Summer Snapshots

I have one more visit to write about and one more upcoming visit to eventually write about but tonight I thought I would post some of the photos from our summer adventures and daily life that didn't appear on the blog, or did and I forgot.

Slack line at Tree Top

Playing vet with Tim and Elizabeth.  Things got pretty crazy

So, we've bounced Greta on an exercise ball, mostly to put her to sleep, but sometimes to calm her.  Nick was at home, bouncing Greta when the ball popped out from underneath him, sending him and Greta to the ground.  Luckily Nick took the blow, cradling Greta in his arms, but his tailbone certainly hurt for many days.

Two major road projects this summer have provided many opportunities for Greta (and Nick) to watch construction.

Granny Goose.  Greta's first since she was an infant. She listened to the
stories until she realized she was young enough to get to play with the toys
the entire time and still get two Nilla wafers in the middle.

Oatmeal bin has provided much fun (and many messes) this summer

Greta's all time favorite thing to do is go for a walk.  She throws her hand down and says, "wa?" and stands at the door.  Making sure we understand what she wants, she also brings us our shoes.  She always brings the right shoes to the right person, and they are always a matching set.  

One day after putting Greta down for a nap, I walk into Lilly's room to read to her for her quiet time.  Here she was, sitting at her desk, with her animal patients, stitching them up.  I love that she is wearing her headlamp.

The washing machine - TV for babies

Lilly takes her story time very seriously, focused intently on the stories

Greta enjoys playing during Granny Goose

Greta grabs random books off the shelf and pages through them.  She
did find us a great new series, Mrs. Noodlekugel, so that was cool. 

Lilly had to have her photo taken on the tall chair too

 After Granny Goose, we went to Solstice Outdoors to get some new water bottles, Blue Wave for a cookie, and then walked over to Maslowski Park to play for a bit.  It was soaking wet and both girls went and waded in the water, but we had a nice time (until it was time to leave and I wouldn't buy us another cookie).

Lilly has taken a strong liking to two things this summer: audiobooks and Beverly Cleary books.  Here she is, listening and practicing writing Beezus.  She can listen to the stories for hours.  Since she's given up the nap, we've had her listen to audiobook in her room.  It is pretty fantastic.  One afternoon she was riding her trike and told me, "Mom, chapter 8 is Ramona Says a Bad Word.  It was horrendous!"  The other fun that has become of listening to the Ramona and Henry Huggins books is the vocabulary she's learning and trying out.  One night on the way home from soccer, she kept saying the word "jeez" and another time she said, "good gravy!".  We now are often characters from the books, Lilly is most often Ramona and I am Beezus.  Nick is often Henry Huggins.  The other night she informed "Henry" that Beezus was watching her because "mother and father have gone to the market."

Riding home from day care on the weehoo

Hiding from the rain

Greta now loves the bike trailer and often climbs inside when in the garage,
and gestures that we put her helmet on

Lilly wanted to have a pretend movie theatre one day.  We wore sunglasses (it was a 3D movie), had popcorn and apple slices, set up a box to take tickets, put up signs, and then looked at the laundry room doors for a few minutes.  We were watching Finding Marlin.

Another quiet time in her room adventure - wearing
everything from her jewelry box

We made lemon volcanoes one afternoon.  It was on the books but it was rushed ahead because Lilly was having a meltdown about watching TV and me needing something to distract her.  Of course it was drizzling outside so we did the experiment in the garage but it still worked out well and was pretty cool.

I couldn't find this photo when I did the Sam and Suzy post

Tim and Elizabeth played tag with Lilly after dinner.  They are great friends who I think Lilly thinks are more her friends than her parents.  Tim and Elizabeth are getting married this weekend and we are looking forward to the celebration.

As I mentioned earlier, Lilly is very much into Henry Huggins and other Cleary books.  Here she is, Henry Huggins, delivering the newspaper.

My new favorite photo of Greta

Lilly was playing with cymbals, so Greta had to as well.

What Lilly wore to Granny Goose

Lilly was a superhero later that same day and wore a cape to the park.  We saved people from giants, a very important job.

Woah, that was a lot more photos than I thought.  We've been having a great summer and have officially survived the three-week vacation of day care.  Both girls went back today and had great days.  And Nick and I got a ton of cleaning done around the house, our place is unrecognizable.