What to do on a rainy day?

This morning was super gloomy...while Cam slept and while we waited for Ella and Andrew to come we decided to paint.  (Austin has been really into painting...so much so that he takes the paints out often and tries to get started on his own.  Yesterday I had to bring the dogs to the vet for a check-up.  So Chris was home with Austin, Ella, Andrew, and Hunter.  He could hear Ella and Austin playing in together...and then it got quiet.  They had taken the paint out of the closet and were busy squirting paint on the table.  Luckily he caught them before they got their hands into it!)

He got mad at me when I would not let him squirt the paint on his paper...so he slapped his hands on the paper and thought...oh, this is fun!

After awhile he decided there was too much paint on his hands...and then spent the next 10 minutes "washing" it off.

Then he got busy working with some play-doh.

"Two ducks! Two ducks!"

All of our play-doh animals...he lined them up and we talked about the animals and their color.  He was being all sweet and nice with them and then all of a sudden he started rolling them all into balls.  He picked all the play-doh up on his own.  He needed help getting the lids on tight, but that's it. 

Last year I would always wait until Austin and Ella were down for a nap before we went out to the pool.  Since it rained earlier today and we had to wait for Hunter to get home...they were awake by the time we were going to swim.  Andrew has been asking to swim pretty much each day since...well, he asks everyday.  He was so excited that he just jumped right in.  I went out and bought this life jacket for Austin after his daredevil tricks this weekend.  It slowed him down...either that, or he just didn't feel like jumping in.  Hunter wanted to wear his life jacket too for some reason...which was fine with me, even though he is just fine out in the deep end.  Ella has not liked water...ever...but, she was thrilled to see Andrew jump in and she screamed her head off in pure joy when she saw Winnie swimming.  (I don't think she even made it out the pool at all last summer).  She actually got in with me twice...she asked both times.  So, by the end of the summer I think she really enjoy it.

Attempting to get a shot of all four...this is the only picture where Hunter looks normal.  The next few shots are pretty funny.

The big boys and Winnie were having a blast jumping in over and over.

All done...just watching now.  Perhaps we'll have two little swimmers by the end of the summer.  Maybe next year...I guess two is a little too young to really know how to swim.