Signs of summer...

***First sign of summer... taking a summer hiatus from daycare for the little ladies!***

Usually during the summer, I would have Taylor go every other week or so, just to keep in the groove with her routine in her classroom, but this summer, we are taking a break until August. The girls went a couple times after school was out (lots of things on the to-do list for this mama after the craziness of school finished!), and those were the last days for Camryn in the baby room! When we start going back in August, she will officially be a "wobbler". :o) It was a bit of a sad last day because we had to say good-bye to a woman who has been a part of taking care and raising my girls for the past three years! Miss Dawn was the first "teacher" I met at our daycare, who helped reassure me over the phone and in person that Taylor would be just fine when I would have to leave her to go back to work. YEARS of experience with working with babies, Miss Dawn often helped me with the new-mommy learning curve when Taylor was little, and you could always tell that the babies in her room were her first priority.

We will still get to see Miss Dawn around the building, but I will miss having a little one her in room!

We are so grateful for such a loving woman who took good care of our girls when they were babies. :o)

***Second sign of summer - an abundance of FRESH FRUIT!!***

Had to include this picture - part of our massive fruit consumption has come from Ryan's parents who have strawberries in their garden. They gave us 9 quarts of strawberries for free! This is not even than half of them! Yum!!

***Third sign of summer - playdates!!

LOVE playdates with friends in the summer...helps keep me and the girl's sanity a bit each week to get out and do different things with other kids!

We went to the beach with a bunch of teachers and their kids last week (gotta love being friends with people who have lakefront property :)). So many kids, and so much fun!

Ty and Taylor were SO excited to hang out, again! They have missed seeing each other at daycare! (Holding hands, heading down to the beach)

And then we met with a pretty cool little dude and his mama at a new park and had a picnic lunch. FUN afternoon! Camryn and Charlie are pretty close in age, which is fun! And, Jana and I got to catch up on a bunch of mommy and teacher talk, too. :o) 

Love summer. Love it. :o)

Life on break :)

Life on break...it's slower and a bit more crazy - all at the same time. Hanging with the girls from sunrise to sunset (and yes, sunset right now is 9:30pm!) is really nice, but definitely has it's moments that make me feel like it is more like five against one instead of just the two of them. :o) Despite the moments that they are both are crying or needing two different things at the same time, or both wanting to be held, or both chucking parts of their lunch on the floor that creates a huge mess, there is one thing I know for sure. This summer is going to be lots of fun.

Cam is on a great napping schedule right now. She gets up around 7, goes down for a morning nap around 9 (when Tay and I get to play, just the two of us), she gets up around 11:30, we all eat lunch, then head outside until Cam's afternoon nap around 2. We go for a walk every day. During Cam's second nap, sometimes Tay and I take a nap or read together, or sometimes we stay outside for extra pool and sun time. :) Around 7, Cam goes to bed, and Tay goes to bed when I do, and we start it all over again in the morning!

I want to be able to remember what different stages of life were like as the kids grow up. Next summer's schedule will for sure involve less nap time and more play time!

On the first night of summer break, we went to the Outdoor Discovery Center for a "Soar into Summer" event my school was sponsoring.

Our days this past week involved a lot of...
Yummy lunches together....

Lots of pool time...

Lots of playtime...

Lots of park time...

THIS weekend involved a lot of THIS...

And this... (excited to put down the drop cloth and get painting...at 9:30pm :))

We are getting the house ready to put it up for SALE! Cannot believe we are actually going to try to put it on the market again, but hopefully someone will decide our little house is perfect for them, just like we found it perfect for us when we were first married.

We also had to do a couple errands for various things for the house, including a stop at Target. Camryn is all about walking, walking, walking. She was cruising around the aisles of Target, thrilled by this new found independence. Can you spot the little girl with the teeny pigtail? :o)

One year pictures

A little behind - Cam is almost 14 months old now - but here are a few of the pictures from her one year session. Little sweetie... she was a bit nervous, but our wonderful photographer managed to really capture our little girl and all her expressions. Love.

 

 

 

Lambie made it in the pictures as well - very fitting, since Cam loves her little stuffed animal so much :)

Conquering mini-size fears

Camryn's fear of grass seems to be fading...just a bit

It may be because she is a full on walker now - which means little soft shoes to protect her toes, and not having to crawl on her hands and knees through the tickly, green blades :o)

Camryn thinks she is big stuff now, going down the slide all by herself

She would squeal with delight when I would put her by the steps to be able to climb up and go again

Taylor seemed to think that she was scared of the swing this year, refusing to go in it, saying it was too high, but by the end of the evening, she was asking me to push her higher! All fear forgotten :o)

A few other weekend randoms
A long walk in the sun (the girls love the side-by-side jogger)

Taylor with a "tree" that Ryan pulled out of our landscaping

Cutie...

And a video of our new little walker :o)