May 29-June 12

Oma and Uncle James have been visiting for the past two weeks (except on weekends, when they go to Michigan to see Jillian and Jacob).  We've gotten a lot done, and Uncle James did a great job playing with the girls.  He even got to do some solo babysitting on Friday morning for about an hour.  They'll be back (with Jillian!) this week and then they're off to California.

Tom and Donna visited to help organize the basement.  Mom and Donna and I made a garage sale pile and then sorted all the remaining things into duck-taped bays along the wall so that people can come grab their piles whenever they have time and space.  The garage sale pile went to a community garage sale at the house of a friend of a friend.  We didn't even have to stay after unloading all of our marked and priced things.  Whatever remained after the garage sale was taken to Goodwill, never to darken the basement doorstep again.

Mom and I spent an evening getting my giant laundry pile to ground zero.  I'm happy to report that as of now my living room is still laundry-free.

I've been meaning to make a morning schedule for the girls for a while.  We found some fancy stationery and Oma drew pictures on the so that Olivia and Gretchen would know what to do.  They're very excited about their "map" (shown below) and even follow it somewhat.  :)

The stickers I ordered for the calendar arrived.  This is also very exciting.  Perhaps I'll remember to take a picture one day.

Twenty-six tomato plants are in the ground in my garden.  I'd say about seven of them look really great, but I have hope for most of the others.  Even seven is more than I had last year.  I also have four watermelon plants that we given to me when Sarah ran out of room in her garden.  They're sharing a bed with my peas.  Speaking of peas, they're doing great.  I planted three varieties, and one is definitely the winner.  I think it's the Burpeeana Earlies.  I have two volunteer lettuce plants that have been happily supplementing our salads lately.  Corn has been planted in the not-broccoli bed, but isn't up yet.  Just yesterday Bryan and Josh put dirt in my last two beds, so I can fill those this week.  The girls planted sunflower seeds in the holes of the cinder blocks.  I had them go down two rows, hoping that when they grow there will be a tunnel.  :)  We still need to plant wildflowers somewhere so that they have flowers to PICK.

Our blacktop has been getting lots of use.  Bryan draws roads and the girls ride their tricycles and drive their cozy coupe.  Kaitlyn especially likes the umbrella stroller, both giving and receiving rides.  Chalk is a big hit with the girls, although Kaitlyn mainly uses it as lipstick.  :/

Mom and I tried to do silhouettes of the girls one morning.  I had to hold their heads still, but Olivia and Gretchen did very well.  Kaitlyn, not so much.  James also had a turn, as did I.  This week we need to smooth out our scrap paper drawings and transfer them to nice paper so I can hang them up.  :)

We've also been spending a day here and there in Sidney.  We saw Aunt Keshia, Uncle Tyler, and Kaitlyn's twin Rudy.  Their dogs were there, too, which impressed the girls less than seeing their cousin.

Pictures:

Bryan wanted the blog to have proof that I exist:

Kaitlyn eats ice cream:

The map that Oma made:

Kaitlyn was being too quiet, so I went looking:

Gardening with Gretchen and Kaitlyn (Olivia gardened, too, but Oma was helping Gretchen water plants during that time and was unable to take pictures):

Kaitlyn rides a bike like a big girl.  ...And eats chalk:

Hula-hooping while holding a baby.  This is what all those contests in grade school prepared me for, apparently:

Kaitlyn wouldn't hold still, so we took a picture of her silhouette.  Mom also got a shot of me holding Kaitlyn: