Alexia finished reading her longest chapter book yet, These Happy Golden Years and Diego read a few chapter books so we went to sublime to celebrate!! They loved reading donut books while devouring their treat. Indu joined us and we had a fun time!

Our beautiful Silver Maple:

Above is the last picture I'll ever take of our beloved tree

We've been told for 6 years that this tree was getting sick and would eventually need to be cut down, but we put it off for as long as possible because we just love it.  If you notice in that top picture, there is a large portion that is dead, with no leaves on it.  Throughout the tree there was a lot of dead and dying wood, ant infestation and fungus growing so we decided it was time to cut  it down :(  

The children were so so so entertained watching the show of it being cut down.  It was pretty amazing.

The kids requested several pieces of the tree to be left behind so here's a picture of their collection :)

Here's a mini photo dump of the last couple of weeks:

Here are Alexia and Lucia playing baby doll together.  Look at that proud big sister!

Little bit decided she wanted in on the badminton game and of course big kids let her have a go at it.

Lucia now LOVES baby dolls and almost always carries one around with her.  She can say "bebe" perfectly.

Just a pretty picture of a delicious spread of goodies from date night last week.  

Here she is with her bebe!

We had pizza movie night last Saturday and it was so fun.  We watched Little House on the Prairie and we all enjoyed it so much!

This has been an exciting week for the 3 big kids.  They are all doing soccer camp!  Alexia and Marco are doing a camp down the street from 9:00-12:00 and Diego is doing a camp at the Atlanta Silverbacks fields from 9:00-3:00.  It has been so good for all of them.  This is the first time that Marco has ever participated in an activity without me there and he is really loving it.  He has had a blast playing and of course loves that big sister is there with him.

Diego's camp has been great for him because it is challenging and a lot of work, but he says he never wants it to end.  I'm so grateful they've all had this opportunity.  

We had company for dinner last week and Lucia would not go to sleep so Diego took her to the playroom to babysit her and this was her masterpiece.  He was a very proud big brother!

He wanted me to take a picture of how red and sweaty he was when I picked him up from camp!

Alexia's masterpiece at lunchtime :)

No, it's impossible, she could not get any cuter!

Here's an attempt at a shot of the fields where Diego's camp is

Playing duplos with her bebe

Since it's so hot and the fields aren't very big, Marco's age group has stayed indoors for their camp which has been great.  He's playing goalie in this picture.

This week's project is getting this school room ready! Can I do it!??

Here they are!

Tonight is the 2nd night of crazy thunderstorms, like the memorable kind.
Lucia did not make a peep last night, but tonight she woke up crying. I picked her up and she stopped and then Diego walked in the closet (she's sleeping in our closet right now bc she wakes up 2-3 times a night and Alexia was having a hard time sleeping...) and she lept into his arms. Remember this is our girl who refuses cuddles and does not like to be held. He took her into his room to cuddle her and she laid down on his chest in his bed. This does not happen.ever. She stayed in his room for a good 10 minutes without making a peep. She only fussed for me bc I went in to check on her.
When we carried her back to my closet Diego reeeeeally wanted to bring his blanket and pillow and sleep next to her so he "could comfort her in the night." She happily let me put her down and her amazing big brother is sleeping right next to her. Melt.my.heart

We went to a puppet show with our friends yesterday. The show wasn't great, but we had fun with the 8 kids in tow. Alexia and Shiloh watched the whole show and seemed to enjoy it.
We take up a lot of seats, huh?! :)

These new target carts rock!

Yesterday we had a long play date/lunch at our friends house and it was way too much fun. James is almost 5 so of course is Marcos buddy, but D and A were soooo excited to go to their house to play. It was so sweet.
Above pic is Marco and Will (3) playing together

This was amazing! Diego read books to James for an off and on total of about 90 minutes. He is not one to read to the littles much so this was just so special and sweet.

Lucia and Sam had fun poking at each other. How cute are they?!

It was a definite reading fest all around.
Kay is going to hire Diego to come over to be a mother's helper so she can have a nap and he can read books to James for an hour or so. I'm excited for him to have the opportunity!
So grateful for these special people to do life with!

Sweet Miller came over to play on Tuesday. He was NOT convinced that this sprinkler/trampoline business was a good idea...

...so Alexia blessed him with a long game of badminton and indoor Lego play :)

Me and my boy stayed up late to watch the Women's World Cup final on Sunday. I love these special times with this guy-he rocks!

We had a blast at Callen's birthday party last week! It was an outdoor water party and the kids played nonstop and did not want to leave.

The birthday boy!!!

Us and our babies!

She was worn out and fell fast asleep 2 minutes into the car ride!

Lucia's turn

Alexia's turn

Diego's turn

Marco's turn

Daddy cuddles are in high demand!!

Last week, we met Megan and her crew at the splash pad and had a blast! A big group of kids came in with a summer camp and the kids grumbled at first, but then enjoyed having playmates. We also brought our neighbor Evelynn along. Luke and Diego played soccer on the field with the camp boys and had a blast!