My children spend a great deal of their time in their pajamas. Playing outside? Pajamas. Fourth of July fireworks? Pajamas. Visiting Gram and Grandpa? Pajamas. I’m not sure why I don’t just buy them an entire wardrobe of pajamas.

Anyway, here are the girls inspecting the fairy garden that Gram has started for them. As soon as the temperatures cool off, we want to visit the fairy houses exhibit at Powell Gardens. Gram has a good start with a fairy door, a little couch, some steps, and a river of magic dewdrops.

We had a relaxing evening at Gram’s tonight, and the weather even cooperated with her broken air conditioner. Tomorrow will be busy though. Both older girls had small accidents over the weekend that will require doctor visits: one fell on her face while dancing and knocked a permanent tooth a little loose, and one was accidentally bitten by my mom’s dog, who likes to bite splashing water (but got the foot doing the splashing). So tomorrow will be x-rays and antibiotics. And pajamas.

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece all came out to visit us for a long weekend. So I’ve been away, relaxing with them, making and eating peach crisp and chocolate chip cookies, swimming, going to the movies (“Brave”: so good!), hanging out on the deck, and catching fireflies. (You can see the firefly catchers above. I was playing around with Instagram on Chris’s iPod.) This year we can’t afford plane tickets to anywhere, so we’re grateful for visiting family. The girls were pretty bummed last night when everyone went home, especially poor Charlotte. She’s our sensitive girl. We’re all getting back to normal today: sunscreen, swim lessons, PBJ on the pool’s picnic tables, laundry. (Laundry that I should really be folding right now.)

Elise had a birthday party for her seventh birthday yesterday. We put together a premiere party for her first short film “The Mommy, The Daddy, and The Baby,” complete with a red-carpet entrance and popcorn. It’s short, so there were several encore presentations. Chris helped Elise out with the technical parts of this — she wrote it and really made all of the directorial decisions herself! I didn’t get to see it until the day of the premiere. What fun!

One of the cool things about living in the city where I grew up is being able to take my kids to some of the same places I loved as a child. Some places aren’t the same. Leawood City Park used to be so much more awesome. Today’s playgrounds can’t hold a candle to the playgrounds of the ’70s. What, no giant mountain with a volcano ladder coming up the middle and slide down the side? No, just the same old playground equipment you find at every playground. Boo. But some places are just as fun as I remember, like Antioch Park.

I remember how fun it was — but also a little bit scary — to walk over the stepping stones across the pond. I watch the girls hesitate and start to walk a little more slowly across the stones, and I know just what they are feeling. I watch them run through the little old western town buildings, and I know what games they are playing.

The giant rocket ship slide may be gone, but most of the park is still intact, and I love taking them there. I’m glad they love it, too.

Yesterday was our 11th anniversary, so Mom and Lloyd offered to watch the kids while Chris and I went out to dinner. The girls were so excited, they started packing giant suitcases of random stuff as soon as they woke up in the morning. Chris and I went for coffee, did some shop wandering and went out for sushi. I got a girly drink: vodka, sake and juice. The girls played with the water and ate fluorescent cupcakes as the sun set. Isn’t the evening light pretty at my mom’s house?