4th of July fireworks...

This was the first year that we let Gavin stay up to watch the fireworks. Our block just set up chairs in our street since we could see our local display super well from home.

It was a great show! Rumor has it that it was extra special and extra long since last year's show was canceled due to the weather.

I love fireworks, so it was really special to share that experience with Gavin this year.

We had a great view right from our house. And, shockingly, Gage slept right through it all!

Gavin got a kick out of the whole deal, especially the part about being up so late to watch the display. We played in the street with a couple of neighborhood friends, and Darby and I set up an easy little scavenger hunt for the kids after dinner and before the fireworks. It was, by far, the latest we've ever let Gavin stay up. He did well, all things considered, though he didn't make up for it in the morning, which we suspected. We keep saying that it doesn't really matter what time we put our kids to bed, they'll still wake up around 6 a.m. every morning. Having said that, though, they've both been "sleeping in" (6:30-7 a.m.) lately, and I'm thrilled! The difference between a 5:45 wake-up call and a 6:45 wake-up call is HUGE!

Popsicles...

One of my favorite summertime childhood memories is eating Mom's homemade popsicles. Zach and I enjoyed plenty of those! So hard to believe that now I'm making them for my own kids.

It's a win-win situation as far as I'm concerned, because not only are popsicles just fun to eat on a hot summer day but they're not bad for you when you just make 'em out of "yo-goo" (Gage's version of yogurt).

No objections here! I feel extra good about giving these to Gage since he's not a milk drinker. We're not worried about any lack of calcium for this child, however, considering how much yogurt and cheese he eats.

July 4th at the park...

We usually go to a free event at a local church for awesome 4th of July festivities, but we missed it this year because the bulk of the stuff was happening when it was about 100 degrees that day. So when the guys got up from their naps we went over to the Broomfield Commons (local park) and took advantage of the free petting zoo and the throngs of people at no extra charge. (This was my dad's worst nightmare: TONS of people, kids everywhere and animals to smell and touch...all for free.)

But if you're not willing to deal with some throngs and some smells and some hassles (let's be honest), you miss things like this : Do you see Gage pointing to the goat? It was just as adorable as it appears right here.

That's Gavin in the yellow shirt, petting the llama.

One of our favorite Gage sound effects is his duck quack, so I can only imagine that that was out in full force when he saw this goose up close and personal.

That's Gavin in the yellow shirt, doing somersaults down the hill. I remember when he started doing those, even before he was enrolled in the gymnastics class, and he was so proud of himself. I thought that I would show Gage how to do one in his room the other day, and I nearly lost my lunch trying to show my youngest son my "skills"...couldn't really believe that I used to enjoy doing those. It made me totally dizzy, so I'll just let Gavin do the somersaults from now on.

The Bay with the boys...

We recently took a family trip to the Bay, our local public water hole. (It's actually really nice and relatively inexpensive, so that's nice.) The water wings have been a life-saver (and a back-saver too) with Gage lately. I think we forgot how much we liked having those with Gavin at this age.

All of these pictures were taken at the little kids' pool area, which has cute slides and waterfalls and is the perfect depth for our boys.

Can you tell how much Gage loves the water?! The only problem with that (because Gavin is the same way) is that neither of our children has enough fear of the water. I think Gavin may actually be starting to understand that better as a result of his ongoing swimming lessons at the rec center. It's a real challenge for me to take the boys swimming by myself during the week, though I would really like to do it more since it's been in the 90s so much lately. We grew up with a neighborhood pool where we spent SO many summer days, and I really wish that we had something like that for the boys within walking distance. Oh well, they've taken to the sprinklers in the back yard lately, and that's cheap and easy!

Deck works...

Brent has been busy re-sanding our deck this summer. He has been joined in his efforts by his eldest son, Gavin, who busily works alongside Daddy with his own little play sander.

It's been quite a time-consuming process, but Brent (and Gavin, of course) is now about 90% finished with the first run-through. Then he has to re-do the whole thing before he stains and seals it. This was all inspired by the fact that the boys were always coming in from outside with splinters in their hands and feet. I have to say, quite honestly, that I really wish we could afford to hire someone else to do the work, but Brent has done a great job.

