July I

John and I went to a cheese bar on a date one night. It wasn't as many cheese samplings as we were hoping for, but everything we tried was great.

Scott drew a card for a friend and said, "I'm so good at drawing people." It's a very poorly drawn stick figure. I'm glad he's confident, because John and I are terrible artists and we don't have high expectations for his drawing future.

Perry found a fun ride.

He loves playing the piano. So far he hasn't banged on it, just pressed the keys nicely. I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

He would've made a really pretty girl.

We had friends over while their sister had an appendectomy. It was a hot day on the trampoline, so they needed some popsicles to cool down. 

Riding their bikes around the parking lot at the 4th of July pancake breakfast.

We fed him before going, but you couldn't tell.

Jonah found the whipped cream Grandpa made.

Perry still likes a snuggle every now and then.

Family bbq at Karen and Alan's for 4th of July. Perry found the lightsaber.

He brings us books like his brothers do, but only likes to look at a page or two before he's done. He'll take it back to the bookshelf and bring another one over.

Learning the hard way to put Duplos away. 

Jonah swimming with his new floaty.

Perry likes scooting cars around.

I borrowed some fabric markers from a friend so Scott could finish this pillowcase he started two years ago on our cruise and has been asking about ever since.

Perry brought a book out and read it like this. Looks comfortable.

Even with the window open and fan on high, the boys' room is so hot when they go to bed. They're usually sprawled out like this when we check on them.

Perry enjoyed his lunch.

All clean. He ran away from me to get himself a book. Of all the seating in the house, he loves being on the fireplace.

Scott in his blanket dress.

I've been having the boys make more of their food, even though it takes longer and is usually messy. Jonah loves anything on a pita or naan.

Lining up their Star Wars itty bittys for a race. I didn't even realize they had this many because they usually don't have them all out of the basket at once and in the same place.

Entertaining a crabcake Perry with the phone camera. He loves to look at himself.

We went to Lego time at the Campbell library. It's further away and more crowded, but at a better time than our library and they have a toddler area that keeps Perry happy.

Perry crawled under this blanket and played peek-a-boo with me.

He's really getting into trouble these days. He pulls my bottom drawer out to climb up to turn on the radio on my alarm clock. He also filches my chapstick.

If he sees something he wants, he figures out a way to get it. He's very resourceful.

We went to a free pizza day and the boys got their own, which they loved. They usually share and have to decide on toppings together.

It was really efficient with a fast line, milkshake samples, and balloons. It's always a gamble taking three little kids to an event like this, but it worked out perfectly.

At the boys' appointment, the dentist gave Perry a token for a prize and he got a bouncy ball. Then he got down and played with Perry on the ground for several minutes. I'm glad we had such a great experience because the check-up was 5 days short of 6 months since the last cleaning, so our new, crappy insurance wouldn't cover it. I assumed you could go twice a year and didn't know to look that up. Lesson learned.

Jonah made his own cow costume for free dinner at Chick-Fil-A. He loves cutting squares, so it was an abstract cow.

Scott begs me to take him jogging with me, but I go at night after they're in bed. I went earlier one day and he ran some of the laps with me, would sit one out then join me again. He ended up going 2 miles.

Perry is all about using a cup now.

He also had his first lollipop on the last day of swim lessons and he loved it.

After 4 weeks of driving back and forth, putting on sunscreen, and changing everyone twice, I'm glad lessons are done for the summer.