Well, it is starting to really feel like summer. Ella’s last day at STMM Pre-K is tomorrow. She had her “graduation” ceremony already and now things are just winding down. We are spending lots of time at the neighborhood pool and playing with water in the front yard. Of course, Ella is great at helping get ready for our outside time. Jonah patiently allows me to put on sunblock and doesn’t complain. We love walking on the greenway path looking for frogs, toads, tadpoles, fish, ducks, rabbits, squirrels, turtles (like the one Andrew found in the yard this weekend), herons, hawks, and various other birds, and snakes! Ella also likes to identify plants and the footprints of raccoon and opossum in the sand by the creek. Jonah is especially fond of birds and will sign “bird” and say “hi! hi! hi! HI!”

Earlier this month, my friend Jamie from NCSU invited us out to her horse farm. We got to ride one of their horses and meet their newborn horse. Ella was in heaven and she has no fear whatsoever of horses. She marched right up and made friends with the horse and loved every minute of riding him.

Jonah is saying and signing more and more words. He is making his opinions clear and he is certainly testing to see what he can and can’t do. He is desperately trying to jump and will attempt to do whatever Ella is doing. He is also incredibly funny. Sometimes he will do what we call “The Bulldozer.” He gets down on all fours and puts his forehead on the ground and then plows into anything and everything. We laugh until we can’t see straight and he knows it is funny. (check out the two pictures of The Bulldozer—it is not as funny as in person, but you will get the idea). He will also do his “fake laugh” to get Ella to start laughing. Then everyone is giggling and being silly.

Ella lost her second tooth this afternoon. It was VERY wiggly and she was worried about swallowing it like she did with her first tooth. Plus it was really bothering her. So, she let me pull it out—although it was not like I had to pull… the tooth was ready to come out. She has also become a hula-hoop expert. She can hula hoop for a LONG time and can even do multiple hoops at a time! We spend lots of time outside during the evenings with neighbors hula hooping, drawing with chalk, blowing bubbles, playing ball, and watching Andrew fly his remote control airplane. Ahhhhh… Summer is all good!

Hope you are all well!
Sarah, Andrew, Ella, and Jonah