Playing Catch Up

Our summer was a blur. I moved through the heat in a steamy fog induced by the lack of sleep and energy that is the inevitable result of having a new baby. Amelia and Dylan could not have been any more generous with their hugs and kisses for their new little brother. And Simon endured it well.

Amelia had her 7th birthday while Evan was in Ghana, so we celebrated simply and quietly at home that morning complete with a Skype session with Dad.

One of her favorite gifts was this bean bag chair shaped like a hedge hog...I think it's a hedge hog...but I'm not entirely certain...

But her absolute favorite gift was this set of Hello Kitty press-on nails.

I'm not entirely certain what was so appealing about the nails, but she wanted them nonetheless, so I obliged. Daily, she wears simple cotton shorts and t-shirts with graphics depicting things like a turquoise Chiuaua wearing rainbow striped sunglasses and then adds the purple flowery nails to the ensemble. It's quite a sight.

On a similar wardrobe note, she wore the t-shirt she has on in the above photo night and day for about four or five days until I insisted that we wash it. (She decorated the shirt on the last day of her summer school art class and just couldn't bear to take it off.) Now it has become her weekend uniform because I won't let her wear it to school.

There have to be some wardrobe limits, somewhere...right?

Here's the birthday princess in my parents' pool that afternoon.

As she blew out the flame of a green birthday candle stuck in a brownie next to a scoop of ice cream and decorated with a tiny tropical umbrella usually found in summer drinks, my mom noted that Amelia was sitting at the same table I sat at as a child at many of my own birthday parties. And I am certain that if I dug up some of those old photographs, I'd have the same matted, post-swim hair and snaggle-tooth-concealing smile.

That's my girl.




Evan brought back soccer jerseys from Ghana for the kids. He bought them before the World Cup game between Ghana and the U.S., which he actually watched in a pub in Ghana.

Amelia only wore her jersey the day she got it to kick around the soccer ball with Dylan for a while. But Dylan wore his incessantly for several days until I demanded that we wash it.

Apparently there's a genetic condition at work here. It's officially called the "obsessed-with-the-same-shirt" gene.

And then the birthday boy...Dylan turned 4 in September. He requested an Oreo cake for the second year in a row.

And he wanted weapons for his birthday. His family obliged by showering him with various Nerf gun apparati, complete with orange goggle glasses.





And more swimming...this time in Tucson. We spent Labor Day weekend there for my newest nephew's, Baby Oliver, blessing.

Amelia took out her hair ribbon and played with it in the pool. She said it was a pink water snake.




My niece Abby held Simon a bit.





Evan and Dylan took a respite in the pool side chairs. Dylan was worn out not only from trying to sleep in a hotel pull-out bed with his crazy kicking sister, but also from trying to shoot everything still and in motion with Nerf darts.



I did manage to squeeze one last smile out of him, and it was a cute one.



In a desperate attempt to get Simon to sleep more consistently through the night, we fed him cereal.

Once.

It didn't work.

But then, not long after, he decided to sleep through the night on his own. Again, we are reminded that our kids have to decide when they want to do things. Little stinkers.

They're not stinkers. Not really.

Well, not most of the time...