We're having a heat wave...I know, I know, you all are too! :-) Thankfully, we're having a very different experience this time around. For the first time in our 8 years of marriage (Yes, as of today, we've been married 8 LONG years! :-), we have air conditioning! We gave in and bought a window unit last week, and we are feeling quite spoiled right now. The kids don't like the idea of staying inside in the cool, though, so tonight we had to let them go run around in the sprinkler before bed. They got a little chilled, so they warmed themselves by lying on the hot cement.
In other news, my mom came to visit a few weeks ago. It was a ton of fun! We went to the beach...
(Grammy and the boys)
...We went to Mo's (if you don't know Mo's, you need to visit the Oregon Coast!) and had clam chowder...
(The boys crack themselves up)
...And we flew kites...Grammy even flew two at one time!
The beach was great fun!
We also went mini-golfing with the boys. This picture, though not the greatest, shows my new haircut. I got the bi-annual cut done while Mom was here to watch the boys. My hair grows enough to donate 10 inches to Locks of Love every two years. If any of you cut 6 inches or more of your hair at one time, search for Locks of Love on the Internet and send them your hair. It's a great cause!
(They look like pro golfers or something, don't they?)
We also dinked around at home a lot and I used my mom's help in the garden. We've finished out our pea plants for the year, but as you can see, the sunflowers are still going strong!
Our hydrangea was having a great year until the weather hit 100+. Hopefully it'll survive with the help of these two little gardeners. Notice Aric's rake - he's lost the handle, but now it's a handy hand-rake (or, in darker moments, an interesting possibility for a weapon :-). The boys are only allowed to use their hoes and rakes when working WITH mom and dad, because they are dangerous. When used as the tools that they are, though, the boys have been able to be quite helpful. Unfortunately, they don't make kids garden tools to be used heavily, or at least not in hard clay soil. Taylor bent his hoe into itself the first day he got it. He was quite upset, but we bent it back into shape, and the offending thistle paid the price! :-)
We're really enjoying being home a lot this summer and trying to be intentional about enjoying each moment with our boys. They are growing up so fast and the stages are just flying by. We are so blessed by them and thankful for them.
I'll leave you with a few choice quotes from Aric. Taylor's learning to read and is very aware of language. Consequently, he tends to be careful with his words, so he's not as quotable as Aric at the moment. This evening the boys were running around the sprinkler and making up games, and Aric told Taylor, "There you go, Young Man." He wasn't intending to be funny at all, but Jeremy and I sure cracked up. Earlier today, we were talking about whose birthday is coming up next. I told the boys that mine was coming right up, and Aric excitedly said, "And I want you share some of it with me!" Apparently, in his mind, birthdays and cake are interchangeable concepts. :-)
