Stirland hotel

Every year some birds come and build a nest in our front entryway.  I do not like it!  They poop everywhere...  So I knocked down the nest and glued a fake snake up there to try to discourage them from building there this year.  Unfortunately the snake just gave them more room for their nest.  This year they actually had two different groups of eggs.  I feel bad knocking it down when there are eggs or baby birds so I wait until they move out for the season.  However, this year I waited until all the birds could fly and then knocked it down before they moved out.  Hopefully next year we will not have them back.  :)

p.s.  The snake trick did work on our back playground.  No birds pooping all over it this year!

Papa Ollie

One day Ollie came into the living room looking like this...  It took me a few seconds to realize that he had dressed up like Papa.  He is wearing one of Papa's work shirts.

He was complete with beard and all.

Then Lily came out and was wearing my shirt.  :) 

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Misc. Summer

Summer has kept us super busy! We've had lots of fun and done lots of things. Here's a post of a few things we have done. Enjoy!

One night we had a "mystery" dinner.  I looked at all the leftovers in the fridge and all the random things like the one grapefruit and made a list.  Then I took the list and made up funny names for everything.  I gave each person a list and told them how many items they could have.  It was a big hit!  It will definitely be something that we do again many times.  :)  I did think it was funny that all the kids circles "mini donuts" (aka cheerios) and they thought they were going to get donuts for dinner.

Here's a list (upside down) of the choices.

We made ice cream in bags.  The kids loved this!  They loved each having their own.  It was a huge mess with bags popping open all the time and ice cubes and salt all over...  next time we need Papa home to help us.  Lily was the last one to make hers so I did get a quick picture of her.  We did this to help break the heat the first (of three) time the AC broke this summer.  :)

Someone must have been bored because they arranged the baby food into a nice pyramid. (Ollie)

Claire and I.  When you look at my children they all look like siblings. Every time I see a picture of all of our family I can't help but hear the song, "One of these things is not like the other".  However, Claire looks just like my sister's girls so I must be in there somewhere.

This summer has included lots of trips to the parks.  The kids like to play at different parks and lucky for us there are several good ones that are close.

Lily was trying to do her school work and Katie kept trying to get her book.

Ollie has been working hard in cub scouts.  He earned lots of belt loops this summer.  He is a good big brother...  he really wanted a picture of him and his sisters.  I'm not sure where Katie was ...  The other day someone commented to Ollie about having so many little sisters.  He said, "At least they are not brothers!" 

More food rearranging.  This time by Claire.  She likes to drag a chair over and stack the cans on it.  Whatever happened to just playing with blocks???

More summer later!!!

Will work for food

A few months ago Katie was learning to crawl.  She didn't really like practicing and just wanted to be carried or have things brought to her.

We decided to give her some motivation.

She really wanted that bottle but it just seemed too far away!

She persevered and she got it!

There's nothing like a good meal after some hard work!  She also enjoyed that we all clapped and cheered for her when she finally made it.

Sisters

What could possibly be cuter than one little girl in a darling cherry swim suit?  Three!  These little girls like dressing the same.  :)

Pirate Papa

One day after work Spencer came home and changed into this... he is wearing Ollie's shirt.  We all laughed a lot!  He is sure silly and we sure do love him!