Bikes, helpers, and Chinese pancakes

The rest of July was pretty uneventful. With a new baby and Mom getting used to the "new normal", we spent a lot of time at home.

Jude has been loving his new-found ability to ride a bike. He and Lance often go out to ride back and forth in our cul-de-sac. Our neighbors are wonderful and don't mind the boys racing up and down their driveways. One day it was raining and the boys thought it was the perfect time to ride bikes.

I love that these two are becoming good friends.

At scouts one night, they had a bike rally with different stations. The kids were so excited to bring their bikes and ride around.

Isn't she just the cutest?

They had a volunteer from a local bike shop come and demonstrate how to change a tire. 

Jude riding the obstacle cource:

Lance is the best big brother! He LOVES his little sisters and is a wonderful helper. They sure love him, too.

Speaking of being a big helper, I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am for Lance. I have to admit, baby #5 has thrown me for a bit of a loop and I find myself struggling both physically and emotionally to meet everyone's needs and take care of myself. One night I was really having a hard time while trying to get the kids in bed. George was at work, so I was alone. So I thought.

Lance saw how stressed I was and jumped right in, without me even asking. He held a crying Lexi and read Jude some Harry Potter while I got Lily and Cole ready for bed and then, once the littles were in bed, sat on the bed with me while I fed Lexi and put her to bed, just so I wouldn't be alone. It was the nicest thing and made my heart swell with gratitude and pride at the sweet young man Lance is growing up to be.

Cole and Bender have a special relationship. Cole thinks Bender is "so cute" and will love on him constantly. I think Bender gets a bit fed up with it, but he's a good sport and I will often find him sleeping next to Cole at night.

Lily can't get enough of Lexi. She has no concept of "being gentle" or "soft" and loves on her with her entire body.

Lily even has to get her feet involved and will use her toes to love on Lexi when I'm nursing. Good thing this sweet baby is such a good sport!

Speaking of that sweet baby, she is growing up so fast! Smiling and sweet, her calm little personality is starting to show.

She's even sleeping better at night and has given me some 6-hour stretches!

Who wouldn't love waking up this this every morning?

Lexi isn't the only one waking up at night. Lately Lily's been waking up at night and screaming. We can't figure out what's happening and she's inconsolable while it goes on, sometimes for 30 or more minutes, and then all of the sudden she's fine and her sweet self again and ready to go back to sleep. It's almost like a switch flips on and off. We think it might be night terrors. George was working overnight one night when it happened. This was our text message convo.

It's getting better, though, and it's been a few weeks since she's done it. Thank goodness! 

We were planning a trip to Florida and needed new tires for the van, so I took the kids to Costco one day to get them installed.

We had to wait, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Lexi is almost old enough to go to the daycare at the gym! Since she's still too young, George and I go together and take turns exercising and sitting with Lexi. It'll be nice when she can hang out with all the other kids in the KidZone.

Lance loves his cousins Callie and Bryce. It's always a special treat for him to see them since he sometimes misses our Ashburn trips. This particular trip was fun since they got to spend all day with Callie and Bryce.

Callie and Grandmom taught Lance how to make Chinese pancakes.

While they were doing that, I took the younger three to Costco. They love getting pizza and eating it while we roll around on the big flat beds. 

Watching Lily eat a Costco pizza is so funny.

This little baby is so, so loved.

Little Austin getting in some cousin love!

These boys. It took a while, but they're finally friends. Jude always wants to play with Lance and more often than not, Lance is looking for Jude to play with too. I love it.

And now it's on to Florida!

Floating at Watermelon Park

July 22nd I took the kids up to Ashburn so we could raft down a cute little river at Watermelon Park with Grandma, Laura and family, Stephen, and Jason. Lance and I had floated down this river 10 years ago when he was a baby, but I haven't been back since.

The kids were excited, although Lance was a little bummed it wasn't going to be a white water rafting adventure.

Waiting in line to ride the bus to the drop-off point.

Riding the bus! Lily and Grant are friends (when they're not beating each other up!).

The drop-off point was less than two miles upriver. It was quite the adventure getting all the kids inside their tubes and floating together. Thank goodness for all the adults!

Jude decided he was a good swimmer and didn't want his life jacket. Since it didn't get much deeper than about 4 feet, I thought this was okay.

(In retrospect, he would have had a better time had he worn his life jacket. Live and learn, I guess.)

I took my phone so I could take pictures. I even managed to keep it dry!

Trying to keep everyone together...

Uncle Stephen!

Thank goodness for all the adult helpers.

Laura had the right idea and strapped all her floats together.

Lily and Cole thought floating around was great! (For a bit, anyway.)

These boys had fun popping in and out of their tubes, although Jude had to be rescued a few times. 

Much of the time the moms walked while corraling their kiddos. Thank goodness it was shallow enough to walk, although the rocks on the bottom made the going a bit difficult.

Lance was HUGE help, rescuing wayward tubes and helping keep everyone in a big group. It's so nice having a big kid!

Grandma and Lily hung out for most of the ride.

And baby Lexi (only about 5 weeks old) was an angel. She didn't seem to mind the water at all.

Jude's shoes managed to come off and he lost one on the ride. Oops!

Little Austin taking a nap.

Lexi Lou!

Uncle Stephen to the rescue again! Cole decided he wanted to swim instead of float.

It was fun! I was a tad stressed the whole time, worried I would trip over rocks and Lexi would go under, but we made it to the end and everyone had a good time.

Chick-Fil-A afterwards!

And of course everyone needed a bath when we got back to Grandma's house. This sink is the perfect fit for this tiny peanut.