Cooking and Cleaning

If the last two days are any indication, this summer is going to fly!  Technically this was still the kids' weekend off from routine, but I don't think they felt like it was a weekend off!

Friday started out with pediatrician appointments for Emily and Jonathan.  Annual checkups out of the way, which is great.  They weren't thrilled by the fact that we scheduled them for 9:30 on the first day off school, but now it's done.  Both healthy, and no shots this time, so they were happy.

We had dropped Abby and Ben off at Momo and Popo's house to play while we were at the doctor, so went back to pick them up, have a snack, and play for a little while before going home.

Ben having fun with blocks in a quiet moment.  

After lunch, the three big kids decided to get in the pool again.  Ben still wasn't interested in getting IN the pool, but played next to them.  While they were outside and happy, I turned some fresh fruit into baked treats for the weekend.  One blueberry buckle and peach cobbler later, the kitchen smelled wonderful!

Jay decided to put up the tent in the backyard so they could camp out Friday night.  The big kids LOVE camping out.  Benjamin was super excited about the tent this time too, so Jay decided to try letting him sleep out with them too for the first time.  So four kids and dad went out to sleep in the tent and left me alone in the air conditioning.  Apparently they all went to sleep with no problems and Ben was so excited to get to be one of the big kids.

Camping out in the back yard.

Sleepy boys!

 Saturday morning everyone was up early.  Emily said they had a "bird alarm clock", so they were all in the house by 6:30.  After breakfast, it was time to tackle some cleaning and organizing tasks.

We had decided to wait until school was out to move Ben from his crib to his "big boy" bed, so yesterday was the day.  Jay got the bed all put together, Jonathan moved his stuff (he had been sleeping in the bottom bed of the bunk bed, so had to move up), and Ben moved into his NEW bed.  I think he would have gone to bed right then, he was so excited.

Ben lounging in his new bed.

Meanwhile, Emily, Abby, and I tackled the girls' bedroom.  Between tax season and the school year, it had gotten cluttered and a bit out of hand.

Before cleaning.

We started at one end, cleaned out both girls' clothes that were the wrong season or too small, cleaned off a bookshelf, cleaned out the closet, and totally cleaned up Emily's desk.  It took a good part of the day, but the room ended up looking beautiful.

After cleaning.

Emily looking tired after all that cleaning!

After a hard day of work, we decided to go for a treat.  (And we had coupons for free ice cream, so that helped!)

It turned out to be quite a busy, but productive weekend.  And the plus side to everyone playing and working hard is that they all slept really well Saturday night!  Ben stayed in his bed all night, making the easiest transition from crib to bed ever.