Welcome Noah-we'll-get-around-to-the-middle-name-later-Helmers!
Were you busy with yourself long enough for me to grab the camera?
Don't EVER mess with Elaine when she is busy entertaining herself. First, it is rare, and second, the girl is particular. This little project took a while to get right, which gave me a breather from the constant "mommy" phase we are going through right now. Then she pulled it all down so she could cuddle with her note paper in bed. Whatever it takes girl.
Swimming on Saturday with Cynthia. I'll just say that I have three kids that once all water-winged (thanks for filling out our stock of wings Cynthia), were belly-flopping and dog-paddling all over the place like they belonged there. For once, I'm not too disturbed that Nicholas is the one who isn't naturally the best at something. He claims I let him sink and was still talking about it this morning. Ben put his wings on when we got in the car this morning, hoping we were headed back.
Then it rained. So we did what any responsible person would do and grabbed our umbrellas and hit the slide.
Then Sunday JB Anon came over to witness the chaos that is water play in our backyard. And now she must abandon us for retirement play in another state. She got in her last snuggle with Elaine, and Elaine got in her last iPhone lesson. Very symbiotic those two.
And Sunday evening at the mention of bath, for some unknown reason, they were all standing there ready for me to turn the water on before I even got up the stairs. Amazing how many time Nicholas came down that hose last weekend that I didn't notice.
(Some day I'll remember not to turn the camera sideways.)
Me: "Girl. You're not a boy. You don't go potty standing up."
While discussing the downed tree a few houses up from ours that got zapped during a recent thunderstorm and then lightening vs. pirate ship; lightening vs. shark; lightening vs. car: 
The man who more than anyone probably realizes that I was so busy being a dad yesterday that by the time I had a chance to call I didn't even though I thought of him about 50 bajillion times yesterday. What was fun last weekend, has begun the inevitable spiral toward make-it-into-something-new-and-dangerous.
Useless. Useless.
It took three adults to figure out how to put our large daddy sticker onto a board. The assembly wasn't as long as the swing set but sheesh!
Flat Daddy is just that--a flat daddy. 
The unveil went much more serenely than I imagined it might. 
And they haven't kicked him around or broke him or used him as a sled on the stairs yet.
Saturday afternoon:
With the slide dumping into it, and run the hose from the top of the slide.
And see what happens.
And they were off.
Aunt Cynthia has a community pool she's been scoping out for a little while. Perfect time? Morning of course. I'll say. There was one woman swimming laps, and she didn't even flee in terror when she saw the 6 of us roll up to interrupt her morning work-out. 
I hadn't unloaded the car with our breakfast yet when they were already lined up to jump on top of Cynthia, who was a very good sport about having four pre-schoolers jump on top of her.
Elaine was perhaps the most cautious.
With Nicholas right behind. I had two sets of water wings (two sets?). He didn't grab one fast enough and wasn't quite high enough to stand in the pool yet. He did however figure out the bugs were in these little things very quickly. And he inspected every one around the pool.
Alida and Ben got the water wings, and they were off in no time. It wasn't 15 minutes before Alida was flicking off any sort of help and paddling back and forth across the pool after her brother. I have some swimmers on my hands. 
It wiped the little guys out by noon, but not enough to take a nap. It was enough though that everyone was asleep at 8, and for the first time ever (at least with just the five of us in the house), I was out of bed before the boys at 7:30 Sunday morning.
And Sadie, Cynthia's dog. 
To his brother: "Neener, neener, boo, boo. Stick your head...in the TOILET!"
After the neighbor boy arrived on the scene, the gang of three figured out that the rightful place for the water hose was shooting down the slide.
Next time we blow up the pool, I'm considering moving it so the slide dumps in.
And poor thing. I thought two pieces would be a good idea for newly potty-trained/potty training girls. It's hard when you have no waist though.
JB Anon, who watched my children eat cereal off the patio without having an outright heart attack last weekend, has taught us a few lessons these past months. Such as how to use an i-phone because that is a skill that 2-year-olds should have...
JB Anon met us there with perfect outfits because our wardrobe does not include anything that matches, let alone anything that is solid in color. 
Pirates of the Caribbean played all weekend at our house. 
When I rolled my eyes at that, he got constructive and made this.
Then Nicholas got all competitive and made this.
So Ben made three pirate ships and staged epic battles that we all had to watch.
Everyone but Nicholas watched because he snuck away to construct this.
