Summer...so far!

Summer is exhausting.  And ever-so-fun.

Summer is so short here in the NW that we seem to jam-pack everything into a very small amount of time. 

Here are way too manysome pics from my iPhone.  After going through these, I now understand why I feel so spent.  

Summer is...

...portrait-taking...

...collar popping...

...train riding...

...parade watching...

...new bark...

...list making...

...lots of reading...

...new big-kid! bikes...

...tide-pooling...

...jam making...

...crashing...

...car washing...

...playing with dad...

...camping...

...the beach...

...sand castles...

..swimming... 

...fire-booms...

...chalk-painting...

...sunglass wearing...

...celebrating 11 years... 

...table making... 

...friends with cool slides...

...ballerina camp...

...superhero toys...

...cousins...

...knee-healing...

...big boys...

....mmmmmmmm...

...california cousins...

...tubs full of dirt...

...air shows...

...spiderman...

...lipstick...

...hitching a ride..

...bunny whispering...

...birthday-ing...

...dance partying...

I mean, we are just barely into August right?!
Bring it!
I just love summer.

Name Writing

Lila is semi-obsessed with letters.  She can identify many and started writing her name a couple of months ago.  It is adorable!  She finds letters everywhere.  And writes her name on everything.  

Our dude knows how to spell his name and make the letter 'L', but I've never pressed him to learn to write out his entire name.  I figured when he's interested, just like Lila was, we'll go there.  

Well last week he did it.  

And he just busted this out.  

Are you kidding me???

He was totally holding out.

Although we love that Lila's creativity is taking off, we can't get her to color on paper.

  Nope.  

She prefers walls, tables, toys, cabinets, the deck, her body, Jezebelle, the toilet, and on this day...

...the couch.

This girl.

Lila is thrilled because for once she didn't get in trouble for writing on the walls.

Going for the Gold

Who doesn't love the Olympics?

Lila + Lincoln if you ever compete in the Olympics, you can bet you piggy banks full of coins that I would win the gold medal in cheering.  I will go bananas routing for you.  And I won't even give-a-care if it's embarrassing for you because I will just be ever-so-proud.  Your daddy to.  Man, would he be proud.  Probably not as loud, but so very proud.

I would also cheer that loud, or possibly even louder, for you if you were a line judge at the Olympics or a referee.  If you painted the lines on the soccer field or if you handed out water to the cyclists or even if you carried the country banners for the teams.  I would be just as proud if you were the janitor or grounds keeper making things happen behind the scenes.

You will have never seen a cow bell as big or as loud.

FREEZE

I realize I haven't blogged forever.  These 3 year olds sure do keep me busy.  I have avoided blogging because where do I start when I've been gone so long???  My thoughts...ignore the absence and start with what's now.

I want time to stop.

For real.

I know I've said it, blogged about it and said it some more.  It's old news.  And yet it's on my mind always.  

Life is just sweet.  And I love sharing my (exhausting) days with the most precious turds there ever were.  

Please, for the love, don't think it's perfect.  It's so not perfect.  

It's perfectly imperfect.

It might be perfect however if I thrived under the most whiniest conditions.  

If you like the sound of whiny children, come on over.  

I'll let you enjoy it for a while.  

For the record, whiny-ness doesn't fly with me.   Or Brian.  

Not. At. All. 

 But they continue to try.  

Boy oh boy do they try.  

Also it might be a perfect little life if I enjoyed the occasional 3 year-old melt down.  

Today....well, it's still a little too fresh to discuss but here are a few details--  

Screaming.  I mean SCREAMING.  Kicking, thrashing, yelling, shouting--you get my drift.  

At the grocery store.  

During the entire check out and loading process.  

Can you imagine how many people were looking at me?  Let me just say...A LOT!  

It was absolutely not okay. 

 And there were certainly repercussions for this behavior.  

Can I just say discipline is so not fun?!  

Necessary for sure, but one of the hardest parts of the job.

But the precious moments, well, they are mighty perfect.  

And Brian + I  would have 10 more Lincoln + Lilas.  

Maybe more. 

They just rule that much.

Last summer.  Look how much they've grown!

Last weekend...

My silly lady. Looking 8 years old.

Ferrying to Seattle.

Ferry riding with my crew back home.

Lately

We're alive!  

 You know the thing is, you go to Italy one week, and then your daughter gets her tonsils and adenoids out immediately after you return, and then you know what happens???

Italy all of the sudden feels like a MILLION years ago!  

Because real life done-did slap us across the face when we returned.  

(And then suckered punched us in the belly when we were down.)

A little more than 2 weeks after the surgery, I can (almost) safely say that we have survived.  

