Due to the unfortunate fact that I had strep throat this weekend and spent most of the weekend laying around, very few pictures were taken. We spent most of the weekend at home. Saturday the hubs had to work, so it was the kids and me, who could barely talk and not swallow a thing, at home relaxing. I was pretty tired and didn't have much energy (I did manage a few loads of laundry though). Luckily I had my amazing six year old to help me.
He kept the peace between his brother and sister, which helped me immensely because I couldn't raise my voice at all. He also helped with snacks, changing Elizabeth's diaper, getting Harrison and Elizabeth up from their naps, picking up messes the 3 of them made, and cleaning up the kitchen without being asked. I am constantly amazed by Max and his willingness to help others. He is the only six year old I know who will clean without being asked. He was very in tune with the fact that I didn't feel well and took it upon himself to be "in charge" as he kept saying to his brother and sister.
I'm constantly amazed at how our family order has played a role in each of my children's personalities. Elizabeth is all around the little sister, getting her way without much of a fight from any of us, Harrison is a middle child (not sure what I mean by that? Google articles about middle children and I'm fairly certain they were all written about my Harrison), and Max is the oldest in every way. This weekend just re-confirmed what I already knew, but it still amazes me each time I see Max's older brother side come out. I was beyond grateful for my little boy and couldn't have made it through the day without him....and the milkshake the hubs brought me in the middle of the day. I am so proud of my six year old and even more proud that he did all of these things out of the goodness of his heart. I feel bad for the parents who have to bribe their kids with toys into helping them out....oh wait....I have to do that with my other two.....
Since Max was such a huge help to me, the hubs treated the kids to playtime in the backyard and Max's favorite grilled burgers for dinner. I finally got an uninterrupted nap.
On Sunday I was feeling a bit better. I had energy, could actually swallow, and big bonus: I was no longer contagious. We celebrated with errand running at Target and prepping for the week ahead. Elizabeth and I took naps Sunday afternoon and the three boys went to Ashworth Pool to practice the new swimming moves they learned in lessons. Max can officially swim by himself without help from an adult. He informed me when he got home that his goal for next summer is to pass the next level of swimming and pass the swim test so he can go off of the high dive at Ashworth. I like these goals rather than the 'lets see how many Lego sets I can get' goals! Harrison seems to have developed a new fear of deep water and wore his life jacket in the pool (and refused to jump in the water which he was doing a month ago).
Sunday evening we disinfected and cleaned EVERYTHING so hopefully no one else will get strep. Not our most exciting weekend, but we got in a trip to Target so it wasn't all bad!
Here are the few pics we did manage to take this weekend:
Hopefully next weekend will be filled with a bit more fun. We've got a few more things to cross off our Summer To Do List, although they are all road trip so I'm not quite sure if we'll get to all of them unfortunately.