Summer

This summer has been a really good one. My kids are at really great ages.

Four is just the right age for getting to do fun stuff and being able to enjoy it and articulate and converse about it. Four is also such a great age where I get to hear Jack's take on things. He has his own ideas and thoughts and way to see the world.

Two has been challenging, but for Sarah and I two has brought language where before there was only crying and fussing and grumping. Sure, there are a lot of tantrums and throwing oneself on the floor, but at least there are words to go with it, so I can chuckle as I stand my ground that no, when you throw your first snack on the floor I'm not going to serve you another. But in other ways, two has been charming and delightful. Sarah lives 90% of her life in imagination. She is constantly talking, telling stories, comforting her babies, being a princess, and who knows what else, since I don't understand half of it. But she is such her own person who will not be swayed by anything you say or do and in fact will make a stand to do the opposite of whatever you want her to do (and thank goodness for reverse psychology, it is my number one tool for two).

But I have really enjoyed this summer. It has been hectic and busy, and my children have really mastered the art of sibling bickering, but we enjoyed being together as a family a lot.

I love this one, can't you just see the steam coming out of her ears?Oh, and the yell, the "I do not like something with every ounce of my being" yell.

Today's Theme Thursday is Summer, click over to see everyone else's summer photo wrap-ups.

Prepare for the Onslaught

If you follow my Flickr stream you should be prepared for the insane amount of photos that will be uploaded this week. I am just beginning to edit the first of the 800 (?!!!) or so photos I took during our two week beach vacation. I promise to try and cut the number down to only the ones that are particularly interesting and/or cute, but I simply cannot delete a single photo of either of my children when I tilt my head and gaze wistfully at the screen and know that this is how they looked at just this moment and that moment has now passed and we are on to other moments where they now look completely different. And only I know, with a mother's discerning eye,, that frame #2357 is ever so slightly different from frame # 2358 and so I must keep them all on my nearly full hard drive and upload them the Flickr so everyone can also see the babies that make my heart melt.

Take, for example, my girl on the carousel:

She loves riding a carousel.

She smiles, she laughs, she squeals.

I can't get enough of that full, open mouth smile/laugh/glee-squeal.

And if the ride itself wasn't thrilling enough she has to really get the full experience, hanging her head back.

Back and Better, Baby!

Whew! Well, that was a long break! Claps hands.

I'm back from a longish vacation and even longer blog hiatus and I'm ready to edit and post some serious pictures and tell you all how much I missed sleeping in my own bed. Also? How much I missed my children sleeping in their own beds where there are bedtimes and dinners that include vegetables. Maybe it's because I'm almost 30, but my body functions a whole lot better if there are vegetables involved. We spent two weeks in a row at the beach this year and I didn't go anywhere near anything green. I ate delicious seafood and boardwalk fries and salty snacks that come in bags.

In the spirit of just jumping back into things, I'm posting this best shot from my vacation straight out of the camera, with no editing at all. It is my first successful, albeit accidental, panning shot.

And I tell you, this girl loves a good carousel.


See so many other best shots today at Mother May I.

Back

We're back from vacation and I don't even know where to begin with the pictures I took! I can't pick just one for this week's best shot.


My Sarah loves the beach. She loves to run through the waves, roll in the sand, dump water from container to container, chase the "ducks" and grow up right before my eyes.


Jack is very serious. He has lots of projects to work on and things to build, roads to carve, castles to erect, as well as waves to keep an eye on. He is cautious about the water, one near-roll over can scare him for the rest of the day. But as the week went on, he was more brave and held my hand while we jumped into the water that washed over our feet.

I know that my babies being two years apart has been kind of close for me, they are often a handful together. But as they get bigger, they are becoming very sweet friends. Sarah is quite selective about who receives her kisses and they almost always go to Jack. They will play trains together, Jack pushing and pulling and adding the dialog, while Sarah hands him extra train cars, saying, "thank you" with each one.


I also have a picture up on my photoblog, Looking At Life.


Click over to Picture This for the rest of this week's Best Shots!