Summer Summer Summer

How I love summer! I should not have chosen a job that continues to give me such a complete and utter break that every summer I cannot imagine going back to school again. Every summer I internally wail and outwardly mourn going back to work, especially now with kids. Transitioning back to hyper-busy as opposed to just summer-time-busy is painful. Getting up early in the morning is painful. Leaving the girls with babysitters--no matter how wonderful--is painful. Getting paid is essential. So. Summer ends, and I go back to work. Yesterday. And today. And tomorrow. The beginning is always intense, teacher work days and inservices, which make the break from the girls (Baby Annea!) so much harder. Annea did fine with the babysitter, but did give me many many sweet kisses when I got back.

Annea is sweet. She has been sick which limits her sweetness to when she's in someone's arms, otherwise she is cranky and crying. But healthy (hooray!!), she is so funny and cute and all the things that 15 (almost 16!)month olds are. She toddles around, dropping things, falling, redistributing toys around the house, giving hugs to her sisters, trying to intervene when they argue (she yells gibberish at them when I yell at them to stop arguing), and trying to cheer them up when they are sad (she is most often successful, she'll get right in their face and smile, trying to make them feel better, so sweet!). So fun. And into everything, more than the other girls were at this age, we have to watch her. Did I write about her near-drownding experience? Yeah. She went into the water while I was talking to other moms and thought I was watching her, and was rescued quickly by a lifeguard teaching lessons who happened to turn around at the right time. Sobering experience.

Eliana is having lots of sadness lately, many things are very sad to her and invoke loud (fake-sounding) crying. She evidently wants to be sure that we see, hear, and understand that she is upset. Both girls, really, have gone straight to tears when things bother them (or they bother each other) and we are trying to encourage them to use their words.

Adessa is excited for school to start, and will only now be giving up her nap, since school goes until 2ish. She is ready to be a big kid, most days she just rattles around on her bunk bed until I say she can get up, but I am not ready to give up my afternoon quiet. Okay, now I'm ready.

Overall, all is well, just gearing up for another school year.
But first, some more of the summer: (Disclaimer- I tried to organize them and got confused with the large number and will never post them if I don't do it now. Maybe I'll fix it later. It's a great sampling of summer in no particular order, the pics or this list: wharf, berry picking, farmer's market, Annea's first Dum-Dum pop (lollipop for that matter!), running around at the field, Laurel's house!, a hike to Bear Mountain, and Annea's 15 month well-baby check up. )