Now about the big news...On Friday we did a walk through of our new house with the kids right before closing and it was just a glimpse of what a game changer this is going to be for us. If I haven't mentioned it like a million times- we have no yard in our current townhouse. Also, I have to move chairs to open the fridge and twist myself sideways to sneak past a chairs to throw things away in the garbage that sits on top of the dryer in the laundry room. So while I was wandering around inside Rich was outside playing with the kids. They were giddy. Seriously, Beckett could pick grass and throw it at things and poke the ground with a stick for hours. How nice is it going to be that I could just take them outside to play for 30 minutes rather than take them down the stairs, pack them in the car, pack a diaper bag, fight to get all of them in their car seats, fight over what DVD to watch (Pooh or Thomas the Train), and if we do end up getting out of the car, haul out the choo-choo, put shoes back on the girls who usually take them off and throw them, and on and on. Also, for their birthday they got a kids picnic table from Aunt Rita and Uncle Bill AND a sand and water table from Papa and Bama. I can't wait. Maybe this will curtail their desire to constantly play in the dog water dish or splash in the sink, ummm, I mean wash their hands.
The picnic table is going to come in handy when we move in because we won't have a counter, sink or stove. No stove for several weeks in fact. The house is heated with oil heat which is ridiculous. So we need to put in a new furnace and have natural gas dug to the house. We also had to buy a new stove and I wanted a gas stove so until we can get the permits and the gas dug which can take weeks- no stove. It's paper plates, take out and lots of finger foods for a couple of weeks. I just found that out on Saturday but I don't care. Let's get this done, it's been way over a year and quite honestly paper plates seems like nothing compared to some other inconveniences over the last year (like say 50 showings of our TX house?)
On Saturday I met the contractor at the house to hand over keys and then met him at the granite showroom to pick out counter tops. Within that amount of time the kitchen had been pulled apart and they had drop cloths down and were taping off for painting and the flooring people around. No messing around.
Then we took the kids with Bama and Auntie Vicki to a Farmer's Market at this amazing park. It was the perfect summer Milwaukee day with fresh food, bakery, live music, cheese curds, sail boats in the background and even a playground with a sandbox.
Beckett loves a good sandbox.
Good thing I had a bag of sand toys in the van for emergency digging.
Addy caused a back up at the slide because all she wanted to do was hang.
I'm surprised I have a picture of Eloise not on the swing. She can spot a swing from a mile away and will take off running towards the swing if you give her a chance.
Slides are pretty good too. Only if you can climb up the slide first.
There we go. Eloise in her element. A swing, Daddy and a beautiful view.
The playground was the highlight for the kids of the Farmer's Market but we scored big with tamales (dearly miss some good Tex Mex!) and I found a new source to fuel my cake addiction. Found to die for chocolate cake with buttercream frosting good enough to warrant a weekly pilgrimage.
On Saturday when the kids woke up from their nap we took the kids to the annual Downer Classic Pro Criterium. It is a fantastic urban bike course in a beautiful neighborhood of Milwaukee where people who live on the course have big lawn parties and there are restaurants and of course it is combined with a Belgium Beer Festival. It is really a fantastic event and watching bike races was something that we used to do before kids so to be able to take them and hang out for 3+ hours was unbelievably fun. Papa and Bambi met us so we had extra hands to keep the kids off the course and away from the super tempting lawn parties with tons of kids and chairs to climb on. Addy was nuts about waving at the bikers. Beckett was nuts about climbing in and out of the choo-choo and picking grass. Eloise was nuts about walking.
Those tiny little legs must have her Daddy's endurance.
This is a picture of the game "Who's Belly is Bigger?" or "Where's Your Belly Button?" Wonder who won that game?
The whole crew- I almost got smeared by the Mini Cooper that leads the race when I stepped out in the street to take the picture.
If that wasn't enough fun this weekend we went to my sister's house on Sunday morning to play in the backyard and have lunch together. They LOVE Sarah's house. It has swings, a sandbox, plants to pick, a wheelbarrow, trucks and usually really good treats. Whenever I talk about doing something or going somewhere Addy always says, "Sissy house?" or sometimes they say "Papa house?" They know that they play with water and trucks at Papa's house. When we pull into our driveway and say something about going home Addy usually says, "No. Sissy house." The other day I was reading the book Go Dog, Go to the kids. If you are familiar with the book at the end the dogs climb a tree to attend a dog party. The party has presents, cakes, dogs napping, getting shot out of a cannon, maybe a few swings- I don't know just a general good ole' time. We were looking at the dog party and Addy pointed and said, "Sissy house."
My heart just broke. I realized that they think that only Papa and Sarah have backyards to play in. How do you tell 2 year olds to wait a few weeks and they can have a dog party in their yard too?
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