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. )

Riverside Summer Fun

Our summer vacation to Riverside was... okay... it was great. Though it took us a while to get over the fact that traveling with kids is so very little like a vacation. Must remind myself: with small ones, it takes (ours, at least) two days to acclimate and have anyone sleep very well. Add in any sickness and it might be even longer (yes, hacking coughs again this time, we even delayed our departure to hope for better health.)

The car ride down was nice and uneventful:

Adessa did sleep, eventually.

Sunglasses!

Eight years! This was our eight year anniversary picture, after a day spent driving and not really celebrating very much at all. We got to go out for dinner later in the week when Auntie Evie watched our girls. We had a nice time, and I discovered the martini: yum!

The Mission Inn is beautiful, cool history and architecture. Calvin took the girls on exploring adventures while Annea took her morning nap. On our last morning, Annea and I joined them.

Did I mention that Annea is walking!?

We told the girls to sit at the little table and pretend they were drinking coffee. I see mime in their futures.

The best part of the Mission Inn, however, is the pool. It's shallow and huge and surrounded by beautiful foliage and flowers. We spent most of our awake time there.
Daddy sprang for a poolside beverage for the girls. After her first sip, lounging, Adessa looked at Calvin and said: "This is the life".

Annea has discovered sunglasses.

With Auntie Evie and Melissa in the pool.

What you can't tell from these pictures is that Adessa is a swimmer! Each day Adessa discovered a new thing or two that she could so in the water. She could jump off the edge (by herself! and recover), she could float on her back and kick and scull, she could almost do a one-armed hand stand. She swam (holding her nose with one arm, paddling with the other) for most of the week, and then, all on her own volition (NOT in response to my many attempts to teach her) she started blowing bubbles out of her nose and swimming with both arms. Now it's going to be me NOT teaching her how to take breaths. She will do it when she decides, but at least she's doing it! Eliana was pretty happy to hang out on the steps, and could have for hours.

Daddy and Annea in the pool. Annea loved her "floating cabana".

Reading with Melissa.

Family at Old Spaghetti factory.

Art.

Art. Calvin mused (much too late) that he should have stood at the beginning of "Art" with his hands out like an F. Hee hee.

Fourth of July (totally out of place, but I forgot it last monster-post).

Where Ever to Begin!?

I'm so behind. So behind. Not for any good reason, just life moves fast, and downloading the pictures on here seem to take forever. But I'm going to attempt a catch up session from the last month(s).

Dunlap!
Memorial Day weekend we spent in Dunlap with our friends from church, Will and Sarah and their kids. Dunlap is the little town east of Fresno that boasts a Greek Orthodox women's monastery, the Monastery of the Life Giving Spring. We had talked about the monastery and visiting with Will and Sarah and others at church, but felt... kind of nervous. We did want our girls to see this part of Orthodoxy and make visiting monasteries part of our life. We just didn't know what to expect and how to do it. We joked that monasteries should have beginner weekends, but luckily Will and Sarah so kindly guided us through.

It was great! It is a beautiful monastery, and the nuns were easy to approach and talk to and we got to eat with them after the Divine Liturgy and walk around. I didn't get pictures at the monastery, oddly, but wanted to write a bit about it anyway.

We had a great weekend hanging out as families, also.

Tractor rides!

Swimming in the hot tub, hours of easy fun.

We visited Pine Flat Reservoir and splashed around.
Sarah and Lydia:

Eating our picnic lunch.

Will and Willie, and Calvin.

Some action shots of the lake:

Will someone get this confounded hat off of me already?

The Ballet Recital

On June 1st, Adessa and Eliana debuted on stage with Agape Dance Academy. Oh my goodness, I thought the process leading up to the recital was going to put me over the edge. Though we teetered near the edge, in the end it was almost completely worth the stress of practices and rehearsals and sewing costumes and disorganized dance disasters. The girls were SO proud and SO excited. They did great, fine,and followed along with their little dance, and were adorable and sweet. Right after performing Adessa said over and over: "I want to do it, again!" Hopefully she just meant that she wished she could do the same dance again (like they had in dress rehearsal), and not that she wants to become deeply embroiled in ballet classes so she can spend years and years of our lives doing dance recitals like these.

Gwennie was in the recital, too, thankfully, as Kim helped with all things costume and make-up.

Getting ready.

Posing! They're obviously feeling like stars.

Watching the big girls at the dress rehearsal.

Hanging out before the show with Madrina Romina and Auntie Lolo.

They had quite the cheering section, Aunt Deborah and Uncle Dan came, and Eliana's godparents, the Saads, Auntie Lolo, and Romina. So fun. The girls knew it was a big deal.

Once they were all dressed, we weren't sure if they could sit through the show with us until it was their turn, but they were riveted and completely captivated by the other dancers.

June 13th, Last Day of School.

Adessa's last day of school, with her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Purtscher. Mrs. Purtscher is such a nurturing, supportive, gifted teacher, and Adessa loved her and loved kindergarten. Everything big that happened in Adessa's life this year she has immediately wanted to report to Mrs. Purtscher. With 24 kids doing the same thing--retelling the minutia of their lives-- Mrs. Purscher has infinite patience and graciousness.

Getting her "All About Me Book" read by Mrs. Purtscher.

Singing songs for us, made me teary: my girl is so earnest!

Adessa with her kindergarten friend Melissa, at the last day party. Melissa's mom, Maria has become a surprise friend for me. We get together for playdates while I practice my Spanish with her, and sometimes we remember to speak English together to help her learn more English. Melissa has an older sister, Aurelia, who takes care of the bunch of them, and the girls play together so well and have such fun while Maria and I talk. In both languages. Super fun. Melissa and Aurelia named their chickens "Eliana" and "Annea", which is a high compliment for our girls.

Swimming Lessons
Daddy came to swim with Annea on his day off.

Adessa kicks! Eliana plays!

Adessa and her teacher, Flipper, with the thank you card Adessa made.

Eliana and her teacher, Dori.

My mom's birthday was July 1st, and I made it through in a detached and determined way. I am now gritting my teeth and pushing through this year. Somehow it feels like the "firsts" are the worst, exhausting, and once we get through a year we can process it all in a different way? Not sure about that, just know that I'm tired of firsts. With 20 zillion people in our family, there are so many firsts with birthdays alone, beyond Mother's Day, Father's Day, and holidays, and I am tired of being sad in new ways for the different people who are missing her on their special day. It is still mind boggling that she is gone, flabbergasting, inconceivable, unbelievable. It still does not seem like a very good idea of God's, but it must be. Life goes on.

On the seventh day of our eight-day-swim-lesson session, Adessa lifted her feet off of the bottom of the pool and swam. It was monumental, a long awaited moment and there was much cheering and yelling (by me, mostly!) She holds her nose with one hand, leaving only one hand free to paddle, but the girl is swimming and I'm so glad. Eliana is floating while holding on to the steps and I think Adessa's success has been a significant set back for her. We'll try to get them into more separate classes next session. Eliana's still having fun, most of the time, just not remotely into the swimming or splashing part of swimming lessons.

And, in related accomplishments news, Annea has taken her first steps! Her very first step every in the world was on her 14 month birthday, June 29th. She really got going, though, making lunges for one or the other of us on Mom's birthday, July 1st. So cute. She's very proud of herself.