Farewell Summer

(Up north with the girls)

Goodbye:
Mornings at the park
Tuesday visits with "La-La" (great-grandma)
Sunscreen
Trips with friends up north
Swimming, swimming, and more swimming
Fort-building on rainy days
Bumming at Target
Afternoons on the swing set

Hello to:
Jumping in piles of leaves
Fall nature walks
Dressing up for Halloween
Apple picking
Monster cookies
New memories....New milestones.....New possibilities...

(Memorial Park)

Beautiful Snippets of Life

I was laying in the grass, looking at the clouds that were heavy with rain when I felt her snuggle next to me. "Mama, clouds. Rain."

"You're right - it's gonna rain. Do you see how gray the clouds are?" She laid still just long enough for me to look over at her and know that there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing than this.

(And then there was a hitting episode, which resulted in a timeout, which resulted in this sad face. Back to reality.)

"She cracks me up!"

So I take Annessa to Bay Beach today and we meet my friend Raessa there (who, by the way, is pregnant with her 3rd baby) and her 2 boys. Let me say right off the bat that Raessa's boys are angels....saints....they actually stay put when you set them places! I think Annessa is an angel too - just a different type of angel. Anyway, it was a great day full of "Annessa-isms." This bit of conversation sums it all up:

Raessa: She cracks me up!
Me: Yeah, try living with her...

Annessa, if you ever read this please know that mommy and daddy love you to pieces. We could not ask for a better daughter than you. Just go easy on us as a teenager...Please?

"Mom, I love this horse! Do you think I can make it go faster?"

"I love this yellow bug!"

Ayden: What is she doing?

Big

She was peeking up at me with her big brown eyes. Dimples flashing, even bouncing a little as she knelt on the kitchen stool - elbows on the counter - chin in her hands.

As I waited for my mom to answer the phone, I looked across the counter at my daughter. Really looked. I saw her long legs. When did they get so long? Her hands - weren't they miniature yesterday?

Waiting for my mom to answer the phone, I felt a strange, three-generational pull. I found myself fast forwarding to the day when SHE would be the one waiting for ME to answer the phone.

Will we have the kind of friendship my mom and I have? Will she have a little girl looking up at her - watching her every move? I hope so because nothing is more fulfilling than nurturing the relationship between a mother and her child.