I love love love this photo

Coley's first swim!

Another warm weekend meant some backyard pool time. This was Cole's first swim!

Sportin' some swim duds

Glowing with sunblock

Splash Splash!

Drying off

Steve got a new yoga mat and the instructions said to clean it first. Addie had a BLAST helping with that particular event.


I can't believe it's already August! Where did the summer go???

A pretty big day for the kiddos

Cole started sitting up today--completely unassisted--for more than just 30 seconds at a time (which he had started doing 2 days ago)


Go, Coley, Go!

Yawn...this is sooo boring, I've been doing this for, like, ever....why are you guys so excited?

So, Addie...for the record, I'm 5 months MINUS one week and you did this at 5 months PLUS one week...

....so I win, but I'll still let you pose with me.

What's that, Daddy? Oh, you're telling a joke?

hahahahahahahahaha....

...boom.


And not to be outdone, Addie decided to hit a milestone today also. She's been pretty much just scribbling when she draws. She could draw a circle and a line if you ask her, and she knows how to put a line through a wave like scribble to get a capital "A" for Addie, but no actual objects. So out of the blue she's drawing today and starts saying "I'm drawing you, mommy. Here's your head, your eyes, your nose, your smile (she says "mile"), and your legs" then she proceeded to draw Steve's likeness on the right. He comes complete with hair AND a foot. Pretty good, huh?

It's feeling hot hot hot

The temperature last weekend hit 100 degrees both days! How do you keep cool when the weather is sooo hot? First you wait until it gets shady in the backyard in the late afternoon, and then you hit the sprinkler!

Addie was timid at first...
...but slowly got used to it.

Coley also got some of his toes wet

Then we let the two of them hang out together.

Cole preferred checking out the grass.

Then Addie got REALLY into sprinkler

See how wet she is?

And what better way to cool off than with popsicles on the porch?

On Sunday we ignored the child labor laws and had Addie wash our car to cool off. Well, at least the bottom half. And yes, she has no pants on. In the summer it's a battle to keep her from being completely naked, so wearing a shirt is a very fair compromise.

After the car wash, the kiddos went down for naps, and I wielded a power tool to trim the hedges (go me!)

and very suddenly a HUGE storm blew through. We were lucky that the house and car didn't get hit, and we had electricity unlike some others in the area. BUT....there was a little damage to Addie's swing set.


Ask Addie to tell you the story of the storm. She tells you where everyone was during the storm and exactly what happened. It's quite a dramatic affair when EVERYthing started moving on the porch

And some other cuteness for your viewing pleasure

Well hello there good-looking


Telling secrets to Gaga

Snuggling with Daddy

And giggling with Erin B.

Yes, he REALLY does smile all the time!

Addie said "No pictures please" to her papparazzi

Oh, okay...maybe just one to show us all what an amazing big sister she is :)

4 months old! Roly Poly Coley!

Cole turned 4 months old last Monday and decided to celebrate his birthday by learning to roll over! He rolled back to tummy on Monday and tummy to back on Thursday. Busy busy! A week later, that's pretty much all he does when put on the floor, roll this way and that. It's fun, but also a good reminder that I should start vacuuming more often.

All this rolling makes diaper changes way more interesting :)


Warning! Cute baby butt alert!

Yeah, you look proud of your bare-bummed self.

In other exciting baby news, Cole is drooling copiously and gnawing voraciously on everything, though rumor has it that his cousin Julie may beat him in the tooth cutting race! Go Julie, go! :)


So Cole is growing bigger and bigger--he's 17lbs! He's in the 75-90% block for weight, height and head circumference. My proportionately giant baby :)
In conclusion, there's ton of cuteness in the household



Not to be outdone, whenever we take a pic of Cole we try to make sure Addie gets a turn. Sometimes she pretends to be shy. :)


Addie has gotten over the "wait, this baby isn't going away" stage of daily multiple tantrums when it came to us doing something for Cole instead of her, and is seriously becoming the biggest sweetheart ever. She helps SO much and Cole saves his biggest belly laughs for her. The sound of those two laughing at each other makes all of the late nights and craziness of having kids totally totally worth it.

Baby squats

I apologize for the sideways video, I couldn't figure out how to flip. If I can figure it out, I'll repost, but otherwise, just turn your head and enjoy!

Visit from Erin!

As you know, Erin is one of my oldest and bestest friends and she came for another visit!! We had such a blast! I picked her up from the airport and we went straight to Gaga's house for some yummy food and family lovin'. Erin got to meet cuddly Cole for the first time.



Then we got to show her the new house!

I love these pics :)


Addie and Erin became quick friends again. They danced a LOT.

We went to Rockville Town Center to hang out, have smoothies, and hit the library. When we came out of the library about to go home for lunch, we saw...the fountains were on! Addie asked me if I had a bathing suit for her, and I didn't, but I did have some spare clothes, so she had a blast in the water :)



Erin joined in the fun...

...while Coley took a snooze :)




Thank you for coming, Erin! We had so much fun--come back soon! XXOO