The boys meet Camille...

I think that this post will be published out of order, but Brent tries to remind me: Who cares? Apparently, the teacher/perfectionist cares a little bit too much that this post will not directly proceed the earlier post about Camille's first trip home. These are Zach's pictures that I wanted to include in our blog, too. Zach, Lorna and Camille came to Colorado in June.

This was Gavin's first moment with his baby girl cousin. I loved watching my boys stare at her!

Look at my littlest giant putting his hand on the carrier as he meets Camille for the first time. He has been fascinated by babies lately, so it was especially precious to observe his curiosity and tenderness with his new baby cousin. The other day when I was looking at some pictures of Camille on email, Gage came to sit on my lap. He reached out toward the screen and said "hug" several times; and then when I tried to go upstairs to do something else he insisted on coming back down the stairs at least two times to wave "buh-bye" to Camille on the computer screen.

Summer block party...

Our block has an annual summer get-together, which is always a lot of fun. Crazy to see all of the kids getting so big!

Don't you love Gage's little luau shirt? So cute! He's a precious piece of work, I'll tell you what. He's in the two word phase right now, so he says adorable things like, "Wow, Mama" or "Mama, down" or "Hug, Mama" or "Daddy bike." I wish I could get a picture of what he does nearly daily when he's in his crib: He crouches down to give me or Gavin a kiss between the slats of the crib! It just about ruins me every time.

Look how grown up our Gavincito is! Hard to believe that he'll be starting pre-school in the Fall.

All of the toys come out during these block parties, and Gavin has a blast...

while Gage chases after him! They're such a cute pair these days. I see them playing well together more and more, which is encouraging, especially considering that Gavin still loves to steal things from Gage the minute his little brother puts them in his hands. That still drives us both crazy!

We had the street blocked off for this little shindig, which was great for the occasion but a little confusing for our kids who have since struggled to recognize that that was the exception and not the rule. It was fun to watch all of the kids riding/driving/scooting/running up and down the street for hours.

Father's Day BBQ...

Pam and Bob invited us all over for a Father's Day BBQ not too long ago. Isn't Gavin looking so handsome these days?

Gage and his cousin, Madison, were playing with Grandma's toys and having fun with bubbles.

I have to say that I played a mean game of paddle ball (if that's what you'd call that game...better than "yard ball," which I almost wrote) and gave my husband a run for his money. He didn't see it coming.

The Orchard fountains...

It's been so fun to watch Gage in the fountains this summer. Each time we go he gets a little bit more adventurous, stands a little bit closer to the water and has a little bit more fun.


Some of our favorite fountains to visit are at the Orchard near our house, partly because of the train that runs there also. This particular train ride was unique in that we had never ridden in the convertible coal car (Gavin is usually partial to the caboose), and we were riding with Gavin's good buddy, Kyla.

Besides the popular and wonderful standard fountains, there is also a sneaky little fountain on the way to the bathroom. Gavin and Gage have decided that it ranks pretty high on the fun/unexpected scale, so we always have to factor this stop into our visits now as well.

Here Gage is washing off his apple in the waterfall (aka sneaky) fountain.

Man, this child is CUTE! He probably asks me for hugs twenty times a day, and "hug" has become synonymous with "up" now too. I will gladly give this child as many hugs as he wants!!! He's been practicing his wide smiles with friends and strangers alike lately, and I hope that I'll be able to capture it on film soon. That, and coming around the corner with a whisper "hi" are about the cutest things you could ask for. We are so thankful for Gage. He's a real joy!

Outdoor Soccer Tots: Part 2 of 2...

Here we are, the faithful fans on the sidelines: Mommy & Gage!!! I can't believe that Gage is old enough to start Soccer Tots now too! Coach Guy, one of our favorite coaches, reminded us of that fact the other day, and we realized that we had probably started with Gavin at Gage's age! Where has the time gone?!

