Having Left the Altar: Learning Notes Summer & Photo Collage

Where to begin... I'll break it into two halves: Before Vacation and After Vacation, since Vacation was its own post.

Before Vacation

Thomas sits in the playroom playing in the sunlight.

Thomas is quite ticklish. And he learned to clap!

Felicity and Elizabeth, side by side.

I began sorting through baby clothes to discern what we should keep and what we shouldn't. I began at newborn and have only gotten up to size 9 months.

Thomas has been practicing cruising.

When you are little and want to throw a tantrum, it is easier to knock the little books off the shelf.

But you still might become distracted by them, because... books!

Even in early July the girls were so eager to start school they began working in their workbooks a month before school began.

Thomas, getting big enough to get caught in the bars.

After Vacation
When we got back, the weeds had taken over the front of the house and the grass way overgrew the back of the house.

I did manage to identify a few. This is wild mustard

And this one is velvet leaf.

A couple seemed to be a kind of thistle, but in the end, they all got the boot.

I had quite a weed pile.

And I got busy mowing the ~~amazon~~ backyard.

The Rabbits

Then we discovered, courtesy of our beagle, that, while we were gone and despite all the dog poop in the fenced yard, a rabbit thought it the perfect place to dig a nest and have her bunnies.

The Wisconsin Humane Society website says to re-cover the nest and then cris-cross sticks over the nest and wait overnight to see if mama comes to nurse the babies. If the sticks are undisturbed, they have been abandoned.

It was a little tricky because the babies would assume I was mom and tried to crawl out.

But I got it in the end and it was clear the next morning that mama wasn't too far away and still nursing her babies.

So Rosie spent over a week basically leashed to a tree to keep her from digging up the bunnies or worse. And I put a green basket over the nest so no one would forget where it was and step on it. It wasn't like mama bunny picked a nice quiet corner either. She picked right behind the playground. Rabbits are clearly not the brightest of creatures.

About a week later, mama rabbit had not realized Rosie was still in the yard after sunset because Rosie was muzzled and asleep and when I came out to get her and move the basket, mama rabbit took off running. I got to see where she was coming in and out of the yard and that coward left her little baby in the grass.

I made sure he got back into the nest before I left.

This and That

Multitasking: Brigid brushes her teeth while nursing her baby.

While I have 3 kids who love salad, Brigid is the only one that, so far, will eat it no matter the dressing. So far she will eat Italian, Ranch and 1000 Island.

Pirate Teresa with a jelly face!

At a friends' birthday party, Felicity rode "Sparkles" off into the sunset. She loved that horse.

Brigid still likes to get into the bassinet with Thomas and play with him there.

I'm in awe of some of the ways my kids sleep.

A local mom was giving away this accent table for free. It is made of solid wood and I was thrilled to get it.

I'm going to use it in the living room as a kids' prayer table!

James bought a squash, which Teresa has adopted. And by adopted, I mean she holds it, rocks it and even kisses it. I hope we aren't in trouble when he decides to cook it.

My kids no longer ask for apple juice. Now they want minion juice. Apparently we drink the life essence of minions.

He is just so stinking cute!

Brigid has been obsessed with his baby doll for over a week now. She likes to put her in Thomas' booster seat, his car seat, his pack 'n play, etc. So when I had to put Thomas in his car seat, she just put her baby on top of him. As usual though, he
was a good sport about it.

Brigid and I read "I Like It When" at bedtime: