[Jen & Nate]

The summer birthday season is in full swing, starting with Jen.


Jen was able to have a birthday tea party with the kids in the backyard complete with teacup cupcakes made by grandma.


Part of the summer birthday season is the traditional cream cheese biscuits to celebrate the start of the Tour de France.


Morning art class has continued to be a big hit to start off the day, particularly when it can delay the already lengthy task of getting them out the door for schooll.


Josephine took her first steps and has not slowed down since.


On July 4th we took the boys to Ribfest. For Jen and I this was our first trip back in about ten years. If we'd been prepared we would have spent the last ten years saving our money since 2006 to soften the financial impact of the four of us spending a few hours there.








At the end of the day the rides, the food, and the fireworks were enough to knock the boys out in a way I don't think we've ever seen. I roughly removed them from their seat and dropped them into their beds and they didn't even flinch. Elliott did protest in his sleep for about a second yelling, "I want to go home!" This was picking up from an hour previously when he whined this for a few minutes before passing out in his stroller.


On the boys' birthday morning they got a few small gifts and the kickoff for the birthday weekend was underway.


We took the boys out for breakfast (and ice cream) for their birthday. There the staff sang a song for the boys after which Elliott proclaimed, "That was a silly birthday song." Then we went to the children's museum and returned home for a fun day.


Fun until the assembly of their play set commenced.


We knew that assembly would be required.


But we had no idea what we were in for.


You may have heard that a little game called Pokemon Go was released. What started as a chance install of a harmless free app turned into a weekend dominated by the new game. Apparently we were not alone.


Auntie Lisa was able to join our insane nightly bedtime ritual for several nights, bearing witness to the raging brushfire that is our nightly bedtime routine.




Their fourth birthday party was a hit. They got tons of great presents, including Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, a gift Elliott asked for despite the fact that we're not entirely sure where he ever heard of it.


Josie brushed her teeth for the first time on their birthday despite the fact that her terrible parents have done everything they can to ignore her dental hygiene. I simply looked over and she'd climbed a stool, grabbed one of the boys' toothbrushes, and started mimicking her brothers.

Her brothers, apparently, are better role models than we are.





The following day could not have been better for the boys as they played with all of their new toys all over the house. Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots was a popular items throughout the day and in every nook and cranny of our house and yard.


After 2-3 days Evelyn had her birthday party and the parks and streets were lousy with gaggles of children playing Pokemon Go. Every day there are more and more groups of children wandering the streets and parks that are normally devoid of activity.

The adults tend to travel alone and don't make eye contact when crossing each other on a narrow pathway behind a library where one poorly place Poke Stop is located even though they both know damn well what the other is doing there.


The next Day Auntie Lisa had to go back home but spent a full day with the kids, first painting their new awesome capes with them.


After four days of work the playset was finally completed and ready to be unveiled to the world.


The children spent most of the time we were building the playset either trying to help or trying to use the play set while we were drilling holes and attaching pieces.


The completion was marked with an elaborate ribbon cutting ceremony followed by five minutes of playing by the children.





Just enough time to catch a few Pokemon before getting the children to bed. Then sneaking out while they're asleep to hit up a couple of Poke Stops.

Those Pokemon aren't going to catch themselves!

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