Knee High...

...by the Fourth of July.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, once I felt like we'd started to recover from our vacation hangover, it was time for the long holiday weekend! And lo, it was nuts. We had three pool parties in three days - a family birthday party out in Yorba Linda on Sunday, where Ellie tried to learn to dive and cried a lot, a big friends BBQ on the 3rd, where the kids again swam for several hours nonstop, and then a lunch time BBQ on the 4th at a different friend's house in the same neighborhood (most of the same crew, slightly more sunburnt and chlorinated this time) and then after that four hours stint in the pool, everyone took a nap, we ate a final round of hot dogs with our neighbors, and ended the evening with sparklers and fireworks in their driveway.

Suffice to say, everyone has been pooped. The good news is that Adam is really getting the hang of swimming on his own, seemingly overnight! And I love what swimmy fish the kids are, even if it can be tiring to make sure that they're not drowning in a huge scrum of other kids, while also trying to make sure no one is splashing water into my beer. I have also found that picking up one of my children when they're screeching in their crocodile tears fashion, and throwing them into the center of the pool really puts a damper on their ability to fake cry. And it's satisfying for me! Because I am truly Ursula the Sea Witch.

So now hopefully we can settle into a routine, since neither of them are going to day camp until the end of the month. We go to the YMCA in the morning, and every morning Ellie complains that she doesn't want to go, and I complain that I don't want to go either, but if I don't work out I'll have to yell at everyone all day, and then run some errands, come home and have lunch and nap, and then wait to go jump in Gigi and Grizz's pool and pick up their kittens all afternoon. Trying to keep things fun with craft projects, and the entire house is strewn with all of our toys. It's been great to watch them play Legos or trains with each other in the morning - they love building and using their imaginations, and it's always awesome when they play together.

We also went to the library last week and got their first library cards. They were really excited about filing out the forms and picking out the card they wanted, and then we had a great time choosing books. I'm the mom who doesn't let them buy junk at Target or the grocery store, so it was a fun reversal of fortune telling them yes to everything at the library. Adam got a bunch of truck books, Ellie got a cat book and a couple of new chapter books to try. She was beyond adorable - we couldn't find anything in the stacks ourselves, and I suggested she go ask the librarian for help, and tell her that she finished the Laura Ingalls Wilder series and was looking for some new chapter books. Ellie was so polite and grown up, answering all of the librarian's questions about what kind of books she likes, what she liked about the Little House series. We're halfway through our first chapter book, and planning lots of good library trips this summer. Air conditioning and quiet reading, two of my favorite summer things!