I just uploaded hundreds of photos...get ready!

Our summer...

Fun times with baby powder...

Evan! Aunt Heather made waffles. Mac thought it was heaven.

The ubiquitous sunglasses shot.

Hangin' in the front yard in her PJs.

Wow, the boy needs a haircut!!! But he didn't get one until several weeks later. Oh well : )

Arden on my baby quilt.

I told him to clean his room and this is what I found...all toys on the bed.

A visit from my oldest friend, Mary Anne, with her 2 boys...a sweet, sweet time.

Bonclarken!

Home from 2 weeks at Bonclarken, we visited the children's museum. Mac's favorite part is the grocery store.

Arden dancing:

Dance party! My favorite picture of this whole batch.

Mac's room. Arden's favorite place to hang out.

One day, we were attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes. Mac is still talking about it: "There were bugs EVERYWHERE!"

Some fun brother/sister shots!

Teeth!!

He has made this expression since he was a baby. It kind of makes my heart melt a little bit.

So that's a taste of June and July! I'll post videos of Arden's unique crawl and her dancing soon!

Milestones

In the past 3 (ish) weeks, some milestones for Arden:

1. Crawling. The "tuck and scoot": tucks the left foot under her bottom, uses her right foot to propel herself. The girl can MOVE and has decided that she would most like to spend time in her brother's room. She keeps getting bruises on her forehead though, because she'll get some momentum and her arms won't keep up with her propelling leg, causing her to faceplant. (But she doesn't seem upset when this happens, despite the shiner.)

2. Pulling up--but not yet sitting down. The source of many terrified shrieks from her room. "Help me!!! Help me!!! I'm standing up but I'm supposed to be sleeping and I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SIT DOWN!" (Once I went in to help her and she was so relieved and excited that she put her arms out for me to pick her up...only to immediately fall sideways...and of course become more upset. Sweet girl!)

3. First tooth! You can barely see it, but you can feel its razor edge that has (finally) poked through.

Interestingly, she is doing all these at almost exactly the same age Mac did (between 8 and 9 months). He did learn to sit from standing much sooner than she has. I'm working on teaching her this skill.

One other cute thing from around here: Yesterday and today, Mac has been gathering stacks of books and then announcing to me that he is leaving to go to Bible Study. "Bye mom! I'm going to Bible Study! See ya later--honk! honk!" (He always follows "see you later" with "honk-honk". No idea where it comes from.) Sweet boy.

Little Pitchers Have Big Ears

{Background to story: Brad's affectionate name for me is "babe".}

Today, when I coughed Mac looked at me and in complete seriousness asked, "You okay, babe? You okay?"

I was laughing too hard to answer his question.

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We've had a very busy three weeks! Will post more about our travels and adventures soon!