Finally

What does 20 plus hours of summer reading look like?

After two months of waiting, asking and wondering how much longer, Jack finally got his summer reading reward today. The day we went in to sign up for the summer reading program in late May seems forever ago. Mrs. Dana, the children's librarian, was sporting a phenomenal pirate's hat. Jack noticed it immediately and wanted it. Mrs. Dana told him there were some in the Summer Reading store. I explained to him how things would work and we got to reading. It helped that Mrs. Dana also mentioned there would be ice cream certificates.

The first threshold was easy...two hours. We had that done by the time we were ready to swap our books the following week. Jack was so excited about his reading chart and what would follow proclaiming in the car, "I can't wait to show dad my pirate hat and ice cream." Those first two hours earned Jack two tickets. I scored him an additional four by bringing a donation for the Ronald McDonald house. We waltzed into the store to find the pirate hats were 20 tickets. I begged Jack to save his tickets for next time, but that was of course fruitless. I did convince him to only spend three, rather than all six. Thankfully, almost every other threshold has included an ice cream reward so I was able to keep him out of the store and from spending those precious tickets. Today we earned ten more tickets, bringing our total to 27.

Of course, we were there when the library opened at 10 am this morning.

S is for...

Sam, of course.



But, I've also been reminded lately that S is for sneaky...

"something wrong, mom?"

Of course it always starts when things get a little too quiet. In his case, I heard a loud noise (the napkin holder). I walked around the corner to find this resourceful 17 month old had used a chair to climb on top of the table. (Of course, I grabbed the camera before scolding him...)

And it wouldn't be right to leave out the fact that S is also for sweet.

This same sneaky tot has taken to giving out smooches to his favorite people. Accompanied by an adorable "Mmmmmm-maaaah!" I like to think the longer the "mmmm" lasts the more he loves me.

Just Ask Jack

If you've got a burning question, I've got just the person to answer it: Jack. Our ever-curious 3 1/2 year old is full of answers these days. Here are just a couple of examples:

Sam has gotten to that stage that he must remove his shoes when he is in the car. I remember Jack going through a similar stage, but can't for the life of me remember how long this lasts. It doesn't matter if we are going an hour down the road or around the corner, he will do everything he can to get those suckers off. It can make running multiple errands quite frustrating. Last week after opening his door to get him out, I notice he has again removed his shoes. I say aloud, "Sam, did you take your shoes off again? What am I going to do with you?" Jack looked at me and said very matter of factly, "Putting them back on."

Another evening last week, I let Sam enjoy himself at dinner and feed himself his yogurt. Of course, I knew what would happen, but a bath was on tap for that night anyway. I was in the kitchen, and Sam's back was to me. So, I asked Josh, who was standing closer to the table, "how's Sam doing over there?" Josh's said, "He's doing great, Mama," with such joyful encouragement. Jack looked at him as if he were crazy and piped in, "He's got it ALL over him!"

Eight

Today marks eight years of marriage for me and my beau. If our relationship were a child, it would be entering the teens this year. Yep, we've been together for 13 years.

In the last eight years (and the five before that), regular date nights at hip eateries have morphed into lunch dates at places that have kid's meals. Just a couple of weeks ago, I felt a bit curent as we waited in line on a Friday night for a movie premiere...but our stubs read 'Cars 2,' and we had a thrilled three-year-old bouncing around in line with us.

When you've been together this long you buy each other the same exact anniversary gift and reveal it to one another the day before your anniversary.

A lot has changed in 13 years, like our zip code (about 3 times). Much has changed since that day we said, "I do" eight years ago...but I think we'd both agree there's so much more to love about each other and the life we're building together. I love you, Josh!

making a splash

Summer is supposed to be hot, but in the South it's plain old sweltering. It's so nice when you can cool off with a nice dip. I think these little guys are having fun.

blink

when did this happen?

or this??

I'm pretty sure this guy spent the majority of last summer doing this...



 
and more...

So, when did he get big enough for this??

ode to summer

I have always loved summer. What's not to love...no school, daylight that lingers forever, homemade ice cream, swimming, popsicles...

Although our days haven't felt particularly lazy, but I sure have been with keeping the blog updated.

Thinking about braving the slide at Water Day

Sam just prefers to lap up the water. Maybe I should give him a drink?

a game of velcro catch in the driveway

a beautiful painted sky

Sam enjoying a jr. bacon cheeseburger

swim lessons

showing off his floating techniques