Sweet summer time

The summer seems to be dwindling here as the nights get cooler and we start back up into our weekly routine again with summer vacation over.  Maddie's play group, our twice-a-week German lessons, as well as our little gymnastic/exercise class have all started back up.

This summer, we had great weather (despite what this year's Sechseläuten predicted) with a couple heat waves and even a week of very cool weather in the middle of July.  Mostly, it was beautiful and perfectly summer.

It's (mostly) been really fun to have two toddlers running around together, enjoying the sunshine, and wearing themselves out while we go from pool to playground and eventually to bed.  There are some days when I feel like a chicken with my head cut off just trying to get a few simple tasks done before Bryce gets home from work like empty the dishwasher, get dinner started, or tidy up the family room.  Other days, all three of us are tired, fussy, or just in a bad mood.  Most of those days, I open the back patio door and get us outside.  Within minutes, all is well in our world again.  We've been bike riding more, swimming more, and picnicking more.  We've had our fill of watermelon, ice cream, and popsicles (and I wish I could say corn on the cob, but it's so expensive here and I've had a couple bad tasting ones...I love when it's sweet and all over the grocery stores during the summer in the States!)

He literally fell asleep in the swing.  I tried to take him out and he got really upset, so I left him for awhile.  Ha!

Here are a few pictures of these two little rascals over the past few weeks of summer.

I love those rosy hot cheeks on babies (or toddlers) after playing outside on a hot day.  This was the very beginning of August, the week that he started fully walking.

She is ornery.  Her personality is budding.  The last few weeks, I've been so impressed with these little moments of maturity that are happening.  It's like she's really growing up.  She's art of the conversation.  She's constantly listening and observing.  She's interested in everything and wants to know why and how.  She still tests the limits but she also knows the importance of obeying mommy and daddy.  She is so smart and hilarious.

She's getting so good at writing "M"!  And drawing people! It's so cute.  She hasn't figured out how to draw a smile, so she says most of her people are sad.  She also recognizes a few other letters like "S" because it looks like a snake, "E" because "that's mommy's name!" and others, but not many.  I think she's a lot like her daddy.  They were worried that he didn't know his alphabet and numbers, then he impressed everyone when he got into school because he was way smarter than he let on.  A few days ago, we were getting out of our car somewhere and she pointed to our license plate and randomly listed off a couple numbers and letters that were on it...correctly, too!  Bryce and I looked at each other completely shocked.

I drew a person and then Maddie drew one.  "Mommy, he's a boy, see?"

She loves making us laugh and being ornery.  

There were a few days when it was so hot outside that we just spent the day inside.  It was actually a welcomed change since we've been oustide so much this summer.  They love to turn dance music on, get all the pillows and blankets strewn out, jump on the couch (that's allowed around here), chase, act wild, dance, and create obstacle course type things to jump over, climb under, whatever.  Carter is in on the action these days.  He's also becoming more and more like his big sister: independent, testy, and determined.  Although he's still incredibly tender and full of sweetness.

He's also very adventurous these days (and usually covered with bruises and bumps).

Bryce and I often talk about how it's a hard stage of life where we are constantly needed and wanted all hours of the day (and night).  But as you can imagine, it's also a very fleeting, precious stage of life that I don't want to forget.