Here are pictures of some of the fun we had in July after we got back from our big trip.
Rachel and Lizza playing in the gutter during a big rainstorm. We actually had kind of a rainy July, which was really nice. Every kid should be able to play outside in a rainstorm once in a while.
Cynthia stayed inside because she was really busy taking care of her babies:
Either that, or she was doing a set-up. Sometimes when I can’t find her, I’ll call out “where’s my Cindy girl?”, and she’ll yell out from somewhere in the house, “Right here! Doin’ set-up!”. And then I’ll find her like this:
Henry caught the spirit of fort-building from Lizza, and decided to build his own fort. He spent so much time on it, and was so excited to show me all the different rooms he had created in his “fort” – there was even a puzzle room (that little area on the floor marked off with pillows) with a stack of puzzles all ready to go. He told me the big bean bag was their “coloring room”, and he had already supplied it with coloring books and crayons (for in the morning, he said, in case they felt like doing a little bit of coloring before they got up). And of course I had to let them sleep in the fort that night, because he had carefully set up beds for him and Rachel and Lizza, dragging in all their blankets and pillows from their room. I was proud of him for setting it all up all on his own. 
Miss Cynthia, in the pantry, with a lightsaber: 
And if that’s not scary enough, here she is doing her best Gollum impersonations:
Rachel and Elizabeth’s new favorite thing is to dress like twins every day. It went great the first day (because they had matching dresses), but they are running out of things to wear that match:
Oliver and Tristan, hard at work in the yard. I was attempting to teach them how to work the lawnmower and the trimmer. I like the idea of them being able to do it always, but I’m debating whether it’s worth it or not – I’m still trying to figure out how the three of us together took 3 hours to mow and trim, when I can do it in less than 2 all by myself. So I guess I need to view it as a learning experience for them, and not so much as a helpful experience for me (yet). I know sometimes I put off teaching my kids things because just doing it myself is always faster than stopping to teach – I need to get better at that. 
A friendly painting session. Mostly I just love Lizza’s face:
Henry loves doing “study time”. I write simple addition problems on a paper, and he uses the color tiles to figure out the answers: 
He also loves doing Sheppard Software on the “pumputer”, as he calls it. They have so many great games for teaching kids the states. Of course, Henry’s favorite ones are the puzzle games – in this one all of the states are bunched together over on the left side, and he has to drag them over to where they belong on the map. He loves to save the littlest states for last, because he thinks they are so tiny and cute.
Cindy doing some reading on the couch in Rachel’s robe, which she stole. Tristan took this picture of her, and I love it because she looks like a big purple marshmallow:
Henry shares a room with Rachel and Elizabeth. A few nights a week, when I go up to check on the kids before I go to bed, Henry’s bed will be empty and I will find him up on the top bunk with Rachel. It would be easier for him to climb in with Lizza on the bottom bunk, but he knows Rachel will never kick him out. 
And speaking of the special bond between Rachel and Henry, their birthday was on July 30th. Rachel turned 8 and Henry turned 4.
The other kids had spent weeks making homemade presents to give. They were pretty excited to get started with the present opening first thing in the morning:
A super-hero book for Henry from Oliver: 
“The Happy Animal Birthday Book” for Rachel, from Lizza;
Plus several other random things (a paper butterfly, a cup made out of paper, a re-gifted toy that may have already been Rachel’s, and a paper jewelry box with a necklace inside). Mostly Lizza just likes to wrap as many presents as she can:
Oliver was also quite generous with Rachel – he painted her several paintings, and made her that Super Girl special power arm that she’s wearing:
Later that morning they got to open presents from Mom and Dad:
Cynthia was so jealous of all of Henry’s new Avenger toys. She had already stolen his Captain America socks.
Enjoying their new stuff:
Later we went to the pool for a birthday picnic lunch with our friends.
Lizza with the birthday kids: 
Playing Colors:
Rachel and Henry had picked homemade pizza for their birthday dinner. I don’t have very much experience with this, but I bought some tiles at Home Depot to use for pizza stones, and it turned out really good. 
Rachel with her coconut birthday cake. Since it was her 8th birthday, she had requested a white cake with white frosting and white candles. 
Henry had requested the famous dinosaur volcano cake:
Which is the exact cake Rachel had on her 4th birthday. Which was the night Henry was born. It was nice to not be going into labor while making the cake this time.
Here they are one year after that, on Henry’s 1st birthday and Rachel’s 5th:
And the year after that – Rachel turning 6, Henry turning 2:
Last year they got two birthday celebrations:
And here the birthday friends are this year – my 4-year old and 8-year old:
Cynthia was so excited about the lava on Henry’s cake. I have a feeling I’m going to have one more of these to make someday.
Happy Birthday to Henry: 
Happy Birthday to Rachel: 
Here is Cynthia doing some after dinner dancing with some cardboard figures of Ironman, Captain America, and Incredible Hulk (She wouldn’t stop stealing Henry’s new toys, so I cut out the pictures from the back of the boxes they came in, and she was happy about that): 
And of course, the best way to end a birthday is with everyone reading on the couch together:
