Summer Fun

It's hard to believe that the summer is nearly over and fall is right around the corner. Having Jerod start back up to school next week has made me realize that the slightly more relaxing summer schedule is about to end and life will get a little crazy for one more semester. It's exciting that this will be Jerod's last semester and that he will finish with his Psychiatric Technician program in December. Already I am planning a fun way to celebrate by going on a well-deserved break and just get away for a bit. Having something fun to look forward to will help during the difficult times that are sure to come in the following months.

However, instead of looking too far ahead, I'd like to take a look back at our summer and give you a few highlights that I neglected to post earlier.

We had a wonderful opportunity to hang out with my sister-in-law Dayna and meet her newest boy for the first time. I had bemoaned the fact that so many others in my family had been able to meet Davis and I had not, so it was a special treat to hear that Dayna would be in the San Jose area for two weeks in July and that we would all be able to get together. Of course her oldest boy, Owen, is only 2 months older than Elijah and they had a blast playing together.

My newest nephew, Davis

Elijah, Davis, Dayna, and Owen

At the end of July we also had a chance to visit some dear friends who moved to Merced. We had not yet seen their new house and were blessed to be able to stay the whole weekend and celebrate their son's second birthday with them. It was a much needed break for me because I had just finished working 10 days in a row and was glad to get away and not think about anything but being with friends and relaxing. Elijah has just gotten old enough to start to understand more about what a birthday party is all about, so he truly enjoyed Jude's party, especially the cupcake ;-)

Jude's 2nd Birthday

Elijah's 1st cupcake (he loved the M&M's on top)

What a great mess - so tasty!

It was super hot in Merced, so the outdoor kiddy pool was a highlight!

Jude and Elijah - best buds

Elijah's 1st Boat Ride

Elijah and I have also had some fun moments enjoying things that I naturally associate with the long summer months. Raspberries are my favorite fruit and so this summer was Elijah's first time to experience them. I think we might have tie between raspberries and blackberries being his favorite fruits at the moment. If I let him, he could eat a whole 6 oz carton of them in one go.

Elijah loved putting the raspberries on his fingers

Yummy

We also enjoyed making playdoh from scratch. Elijah loves to pour and mix things and so cooking our own playdoh and then getting out the cookie cutters was a lot of fun for him.

Playdoh fun

He wanted to try out all the cookie cutters

One morning Elijah didn't want to get out of bed, but was content to read in his crib surrounded by all his stuffed animals

Uncle Justin and Elijah

After his cousin Josiah had visited us in the beginning of July, we noticed a huge word explosion with Elijah's vocabulary. For a long time now he has tried to mimic words, but after turning 21 months old, we noticed that his words actually started sounding like real words and he was repeating so much of what we were saying. We always knew the day would come when we would have to watch more closely the things that we said, and now that day is here.