A little thunderstorm rolled in on Wednesday, so the kids and I headed out to the front yard so we could enjoy some time outside without sweating our brains out…All you St. George folks can laugh at me, but here in Colorado, 95 degrees is wicked H-O-T!

Brinley has never showed an interest in drawing people until today. It was fun to watch her draw stick figures and little details like hands and eyebrows.

She was all over the place with the chalk. She told me she was drawing our family.

Shhhh, the artist is creating…

After she finished each masterpeice, she proudly told me who was who. She gave me a pretty sweet hairdo, but it looks like I am in serious need of a dentist. She was really proud of Drew’s spikey hair (although, he wasn’t fortunate enough to get legs), and her pigtails. She made sure to include her dolls Jade-Lola and Lucy in the family driveway mural.

The artist drawing her self-portrait.

So where was Drew during all the fun? He was the lucky recipient of this new (used) toy:

Our kind next door neighbor was about to haul it out to the curb for trash pickup, but thought that Drew might enjoy it. I was thrilled that Drew got a new masculine toy. His days have been occupied with dolls and dollhouses lately, which I guess that comes with having two sisters. So, out of all those manly toys, which one do you think he grabbed first?

The phone, of course. Hmmm.

Rowan sat on her throne and slept through all the action. Drew presented her with a twig of flowers from the shrubs. He thinks that giving someone flowers means “I love you.” He’s already thinking like a man. I don’t think I need to be worried about him playing with dollies.

And I leave you with one last picture. Filthy, dirty, grimy, stinky monkeys. This is what they look like at the end of every day.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way. (although, the mountains of summer laundry are the pits!)