Summer time...and the livin' is easy...

We're keeping it simple around here this summer.  We have a couple more vacations to look forward to in August, and we have family coming here in a couple weeks, but other than that it's been, and is going to be, lazy days at the park, beach days and activities with our mom-and-me group, and evenings barbecuing and swimming.  Doesn't get much better!

I've made it a goal this summer to get my kids dressed everyday.  I know, aiming high.  I was going to set the same goal for myself, but come on, let's be real.

So, I'll probably take pictures often of them pre-spit-up, pre-sand, pre-milk, pre-jelly, pre-water, pre-dirt, etc, just so I can look back and pat myself on the back come fall/winter when we go back to jammie days.

Garrett still loves (over) watering the plants everyday...

He also loves his 'helper' stool, and we almost had a sibling fight when it looked like Lulu may become the new sous chef.

We went to the beach on Monday with a few other moms and kids.  My friend Ashleigh, who has 2 boys and loves Garrett, played with him and her boys the whole time while Lulu and I sat under the beach umbrella...

Well, I sat.  Lulu made it her goal for the day to pull herself up to standing on anything that seemed sturdy enough.  She'd done it once at home, but this particular day I saw a lot more determination and a lot more excitement when she was up. The excitement could have been because of the other 2 moms that were cheering with me.

She's becoming mobile fast.  Garrett took his first real crawl just a day or two before he hit 8 months.  Addie will be 8 months on the 15th and she's dang close. (truthfully I'm not as excited about it with her as I was with G)  But it'll happen whether I'm ready or not.  Right now she's belly-flop crawling.  Meaning, she gets to her knees and then flops forward, then pulls up, then flops.  She's getting places but usually it comes with red knees, chin, and forehead.  She also stays on her knees and plays with toys pretty well now too, but sometimes she falls forward onto the toy and then flops like a fish out of water, usually whacking her face on the toy over and over.  Poor little girl, she works hard!

And with Addie's new mobile tricks has come a lot of restless sleeping.  It's like she thinks she needs to move, spin, and flop all the time.  I watched her today for a while and it was like she was trying so hard to get comfy but couldn't.  Hoping she figures it out soon because she was up 3 times last night and we're used to 9 hour stretches out of her.

Anyway, that was all info I'd usually save for her blog, so I'll finish up here.

I could tell Garrett felt a little ignored today because Addie mostly skipped her first nap and that's usually our best play time.  So tonight when I got home from my massage, Paul put Addie down and I was going to put G down.  But not before we made cookies at 9PM!  He loved it!  I love my one on one time with each kid everyday, and if some days it comes when they should be in bed, so be it.  He was a great helper and an even better taste tester.  Geez I love this boy.