Jack is so relaxed in the pool, he was just laying right back against the side cuddling with Hailey. He doesn't even mind is we lay him right down with his head back in the water. He's very comfortable in the water.                                                                                                                                                  

Watching Barney.

 Jack was really watching Hailey and she clapped and sang along.

 Then he'd start clapping along with her.

When Max woke up from his nap, Hailey picked Jack up and held him in her lap so Max could have the other chair. They sat here like this the rest of the movie.

I didn't sleep good last night, so Bruce got up with the kids and let me sleep in. I woke up at 9:00. Then we got ready to go to a couple stores. First, we went to Menards. Hailey and Max had fun playing with the new "purple sand" (it's kind of like moon sand but doesn't stick together as much and it's for outside). Jack liked being pushed in the baby swing. Next, we went to Meijer to get a small pool for the kids since our other one cracked. They sure were excited to get to go swimming. We came home and ate lunch while daddy filled the pool up. After they were done eating they ran to get their swim suits on. Max and Hailey liked sliding into the pool. Then they filled their buckets with water and shook them as they spun around in a circle saying they were sprinklers. Jack loved the water too. He didn't mind at all getting splashed in the face a couple times by the kids jumping around in the water. He kept crawling all around the pool. Just stopping to splash a little bit and then continued on crawling around some more. Max dumped all the plastic fish in the pool and got the little fishing pole. He would put the pole in the water for a while and then bring it to me saying "Da fish ate my worm. Will you put anudder one worm on?" He acted all sad about the fish eating his worm off his hook and then would act happy again when I pretended to put another worm on for him. He'd smile and say "Thankyou!" The kids dried off in the sun while swinging and then we went in to have our snack before naptime. I layed Jack and Max down at 2:30. Hailey rested in her bedroom playing with dolls for an hour. Then her and I played with the snap beads. We had fun making necklaces, bracelets, and rings. We pretended to have a jewerly store. We lined them all up and then picked the ones we wanted to buy. Jack woke up aorund 4:00. I put Barney on for him and Hailey. He's only watched Barney on TV one other time. Yesterday, he crawled over and started playing with the big stuffed talking Barney. I pushed the button to make him sing and it scared Jack and he started crying. Then everytime he crawled by that way he'd start crying and turn around crawling as fast as he could away from him. I thought if he saw him on TV, he'd start to like it. Hailey loved that Barney when she was a baby (she still does). He's also scared of  theTickle me Elmo, but he still loves his Laugh and Learn puppy. Max woke up around 4:30 and joined Hailey and Jack watching Barney. As soon as Hailey saw Max coming, she picked Jack up out of the chair and said "You can sit here, Max. I'll hold Jack." All three of them sat and watched the rest of Barney. It was cute. When that was done, Max played with his cars, trucks, and tractors. He lined them all up across the living room and said he was making a parade. He slowly pushed one car at a time moving the line of cars to the other end of the room. He announced "The parade's coming! The parade's coming!" Then he asked me "Mommy do you wanna watch the parade? Do you?" Hailey got out the Little People Barn and set it up in the living room. Jack started crawling toward her and she called over to him saying "You can play with me, Jack. Come here. Do you want to play with Hailey?" He crawled all the way over to her and she handed him the tractor and farmer. When she gave it to him she said to me "I know he'll love this." He made sound effects as he pushed it back and forth. He sat and played by her for quite awhile. After we ate dinner, we went back outside. Hailey and Max wanted to swim again so they got their swim suits on. Jack and I sat on the porch swing and watched them. I pushed the kids on the swings while they dried off. Max gave Jack a couple pushes and Jack was laughing. He said "I makin him happy! I can push dis now. I am weally strong!" Max heard a loud car (the dune buggy next door) and said "I here a zoom buggy (dune buggy)". At 7:00, we came in to clean up the toys and get ready for bed. I gave the kids showers, first Hailey and then Max. While I was giving Max a shower, Jack came crawling in the bathroom and pulled himself up to the tub. He was reaching over like he wanted to get in. So I took his clothes off and put him in with Max. He loved it. He kept reaching his hand out to touch the water spraying on him. Max thought it was funny to have Jack in the shower wtih him. He sat down by him in the tub and said "I want to sit like Jack is. Cause I do." Then he laughed and said "We're sittin in da sprayin' water".

