Summer Time!

Since today is July 1, I thought it was about time we took a little time to reflect back on all that we have already done this summer.  We are not even to the half-way mark and we have already had so much fun!  It's been a great summer thus far and we have lots more fun in store!  

I am just going to post a few pictures that will give some highlights of the past couple weeks in our world.  

Earlier this spring we had a robin's nest under our deck that had 5 little blue eggs in it.  We didn't see the eggs actually hatch, but we did get to watch the baby birds in the nest.  Below is the picture of Anna looking at the nest.  It was on one of the support beams of our deck, but you could see right into the nest through the slats on our deck.   

 

Anna had been checking the nest daily since the birds had flown away, and the other day she came back inside to report that there are 2 more eggs in the nest!  I wasn't sure I believed her, but after checking and seeing them too, we did a little research and found out that robins lay eggs twice in a season...so now there are three eggs total that we are watching excitedly waiting for them to hatch as well.  Despite not having a lot of trees in our backyard, we sure have experienced a lot of nature!

Last weekend we headed 'up north' to spend some time with friends at their cabin on a lake.  It was a short visit, but it was still fun!  

Here are the girls enjoying a movie with the puppies.  

The past week was filled with parks and friends.  We had a couple of playdates with different friends, and this is the only picture I got of our week.  We went to a fabulous new park and they had some really awesome equipment.  Here the girls are enjoying a swing together!  

After playing here we had a nice lunch and played more with our friends Oliver and Oscar.  

Since we have lots of projects going on at our house, we spend a significant amount of time at Menards.  The girls love shopping....here they are digging through the lumber yard to find just the right boards.

Another highlight from the past couple weeks was Claire getting her first hair cut. I was unable to capture pictures of the event due to me having to hold her while it was being cut, but I got some after pictures.  She just needed a little evening up across the back, so it's not really noticeable in the front...she still has a cousin It look about her:  

But when you tuck it behind her ear, she has a very stylish cute look about her!

 Here's the back, mixed with a little bedhead.  It's all one length across the back now, no more random sprouts on the sides.  

These two girls adore one another.  Anna wants to help Claire be a part of everything and Claire really wants to be a part of everything.  Now, of course, they have their moments when Claire scratched me or Anna has something Claire wants, but for the most part they get along very well.  Here they are washing the fruit for dinner. 

Claire has mastered the kitchen step stool, going up and down.  We may have to get another one...

That's all the random pictures I have for today.  I will try to get more for the month of July.  

Today we had surprise day...we went to a park and beach this morning, followed by the library and then a picnic lunch with Daddy at work.  Anna didn't know where we were going and enjoyed being surprised along the way.  She requested that she close her eyes when we would get close to a stop so she could be surprised!  For the next two days the girls get to go to school and Mommy will hopefully work on some of her unfinished projects!

Last few random thoughts:  

• Anna is learning a lot this summer.  Almost every time we go to the library she goes straight for the non-fiction section and gets a cool book on snakes or underwater creatures.  She learned that star fish will regenerate their limbs if they get one cut off, but she knows that her arm will not regrow if it gets cut off....she frequently reminds us of this great factoid.  Her favorite visit to the library involved reptiles...the RAD zoo guy was there and had snakes, lizards and turtles and we got to touch them!
• Claire is cruising.  She loves to be outside exploring, often eating sand or dirt or whatever else she can grab and quickly transport to her mouth.  She's communicating better, mostly through pointing and grunting, but I think and HOPE that words are coming soon.  She can get easily frustrated if you don't understand what she wants.  Claire wants to do everything Anna does.  At night she's obsessed with brushing her teeth, and she MUST stand on the bathroom stool to do it, just like Anna.  Teeth brushing ends each night in tears as she doesn't want to stop....I hope that problem continues!  
• Daddy is working on projects galore.  He is really enjoying his wood shop and is currently making Adirondack chairs.  He already made 5 and sold them so now he has to get back to work so we can have some chairs of our own again!  After we have chairs, he'll start working on our mudroom built-ins project.  
• Mommy has also been doing projects.  This summer she has painted the guest room, added the chalk board, built some new benches and upholstered them and is currently working on refinishing some chairs.  Next on the project list is the girls' bathroom.  We have the paint and many accessories, we just need to get the paint on the walls.  This has been the summer of projects!