Summer Days

We have continued our busy streak since we've had our two trips to Michigan, but thankfully our business has all been at home. My cousin Emily flew home with Elle and I after our last Michigan adventure and stayed with us for 2 weeks. Of course since I had an extra pair of hands for two weeks, we made sure we kept busy!!

After my first trip alone with the girls to the pool this summer I decided we would just try again next year. It was HARD, not in any way relaxing and I was exhausted when we got home. Since I had Emily with me I decided we would get in our swimming for the summer while she was here! It really is a lot easier with a second set of hands. I also really loved little errands during the girls nap or being able to fix dinner in the kitchen alone.

During Emily's stay it was also LD's 29th birthday! We decorated with balloons and a little banner and made brownies. Clare was so excited to wake up daddy to show him her decorations. Emily also watched the girls while we went to a movie during naptime and dinner in the evening, so it really was a big birthday treat! He even said, "This is what we used to do before having kids" as we sat in the theater at 2pm on a Saturday!

While Emily was here we also continued doing our "Camp Tiny" that a friend sent us at http://www.camptiny.blogspot.com/ We have loved doing camp tiny at our slow little pace whenever we have a need for an extra activity, craft, snack or story. It's also worked very well during Elle's morning naps since we are home.

Last week my aunt and uncle came to get Emily and also brought my mom with them! It was a treat to have them all hear, but an even bigger treat for Clare who went to their hotel every morning for breakfast and swimming. She has finally mastered swimming around the pool in her little swimmies without any assistance...so maybe at some point we will try the pool again on our own.

Emily's big goal of her time here was to teach Elle how to crawl and I would call it a success. She does 3-4 little crawls and also pulls up on our storage cubes. My favorite is when she puts both feet on the floor and puts her little booty in the air. I have a feeling she'll be flying around here very soon!

I have no idea what the next half of the summer will hold and I'm kind of loving it.