Summing up the summer

So I thought I would sum up the summer since there is no possible way to be really detailed this late in the game. It was a interesting summer. I think we are all still adjusting to each other around here. There were lots of hot days where we stayed inside. I was only brave once to take the fam out swimming by myself. Bad idea. Maggie wants to jump in and Charlotte was still to clingy so I couldn't do both of them the same time. So, we only went when Derek could come along. I bought an outside swimming pool for the girls to play in. they loved that. Maggie had ear infections one after another since last Oct. So she finally got tubes in her ears in June. I wondered if her personality would change at all. She loves to scream and be dramatic. She is very energetic also. She keeps me on my toes. Well after the tubes, she was less irritable, but pretty much just as dramatic. I think it is her. She says the funniest things. When we were having Charlotte sealed to us she was soooooo excited to go to the temple. She talked daily several times a day about going. She was going to get married. My mom and I made the girls dresses. White ones. When we talked about it she would tell me "oh mom, you got married? In the Temple? Good job mom!!!" or "I am going to get married in the temple to dad". Lots of these comments. It made me smile. We went to the Temple before she had tubes so she had an ear infection at the time too, but she did really great! She rode down with my parents and kept complaining that they missed the temple to turn around! She got there and made the comment to my mom and Derek that she is getting married that day and Derek replied "Oh no your not yet! You need to wait!" We laughed. Her little personality is shinning through more and more. She is very much into things also and loves to blame it on Charlotte. I have had to put all kinds of locks all over the house because those two get into both brothers rooms, wreak everything, rip stuff off the wall. They color on the walls, pull everything out of every cupboard in the kitchen, pull the chairs around and climb up on everything including the stove. they love to play in toilets, and rip up books too. Maggie says come on Charlotte come with me and then it is silent for a min. We know there is trouble brewing. Then Maggie says," it is Charlotte!" Crazy. We have had lots of learning experiences with those two. I guess that is what happens when you get two kids that close together in age. I have to put that Maggie wants to wear a "gress" (a dress) every single day. Charlotte is doing pretty good. I can't believe how much she has grown up since we came home with her last April. Her feet have gone from a size 3 to a 5 or 6 depends on the shoes. She tries to say mom and I think actually maybe means it to me now. She cuddles with me sometimes too. She mainly wants to do everything Maggie does and to also wrestle with Seth and Spencer. Spencer loves to have her to wrestle with. Maggie hates it. She has to really be in the mood for that. Charlotte it taking Speech now through our county. We found out how we thought she was this great eater, but actually she wasn't chewing the food, she was sucking it. After just like 2 times with the speech therapist here, (she also knows sign lang. and is a feeding therapist too). She chews her food pretty good! I noticed something was up in July and started to give her baby food from a jar or our table food blended up. and less of the cut up table food. She seemed to have less issues with hunger after that. Her hair is slowly growing in, and it looks awesome when she goes down a slide. It literally stands straight up all over her head. She has a way cute laugh too. Like a "ha ha ha ha" the exact sounds of those words. She knows now almost 10 signs just since the first part of September. She catches on to things very quickly. Smart. Having Charlotte sealed to us was a neat experience, even though she screamed the entire time. It was the absolute shortest sealing I have ever heard. (not like I have heard too many). The sealer had me hold her to try to help with her to not scream but she still did. He was super fast. My favorite part was standing with our family of 6 and looking in the mirror and seeing forever. It brought tears to my eyes. Our family is now complete, We are forever! It was neat that Seth and Spencer and Maggie could come in with us. My cousin who lives here and his wife came, and one of my brothers and wife, and my parents too. Summer started with Seth camping with the scouts several times. He went in July on a week long backpacking trip where he backpacked for over 15 miles. Two kids were throwing up while they were hiking too! Amazing troopers! He came home with lots of stories to tell and for a while didn't want to leave the house because he was gone from it too long he said. He was also thankful for cotton clothes. He had to wear everything polyester to help with the sweat and such. The people here are quite serious about their hiking and camping. He completed a lot of merit badges and doing great. Seth is in 7th grade this year and is running Cross Country again. Spencer had his first ever cub scout day camp. I got to be a helper for one of the days. There were like 10 kids there from our ward. He had a blast! They had it in doors except for like 3 things. The indoors was air conditioned and very clean. It was much nicer than our previous day camp experiences with Seth. He was able to shoot a bb gun and a bow and arrow a couple of times. I think those were the favorite for all the boys. He wanted to go camping so bad while Seth was gone, so he went with his dad for a night. He really enjoyed it. Spencer also had swimming everyday, except for the weekends. He is quite the swimmer. By the time Aug rolled around he told me he is ready for something new. He is now taking Soccer. Spencer has glasses now. They look great on him! He is in the 3rd grade now. Some friends that were traveling through came and stayed with us. That was great fun. We always welcome visitors! Derek's parents came to visit and we went to ride a train also. Not a little Thomas train ride, but a 2 hour ride. It was awesome! We loved it! We made home made ice cream! Lets end there for now.