Help!

We received some much-needed help last week in the form of my Mom and little sis Annie. For some strange reason, I started painting my kitchen shortly after Charlotte was born. Progress was slow until those two showed up. They worked so hard and so fast! It was amazing. We painted the kitchen and the cabinets, unpacked all my dishes and organized the kitchen, packed up my maternity clothes and unpacked all of my other clothes (now I just need to figure out how to fit into said clothes :)

The ladies hard at work.

I am not sure I fully appreciated my mom's work ethic until now.

We took a break from all of that work and took the kids to the zoo. They had so much fun. We saw an amazing bird show and had a picnic. My parents bought us a zoo pass so now I have a great activity to do with the kids on a regular basis. That is much-needed as summer days can get to be kind of long with a tired mom as camp director.

I think they are checking out the peacocks in this picture. There are peacocks all over the zoo and the kids never fail to get excited.

Grace is helping David with his shoes in this picture. I have been amazed, and so grateful at how well the other two have dealt with having a new baby on the scene. They couldn't be prouder of their new baby sister, and they have really stepped up to be my little helpers. David is chief diaper disposer and Grace brings me the clean ones (smart girl). Grace tries to help David and they have been playing together really well. As a caveat, in case this sounds like too much domestic bliss, trust me, we still hear screaming and fighting on a daily basis. It try to cling to the good moments though.
Thanks Mom and Anne...I truly don't know what I would have done without your oh-so-timely visit. We love family and hope to someday live a little closer to them. In the meantime, thank goodness for airplanes.