snapshots of summer

I know Labor Day is supposed to be the last hurrah of the summer and then everyone buckles down for school and work and schedules and football and fall. And believe me, fall is my absolute favorite season. I can't wait for it. But it's easy to hold onto summer just a little bit longer when you're not teaching, your babies don't go to school, and it's still 100 degrees out. I almost, almost don't want it to end because it's been such a sweet season for our little family. We've lived it to the fullest and made every minute count of our last summer as four. 

Thanks to their grandma, CG and Lola know full well what an ice cream truck is. I can't remember ever having this experience in my own childhood. It may have happened before our little troop landed in the middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire. But I know that it for sure didn't happen after that. For sure. Ice cream trucks were things of storybooks and movies. {They are kind of creepy in movies and kind of creepy in real life, though, yes?}

The girls became little sorters and artists and expert sticker-peelers. It amazes me some days the simple things that will entertain them while promote actual learning in such a small child. 

We went on lots of wagon rides and had lots of pool time. Lo is our fearless swimmer. If she's near a pool, you better hope there's an adult in there somewhere ready to catch her because she's jumpin' in with a huge smile on her face and one fist pumped straight in the air as if to say, This one's for childhood and how awesome it is. Every time. 

My quirky kids became even quirkier this summer. We love it. They are hilarious and spunky and full of life. The things that go on in those tiny brains. I wish I knew what they were thinking. 'I think I'll wear my bloomers on my head while carrying my ball around in a paper bag while also trying to pour water from one container to another. Yup, sounds like a good idea.' Because, really, why wouldn't you?

We ate ice cream and shared peach milkshakes, something these previously-organic-only babies could hardly fathom. But, you know, some parts of summer are just not organic.   

We also discovered, though, that these girls have a serious love affair with fresh tomatoes. And cucumbers. So it all balances out in the end, if you ask me.

These girls splashed and played and poured and re-poured water like it was their one job this summer. For being so excited to jump into big pools, they much prefer to use their kiddie pool as a mere source for the important work of filling up a watering can to use to water/fill anything in sight. 

They started talking this summer. Beyond the typical dog, hello, hi, mama, daddy, etc. Charleigh's formerly sweet 'Oh-wee' became 'How-ee budd-ee.' And you better believe, that poor dog runs in the opposite direction when she starts calling. She mastered 'pickle' and 'peach' and since then has been saying words non-stop, making sentences, and basically acting 13. Logan's language development has definitely been different than her sister's. Duh. They're two completely different people. But this may have to do with the amount of time her thumb is in her mouth. We'll ask if she can say something and she just nods her head while sucking that thumb. Yup. Sure I can say it. Just in the past few days, though she has surprised me with some new words. Her favorite phrase is, 'Idunnoknoooow.' As opposed to C's-- 'Whey's How-eee?'  Logan still jabbers on in her hilarious baby talk and sometimes will copy real words we say but other times it'll be like, 'Can you say, pickle' and she says something along the lines of 'goo ka sha??'  Good job, baby. Good job. Please talk like that just a little longer. 

These girls also became little mother hens this summer. It's made me wonder about all the chatter surrounding forced gender roles on girls and blah blah blah. They've never once seen me swaddle a baby, bottle-feed a baby, or rock a baby. And they've never seen it on TV. Yet, somehow, they know to do all of those things. They will sometimes spend hours in the morning wrapping and unwrapping their baby dolls in blankets too big, changing diapers, and shushing and patting their babies on their shoulders. Don't get me wrong, they also have an extreme fascination with trucks and airplanes. I ended up buying them a bunch at the multiples consignment sale and they love to drive them and load up the dump trucks with pompoms and tiny toys. I just find their natural instinct to nurture their babies/stuffed animals/daddy and mommy really interesting. 

This summer was also the summer of the yogurt pop. Whole milk Greek-yogurt, mashed up banana, freezer, done. CG asks for one after her nap every day now. 'Pop? Pop? Whey's pop?' 

Oh, that was also a new thing this summer. Naps. I could write a book about the struggle we had with napping and the amazingness that is two babies napping at the same time consistently. {It would be a really boring book.} After 18 months of not ever napping, one day CG just did it. I had resigned myself to them never napping at the same time early on and enjoyed the one-on-one time with them. I honestly thought, much like ice cream trucks, that naps were only real in fairy tale lands. And that all those moms out there talking about their kids' naps were just in on a devious plan to continue the conspiracy theory of simultaneous napping. That first day, I literally sat on the couch and barely breathed because I  just knew if I moved so much as one muscle Charleigh would wake up and it would all be over.  But, alas, a summer miracle. 

Praise the Lord for beaches and babies and ice cream and chatter and naps and summer time.