books and games

So here we are Sunday morning... needing to buy a bigger bed, obviously!  ha!  As the older kids woke up they found me in bed reading and each grabbed a book so they could join me.  [I was reading The Rest of God (kindle app on my phone), Lydia reading Babysitters Club, Julianna reading Mary on Horseback, Isaac reading Paddington.]

We are in a great Sunday morning group that is a tremendous blessing to our whole family.  Sunday I had little kid duty and I love being with a group of kids that I know so well.  Later in the day Lydia (who's in the older class) declared that "sunday school" was her third favorite part of the day.   It's just a good Sunday experience for everybody.

After lunch together with our Sunday morning people we all wandered outside and never got much further.  It was another gorgeous day and we stayed out until 5, when a brief rain shower drove us indoors (plus I needed to get started on dinner!).

The girls were on roller blades again for the first time in almost a month (it's just been too rainy to be outdoors).

The "biking with roller blades" challenge was fun, but it's apparently almost impossible to get off your bike without falling :)

John Paul's hat from our summer trip plus my sunglasses make for a pretty sassy look, huh?

Matt brought out some tools and started a little bike repair stop.  With a fleet of bikes and other friends in the neighborhood... somebody always needs a seat raised, a chain repaired, air in the tires.  John Paul LOVES the tools, so this is a fun way to pass the time for everybody.

Lydia isn't the only one who will be missing Anna.

We attempted a family picture but the rain was starting to fall and the boys were distracted.  But here's proof that we all spent the afternoon together :)

And then today, Matt came by the house at noon (on the way to the airport) and had time for a short game of Skip-Bo and walked the big three to school.

John Paul loves to think of himself as old enough for this game but he needs plenty of help.  Luke is a solid team player, who tends to defect to the role of card-sorter.

The older kids are all on a Skip-Bo kick but these little two can't get enough of Too Many Monkeys.  If it's conceivable that a child could be addicted to a card game then these two are diagnosable addicts.  Their excitement is contagious, and I'm actually still enjoying the occasional game with them, mostly because Anna has taken a lot of the hours with Too Many Monkeys, meaning I'm not tired of it yet!

I'm making lists of Christmas ideas - some new card games will definitely be near the top!