Random Summer Snippets

Wow, this all seems like a long time ago . . . for example, Noah sabotaged his own hair cut a couple of weeks ago and ended up with a buzz, therefore he now looks a year older than this picture . . . sigh. Anyway, soon after learning to walk, he realized it was time to earn his keep.I showed up one day to pick Josh up from the day care at the gym and he looked like this. None of the other kids had masks on, but Miss Sarah (whom Josh adores) said all the kids made them but Josh was the only one that wanted to leave his on for a long time. He said it was his Spiderman mask and he left it on the whole way home. One day Josh spied this helmet in Wal-Mart and asked if I would buy it. I had been wanting to get him a bike helmet anyway, to teach him safety while safety is still cool, so I said sure. He was clearly surprised, and then pointed to one of those Hummers for kids and said, "We should get this to go with it." Hey, while you're on a roll, might as well ask . . . (no, it didn't work for him the second time). He was so excited about his helmet and knee pads he put them on to eat breakfast the next morning.

It's our family Christmas gift (what Gary and I got each other) from last year that we finally purchased this summer. Josh and Noah like to sit next to each other and pound away. Sure it can get obnoxious, but it's pretty cute how they dance around. I remember feeling like a musician doing the same at their age.

Another crucial summer development - there are certain shows that put Noah in the same trance Josh often finds himself in. It actually never lasts long, but the length of a 5 minute shower is long enough, and I thought the looks on their faces was funny enough to capture.

On the developmentally appropriate side, Noah also spends time reading the weekend paper with his father . . . or he has become a little monkey that imitates everything.

For Josh and Noah's joint birthday-season in May, we got them a trampoline in early July. Josh was soooo excited for it to come, and Gary was awesome to put it together right away the night it came. Josh would have been jumping on the box if he hadn't . . . Gary did a great job, but unfortunately the directions didn't give a crucial step in the beginning, so after putting it together once he had to take it apart and do it again. What a labor of love, gotta like this guy. He suffered a lot mosquito bites but seemed genuinely excited to see Josh excited with the final product.

And wow do they love it! We put a little stool outside so Noah can climb in, too, and they have a lot of fun. I have loved having something for them to do in our back yard.

Yeah, they are wearing swimsuits in the trampoline picture. They spent most of the summer running back and forth between the pool and the trampoline. Can you tell if they like it?

Hooray summer!