Frogs and Family

We were so happy to be back home from our trip, but we still had a LONG week stretching ahead of us before Brent would be home from Virginia. I resolved to keep as busy as possible to prevent the days from seeming to be ENDLESS. My family helped a LOT. We managed to spend a lot of time at my parent's house and my sister came down for most of the week. It actually made the time past quickly and was more fun than I anticipated. I just had to share this sweet photo. Someday my kids won't like each other very much(at least while they're teenagers). I want to look back and remember this brief moment in time when they loved each other so much and WEREN'T fighting. They really do love each other and they play together very nicely most of the time. I love to listen in on their games of pretend. Maura usually orchestrates the pretend, but Tristan is an active and willing participant and they can come up with some really funny stuff. Today, they were "pretending" they were in time out by standing against the fence, and when they got out of time out, they ran to the pool and dove in headfirst because they were frogs. Connection??? I don't know, but they played it over and over again!


SPEAKING of frogs, Maura is officially obsessed with the frog that lives in Grammy's fountain. It has lived there all summer and Maura has always been content to just look at it from afar. One day this week, she decided that she HAD to catch it. She came to me the day before with an elaborate plan for frog catching. It involved nets, cages and lots of water. With Grammy's permission, the next day, we set about frog catching. It ended up being quite easy. There were actually two frogs and they were stuck in the small section of the fountain. I only had to block the entrance with a cup and shoo the frogs through the entrance with my hand. Whalla! Two froggies captured. Maura was ecstatic! Here's our two froggies, hating life. One moment they're swimming free in a nice cool fountain, the next they're in a tiny aquarium with two preschoolers pounding on the plastic! I'm sure it was part of some froggie horror movie.

Grammy really didn't want the froggies to disappear from her fountain, and I didn't really want Maura to inadvertently squish a frog while handling them, so I convinced her that they'd really be happier back in the fountain. Amazingly, she agreed without a fight and decided to return them to their "natural" habitat. The frog didn't cooperate, though, and hopped away into the bushes. I think he was saying "I'm outta here!" One frog did eventually come back, but Maura still asks to look at the frogs every single time we visit Grammy and Pappap.

We celebrated Pappap's birthday on the 28th. Dad always requests a pie of some sort and peach pie was on the menu this day. YUM! Happy Birthday Dad!! Maura and Tristan were on hand to help out with the present opening, but I think they were a little disappointed with the contents!

Tristan and Alexandra enjoyed the beautiful summer weather on the porch. These two are TROUBLE together. They pick at each other like brother and sister. She pulls his hair, he steals her toys, they scream at each other--it's a happy relationship. I think they'll grow up closer than most cousins because we do see each other so often. I feel blessed that my kids will have close relationships with some of their cousins. So glad to celebrate with Pappap. We ended up spending the night that evening since I didn't have anything to get back to and we had big plans for the next day. It was like a big slumber party with Katie, Emily and I all at home. It doesn't happen often that we're all under the same roof together.

Sweet Bennett William at six weeks old! SUCH a handsome man! He looks a little like he has a reseeding hairline because the hair that's coming in on the top of his head is lighter than that which he was born with. So cute anyway. This week he started to smile. He doesn't do it much, but it melts my heart when he does. Most of the time, he has a very serious look on his face. He looks a lot like Brent when he knits his brow, but when you talk to him, he sternly considers you for a moment and than his adorable smile spreads out over his whole face. Seriously heartbreaking!

Katie, the wonder aunt! She is so great with all the kids and they just flock to her. She winds them up and at least on this occasion she had to help wind them back down as we were staying at the house! I think it's good for her! We had so much more fun that week that I couldn't even include it in the same blog post. More later!