Fun Summer Moments

Despite the fact that it's only 60 degrees (SIGH!) in Minnesota today, we've had a lot of fun times the past 6 weeks. If I'm truly being honest, though, I should also add that we've also had quite a few tears and quite a few tantrums. Ellie popped through all four of her two-year molars the past month--making her a bit edgy. I understand--those teeth look painful, and those molars come in one prong at a time! I am, however, very glad that this is it, for a while, for the teeth. I tallied up the totals, and we've had 60 teeth pop through in the past 18 months. And when one child is feeling in pain--the other children get to "feel the pain" as well, as the other one won't share, is often more aggressive, cries/whines more, etc. I put myself in "timeout" on Tuesday--I thought I was going to blow my top after two hours of at least one child (and usually more than one) crying. I spent three minutes in the bedroom composing myself and decided I should maybe consider taking more timeouts. It was kind of peaceful (I did have to tune out the still-crying babes below). In any case, the majority of the summer has been lots of fun. Here are some of my favorite photos.

Below, the kid's present to dad (we got these letters last year, and each year the kids will hold them up in a photo--eventually they'll decorate them, etc.). Also below, Ellie in daddy's new shirt.



We also had a great 4th of July weekend, although the boys ended their love for fire trucks after the parade we attended. Both boys literally pulled our hands up to cover their ears after the first (loud) fire truck passed by. They did the same that night when we went to a neighbors to see their firecrackers.




We've also spent time with lots of animals this summer. The best moment was feeding the giraffes at the Minnesota Zoo (Joshua's picture below, although all three kids did it). I wasn't a big fan of the second picture--William kissing a baby cow at the Lakeville "Family Fun Fair." Apparently, James was so excited to get this "great picture" that he forgot to protect his son from cow saliva!!! (I am going to force him to read Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" so that he realizes that domesticated animals are the source of virtually ALL human diseases!) Last photo is Ellie on the fair's train ride. After the ride, I said, "Should we go get some ice cream?" Ellie replied, "Maybe it will help me feel better." I think it did.