Goodbye Summer

Sadly, my summer vacation has come to a quick end. Seems like just a few weeks ago I was hurrying to get my entire classroom cleaned and packed up so I could begin enjoying my summer vacation with my boys! And just a week ago, I headed back in to unpack, set up, organize, and even paint my classroom walls! And as sad as I am that we are back into our usual school-time routine of going to bed early, waking up early, rushing around in the morning, and getting the boys to their babysitter, I am also hugely excited about the school year ahead. After a few years of contemplating and requesting, this year I was approved the opportunity to share my teaching position with another teacher, meaning I will only work for half the day and will get to spend the other half of the day with my two favorite people in the world! I couldn't be more thrilled! I get to spend my days doing the two things I love the most, being a teacher and mostly a mommy!

An Unexpected Water Day

Our day began with the boys going outside to "help" me to water the yard, which turned into a very enexpected water day -- in pajamas! And why not...that's the fun part about summer, right!

Jaden did everything he could to make sure the water from the sprinkler not only watered the yard, but that it also soaked every last square inch of his body, making sure not to leave a bit dry. He went back through several times, just to be sure that he wouldn't be dry any time soon. He had water sqishing out of the sides of his shoes, dripping off the ends of his eyelashes, and even coming out of his ears. I'm pretty sure we could have filled our swimming pool just by wringing out his clothes and dumping out his shoes. Elijah was content playing with the water in the water table, while watching his silly brother and contemplating whether that looked like more fun...

...and i guess it eventually did. Elijah decided to abandon the water table and got in on the sprinkler action. I think his main plan was getting to the watermelon, but he didn't mind getting soaked in the process. Much to his disappointment, the watermelon wouldn't come detached. And by wringing out the water from his soaked clothes, I'm pretty sure we would have been able to water the garden for a week.

Next was soaking wet car and bike riding, which would normally be a good way to dry off, but with the amount of water in these jammies, it didn't even turn them from soaked to damp.

And eventually, all of this water fun led to stripping down, leaving the wet clothes outside, and going inside for popsicles (because there's nothing a mother appreciates more than kids eating popsicles without their clothes on -- well, maybe a few things, but this is definitely up there on the list)!

One of the many joys of summer with two awesome little guys!

Fourth of July Weekend

Happy (late) Fourth of July! Hope everybody had a wonderful weekend. I enjoyed a fabulous weekend at the pool, BBing, and enjoying time with family! And this year, more than any before, I also was feeling especially grateful for this wonderful country that we live in...the best place to raise my two precious boys. We are so fortunate for the freedom and rights that we have. I was remembering back to an Oprah episode I saw not too long ago in which the Invisible Children Organization was gathered to raise awareness about the war in Uganda and the children who are stolen from their homes at night and made to be soldiers. Hard for us to even imagine a life like that. We are truly fortunate. And I hope that God not only bless America, but the rest of the world, too. I hope that someday, children around the world will be fortunate enough to exerience freedom the way that we do.

Here are some pictures from our fun weekend...

Jaden's ready to go swimming. It took some convincing to remind him that he always has to wear his swim jacket, but once we got it on, he was ready to go!

Jaden loves to swim - daddy's trying to teach him how.

Asking me not to take a picture of him!

Wow, they look like they are performing in an aquatic show.

Splashing is always the best part

There's Elijah with sleepy eyes, fighting an outdoor nap. I put his feet in the water and he didn't like that one bit!

Happy Fourth of July (and birthday to Aunt Maureen).

My brother Jeremy trying out a neat firework stick. It looks like he's juggling fire.

Front row seats for the front yard fireworks display.

Jaden was terrified to go outside and tried to stop everybody else from going out too. As everybody snuck out to do fireworks, Nana convinced him that it was safe to watch from inside his playroom.

My cousin Connor got to see the babies for the first time and just loved holding them. Jaden was especially attached to him and wanted to

Sound asleep.

There's my sweet and smiley niece, Aubrey.

My sister Angela, cousin Colleen holding Aubrey, sister-in-law Melissa, Aunt Kathy, and cousin Connor holding Elijah.

The beautiful sky and mountains just after a thunderstorm.