But barely.

Because that surgery is no joke.  And it knocked our Pearl out for more than 2 weeks.  

She was miserable.  She was tough.  She was sassy.  She was sad.  And quiet.  And hungry.  

And she couldn't get enough of her mama.  

She just started feeling a bit better in the last 24 hours.  She doesn't sound like our girl yet, and she is certainly far too skinny.  (Insert sad face!)  

But she smiled, played and slept through the night.  

Thank God!

And Brian + I need another vacation like this one.    

Lincoln was so good the last 2 weeks.  We didn't get out of the house hardly at all.  His sister was either too sick or too grouchy to play, his mama was carrying a 35 pound baby on her hip 24 hours a day and his dad was working round the clock.  

So what did our son do?

Play happily by himself, enjoy the extra sweet snacks around the house, patiently help his mama, work in the yard with daddy and grow like a weed.  

Seriously this kid has grown so much lately. (Insert sad face.)

I can honestly say that in all of my 3 years as a mother, these were by far the hardest 2 weeks.  

And I was alone with twins from the beginning people!!!

Motherhood humbled this week, but I must say, I am just ever-so grateful to be a mom.

And to be able to be home with my sick girl, not at 'work'.

And even though I'm all kinds of tiny, without any 'cushion' to be found, I'm the coziest source of comfort for my gal when her world is spinning.  

And that feels like a million bucks. 

Do You?

Do you let your children dress themselves?

I do. 

A lot.  

They both chose green.

Not always of course, there are occasions when I get to choose and/or have the veto-power.  

(Like flip-flops in the rain.)

Lincoln wearing crocs and a tank top.  In the rain.  With jeans.  In February.

But most of the time during the week, they choose.

Looking good.

Here's the thing, when I taught Kindergarten, there was a particular round-faced cutie pie that always came to school a disheveled mess.  

This girl had pony-tails sticking out of her forehead and was mismatched from head to toe.  

But, she couldn't have felt more beautiful.  

Her mother told me she let her choose her own clothes and didn't ever have
problem with what she wore.
I loved it!
She was allowed to express her creativity through her clothes.  

The confidence she felt was evident. 

Certainly much different from the (mostly) girls and (occasional) boys who would choose to sit out of an activity rather than get their shoes and/or clothes dirty.  

Or had the most lovely, on-trend get-ups, but were too uncomfortable to play in them.  

Polka dots and leopard.

Lila + Lincoln tend to choose outfits that they think match.  Green shirt, green underwear and green shorts for instance on my dude.  Or striped shirt and striped skirt for Sis.  

These always leads to rocking outfits let me tell you.  

Or sometimes Lila likes to wear her Christmas dress to Target.  

And Lincoln wears his football pants.  (Carrying a football of course!)  

Sometimes Lila wears her ballerina dresses or Lincoln wears all red like Lightening McQueen.  Lincoln's favorite shirt has a gigantic stain that I cannot get out.  

It doesn't bother him for one second.  

But here is the thing for me.
They could care less what others think about what they are wearing.
They feel special.  

And I'm sure sooner rather than later, they will start making choices based on what they feel others will think.  

We all do.

So until then, our children will be the ones letting their personalities dictate their adorableness.  

And not their threads.

And it's 2 less battles I have to fight each morning.
Win.  Win.

Roma

Rome was amazing.  

It was just so, so amazing.  

Brian + I fell in love with that city.  

It reignited our desire to travel.  It made me want to learn to speak Italian.  

It makes me want to read history book after history book.  It makes me want to drink stronger coffee, much more wine and indulge in loads of gelato.  

Every day.

We had the very best vacation.  

It kinda feels like a dream.

We took a bunch of pictures.  Here are a few.

Taking off child free.  Ahhhhh.

 Our super-hotel under that gorgeous super-moon.

Gelato every single day.

My imagination ran wild seeing this place.  

Yum.  

This place again.  Wow.

It rained one day.  Oh, I am sorry, did I say rain?  Check that--POURED.  And we were in the middle of some ruins with no shelter to be found.  I am completely soaked from the knees down.  And everywhere else as well.  The rest of the time high 70's and gorgeous.

Wine + maps.  Several times a day.

Relaxing.

Throwing my coin in the Trevi fountain.

The Pantheon.  This place...my.

Vatican City was incredible.  So much beauty.

Us.

Us.

 Us + (more) gelato.

Alright that's enough.  

I could be here all night showing you pics of more amazing-ness.  But then I would be THAT person who made you look at every picture of their vacation...Zzzzzzz.

If you ever get the chance, GO TO ROME.

You will not be disappointed.