Summer Fun

I know, I know, every summer I seem to forget all about the blog. Just read, and you'll see why I've been slacking this time.

June: Anna turned 3 years old. We had a little shindig at our house, complete with her chocolate-cake-with-bananas-and-blue-polka-dots, as requested:




Our Little Bear is so very good at being three. Delightful, silly, mischievous, stubborn, affectionate. . .She continues to be a champion mess-maker as well as the family clown and resident fashionista.


She's a great little sister; she absolutely adores Elizabeth and also knows exactly how to push her buttons to annoy her. In so many ways I'm reminded of Kellie and me when I see these two play together. . .and that's encouraging. For as much as Kellie and I drove each other crazy as kids, we grew up to be friends after all. I hope the same will be true for Elizabeth and Anna. There's nothing quite like a sister, especially when you're all grown up.




At the end of June, we spent a week at Bear Lake with my mom's side of the family, the Torgersens. The water was beautiful, the beach was perfect for sandcastles, there were cousins and grandparents and puppies and all sorts of fun to be had. . .








Being Torgersens, we spent a LOT of time just talking, joking, and laughing. . .LOUDLY. And you've never really played Rock Band till you've played it with Torgersens. Outside. At 11 PM.




Elizabeth lost a tooth during our stay, with a little help from a stray Frisbee. The tooth was already dangling by a thread; I was actually grateful to the Frisbee for knocking that sucker out already. And then on the last day at the lake, Elizabeth's newest buddy Adelyn (my cousin's little girl) lost the same tooth:



We had so much fun--myself included, despite the morning sickness* that was just starting to take hold (yep, we found out the week before the vacation that I'm expecting again!)

July: Just as my morning* sickness really kicked in, the rest of the family came down with. . .wait for it. . .mononucleosis**. I feel pretty lousy during my first trimester, but I can usually depend on Jared to pick up the slack in the evenings when he's home. However, he was so wiped out that he was every bit as useless as I was. And by the time Jared came down with it, the girls were back to their normal, energetic tear-the-house-apart selves. You can just imagine what our house looked like after three weeks of being more or less run by a 5- and 3-year-old. I wish I had some pictures, really. I think at one point they were wearing dress-ups to bed because they had no clean pajamas, and I know there were more than a few days where at least two of our three meals consisted of cereal.

Um, yeah, no actual photos for July.
But here's a photo of our lovely new made-over bedroom,
where we were hunkered down for most of the month.
Not that it looked anywhere as neat and tidy as this, mind you:

August: Ahh, finally, we're feeling human again! Jared has been working on the backyard (natch) and I've been working to undo the damage of my two-month hiatus from housework, taking the girls to the doctor (3 shots, darn!) and dentist (no cavities, yeah!) and swimming lessons, and getting Elizabeth ready for kindergarten. I can't believe my little girl is going to school! She is unbelievably excited. So am I. . .mostly.



*Morning sickness, hah. I don't know about the rest of you ladies, but my "morning" sickness would be more aptly called "all-day-and-especially-at-night-when-you're-trying-desperately-to-sleep" sickness.

**We think. Elizabeth's test actually came back negative, but her little friend got sick a week later with the same symptoms and her test was positive. And then Jared was laid so low that we have a hard time thinking of anything else it COULD have been. I told him he should've kissed more girls in high school, so he could've gotten it then and spared me the inconvenience.