Thank goodness the weather finally cooled down!

More shots from the day we went to the playground all decked out from head to toe in Michigan State gear:



It took a while to convince Charlotte that the slide wasn't too hot to touch. It's been a long, hot summer here. After she finally believed us that the slide wouldn't burn her bum, she went down it about 149 times. After every single time, she exclaimed how fast she was going down the slide. She even told other little kids about it. They looked at her like she was nuts.




Peter wanted a turn.



I helped him slide down, but then he just laid on the bottom of the slide for a while acting a little stunned.



Spartan boys.



Petey Pie does his "bear crawl" whenever he deems the surface unfit for his knees. Apparently bark chips fall into the category of "unfit".



Hey Uncle Andrew -- do you think you could give us some lessons on these big drums?

Shrimp & grits

Before Brian and Melanie drove back to Indiana, we met them and Jordan for brunch. The shrimp and grits skillet I had was to die for, and Melanie has something amazing called the Bubba Skillet. No joke. The kids were a little wiggly, but we still had fun. Peter was a whole heck of a lot bigger than the last time Brian and Melanie saw him.



They loved how Peter posed for the camera. He's such a ham.



Charlie Jo had fun coloring with Jordan in her coloring book before our food came. Afterward, she counted in Spanish for him and pointed out her family members by name. Jordan tried to teach her that Melanie's name was "Crazy Lady", but luckily CJ didn't buy it.

The only good reason to wear purple to a Vanderbilt football game

Corey and I had an amazing time last night with my mom's cousins Brian and Melanie at the Vanderbilt-Northwestern football game. They were so sweet to get us tickets to sit with the Northwestern football team parents so we could see their son, Brandon, play for the very first time!

It was a little strange wearing Northwestern purple to a Vanderbilt football game, but Melanie and I sure looked good in it!



Even Jordan flew in all the way from Seattle to see his younger brother's debut. Brian and Corey look like Jordan's security detail, don't they?



I got a shot of Brandon on the sidelines, but the old camera we brought to the game pooped out before Northwestern did bad enough to need Brandon's punting services. Here's Brandon chilling out before the game.



None of the shots we tried to take with cell phones of Brandon punting during the game were any good, but here's one from Corey's phone of a practice kick. Oops, I mean punt. I kept getting all the terminology wrong.



Brandon did a great job. Thank you so much, Brian and Melanie for letting us share this experience with you!

GO STATE!

Charlie Jo and Peter are rooting for MSU today!



Charlie is sporting her standard-issue MSU shirt.



Peter and Dad discussing the upcoming game.

Gridiron girl

Charlotte is SO EXCITED that college football is back. She was galloping around the house shrieking "yea football!" over and over again. Corey was trying to teach her some football concepts at dinner, but so far all she seems to understand is that tackling is something like tickling. She is very concerned about the players helping each other up after knocking each other down. She likes that the players wear helmets so they can be safe like Dora and Boots (from "Dora the Explorer"). We were also obligated to get down a little Tennessee state flag we have in the play room so she could run around waving it and cheering "yea football players!"

What did Peter do? He drooled on the football and watched his goofy sister with a smile.

Here is Charlotte, showing off her newly trimmed bangs. She thoroughly entertained the hair stylist by singing songs and wolfing down Dum-Dum suckers like they were going out of style. She didn't even mind when a little hair dropped on to the sucker.

Skyping with NanaB

We actually got Petey to sit still for a few minutes while NanaB read a story to the kids over Skype. It didn't last long, but it was cute while it lasted!

Daddy makes a great jungle gym

Madison Avenue

Charlie Jo's buddy, Madison, hung out with us all day last Monday while her mom was busy. I decided that I would pretend to be my mom, who had twin girls and a son about as far apart in age as Charlie Jo and Peter. CJ and Madison were unusually well-behaved, so we had a lot of fun. Peter always tags along on CJ's playdates, so he wasn't fazed by the addition of an extra two-year-old.

I fed the girls lunch on the ground so I could put Petey in his high chair at the same time.



I put Connie in the garage so she wouldn't hassle the girls, but I failed to take into account Peter's newfound mobility after he finished his lunch and was set loose. He made a beeline for Maddie's lunch. She wasn't upset in the least, which I chalk up to her familiarity with being hassled by a brother at mealtime.



Mmmm... CHOCOLATE!



Charlotte and Maddie took turns talking on different phones. They cracked me up passing the phone back and forth. Unfortunately, MY phone was the toy of choice for a while.



Peter showed Maddie some tricks in the kitchen.



At one point, the girls disappeared into CJ's bedroom and put themselves to bed. They were both fake snoring in this picture.



The only thing I was nervous about was remembering to remind Maddie to go to the potty (she is relatively new to being potty trained). Somehow, it all worked out and Maddie ended the day without any accidents! It really renewed my interest in potty training Charlotte. Maddie is a good role model!

Imagination gone wild

Charlotte's imagination is going bonkers lately. She tells us all sorts of stories at bedtime, makes her animal figurines talk to each other, and can amuse herself for long periods of time acting out little rescue stories (a la "Go Diego Go" and "Dora the Explorer"). I especially love it when she decides she's some sort of animal and roams around the house neighing or roaring up a storm.

A few nights ago, CJ decided she was a turtle. This time she had an accessory -- my laundry tote. She crawled around for a while telling us she was a turtle, but since turtles don't really make any cool noises the game got old fast. I was able to get a few shots before the turtle shed its shell.

My Family - by Charlotte, age 2

(From left to right: Daddy, Mommy, Charlotte. Apparently, that's Peter in the upper left-hand corner. Maybe Daddy is carrying him?)

Summer summer summer

Here's a photo that sums up the summer so far:



1. Lots of splashing
2. Lots of fun together
3. Lots of bellowing
4. Lots of mess
5. Nobody really sure what's going on

Like Dan and Alicia said, we have gotten WAY more than our money's worth on that little pool.

A little too close for comfort

The butt of one of Peter's new rompers describes his digestive system a little too accurately...