The Look of our Summer Days

These are some examples of our summer afternoons. The kids play so hard in the heat, that come 2 or 3, Elliott crashes. If he doesn't crash, then forget getting him to Taekwondo in the evening, or saying "no" to anything; a meltdown or a crash, that's what we get. I much prefer the crash.

Summer days are filled with yummy fresh food!! Nevermind that Lucy won't touch most of my favorite foods (these beets are a good example), I love them, and I'll eat them all summer long anyway. Yay for garden beets, tomatoes (she won't even look at them), green onions, corn (which she will eat), salad (not a chance), and anything else that grows in the summer sunshine

Speaking of growing in the summer sunshine, Archie is doing just that! Gone are the days of the little baby that just observes life, he is a mover and a doer! He actually plays with his toys now! It is great. Mike commented the other morning, "I don't remember our other kids being this busy." They weren't. Archie's something else. Mike swears it's because he's such a genius that he gets bored, so he has to instead explore our cupboards, outlets, drawers, and anything but his own baskets of toys. He does like books though; you can always get him to sit still with a good book.

He also loves nothing more than being out on those Summer Days. He gets all red-faced and hot, but he never wants to come inside. He like challenging himself with going up and down the curb, or down the slide at the park, and lately, he can't get enough of the dump truck.  Just like his big brother.

Lucy must be ready for school to start, because she has gotten into writing again. The other day, she spent her allowance on The Bee Movie because it is her favorite movie since Uncle Kimball took her on a date to see it YEARS ago. After she bought it, she wrote him this letter, which I then texted to him.

Then, after watching an old family video where Aunt Heather read some poems she had written, Lucy immediately went to writing some of her own. Here they are, illustrations and all:

Elliott officially joined the ranks of "high belts". He tested for his blue. Very proud of him. 

Don't get me wrong, he's excited about his belt, but not as excited as he is about his first season of flag football!!!! When it comes to sports, any kind of sports, he is ready to go! Here he is in his get-up, giant mouth guard and all.