Final Farewell to Summer

And when I say "farewell", that doesn't necessarily mean I will "fare" very "well" when winter hits. I mean, I have high hopes and all but when summer starts to go,...in a flash it's GONE. So, if you don't make peace with it right away, it won't be pretty. In honor of summer leaving us Eric and I wanted to have one last "little" BBQ to say goodbye, which turned out to be a great big one. (Sorry to all of our friends who didn't have any room on the grill and who all bumped hips as we tried our darndest to get food onto our very flimsy plates while at the same time kids were all under foot reaching for drinks and chips...) We had at LEAST 20 families show up to also say their final goodbyes to summer. We had everyone bring their own meat to grill and something to share. (A little trick I learned from a friend) and BOY does it ever work well. It sweeps about 90% of the stress completely off the shoulders. We even went boating that morning and came home with only about 2 or 3 hours to spare.

It was a picture perfect gathering and if I didn't have Analise working me so hard to keep her happy, I could have literally sat back in a far corner of the yard, alone, and just watched people talking to each other and being happy together. That makes me happy to see others having fun. Kids ran around everywhere, the food was great, and the sun was shining bright. There was no wind and the temperature was very comfortable. Very unsafe but cute nonetheless, there were about 15 kids on the trampoline at any given time, (jumping ever so lightly...) the swings were occupied and the basketball hoop was getting some good use. I only had a moment for a few clicks of the camera (it's so cool that you can push a little button and an image can be captured immediately and remembered forever...what a great invention) because of that little firecracker I had in my arms much of the time. Eric took his turn with Annie, too, but I let him have his food first.

Side note: It's taken me almost 15 years to really understand that physically, that man needs to eat immediately when he says he is hungry. He is not the "snacky" kind so when he says he is hungry, he is NOT kidding. Like his blood-sugar probably bottomed out long ago and his body will start eating his own organs if he doesn't get food at that moment. Feast or famine for that guy, I tell you. He just doesn't have the same talent as I do, I suppose. You know the one that comes so natural- the one where I don't even know my hand is reaching into the chocolate chip container and then to the sleeve of Ritz crackers (a very good combination together BTW). Summary: summer is over and I love our neighbors and friends.




Moving on the next event, I am proud of our Camden Tate who is now on the Wolf trail in Cub Scouts. Go Camden!


Last but certainly won't be called least, ...here is Analise. I did not know this picture was on the camera. Apparently the boys buried her in her toys and took a picture. Even THEY come up with creative ways to keep her in one place and quiet for a minute, maybe two. Seriously this girl knows what she wants- her spirit is about 10 times the size of the body it's contained in. Her voice is literally hoarse most of the time as she is very loud about letting me know what she wants. Too little to reason with, I go with it. For now. I am determined not to spoil her, unless of course it's too late already, in which case we are doomed.

Here are some of her accomplishments at 10 months old. She is a mover- she wants to pick things up, everything, anything! She wants to hold my cell phone and call the plumber,...she just wants to figure things out! She already loves books, and will sit and turn/rip pages. She is super fast up a flight of stairs and has fallen down one time so far, (right into Camden's arms who happened to be down below a few steps and heard her rolling/bumping down each stair). She is now way more cautious and just today I could tell she was finally interested in figuring out how to go down the stairs. She LOVES being around the boys, she loves her daddy, she LOVES her baby dolls-hugs and pats them, she says, "da-da", "ma-ma", and "ba-ba".

She just got her 2nd tooth on top, so now has 2 on bottom and 2 on top. She bites now and then and OW that hurts quite a bit- not so fun while she is nursing (I've almost made it to the year mark!). She has an awesome sense of humor- and can understand my facial expressions well. She is just growing up- I love her, I love her, I love her. When she is screaming at me I become very thankful that she is so dang cute, those little cheeks and perfect lips and super long eyelashes- to.die.for. Still after a year, it's hard to believe that we were ever deserving of the miracle she is in our lives. Now for the next season of life- bring on Autumn. I think I'm about ready.