Sister Hurdles...

Look out! Here comes Brother!


Will he make it???


Success!


(Mason played this game with Ellie over and over the other day. Every time she saw him running toward her, she would laugh so hard. Then when he'd jump over her head, and she'd turn and see him on the other side of her, she would fall over in the grass laughing hysterically! This seems to be the crux of their relationship--Mason doing risky stunts involving Ellie, and Ellie thinking everything he does is hilarious!)

My Sister And Me...

Throughout July, I got to have several visits with my sister and niece. It was lots of fun to catch up with her and get to see the kids play together. We stayed up late one night looking through old pictures to find some of Matthew and me when we were younger. But we came across many of ourselves in the process. Here are some pictures of my big sister and me over the years:





The two of us nearly a decade ago. (I purposely skipped over the junior high and high school years. I wanted to spare myself the humiliation of our 80's "fem mullets", braces, and big bangs). :)


This picture was taken just after Matthew and I were married
eight years ago.


The two of us today, 31 years after the first picture was taken. Emma and Mason took this picture of us last week. It's strange to look at our younger pictures above, and then have our own children, at the same ages, taking pictures of us now.

Nine Months Old...

We had Ellie's nine month pictures taken today. I can't believe how quickly these months have gone by. She is turning into such a big girl with such a big personality.

Walkin' The Walk...

Ellie turned 9 months old yesterday, and with it came two big milestones--her first steps and her first tooth! She seemed to be teething for months now, so we'd been surprised that we hadn't seen those little pearly whites any earlier. But last night while she was smiling, I noticed a tiny little sliver of white poking through her gums! She also began taking a few steps a couple of weeks ago. She is not going very far yet--she usually falls after the third or fourth step, but it's still very exciting to see our busy little bee learning to do these new things!

My Little Fish...

As I have mentioned in previous posts relating to Mason and swimming, he has always loved swimming pools, but has always been very cautious, and a little fearful, while in them. He has taken swimming lessons the past two summers, but never really got to the point where he could swim even semi-independently. But last week while my sister was visiting, she and I took Mason and my niece, Emma, swimming. Emma is several months older than Mason, and has just learned to swim all by herself. (I might also add that Emma and Mason love to be together, but they are both very willful and competitive, and neither one of them can stand it when the other has something that they don't have.) So after a few minutes of watching Emma swim, and hearing my sister and I praise her for how great she was doing, Mason looks at me and says, "I'm going to swim like Emma too!" And by golly, he just pushed off my legs and took off toward the wall. Unfortunately he forgot about the "big ice cream scoop" arm motions that his swim teacher taught him, so he sank pretty quickly. But after a quick rescue, we practiced the arm movements one time, and he tried again. This time he got it! I couldn't believe it! He was actually swimming by himself! I kept backing up, increasing the distance between myself and the wall, and he continued to make it every time! I guess his genetics gave him something that two summers of swim lessons could not: his father's competitive DNA! So today we went to the pool again, so that he could show Matthew his new skill, and I was able to snap a few pictures. Sure he's no Michael Phelps--his form is a little shaky, and he needs to perfect the 'coming up for air' maneuver. But he is doing such a great job and is so proud of himself...as are we!!

Here are some pictures of him swimming from the pool wall to Matthew and then back to the wall. At this point, he is going about 10-12 feet each way:

Slippin' And A Slidin'...

Lately Matthew (Ahem, I mean, the kids) have wanted a Slip 'N Slide. So as of today, we are now the proud owners of one. Matthew (I mean, the kids) were so excited to try it out. And of course, before any slipping and/or sliding could take place, Matthew thought it would be wise to first show the kids a proper slip 'n slide procedure:


Initially, Mason opted for the feet-first technique,
but quickly found it to be ineffective:


Come on, son--Do it like Daddy!

That's more like it! And now for some "big air"!

At first, cousin Emma is not sure she wants to take part in the shenanigans, but quickly found that, she too, could not resist the slip 'n slide fun:



Even Ellie got in on a little slippin' and slidin' action!

Catch Me, Brother!...

Weeeeeeeee!!

(Ellie and Mason with my niece, Emma)