Summer in our city

How quickly Summer days skate by.

This week finds us in July, relishing everything that is Summer in our glorious city...
splashing in the local pool...
attending Farmer's Market...
cool evenings around the chiminea making s'mores...
afternoon thunderstorms...
impromptu barbecue get-togethers with friends...
staying up late...
ice-cold beverages, fresh fruit, and meals-hot-off-the-grill...
ahhhh, Summer.

This week also finds me in my 31st week of pregnancy. Holy crap! Nine (short) weeks from now I will be the mama of three...three! My nesting instincts are starting to kick in and I've generated quite a list of "to-dos" before baby arrives. At the very top of the list, however, is just to gestate. Easy enough...especially since I'm still feeling pretty good.

Made a quick trip to Billings to visit all the grand-folks. Billings was enjoying sunnier weather than our beloved Bozeman so we followed the sun. Smiggy and Blake took advantage of Grammie Myers' pool and "no suit required" rule.

Matt and I have spent many evenings relaxing, chatting, being thankful for our home/yard/deck, making s'mores, and just enjoying each other's company in front of the chiminea.

Thursday mornings are set aside for play group with friends at our house. Coffee, juice, snacks, sun and water...all we need for a few hours of fun.

Most of my friends are pregnant...we're quite a site when all together - especially in public. (A very cute site, I think.) Sara, far left, delivered a sweet baby girl a week ago.

Pedicures for the pregnant.

When the weather refuses to cooperate, we head to PartiesRUs, where the kiddos can jump, slide, and wear themselves out on the air-filled play zone. Rebecca, Liz-a-boo, and Jack.

Smith enjoying the thrill of a huge, air-filled slide. I've been known to enjoy it a time or two myself.

Smith, again, giving the air-filled dog a head butt...no joke.

Early morning boys with their "draw-dos"...that is drivers, screw drivers.

Me and my no-longer-baby boys at a cabin on the Boulder.

Two

Dear Mason and Smith:

You are two. You are so two.
Oh boy, two is...challenging.
But, I've learned just enough to know that you won't be two forever.
And while I am challenged by your new defiance...er, independence, there is so much about two that I love and will miss when two becomes three.

I realize that you will not always...


fit on my lap
hold my hand
say "Up, peez" when you want to be held
wear your rain boots on the wrong feet
(wear rain boots at all)
call the slide a "wee"
want to have a hug, a kiss, rub noses, and bonk heads (in that order) before bed
be glad to see me first thing in the morning
point out every construction outhouse we see and say "Dada, pee pee."
let me choose your clothes
run around in just a saggy diaper
be unaware and unashamed of your bulging belly
cherish a plastic screwdriver you call "dry-do" (more precisely, "My dry-do!")
drop what you're doing and run to the door when Dada gets home
kiss me in front of your friends
find joy in simply throwing rocks and dandelion heads into the creek
want to cuddle and be held after I discipline you
push your belly-button and say "beep"

No, you will not always do these things. And I will miss them sorely. So, I write them down and hope that I will always remember what you were like when you were two.

S

M