And it's official!

Summer is officially here as of June 21st. (Although to me it has been hotter than hades for weeks now!)

Yes, Summer-time... with all of its unhurried mornings lying in clean, crisp white, fresh smelling linens, restful afternoons lounging by the seaside sipping a frozen fruity drink with a tiny umbrella in it, and leisurely evenings enjoying a swing in the lush gardens beneath the twinkling colored cabana lights. Ahhhhh, lovely.

Yeah, okay so I just made all that up. Sounded good.

Its actually more like this... "with all of its hurried mornings, dashing out of bed trying not to disturb a sleeping diaper clad, milk faced Little, busy afternoons at work trying to juggle 20 phone calls, 50 emails, faxes, mail outs, visitors, etc., crazy evenings chasing around Middle Little, with Little-est Little perched on one hip, feeding dinner, giving bubbly giggly floor soaked baths, cleaning up 10,000 building blocks and various toys that have exploded into the living room, and getting screaming little ones ready for bed, so that I can start the process all over again the next day."

Oh, but wait a minute, Middle Little, Abbie does enjoy evening swings in the "garden"! So there is no "lush gardens beneath the twinkling colored cabana lights" or anything posh and ritzy like that, nope...just a a bunch of greenery from daddy with a green thumb and one smiling Little and her high flying swing. Which is good enough for us. (Actually, I have my eye on a nice porch swing and some cabana lighting! Some of the swings I am eyeballing are so expensive though that they better swing up and meet my ass as I sit down.)

Can you hear Abbie? "Higher Daddy, higher! I lub my wing!"

Nothing like swinging in your diaper and and trying to stay cool in the warm Summer breeze.

Or as Littlest Little rocks it... a fresh diaper and a nice cool t-shirt. Cause who needs pants in the Summer... heck, who needs pants when you're a rock star!?

Yes, Summer is upon us. It's that time of year that you lounge outside in the sweltering heat with light colored cool clothes, hair pulled out of your face, nothing but a thick coat of waterproof mascara and some shimmery gloss on your kisser and a pair of nice big stylish sunglasses, and of course a nice coating of bright summery nail polish on your tootsies! And, don't forget the popsicles! Or rather the cheap ol' "Otter Pops" that have been around since the beginning of time.Yes, those tasty little flavored water concoctions that are frozen into cool frosty little sticks. The ones that you can drink the "juice" out of the bottom as they get all melty in your hand. These things scream Summer. Abbie likes the "kink" (pink) ones, Josh likes whichever one he gets lucky enough to lick the end of, but momma likes the red ones... everyone knows the red ones are the best . ;-)

Good ol' Summer time fun.... who says you can't be big-time stylish in the heat and have fun at the same time?! And oh so fashionable she is...

Summer is not complete without colorful sidewalk chalk drawings.

And of course our little Summer gardening sprite has been hard at work making sure the plants have a nice bed of fresh pete moss. She "talks" to the plants too... our little flower whisperer... she is magical.

Thong sandals/flip flops or "flippers" as we call them, are of course, a Summer must. Abbie's sweet grown up cousin, sent her these flippers just because they have her "name" on them. Of course, Abbie loves them! (She is a shoe lover... wonder where she gets that from?) Poor Abbie though, she doesn't do well in flippers, as she not so gracefully, trips all over herself while wearing them.

I've mentioned before, we have the best daddy ever in our house. He had gone out to pick up his Father's day gift from the Littles back on Father's day and came back with this table of big Summer fun...

We have a water table for splashing around in and mixing with dirt to make mud pies. So daddy thought it best to use this table for nothing but sand. Because sand you see, is the important ingredient in building a most impressive sand castle fit for a princess.  

        

After a day of digging in the dirt, sand, creating master works of art with the sidewalk chalk and eating all those "kink" popsicles... the water table begins to look more like a pot of coffee full of coffee grounds.

Heaven forbid Abbie's hands stay dirty... she will have none of that! So she washes her hands in the water table constantly like a little racoon washing up. Daddy to the rescue... he makes sure the water table looks more like a sparkling blue pool. (Forgot to mention, Abbie also gets busted drinking out of the water table with her tea cups... ewwww.)

And of course the Littlest Little enjoys getting to check out the water table. This baby loves water (well, he was born underwater like Abbie was, maybe that has something to do with it... they both LOVE water). The look on his little face was priceless when daddy let him sit on the side of the table and dangle his tiny feet in the water.

And speaking of his tiny feet... take a look at these chuba' lubba little legs. Looking like some glorious honey baked hams straight out of the deli. Delicious!

Oh how I love that little apple dome head of his too...

and the super fine golden baby hairs.. like spun sugar they are.

After a day of soaking up the Summer time, a nice cool bath to wash the day off and a pair of fresh jammies is in order. Nothing in this world like a fresh out of the tub Little slathered with lotion (and don't forget Abbie's foot massage). Sighhhhh, I could just sit and breathe them in for forever.