Busy Again

Once the kids got back things pretty much went back to just as they were before they left. Julia wants to play with her neighborhood friends constantly - which isn't always possible since some are in day care all day and we've been doing some visiting with family other times. The little girl next door came over Sunday evening when she got back from her dad's and the kids had a big reunion - immediately holding a session of school lessons. Julia seems to be the lead teacher most of the time.

This time they also used some play doh. I think it had also been out earlier in the day and they were making fossils or dinosaur skin or something with it.

Just before the kids came back, Sean and I went to an old friend's house to celebrate his son's 1st birthday. The birthday boy is in the red shirt. Another old friend's son turns one in November. And Sean made sure he got lots of quality baby time while we were there. In fact the boys were the ones in general who wouldn't put the babies down all night. It was quite a change from what I've been used to seeing at gatherings of mixed company where babies are in attendance!
Just a day or two after the kids got back we went down to a county water park to meet up with my cousin and her family who were in town for a bit. My cousin's 3 kids are each within months or weeks of my 3 in age, but her son wasn't feeling well and had a fever the day we went.
So Alan and Cate enjoyed a lot of the same things at the same time but not necessarily together
while the 3 older girls stuck together all day.
And on the way home at one point (right before I took the picture) all 3 fell asleep.
Other than that - we've seen lots of this:

Playing on the computer is the first thing Alan wants to do in the morning. Often it's hard to get him to get off without a few tears. And if he's not on the computer he wants to play his Nintendo. I've been thrilled the times he's wanted to ride his bike or really do anything not computer game related.

The girls have also been playing on the computer, but for the last 2 nights (and all day) they've been princesses in our 'royal' family. We've had a dance and ceremony each night. When they got bored yesterday morning just sitting in their thrones I told them that princesses read and draw and paint and do charity work and study - and they got very excited and dug out the books we borrowed from the library. Holly picked out a bunch about planets and space and Julia had a bunch about the environment and animals. Then they held a study session.

Today the girls have gone with my mom to visit a friend of hers vacationing in Myrtle Beach. They left dressed as princesses with a basket of snacks for the road.