so long, summer!

i managed to forget to blog the entire month of august-- partly because we've either been away or with out of town guests every day til today!
The first week we had with Maddy, playing in the pool and packing for the Lake. She brought us presents, took the boys on wagon rides, and played dominos with Christian, which basically made her his hero. She helped us clean and pack and get ready to leave, as always, giving up her vacation time to serve us! Such a special friend!
The second week was the long anticipated week at the Lake we've been looking forward to all year! The boys had a blast playing with their cousins and digging with their 5,000 sand toys and trucks! despite a fair amount of rain and choppy water, we managed to have a great time; hiking, boating, kayaking, swimming, and skiing. It was so good to reconnect with family friends, and just be in that place that feels like home... singing round the campfire and going to bed with a chill in the air... waking up to the smell of wet pine trees and woodsmoke... and a light mist on the lake. there's such a comfort in it, and such a joy, watching our kids experience it all through new and very wide eyes. we got to see several wonderful rainbows! christian climbed Baldy Mountain all by himself! Kyren loved that he could wade in the water all by himself! And there's nothing like watching your kid enjoy a s'more for the first time! UNfortunately i've been so busy ever since we returned, i haven't even looked at our pics or videos yet. hopefully i can post some soon!
The third week brought us home to Maddy again, and her birthday, which was a first! Sadly, it also brought us a nasty chest cold, and several scary almost-E.R. trips with K. . . and Dave suffered from a pinched nerve in his neck all week... and is still experiencing pain down his arm and numbness in his fingers...
The fourth week brought us Grandpop from Florida, accompanied by his Porsche Boxster! We got to have lots of fun bonding time with him, as well as the cousins, as we spent time playing, eating, swimming and even going on our first trip to the Phila. Zoo! The boys loved seeing the animals, and playing in the indoor treehouse. They didn't want to leave-- but alas, we were the only ones still there at 12pm on a saturday, thanks to the impending Hurricane Irene! (def. the best time to go to the zoo!). She brought us the heaviest rain i've ever heard on our skylights, a few tornado warnings, an inch or so of water in our basement, and a downed limb on our porch roof (which we've always hoped would happen), but other than that, we escaped pretty much unscathed.
This past weekend also brought us Danielle, in time for her birthday-- and she, mom and i got to go see The Help. It was so good!!!
Today we finally got to meet baby Ayriana-- just as Kate is being induced to deliver Baby T! So fun to be welcoming all these new little ones to the world! and NO it doesn't make me want another one :)
So, there goes August 2011! Just like that! I knew it would fly by, but that feeling of fall in the air is still a little bit of a surprise... after all the heat and humidity. i still get that pit of my stomach back to school feeling this time of year... and even tho no one here is really going back to school yet-- it hits me as if i were getting ready for my first day of middle school-- every time!