July and August

 Dinners on the deck. Bike rides through the neighborhood. Sidewalk chalk. Family yard work. Park days. Blueberry picking. Going to sleep with the sun. I miss these things. 

Summer seems like ages ago. Seriously, where did it go and why is it taking so long to come back? I'm already feeling sick of the cold and the snow hasn't even stuck yet. It's getting dark too early, but we still have more than a month of shrinking days before the solstice. Also I have no plans to escape to warm weather this winter, so I'm kind of panicky already. Winter, please be good to me.

Anyway, onto lighter subjects...here are some cute boys from way back when Michigan was lovely and warm.

We celebrated my good friend Melissa's birthday in July, and had some fun hangouts at the Smiths' new house.

Matt and I tackled a mammoth project this summer, which I'll post about soon. It deserves its own special recognition. The boys were always happy to help with it.

Another thing I miss -- being able to go straight outside after we wake up, pajamas and everything.

Jude was a little ray of sunshine this summer. (Since then he's found more of his Terrible Two side, but we'll remember the good ole days for now.) He's been learning new things, developing a crazy active imagination, becoming an expert on all things Ninja Turtle related, and is a serious snuggler. He makes us laugh every day.

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Josh has grown into a great helper and an independent big kid. It's been amazing to see how learning to read really changes a kid's life. He will talk your ear off about video games of all kinds.  He teaches Jude new things and is a patient big brother. His excited personality makes everything more fun.

In July, Josh also gave his first talk in church, and we were SO proud of him for being brave at the microphone. We had a little discussion about families, and then he told me exactly what to write down for his talk. He memorized/read it over and over all week so he'd say it just right.

Matt took a trip that month to Iowa to ride in RAGBRAI with some co-workers and customers. It's a huge multi-day bike ride across Iowa. He tried it last year and had to quit the second day due to heat exhaustion, so I wasn't very excited about him going again. But this year he redeemed his manhood, and he even got to meet Lance Armstrong.

How was I doing all summer, you ask? For a couple months, this was me every free moment.

Head on a pillow, trying not to barf. All thanks to this tiny little lady in my womb. I know, I know, I know she'll be worth it. But pregnancy is really un-fun sometimes. 

At the end of July, we got ready for a long trip to the west to visit family. You'll hear about that soon too, but here are the boys packing their suitcases. They felt they really needed lots of library books, toys, and pillows. I adjusted as necessary.

Their friends Jack and Will helped them make a bunch of "bad guys traps" on the driveway to protect Matt while we were gone the first week. They obviously worked, and Matt was grateful.

When we finally got back from our trip, we took advantage of the tail end of blueberry season. It's probably our favorite thing about Michigan.

We had a park day with friends while a bunch of the dads helped our friend Spencer with his Eagle Scout project.

Josh said goodbye to his school buddy Elijah, who suddenly moved to Houston one day.

And by the end of summer, this is pretty much how we all felt:  relaxed, worn out, and wondering how it possibly went by so fast.