How did you spend the 1st week of summer vacation?

We started our vacation with two doctor's appointments.  Jake got his cast off and Lila had her 18 month well baby check up.  

At 18 months Lila is following the trend of being my smallest baby. Her weight is 23 lbs. which is the 33rd percentile, her height is 31 3/4" which is 51 percentile, and her head comes in at the 94 percentile.  

She is very verbal right now, and even though much of it is babbling there are distinct words we can understand mixed in.  For instance the other night she went off on a highly descriptive and amusing (to her, she kept laughing at herself) story that included the words up, down, in, out, Evie, Abby, round and round, and whoa!.  

She is a great eater most of the time and is getting better at saying "yes" and "please".  We were having a hard time there for awhile trying to understand whether or not she wanted something to eat or drink because she would say "no, want it" for yes and "no, no, want it" for no.  

She is still happiest when she is tagging along with Evie and Jake and playing with all the big kids.

We spent time swinging on the swing-set...

and blowing dandelions when it was sunny...

and watching it hail and rain from the front porch when it wasn't.

Crazy weather for June!

Jake entertained himself and Evie with a food experiment one afternoon,  He gave her a piece of buttered bread and three different drinks, water, milk, and lemonade. He had her take a bite and then sip the different liquids, while he took notes about what she thought about the different flavor combinations.

I guess if nothing else he is preparing for a career as a market researcher...

He also took this picture of our futon ready for company to come and stay.  (He can't wait for his cousins from Mississippi to come visit!)  It made me laugh though when he brought up the camera to show me this picture and told me he wanted me to put it on the blog with the title "Our house is a Hotel!"  He told me, "Mom, you can put that we have three rooms ready to accommodate children of all sizes!"  He walked into the kitchen and said, "This is the Kitchen of Hospitality! I will make toast for anyone, anytime, day or night.  I can make it with either butter and jam or butter and honey."  Then he walked into the living room, threw his arms wide and said, "And this is the movie watching and knitting plaza!"  So any knitters who love toast, feel free to make a reservation.

Jake got a wrist brace so that he can ride his bike again and be as active as his heart desires. 

 We went swimming at Pa Dave's a couple of times, we went to the library, we had Dinee, Tay and their girls over for dinner and a Mario night, and I took all three children grocery shopping on Friday. (I am crazy, I know.)

All in all it has been a really full week and we had to work hard at resting up this weekend, so we could get ready to enjoy week #2!