My, oh my

Well. June seemed to go so slowly, but July has flown by. I have no explanation for this, since we had more to do in June. Anyway here it is at the end of July and lots has happened this month. I'm not going to try and recount everything we've done. We've just been busy: canning peaches, Aunt Amy visiting, picking blackberries, gardening, eating wonderful summer foods, bike riding (a new family favorite with Emily!), studying (mostly Matt) and trying to beat the heat.

These are some pictures of the girls that my sister and I took. She has a nice dSLR camera which she kindly brought for me. I took tons of pictures of the girls and got some great ones to put up on the wall. My silly husband was opposed to taking a family picture. He has a rule you know-- no pictures of him. Ridiculous? Yes. I did get one picture of him, kind of without him paying attention.

Here are some things from our life, in no particular order. It was 100 degrees again today. Matt and I are SO DONE with the heat. We have used up our heat coping abilities. Emily has learned how to start herself on her two wheeler and so we often ride to the cemetery and she is the "leader". This little girl has ridden up to 2 miles! Crazy. Matt and I both love to ride bikes and it's so fun to see Emily. She is so happy riding her bike. When she is the leader she tells me, "Mommy, ride faster! You have to beat me up!"

Nathalie has cut her hair TWICE in the last month. You can kind of see it in this picture, but I'll show you another one next time. We have talked over and over about her asking to have her hair cut, but by golly, she's not going to wait for anyone. And now she's cut parts of it so short that no haircut could make it look better. So we wait. Her hair grows reeeeaaaallllyyy slowly. Charlotte isn't talking a lot but she is getting her point across. She is very definite in her wants. And if she doesn't want something, she will pick it up and chuck it. Even though she doesn't speak, I don't have to guess. And Nathalie's favorite game is to bother Charlotte. This summer Charlotte has figured out how to climb-- and she figured out how to climb to Emily's bunk bed (the top). This is a bummer for Emily and Nathalie because they were used to playing games up there where Charlotte couldn't destroy it. Charlotte, of course, is completely thrilled.

We're on the one month countdown until school. We have decided to send Emily to kindergarten. She is reading and doing addition under 10. She is excited for kindergarten too and can't wait. I sometimes feel sad because kindergarten is the beginning of the school years and I do feel like school is taking her away from me. But I know it's not fair to keep her back from kindergarten just because I'm having separation anxiety! At the end of preschool last year, her teacher's assessment was that she is absolutely ready and prepared for kindergarten.

As for Matt and I, it's a busy life. The girls keep us busy. Matt has been smoking some meats lately and we had an absolutely delicious dinner tonight with bacon, kale, corn, new potatos, zucchini and yellow squash, sauteed in a little butter with some spices. He is quite the cook and, when he's home, often spoils me with amazing dinners. I'm working on Emily's birthday present, which is a Sleeping Beauty dress.

So far, a great summer.

Major Milestones

 So far this summer Emily has mastered swimming and jumping off the diving board, is learning to read and do basic math and most recently, ride a two-wheeler!! She can't start by herself, but all she needs is someone to hold her bike. What a big girl!

This summer Nathalie has learned how to swim under the water for short distances and ride Emily's old bike! She can now also dress herself, although not without whining. Maybe next summer we'll have eliminated whining from our daily routine. Yeah, right.

It's been a busy summer for these little girls!

A little bit of Papa Time

Even though we see Matt's dad frequently, we have a hard time of getting pictures of him! This time I was determined to record that he is there and present. So I took out the camera and captured some of these great images. I had no idea he could play the accordion. Well...he's no maestro but he knows more than me! The kids thought this was hilarious.

One of Papa's hobbies is his big garden and on this particular morning Nathalie was learning what weeds are and what they aren't. He was very patient as she talked his ear off.

So here's a little known fact: both Matt and I grew up with boats. My family has had a boat as long as I can remember and boating is my earliest memory besides breaking my arm when I was 3. My family would go out at least weekly, but often more than that in the summer.. Matt's family had similar experiences. We both have wonderful memories of our childhood on boats. Both of our dads still have boats and it's always fun to go out on them. This time was Charlotte's first time on a boat....

And she wasn't thrilled about the lifejacket.

But once we started moving and she got the feel of the wind in her face, she was hooked.

I don't know if this was Emily's first time on a tube, but she loved it! I have literally never seen as big a grin as was on her face. It was the hugest smile ever. One of our many amazing nieces went on the tube with her. As Emily got off she said, "That was AWESOME!" She ended up going on the tube a lot and every time she shrieked and laughed and grinned from ear to ear.

Nathalie, on the other hand, was not so sure. She liked it when Papa drove without a wake,but anything more than that and her smile disappeared. Maybe next year. She did like riding in the boat and especially enjoyed the waves.

Charlotte was happiest when we got off and played at the beach. The air was in the low 70s and the water was in the high 70s, so I was happy playing in the water too.

We sure are grateful for this Papa. He's crazy and fun and loves his grandkids a bunch. 

Blessings in the shape of people

 We've been blessed this summer to have friends come. Here are some of the ones that have traveled from very great distances. I have several really wonderful friends. These are two of my longest friends. I love these amazing women.
The pictures of courtesy of my friend in the middle, Mrs. F.

I love that Nathalie is trying to make herself smile.

Pretty, pretty girl.

What we like to do when it's hot.

The men. It looks like a superhero trio or something. I'm lucky that my friends married such great men and that all of our husbands enjoy being together.

We had lots of boys at our house and Matt had a blast. Here are almost all the boys looking at a crawdad.

It's been so wonderful to have so many people we love around us this year. We feel very blessed.

Quintessential

If I had to pick one picture to describe Nathalie, this would be it. Love this crazy mazy.