San Diego

I took the four kids down to San Diego last week to visit my friend Dana and my sister Kim. We had a fantastic time enjoying their company and the city. It really has everything, including the best weather! We hit the beach, the aquarium, Old Town, and the trip was complete with a Saturday birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese for my nephew's 4th birthday. Thanks to Dana, Kim and Mike for their generous hospitality! And Happy 4th Birthday Christopher!

Kisses!

Mae started kissing on command today! Baby kisses crack me up. It's like they're totally going to attack you.

P-Day

So, to cover up my sheer laziness, Tuesday turned into P-day. Pajamas, painting, and pizza for lunch. It helped me feel a little better about getting dressed at 2 in the afternoon!

After Elle's nap on Tuesday, I noticed a small problem. Elle has a habit of twirling her hair while she sucks on her finger, especially to fall asleep. Well, she's gotten it tangled quite a few times, but I'd never seen it so bad. It was a bonafide dreadlock. I thought for sure we'd have to cut it out, but Bud spent almost an hour going through it little by little and saved her hair! Nothing cuter than seeing a dad brush his daughter's hair!

My Kind of Town...

We got back from Chicago yesterday. Carol and Will celebrated their 2nd year in the mission. Only one more to go! With the exception of our brother-in-law, Kyle, the entire Stoddard clan was together for the first time in 2 years. What a great trip! Yes, at times it was a little hectic with 18 - 20 people in the mission home for a week, but it was a "joyful chaos". We ate ourselves silly with all the Chicago staples, went downtown, went to a White Sox game, saw hundreds of fireworks, but most of all the cousins played, stayed up late and played some more. We had so much fun! Can't wait to have everyone here next year.

Some Things I Love About Summer...

Ice-cream cones
Green grass
Summer dresses
Playing with the hose
Staying in pajamas until noon
Kids playing in the sheets
Popsicles
Kids in goggles
Endless coloring
Flip flops
Lazy days
Air conditioning

ELLE!!!

I have heard myself yelling her name far too much this past week. In a 20 minute period last Wednesday, she managed to take scissors to her hair and then during naptime, loaded Mae's crib with EVERY toy in their room. Including a bottle of sunscreen, (in her hand) and wooden blocks that I'm sure were thrown in since they don't fit through the crib slats. No wonder Mae was crying more than usual...


Who ME?

Overscheduled?!

Wow! Summer has been INSANE! Four kids home all day, every day, has taken a bit of a toll on my blogging and grocery shopping schedule. Plus, I don't know when we became your stereotypical overscheduled family, but it's seemed to happen since summer began. The past two weeks the boys had swim lessons every morning, Mon - Thurs. They did great and especially loved jumping off the diving board at the end of each class. They've also been taking karate for quite a few months now and even broke wooden boards a couple weeks ago - crazy! Swim lessons ended last week (yeah!), but now they're in Triple Treats, a little class at Mirabelli Community Center Wednesday and Friday's for a couple hours. Elle's got her gymnastics class again on Friday, so we're keeping busy. Next week's Chicago, then a little jaunt to San Diego later in July. Come August though, we having NOTHING planned and I think it'll be a good way to bore the kids to death before school starts.