Our Animal Farm and Summertime

Thanks to Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Russ, and their boys, we inherited some serious hockey gear for our driveway hockey rink

Even Finn is trying out the gear...

Raphael has grown a bit and loves to swim

Our Momma Duck (hard to see but she is sitting in between the two plants on the top and bottom of the picture)

Sawyer (left) and Finn (right) playing together (sort of...)  Our neighbors directly across the street have three children that are the same ages as all the boys (each of them within a few months or weeks of each other).  Sawyer was born about 3 weeks after Finn although Finn looks a bit like a giant compared to Sawyer!

Fun Times at the Lake Beach with our Twin Friends (Left to Right:  Justin, Charlie, Jack, Jake, Luke, and Liam)

Sometimes you just need a little help....The boys worked for 30 minutes to get on top of this rock at the playground.  Liam and Luke were able to get up, but Aiden never got there.  It was funny to hear them discussing their plans of how to do it and who was too heavy to lift.  That's Liam at the top, Aiden in the middle, and Luke trying to push Aiden up.

Luke and Liam on the rock


Summer is in full swing here.  We just enjoyed a full week of not having to rush out the door for school or rush home to eat dinner before rushing out for baseball games or some other activity.  Finn enjoyed uninterrupted naps that were not cut short by trips to pick up his brothers from school.  And the big boys enjoyed more time at home playing in the yard, with neighbors, at the park, riding bikes, etc...It is going to take me a few weeks to get into a routine where we can actually accomplish a few things during the day, but we did several fun things and enjoyed the nice weather.  As for me, I slept very very well at night because I was super tired by the end of the day with everyone at home!!

I haven't given an update on our turtle lately.  Yes, that's right, we STILL have a baby turtle.  Little Raphael.  It all began with weekend #1 where we were going to send him home, but Luke and Liam wanted to take him to their classroom.  Then, we had a weekend #2 where Luke and Liam were gone with John and they wanted to be here when we let the turtle go.  And then, weekend #3, it was too cool and rainy.  Fast forward to today and he is still here.  He has been fun to watch, fun to learn about, and he really isn't much trouble.  I did some reading and found some turtle food on Amazon for $3.50 so we feed him, change his grass daily, and have a little water bath for him.  The boys enjoy it, but I am quite certain we don't need a dog yet.

In addition to Raphael, we have a Momma Duck that is nesting in our flower bed.  She has been with us for at least a week now and has ten eggs in her nest.  She rarely ever leaves the nest (unless we are too loud and scare her a bit) and she has also been pretty fun to watch.  The boys are hoping we are around when the babies are born.

Lastly, we have two bird nests under our deck.  I am really not sure what could possibly convince all these animals to nest in a place that is so loud and crazy most all of the time, but they did and we can watch the birds, the duck, and the turtle all in a single day!