Bye bye summer

The summer heat is starting to ease up (a tiny bit at least) and school has started again so I thought it was time to share some photos from our little corner of the world.

We had a fun visit with the Trammell siblings and cousins in July -- a lot of quality play time, and Ryan came away from it asking about his "best friends" Jayden, Tyler & Conner...so sweet. :) Stephen and I couldn't believe how much the boys had changed since we last saw them. And we finally got to meet Emily's partner-in-crime, Everly, who is as crazy as Emily...so they got along great of course. Here's a shot of all 8 Trammell cousins.

Emily is growing like a weed, and making me crazy with her cuteness and her energy. I love my little girl, but I don't remember finding Ryan on top of a table at this age...or him trying to put his toys on the stove while I'm cooking...or digging trash out of the trash can for fun. She certainly keeps me on my toes. She's even recently proved that she can scale the ladder of our backyard playset by herself to play in the raised fort. At 13 months. Yeah. I know. I'm tired. All the time. But it's a good tired. :) Here's a shot of her enjoying a more calm activity in the backyard.

Ryan is our little scientist -- observing the most minute detail and asking questions that grow more complicated by the day. He just started preschool again and LOVES his classroom. He and his friend Mary (from last year) are sharing a cubby this year and seem attached at the hip. Here's a shot of him on his first day. Can you see how excited he was?

  

Ryan seems to have inherited his daddy's love of cars. He's able to identify the make and model of all of his 30 or so matchbox cars, notices car grills, colors, wheels, etc. on the road and of course, loves washing them with daddy - be it in the driveway or heading to the car wash. His favorite part though? Daddy lets him "drive" to pull the car in the garage once they are finished.

In preparation for our summer weekend at the lake, we roasted s'mores for the first time with Ryan -- and he fell in love, of course. Who wouldn't?

We took a trip with the Mungenast family to Tablerock Lake last weekend and while Emily brought along an awesome cold to share with the family, we all still had a great time. Here's Emily and daddy enjoying the scenery.

Ryan and Haedyn dug hanging out together -- whether it was throwing rocks in the lake together, fishing, floating, boating or as seen here -- puddle jumping in the rain (ok...so there weren't any puddles, but I convinced them that the lake was a GIANT puddle).

The trip was filled with "firsts" for Ryan -- first fish caught...

...first tubing experience...

...first waverunner ride....

As you can imagine, this trip was like heaven for our little dude. Now I'm ready for some cool, crisp air for all the fun that fall brings. Until next time!