awhile--he was busy reading a Minecraft book--but then he joined us.

Erin asked if I had pockets in MY pants and then showed me how much she loves having pockets! Erin is turning into a fashionista!

I love these pictures of these kiddos!