Life Is A Dream: Goodbye Summer

They say the only thing you can count on in life is change. And though I would love to keep summer here longer, it just won't stay. Maybe it is because I was inside for a lot of June. Maybe it is because I was sick last fall with morning sickness. Maybe it's just because summer is my favorite season. "Any which way" (as my friend Christina says), I just don't want summer to leave. But ready or not fall is officially here.

In addition to the fun activities with did while Beckie was here, here are lots of the other "goings on" of this summer. I'm sorry there are SO many pics! I just didn't want to leave anything out!

CATHERINE
One of the greatest things about this summer, was that my sister Catherine came over on most Fridays starting in July and helped me take the kids swimming. I just didn't feel at first like I could do this by myself and keep the kids safe (not to mention you have to wait til you're 6 weeks post partum). Now that I have done it a few times, I think I could. But it was so nice to have Catherine come over and help. She'd help me finish getting Mary ready and with loading the car. And then afterwards we'd come back to my house and I'd make us all lunch. We had fun bonding!

Is this not the cutest picture of the two of them?

We are seriously so blessed in Highlands Ranch to have rec centers with indoor and outdoor pools!

And even though he didn't get in, Jonathan dressed for the pool too.

BUNNY RESCUE

Back in June, one day, I happened to go down to the basement and notice a baby bunny that had fallen down the window well. He was just so cute and helpless and maybe since I had my own new baby, I just couldn't bear to let it die (even though bunnies are a problem 'round here).

After asking Jeff to help get it out (and not kill it), Jeff tried to set it free, but it got so freaked out in the process that it clawed it's way between the screen and glass for protection.

Eventually, after a lot of effort and basically totally destroying our screen, the little guy was set free and afterward, taunted Jeff in the days after by sitting in the lawn chomping on and destroying our grass. : ) I'm still glad we set him free though.

ELLEN
As I mentioned before here, my Mother-in-law Ellen, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May. I can't even begin to imagine what she has been through to get her health back and so I try to be as understanding as I can. But we have really missed spending time with Charles and Ellen and Belle (their dog) this summer. We have gotten to spend a little time with them though and they even watched Mary on our anniversary (13 years) so Jeff and I could go to dinner. Here is a happy visit we had. Doesn't she look so cute with her head scarf?

And here is a picture without her hair (used with permission). I'm sure that is hard to lose your hair. However, I think Ellen pulls it off nicely. To me she looks really hip with that buzzed head! : ) Now all she needs is some of those big trendy 80's-like glasses that are in right now!

HOUSE WORK

We had a TON of work done on our house in July . . . In June we had a bad hail storm - destroying the roof and other areas of the house and our insurance company said they'd pay to have it fixed! So since we were getting that fixed, we decided to take advantage of the general contractor and have him fix a few other things we needed done (especially if we decide to move next spring - which we probably will). Here are all the things we had work done on: New roof, new cement slab in garage, painted and fixed a hole in the garage drywall plus entire inside of garage painted, new garage door (plus paint), new glass for the sliding door, new kitchen sink, master bath wall paper taken down, walls textured, and painted, new screens on several windows, deck board replaced and deck painted, and AC fixed! Whew!!! Truthfully, it was all in pretty bad shape. And now it is SOOOO wonderful to have it fixed. It is so beautiful! Did I forget anything Jeff?

Garage

The new kitchen sink! I love it. Now it matches the other black appliances. : )

HANNAH and JOSEPH
In July, my oldest niece Hannah got engaged to this cute R.M. (returned missionary) named Joseph! She is 19! Pretty young, it's true. But she has a good head on her shoulders and they seem very in love, so I'm not too worried. She is gettting married in less than a month now! Crazy how life can change so quickly!

Mary trying on "wedding dresses" too. Doesn't she just look like a little angel here?

I loved this one too . . . a mini Cinderella.

EMMA

This summer, my niece Emma had some health issues again. Mono mostly. But she came through it again like a champ and here she is celebrating her 15th birthday!!!

FUN WITH CHRISTINA

We got to play a few times with my good friend Christina and her darling girls.

Fun at their house with the blow up water slide, etc. for Little C's birthday.

I love this picture of Mary.

Little C loves Jonathan

BOTANIC GARDENS
I decided to buy us a membership to the gardens recently and we have already put it to good use visiting them twice and also the gardens at Chatfield.

I had to take a picture of these beautiful, unique flowers.

Doesn't Jonathan look so grumpy and cute in this pic?

Fun times to cherish!

FUN WITH JENNIFER
Even though Jennifer works most of the time now and really doesn't have time to spend with her little sister, I still try to make her squeeze me into her schedule. We always enjoy our time together even if it isn't very often anymore. I guess we usually still see each other once every week or two. We've enjoyed Pink Berry (the BEST frozen yogurt in our opinions), an occasional movie or lunch, or just hanging out. Here is one day that was fun. We went to a grand opening of a new trail by Jen's neighborhood. We walked there (I counted it as my exercise), and ate, and they did a little hayride. It was pretty fun.

MY BIRTHDAY
So my birthday wasn't really a big deal at all, but I did turn 35 - so I am officially middle-aged! I thought I'd just share that here.

Here is the new 'do these days. I kept seeing this "beachy wave" look everywhere and decided my hair would lend itself to it. It is pretty low maintenance actually. I just let my hair air-dry after putting in a bit of product and then curl a few curls and that's it!

MY LITTLE DANCER

Mary is still dancing around a lot. This summer we got out my old point shoes and she had fun playing with them. After watching "Happy Feet" we also got out the tap shoes too - but I don't have any pics of that. I do have a little video of her tapping away.

We also got to go see Annabel practice before she left for her national competition. Mary was pretty transfixed.

And here's Mary trying out her new dance costume from Aunt Julie. Patriotic fairy maybe? I love how she's pointing her toe.

SWEET JONATHAN

I caught this sweet smile after Jonathan fell asleep as I was nursing him.

And here are a few others of Jonathan. He has been grabbing lots, blowing bubbles, cooing, smiling, rolling over a bit, drooling lots, grabbing his feet towards his mouth, and getting bigger and bigger. He had gotten into the habit of always nursing to sleep. But now he is doing much better about falling asleep on his own. He also is back to waking up only once a night. So that is really great!

THE PICTURES OF SUMMER

My sister used a term recently - I can't remember exactly - but it was "picture of summer" or something like that. Here are some pictures which are just the quintessential scenes of summer.

What would summer be without ice cream?