Gavin's about to crawl into the tube, and seeing this picture reminds me how far he has come! He used to hold the whole group up with his shenanigans in the tube, and now he just races through it and moves on to the next thing.

Daddy is able to meet us at the fields from time to time, and Gavin loves to see him there. Actually, Gage was the first to spot him this particular day. I kept wondering why he was saying "Dah-tee" in my arms so much...until I turned around and saw Brent sitting behind us on his bike.

Gavin had a bunch of fans that day, truth be told. Even Uncle Zachie met us at the fields for the soccer lesson (and world's fastest Jamba Juice and story-telling session) when he was recently home. I'm so glad that he made it for that! (Zach agreed that Gavin is a speedy little dude on the field and a good "ball handler," by the way, so it's not all the mommy bias speaking here.)

Outdoor Soccer Tots: Part 1 of 2...

Is Gavin cute or what?! He has been doing Soccer Tots at Boulder Indoor Soccer for awhile now (like probably two years by now), and this summer BIS is doing its first outdoor session. We're all loving it! We go on Wednesday mornings from 9-10 a.m.

I'm loving the outdoors, we love the coaches, I love to watch Gavin play...and, really, I think the only thing I don't love is driving from Broomfield to Boulder.

Gavin really responds to the coaches well and wants to follow their instructions, which is so refreshing and wonderful for us to see.

The bear crawl is one of his favorite things to do, and he's really good at it. He's fast these days, too, so I felt badly for the little girl who was chasing him to get his flag the other day.

Lorna, Zach, and Baby Camille visit Colorado...

Here's my sister-in-law, Lorna, holding her now two-month-old daughter, Camille, at our house when they all came home recently. It was Camille's first trip HOME (we pray that she will also know it as home someday soon), and I marveled at how different she already looked as compared to when I had seen her in Austin at only a few weeks of life.

Here's Brent holding his new baby niece, Camille. Note his easy, experienced dad, one-arm clutch. It was sweet to see him with her, and it was wonderful for our boys to meet their new cousin.

Laundry basket racing...

Isn't this funny?! I like how I can tell by the picture what sounds Gage and I were both making as I was pushing him around in his laundry car.

Gage at 18 months...

Here's our sweet little fella! We have a very similar picture of Gavin around this age (or, actually, maybe it was when he was younger), and my brother and sister-in-law just sent us a picture of our niece doing the same thing. There's just something so cute about having a shirt over a baby's head, hiding all of his/her hair and revealing only a sweet baby face.

Gage continues to be our sweet, mellow guy. He's saying new words all the time now! My personal favorites are "huhhg" (hug) and "hehhp" (help) and "yash" (trash). It's amazing how quickly a child's vocabulary grows! I really wish that I were better about speaking Spanish to Gage. At this age with Gavin I was speaking a lot more of it, and I think that I was better at reading to him in Spanish too.

I'm starting to get really excited about the one-on-one time I'll have with Gage in the Fall when Gavin's in pre-school. I plan to take him to story time, and we just recently talked about starting him in soccer too!

Gavin's second bike race (Morgal Bismark course)...

So you see: Gavin's wearing the green aqua "jersey" in this picture, and Daddy is standing right in back of him as the kids get ready to ride one full loop of the real race course that Brent rode later in the day.

Brent said that it was hard to keep up with Gavin on the downhill section of this loop, as he ran behind him in flip flops.

Gavin got a major kick out of Daddy riding his little bike for a bit after the race was over. Can you see the little vanilla ice cream cup that all the racers got afterward? This was Gavin's main incentive to finish (not that he needed one, really), and everyone also got a red finisher's ribbon. I love that he doesn't know or care that everyone got the same thing, and that's OK at this age. I want to try to intentionally acknowledge and appreciate the great things about each age as my kids grow and develop.

Playing in the yard...

We're in the market for another $1 lawn mower if you hear of anyone giving one away. :) Both kids clearly need one now!

Gavin has taken to wearing the shades lately, and it's pretty cute I have to say. And we've pretended, occasionally, that this little water shirt could double as a biking jersey; and if you say it is, then it is...at this age, which is nice.