Watering the flowers with a spray bottle.

Pretending to find "monies" (rocks) with her metal detector (the shower thing from her doll bath tub)

 This is what Hailey was doing when I walked into her room to tuck her in bed, holding and talking to Cassie (her "real" baby). She often plays dolls in her room while I'm tucking the boys in bed.

This morning, Bruce took kids on a long bike ride. I had a nice time playing with Jack while they were gone. We played with the LIttle People barn which he loved. I also got alot done with organizing my pictures into files on the computer while Jack took his morning nap. Bruce and the kids got home around 2:30. He had to leave for work, so I stayed outside and let the kids play for awhile before going in for naptime. Hailey and Max liked squrting the flowers with the squirt bottle. Then Hailey got her doll shower thing and pretended it was a metal detector. I'm not sure where she's seen one of those. She would make a beeping sound and then yell "I found money! I found money!" I decided to hide some rocks around the patio for her to find. She loved pretending they were money. She sure had alot of fun playing this. We had a snack and then came in for late naps at 3:30. I let Max sleep for an hour and a half and then woke him up so he's still go to bed good tonight. I opened his shade a little bit, and he said "Close dat. I don't want to come out. I just want to sweep." After a few minutes of him laying in his bed, Hailey came in his room and started making him a tent with a bunch of blankets. She said "Max, you wanna wake up? I'm making a tent for you." He got excited and got out of bed to go in it. After we ate dinner, the kids played with the train set together until bedtime.

Jack loves to sit on the stool and brush his teeth.


Max made a "house" in the hallway. He lined up all the pillows to make a couch and spread out a blanket for a bed. Then he sat on his couch with his monkey and read books.




Max wanted Jack to come in his "house" too. Max asked me to put Jack right next to him on the "couch" so he could read some books to him.





Hailey drew these stars.

Being silly.



Bruce and I worked on cleaning the house for the open house and also packing for the parade tomorrow. Max made a "house" in the hallway. He lined up the couch pillows along the wall and said it was his couch. Then he went and got a few other things to put in his house, including a blanket, his monkey, and some books. He sat on his "couch" with his monkey and read some books. Then he asked me if I wanted to come in his house with him. I sat on his couch with him and then he told me to try the "bed" (the blanket). He smiled when I told him it was a very comfy bed and then pretended to fall asleep. Jack crawled over to us. Max asked me to put Jack on his "couch" by him so he could read books to him. Hailey got some treats for Abby and had her do tricks (sit, lay down, and roll over) for them. Then she asked me to make sure Abby stayed sitting as she walked across the room and told her to stay. When she got to the other end of the room, she called Abby and gave her a treat for coming. Abby did pretty good. I just had to put my hand on her back a couple times to remind her to stay until she was called. Hailey and I took turns being the one to walk away and call her. We went outside to play after lunch. I cleaned up some things around the yard and Bruce organized the garage. We came in for snack time and then nap time at 2:00. Bruce left for work. Hailey played dollhouse in her room. I did some more laundry. After dinner, Vikki came over to visit. She had found a wooden town set at a garage sale to keep at her house for when the kids visit. She brought it in the house to show us, and Max had so much fun playing with it. He loved putting the roads together and making bridges. Then he drove his matchbox cars on it. Hailey had fun playing with Kenzie. Shortly after Vikki left, my parents called and said they were going to stop in. Hailey and Max were excited to see them too. We sat outside and visited while watching the kids play. Max did "tricks" on his ride on car. Hailey rode her scooter. The neighbor girl asked if she could come play. She brought her dog over to play with Abby. The girls had fun swinging. We had trail mix for a snack. Nana and Papa stayed until 8:00. Then we went in and got ready for bed. I was tucking Max in bed and he asked for a sip of water. While I was getting him some ice water, Hailey went in his bedroom and I could hear her talking so sweetly to him. When I came back into the room, she was sitting on the edge of his bed and rubbing his head. Max smiled up at her and said "You nice Haywee." Hailey said "I love you Max." I let her stay and rub his head for a little while longer before tucking her in bed.

