Summer Lovin' - UPDATED

I'm sure I'll be kicking myself for back-to-back posts (when I haven't taken any pictures or have any witty banter 3 days from now), but it's a new month, a new season, so I'm going for it.

Last night was the quintessential summer dinner - burgers on the grill, leftover potato salad, and iced tea. The only thing that was missing was the corn on the cob, but after growing up on Jersey corn, it's hard to get excited about anything else. We ate outside in the back yard, Pete and I balancing plates on our laps, the girls at the picnic table. We drank it in - the sunshine, the smiles, and the pure joy of watching the girls together. They sat on the same side of the table - one almost too big, one almost too little - but both happy just to be there. Chloe shared her burger and helped Addy sip her water - the red plastic cup of sister love runneth over. Then Chloe had to head in to finish homework, and Pete played with Addy on the slide (another item recently added to our Yard Sale Wish List - the small Little Tykes slide). Fresh bird poop prevented us from sticking her in the swing, and we just had some intense storms roll through, so I'm hoping that Mother Nature cleaned up her own mess - otherwise, I'll be out scrubbing the swing today.

Next on our to-do list? Homemade ice pops. I'm going to stock up on some yogurt and fruit, and make some frozen yogurt pops so that it's not just a sugar rush after dinner each night.

I'm off to do some major house-cleaning - we have more friends coming to visit this weekend, and I have a lunch date with my Mom Friends tomorrow (which usually is more like a brunch to "oh crap I have to get home to cook dinner" date) -- so I'm done procrastinating!

Also - a quick reminder - we have our appointment with the vascular anomalies team coming up this week. I've got my notebook (and list of questions) at the ready, so brace yourselves for a medical-ized update in the near future.

AND - I try not to talk too much about the things Addy "isn't" doing, as I know all babies have their own schedules and timelines. But I am happy to report that she's made a huge language jump this past week. Previously, her babbling consisted primarily (haha, "primarily" as in ONLY) of "ma-ma"-- but something clicked, and now we've got da-da, ba-ba, la-la... the consonants have arrived! And, not just babbling, but she knows exactly who her DaDa is - the man now wrapped extra tightly around her little finger! And her signing has taken off - time to get to the library to expand our signing vocabulary!