I am annoyed that my steadfast habit of posting a date range for the title has been broken, but that can't be helped unless I post more regularly, which seems unlikely at this point. Someday we will learn which of the children are annoyed by this inconsistency as well.
Printer wasn't working optimally. Checked inside, found two sequence pieces. Thank you, Theodore.
Baseball season went well for Gretchen. Her batting stance underwent some amusing phases and her throwing form leaves much to be desired, but she had a good time and got several hits in the last few games.
Summer gymnastics is over and fall gymnastics awaits. Olivia and Kaitlyn will be returning to their usual gymnastics program in October, once soccer season is over.
Gretchen and Kaitlyn are both doing soccer this fall. They are on different teams that tend to practice at overlapping times on the same days. We have a carpool arrangement with one of Gretchen's teammates.
Despite the optimism of my last post, Theodore is not potty trained. We will be attempting again shortly, because I'm tired of diapers.
Kaitlyn's tonsillectomy went well. She was sore for about a week, but had no complications. Her speech is slightly improved now that she doesn't perpetually have one giant tonsil. She did not benefit from popsicles or ice cream because she doesn't like cold things. She did get a lot of yogurt and juice, though, and lounged around watching TV until she felt better.
The basement is finished! Well... almost. It's practically done, with a working bathroom and a subway station entrance. There are a few touchups that still need to happen, but the contractor is coming tomorrow to take care of those and to collect his final check. We've started moving things down there and assembling shelves and beds.
Matthias turned 4 in July. He's very excited to be 4, although he didn't get as many perks with his age change as he had hoped. He did get a dinosaur cake and some dinosaur books and puzzles and dinosaur pajamas and a dinosaur punching bag. Do you see a theme here? He also got a fun race car thing from Grandma (yes, it has dinosaurs on it).
Olivia turned 10 at the beginning of this month. It is crazy to me that we have a ten year old. She's quite grown up and independent. She's been able to have several playdates with her friend, Elaine, this summer since Elaine's mom and I managed to schedule their piano lessons for the same days so that we could carpool.
Jacque, Will, and their boys came to visit in June. Julian, Theodore, and Matthias are beginning to play together more instead of all ignoring each other. Julian found a blue car that he loved, so we sent it home with him. It is quite large, so I was hopeful that it would replace his tiny, easily lost green car as the preferred companion. I think he just has two cars that he loves now. Will fashioned a new wheelbarrow handle for me after ours snapped as I was moving a pile of dirt.
Mom, Dad, and James came to visit in July when the downstairs bedrooms were done but the bathroom was not. They opted to sleep upstairs. We had a nice time visiting with them. I ended up driving them to Chicago due to car rental prices (well, actually, dad drove, which got us there much faster than if I had been driving) and then driving back the next morning.
Justine and her kids came to visit at the beginning of August and had the distinction of being the first overnight guests in our basement! It's amazing how much quieter the house is when it's twice the size. You could hardly even tell there were 10 kids running around.
I have a headache medication that seems to be working. The neurologist prescribed it back in April and adjusted the dose in May. I've spent the summer tweaking when I take it and I think we've finally got it. The downside is that it makes me very tired after I take it, which wouldn't be a downside except that I have to wake up in the morning to get things done.
School starts tomorrow! All three girls are attending this year. Kaitlyn is in 1st grade, Gretchen is in 3rd, and Olivia is in 4th. We met the teachers last week and everyone is very excited. St Charles is doing a staggered start, so the girls go Monday, but not Tuesday. Then everyone will attend together beginning on Wednesday.
