Busy summer

First of all, I want to say Happy Birthday to my mother in law, Judy! I really lucked out to have such a wonderful mother in law. Some of Paul's best characteristics came directly from his mom. My favorites being their enthusiasm for life, boundless energy, and good work ethic. So, thanks Judy for being such a wonderful mom and grandma!

Speaking of work ethic, Paul has been nesting this weekend! He vacuumed out our van that was still sandy from our trip to the beach, he mowed the lawn, painted the baby's room, set up bunk beds for the kids, and brought all of the baby clothes down from the attic.
This is the baby's crib. Paul even set up all of the bedding as a surprise. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the walls are now light green.
These are Asher and Madeleine's new bunk beds! They are making pirate faces on the top picture, if you couldn't tell. My favorite feature is the removable ladder. We take it away during the day so the kids don't climb up and play on the top bunk. We've also been removing the ladder after we tuck the kids in bed so there is no unauthorized climbing of the ladder. We are able to put them to bed at the same time now because they can't bother each other as much. We replace the ladder as soon as they are asleep so that Asher can get down if he needs to. Asher complained this morning because Maddie climbed the ladder to come and snuggle him before he was ready to wake up, but that was a problem before anyway.
The rule is no playing on the top bunk, but the bottom bunk is fair game so the kids have deemed it their fort.

For the last week of July my family came from Arizona and California to visit! I had so much fun, I just wish they all lived here.

Asher and Madeleine had so much fun with their twin cousins Ben and Sam. Ben and Sam are right in between their ages so they played really well together. Sam was especially enthralled with Maddie. Before they left both Ben and Sam were calling her "Girly". As in, "Girly, come play with us!" I stole this picture from Zach and Katie's blog because it was the best one of the four kids together. They were setting off on an adventure to hunt for polly-wogs at my Grandparents' farm.We've had such a fun summer and I'm a bit sad about the summer winding down. Not too sad though as the end of summer means I get to have my baby!