so long, summer. we barely knew ye (updated)

So, this time my quiet hasn't been due to melancholy! Hurray! I've just had many, many, MANY pressing things to do other than compose myself and my thoughts and maybe a photo or two and bang it out here. And honestly, when I do get a chance to say something, I usually put it on Facebook, because short and sweet makes me choose my words carefully, keep my words relevant (NO ONE wants to know what you ate today. Really.), and can be tucked into the tiny amount of time it takes for Vesper to fill my purse with Honeycomb cereal.

Blake has started ending lists with "and all such." I can't think of any examples right now, but it's funny, I don't know where he got it (neither Rob nor I say it), and I hope you get to hear it sometime and all such. He and Vesper are still each others' favorite person, although he sometimes gets a bit carried away and, as a result, has dropped her more than once, and not always right side up. We have some new guidelines about when and how he may carry her.

Vesper is sporting five teeth and clearly working hard on about two hundred more. There's a lot of drool, finger-chewing, and erratic mood swings. She's finally learned how to sign 'please' and can identify the sound of the cookie jar being opened. After a hilariously slow chase of Blake around the kitchen and dining room (he had a popsicle he'd let her sample and she wanted more), Rob unscrewed the lid and we all watched her abruptly veer off toward that other dude in the house, signing 'please,' and opening her mouth like a baby bird. She's in the awkward phase of starting to understand instructions - "Where's your lovey?" or "Find your juice, please!" - but not being quite up to speed on what's deemed obedience and disobedience. As a result, she's often pretty disobedient, but gleefully ignorant about it. She loves to put things in things (see above: Honeycomb), which makes her surprisingly helpful about cleaning up. She loves to take things out of things, which means she gets to then be helpful somewhat regularly. Club Mini crackers are her absolute favorite, and she often has jammed so many in her mouth that the ends are all poking out. Just a dainty little lady over here!

Rob and I still like each other. A lot. Financial pressure will likely ease a bit in the coming months, for which we are VERY grateful, and meant I bought a pair of jeans. I'm now up to two pair, because I've lost 15 pounds and only had one of the smaller size left in my closet. Whee! We're hoping for another baby, but so far God seems to be telling us to get our fiscal act together first. UGH. FINE! We'll be responsible adults!

For now.

 I've been watching Gunner occasionally, and seeing him and V figure each other out, share, not share, defend, and make up has been sweet. My take away? V is a bit of a drama queen, G is a bit of a bruiser, but he's sweet-natured about hugging it out and giving kisses, which V is suspicious and emotional about.

Dear God. I have a girl.

 Um... July? Picking Blake up from his week at church camp.

 Um... August? We all (minus poor, hard-working Rob and Matt) met up in Coeur d'Alene for a weekend with 15 people under one roof. There wasn't a LOT of sleeping, but as Reese noted, we all still love each other. That's one in the win column!

Though we had hoped to take advantage of an outdoor water park and be outside, it rained the ENTIRE time we were there. LAME. So we went to a bounce house, an indoor water park, drank wine, played hand and foot, and generally destroyed Lane & Bing's lovely home.

 Taking a break from all that jumping.

 Sawyer was pretty intense about beating the crap out of that yellow column thingy.

 Oh yeah. This one climbs stairs. She cannot get back down, other than face first (a scrape with the one concrete step out our front door proved that one), and I have a sweet video that I shot sideways of this very first stair climb at the end of the post.

Super bubbles with a neighbor. See this beautiful, bluebird day? These nutsos wanted to play the XBox, Wii, or iPad. I'm thisclose to selling all three devices, but instead, Rob disconnected the ones attached to the TV "for the summer," and I whipped together a batch of bubbles. Next year, I might have to invest in a hard-sided kiddie pool, bigger batches, and hula hoops. For the kids, you know.

UPDATE: I let Blake watch the video above before he left for school today. His takeaway: "I'd fight that thing like a man." I'm not really sure what he thinks that means, as I haven't seen men wrestle large inflatable tubes, but I told him he'd could absolutely do that when we visit again.