Summer is Here!!!

We've been getting outside more often lately, despite the few days we had 110 degree weather. Summertime better "simmer down." Nevertheless, the kids love being outside. Emma is a little model. Here's one of her classic poses. :)

Doesn't this hat make Caleb look so handsome!?!? I feel like a cool theme song from some 70's show should play everytime he wears it. He's so stylin'-- he should be walking around with background music playing. The best part...he LOVES the hat. Sometimes, he'll take it off and then get to doing something else...then forget he took it off. He spends the next 5 minutes or so walking around, tilting his head back in hopes to see the brim of his hat. It's hilarious to watch.

Who needs it to be wintertime to go sledding?
At our house, you can go in the summer without snow... or clothes.

Caleb isn't much into reading books, but he loves to open and close them and turn the pages.

Emma was hiding under the blanket, and Caleb was playing peek a boo with her. They are now at the age where they can play together. They play chase, peek a boo, etc. I love watching their bond get stronger.

Last week, Emma and I went for a "girl time" walk around the cul-de-sac while Caleb was napping. She was ecstatic...see that bunny she's holding? That's "Stroller Bunny." Yes, that is his name. He stays in the stroller. This was Stroller Bunny's first outing outside the stroller. I love the look on Emma's face. She was SO happy to take him for a walk. (Oh, see the boo-boo on her arm? She fell outside when she was throwing a tantrum. Not cool. All that fuss just because she didn't want me to wash her feet off before coming inside).

It was a very windy day...

Posing again

Ahhhh....
I can't take it...she is growing up way too fast. Those of you who follow the blog regularly might remember a similar pic to this one when Emma was around 20 months old (I think). It's all happening too fast.
Sunday at church the Seniors who recently graduated from Wichita Falls got recognized and they put pictures up on the projector screen of all of them. It was a collage that had both recent and old pictures. One of the girls had a picture of her with her Daddy when she was little. He was holding her upside down and her hair was so long and just the color of Emma's. When I saw that, I started crying. Right there in the middle of church-- not during a song, or a poignant part of the sermon, but during a Senior Recognition, and for a girl I didn't know. I could somehow feel the pride that those parents must have been feeling, with a little bit of heartache mixed in that their "baby" is now grown up and entering the real world. Gosh, motherhood has made me a total softy. It won't be long before I've got a photo of Emma walking down the sidewalk in her cap and gown...

Sometimes Emma gets into "model mode." It comes out of nowhere, but always gives us a good laugh. These pictures were "all her"--I didn't tell her to do any of this...

or this...

...too cute...

...hee hee!!!

Just a swinging...

All that fun, and summer's only begun...

Emma looks great in a ponytail. She loves 'returning the favor' and fixing our hair. She was workin' on giving Daddy a ponytail.

Showing off the ponytail.

Saying goodbye to Daddy after lunchtime.
(Our neighbors probably think we're crazy. I promise, they do wear clothes most of the time).

Caleb's favorite thing...climbing in the laundry basket. He's definitely a climber...
the other day I was cooking dinner and I looked over and saw him ON THE HEARTH. How in the world did he get up there? I almost had a heart attack. Emma was never a climber. Just getting that girl to climb up 3 steps to go down the slide was a major feat for the longest time.

Chillin' in the laundry basket. He really needs to learn how to fold.

Bert and Ernie keeps on getting better and better. Daddy drew the circle and oval, and Emma did the rest. (she can draw and oval and circle too but was having a "moment" where she was convinced she needed help. She calls it 'help'...I call it 'attention.' ha)