since we've been home

this is our best garden box

that's green onion, carrots, lettuce and kale

there were beets but the birds ate them

we've been trying to keep up on weeding since we got home

because things got pretty out of hand

we'll figure out this gardening thing some day

i love that it's michael's baby and he checks it every day

 olive ran out of clean nightgowns so she wore michael's shirt to bed instead

she is the cutest

 the girls put on a little play for us

and eleanor now sleeps in the room with the girls

 olive is a natural at the piano

she doesn't know what she's doing but every time she tinkers on it, i'm surprised how pretty it sounds

 eleanor is kind of obsessed with henry these days

luckily he doesn't usually mind much

we had a family pool date the other night

hazel thinks it's so fun to hold henry in the pool

 one of the girls from our sunday school class was at the pool so i asked her to take a picture of us

michael was shocked at how many people there are in this picture :) 

i guess we do have a big family

 i love it when michael comes to the pool with us

he is so much fun

 eleanor prefers staying out of the pool or hanging out on the stairs

so she played with my sunglasses instead

 even with a dark front tooth, eleanor is adorable

 they love playing at the playground after the pool

 noah went to cub scout day camp this week

i think it's his favorite day of the year

 michael took the day off and went with him

which made it extra special

 that night we stopped by the meridian temple to check on it's progress on our way home from costco

 i let the kids have friends over yesterday

i don't know why i was so hesitant because it was the best part of our day

the kids were so happy and entertained having their friends here

 flower crowns make trips to target with 5 kids more fun

 henry thought climbing on michael was the best

and eleanor is the cutest in her toddler bed between the girls' beds

 this morning the kids and i rode our bikes to the pool

hazel accidentally hit my tire and made the trailer tip with eleanor in it

but she was holding our big bouncy ball and it softened her fall and she was fine

 the kids had so much fun swimming

 all the bikes lined up

 eleanor stayed out of the pool for the most part

but henry is trickier because he doesn't really like to be in the water

(he and eleanor are both pretty nervous about it)

he likes to play right next to the pool and toy with jumping in

i had my hand on that handle of his life jacket every time he got too close

 one last jump in

 and a few bike races on the path near the pool before we went home

in the past we have done tv-free summers because it helps us get out and do more

but i don't feel like i'm quite there with 5 kids

so we're trying to balance out doing fun outings, tv, chores, playing outside

it's going pretty well so far but i hope i can find more of a summer groove soon