Hailey and Max used all the Frisbees to make a little table and some plates, and then sat on stools to use as chairs. They told me they were having a picnic.


Hailey and Max were getting hot in the sun, so they decided to make some shade. Hailey started out laying inside the toy bucket (in above picture) and then moved over to Max's shade that he made using the chair and the big red ball.



Hailey put the hula hoop around the big ball and said "Look, do you know what this is? It's Saturn. See it's big and round and has a ring around it."





This morning, I took the kids outside while I enjoyed my cup of coffee. That's the only way I can actually finish my coffee is if I go sit outside. If I'm in the house, I always get busy with something, forgetting about it and only end up taking a few sips. After reading Kimmy's blog, I got this great idea to take the kids out for a little bit in the morning until I finish my coffee. (Thanks for the idea Kimmy!) It's a great way to start the day. So after breakfast that's what we've been doing alot lately. The kids had fun playing on the porch with some of their ride on vehicles. After I finished my coffee, we came back inside and watched Clifford. I folded the clothes and put them all away. Then I started another load of laundry. Max came and helped me. He loves to dump the detergent in and throw the fabric softener ball in. He also loves to help me throw the clothes in. I let the kids go back outside while I was in the utility room checking the clothes for stains before putting them into the dryer. I gave them a snack to eat outside. They got out all the Frisbees and used them to make a little table and some plates. They told me they were having a picnic. They used pails for stools to sit on. Bruce made hot dogs on the grill for lunch. Hailey asked if we could have a picnic. We spread a blanket out in the grass. It was very hot and sunny. The kids decided to make some shade. Hailey got the big toy bucket and tipped it on it's side. She layed with her head inside it. Then Max said "I need to make some shade for me too." He pulled the chair over and then put the big ball on top of it (with a little help from mommy). Hailey and Max layed under the chair in the little bit of shade and ate their lunch. Jack tried a pickle for the first time and made a sour face. It was so funny. He liked when we would all laugh at him. After Hailey was done eating, she got out the hula hoop. She was pretty good at it. Then she took it and put it around the big ball and said "Look, do you know what this is? It's Saturn. See it's big and round and has a ring around it." The kids took off their clothes and had fun playing in the water. They would fill their pails and then dump them into the big toy bucket. They said they were making a pool. Once they got it about half full, they climbed in. Max sat down with just his head sticking out and said "I'm in da man hole. I'm going to daddy's work! I'm going to daddy's work! Help me! Help me!" Then Hailey started pretending it was a toilet. They were so funny how they were pretending it was a toilet and that they were getting flushed down to daddy's work. They'd make flushing sounds and then squat down lower and lower as they spun around. It sure was funny. I was glad I got some videos to show Bruce when he got home. I put Max down for a late nap. It was time to eat dinner and then get ready to go to dance class. Max had fun playing with AJ, the little boy that he always played with last year. They layed on Max's blankie playing with cars. They liked making tunnels and hills with Max's blankie. I sat on the floor by them with Jack. Jack kept crawling away and going up to another baby. Then another little girl, who is about six months older than him, walked up to him and started petting his head. He layed down by her and rolled over onto his back. She sat by him and rubbed his head and belly. It was so funny. He really loved the attention. Everybody was laughing at him. Then he'd crawl away and then lay down again just to get more laughs. When he'd get too far and start to go around the corner, I'd go get him and bring him back. The little girl came over and sat behind him and pulled him back into her lap. She said "I holdin' him." It was funny cause he was almost as big as she was. He kept looking back at her with big smiles. Every once in a while, Max would stop playing and go rub Jack's head telling everyone "Dat's our baby. He's ours." One time Max looked around and didn't see him cause he was behind a lady. Max said "Where's my baby Jack?" Today was Hailey's last dance class until her practice at the theater the day before the recital. She is getting really excited. She also was excited to show me the bag of treats that they gave out to each kid. She called Max over and said "Max, do you want a piece of Hailey's candy? Look it Max, Hailey has some candy for you." He came running over and Hailey gave him a piece of candy. They looked cute standing there with their heads together while looking in the little bag to see what was in it. We came home and got ready for bed right away.