summer picture update

It's been way too long. So, here's what we've been up to lately...enjoying the summer heat...

enjoying some beach time at the indiana ogden dunes, where good friends christy, carson and caroline recently moved. so fun on their private beach!

sharing some pringles at grandma cindy and grandpa clark's house. my sister lara's kids, anya and evan, were there for the weekend too! so fun.

anya (2.5) and new baby evan (3 months old)

ooohh, daddy's head is so fun to rub.

dylan and noah have recently become real buddies. noah CRACKS up at everything dylan does. true giggles. and dylan is always doing stuff "for my brudder" or "make my brudder laugh"

Noah is going for his first swim in grandma karen and grandpa warren's back deck - they got the kiddos a little pool! he loved it! such sweet pasty skin.

one of our summer projects was THIS! jason put together this swingset and put mulch in our shared backyard behind our condo building. here dylan and michaela (dylan's 10 year old cousin) are swinging together. Michaela came from iowa to spend 4 days with us in chitown this past weekend.

Yesterday we all (Michaela too) went to the beach that is 2 blocks from our house. It was great fun and Dylan had a BLAST! Noah slept for most of it which was a great break for us from watching 3 kids on the sand... Dylan is eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the water...she crunched more than a few kernels of sand that day...

sing a song

Dylan loves music and has for quite some time. She started to sing on her own a few months ago, but would only sing aloud for us while driving in the car - I guess she was embarassed, and somehow the car, sitting in the backseat not seeing my face, gave her the freedom to let loose. Now, she pretty much sings anywhere and everywhere. She is not embarassed by it, but rather is in her own little world when she sings. She likes to be acknowledged, but would be just as happy singing along for her own benefit.

Sometimes you'll hear full songs you know (most common are the ABCs or the Elmo Song). But usually it's a conglomeration of made up songs with snippits of stuff she already knows. You'll hear lots of repetition and lots of rhyming. Frequent song portions include Pop Goes the Weasel, Twinkle twinkle, Happy Birthday, Twiddle-dee-dee (from Musikgarten class), Lalala, and various other songs from her fave CD "The Best of Elmo." FYI, 5 months ago we got this CD from a friend. I was so mad I ever popped it into the car stereo...it was an instant favorite. I didn't get why - it was SO annoying. But, lo and behold, fast foward to the present and I don't actually cringe anymore when Dylan asks for "Elmo Songs!" each and every time we get into the car. And I find myself singing along more often than not...there's something oddly catchy. In fact, a week ago I was going to the store in the car by myself (hallelujah!), and I didn't even realize until I had returned home that I had listened to Elmo Songs on full blast the whole way to the store and back, singing right along...yikes.

Anyways, back to Dylan's singing. It's really quite adorable. And she usually moves her head and arms to the rhythym she's singing and get's really into it. Sometimes she does a grand finale and raises her arms and goes real high with her pitch. We clap, but usually that just starts her up again and she goes back into her music trance. When do we stop being so fancy free, not caring about our correct tune, or if someone is judging us? I don't want that to ever come. I just want to stay here, now, where music is our medicine, where songs can stop a tantrum (most of the time).

what's up with this mess?

When is the next time I'll have a clean house? I've heard from others that that will be when my youngest child is 4. Somehow that gets me mentally off the hook for a few moments, but I just can't seem to cope with this messy house. There is stuff everywhere, all the time. And I hate it.

I don't care if it's justified or expected with 2 kids. I know I have excuses...I guess. So, anyone want to come over and clean my house?

splish splash

We conqured our first pool event of the summer with only a few hurdles and meltdowns. We went over to our friend Megan's house. Iain, her son, is 7 weeks younger than Dylan. And Ruby, her daughter (not pictured in any of these pictures because she is also a second child, getting the shaft on photographic documentation), is only 6 weeks younger than Noah. We had a blast, truly. That's the thing about hanging out with someone who totally understands where you are in life...you don't have to worry or stress out when your son wails through your conversation and you have to pace the yard back and forth in the almost 90degree heat. You don't have to explain why your 2 year old is yelling "No!" in a very hurtful voice to you as we try to go inside for lunch. And you don't have to justify why you are exhausted, frustrated, overwhelmed, or even full of joy for these two little demanding angels in your life. She just gets it. And you can talk in fragments, lose your train of thought, and ignore your disobeying toddlers together.

It really was awesome. Dylan and Iain definitely had fun, but honestly, I think the get together was more for the moms' benefit.

this is how dylan "swam" most of the time. to her credit, it WAS pretty cold water.

really, mom...is this swimming suit from last year or WHAT?!

YAY! We finally (after about 1.5 hours) got up the courage!

this is why i like camera's that have more than 1 megapixel...

and this is how you end a swimming party when you're 2. You eat a naked lunch together!

moms day

I want to share a couple of pics from mothers day...jason dropped me off at best buy and said, "go pick out a new camera!" (ours had recently bit the dust...and we needed a new one anyway, so it was sort of a blessing in disguise)

Here are a couple of my first attempts at capturing some good moments...

dylan sleeping on the way home from the 'burbs...long day...

jason and noah chillin together after we get home from the store...


cutie pie lifting his head up so good!! so big!