We are halfway through summer, and while I'm really trying hard to keep up with blogging and pictures, I'm finding it so, so hard! For two reasons..... 1) Because it summertime and all the kids are home with me ALL the time, I take A LOT of pictures..... way more than normal. And, 2.) Because all the kids are home with me ALL the time, I have zero time to go through them to post. See how that works? Yep. I think last summer I posted pictures weekly. That was a great idea, and I think I kept up with it well. Too late for that this summer, so I'm going to have to just go by month at this point. And speaking of that, I'm pretty sure I never posted April/May pics either. :/ Hmmmm. I'll have to look into that.
Soooo, I'll go back to May, Carter was still in school, so most of our outdoor fun didn't include him. But we did manage to take our first trip to the pool one evening, all 5 of us, just before Memorial Day weekend. It was still pretty cold, but that didn't stop the kids! They made some nice improvements to our pool over the winter, including resurfacing it, so it now has a nice, pretty blue bottom!
Notice Ella playing on the steps not wearing a floatie. She started the summer off cautious without it, but quickly developed her skills (after 2 weeks of swim lessons at the end of May), and is now full of confidence in the water. This was the summer she blossomed and she's doing amazing!
Cole loving it. He adapted well to the puddle jumper, thankfully! He is now a fish in it! Jumps in by himself, puts his face in, kicks his little feet to the side, all of it. No swim lessons yet for him, but you wouldn't know by watching him -- he's just a natural in the water.
A few pictures of Carter shooting hoops out back one evening. This was one of his favorite things to do back when it wasn't 1000 degrees outside in May ;)
Looking so grown up
Watching a storm roll through from the porch. We had lots of rain in May again this year!
Since jumping on the trampoline in the heat just isn't that much fun, we've added some water fun to keep using it during this harder season. Sticking a sprinkler under it is a lot of fun!
Cutie Cole taking a snack break from jumping on the trampoline
And Ella girl, still at her handstands and tumbling.
Playing in big tubs of water is always a hit!
But bouncing with a nice, cool mist under you is pretty refreshing!
They play pretty well together, most of the time
Looking cute
Ella dumping cups of water on her head, and Cole leaning over to blow bubbles. They're entertaining to watch, that's for sure.
Cruising cutie
Love the way they're looking at each other
And a fun action shot
Cole loves to go in the outdoor fridge when we're not looking and pull out can's of Eric's beers. I was doing some chores in the garage, and found this when I walked back around the corner. I can't even be mad that they made their own little 'poolside happy hour'.... Looks pretty awesome to me!
Lunch on the porch! (And Stormie there too, always, to clean up the crumbs)
More fun to come in June, with Carter, too! :)
