Two Months Later

I blinked and it is suddenly mid-September.

Where does time go?

Though I'm pretty sure I've not aged a bit, my little buddy is in preschool.

And though there is the ever-present guilt of "I'm missing so much while I'm at work," this milestone of dropping our oldest off at school every day for half the day still seems to be something really big. He's making friends that I've never met and learning songs I had all but forgotten about. He's four-and-a-half, which may as well be fourteen-and-a-half if you ask me.
 

Though feeling slightly blindsided by time's marching, we're all smiles for this little guy. Porter has been aching for school. He watches the school bus outside our playroom window every morning, and for the past two years, whenever you ask him where he learned to do whatever new skill or bit of trivia he's showcasing, he answers, "at school" or "from my teacher."

So we hugged goodbye and took what feels like the first big kid step. And he was so excited as he eyed the kids and the toys and the class fish with his best pal Wes at his side.

He's all grown up, just like that.

And lest you think our life idyllic, our preschool boy had one more trip to the timeout stoop to prove his standing as all boy after calling me a "stupid idiot" last night because I made him take a bath. Pretty sure I've never said that in his presence. And though I kept it together for the first day of preschool, that one nearly brought me to tears. Why do they have to grow up?

Our Little Firecracker

She may look sweet and innocent here, but this little lady is anything but. Her first word was "no," and though she says it in a charming little pixie voice, she means business when she says it (which was quite some time ago; I just failed to mark the occasion on the ol' blog and think it a very fitting example of the emotional being that is our lovably stubborn little girl).

Nora reached the 18-month mark on the fourth of July, and boy oh boy, did we have one killer half-birthday celebration for her (though she did have to share it with the rest of the nation). The second annual Burt Backyard Fourth of July Extravaganza went off without a hitch and featured everything from a Slip 'n' Slide belly flop contest for the kiddos to a visit from an old Ohio pal (and her very nice beau) for the adults. More to come on that (I just got Photoshop CS5 and am too busy playing around to do much else in my leisure computer time), but for now, I thought I'd post this soon-to-be Burt family wall art to mark my youngest's 18-month-old charm.

Sure do love that little girl -- even if she does take after her melodramatic mama. Perhaps I'll feel the same sense of vindication my mom is currently enjoying (she visited last weekend as well) 28 years down the line when Nora Lynn produces a McAfee-Reece-gened tornado of a woman of her own.

Fun in the Sun

It's here. At long last.
We went from a teaser spring...

that forced us back indoors to our cabin fever,

and a little bowling.

To this.

And even though 90 degrees always feels hotter than I remember, we're cramming in our outdoor play like sunshine junkies.



We're swimming,

and playing with friends.

We're blowing bubbles.

-- Even if our hair is not done. (Though "this is done," according to our stay-at-home dad.)

We're eating blackberries (Bonus points if you can find the hanging-from-a-strand barrette.)

And ice cream. (I'll take an almost-smile and face-forward picture of the elusive Daddy Burt even if it does mean showcasing his weird squirrel face that he generally reserves for failed spousal flirting for all the world to see.)

And snow cones. (This is Wes, Porter's twin, separated at birth and reunited at 21 months in Cedar City. BFFs ever since.)

We're smelling flowers.

Visiting landmarks. (Porter was there, but was too fascinated with all the construction cranes surrounding Temple Square to pose for a family pic.)

And when it gets too hot, we duck inside to bake some cookies just so we can eat them.

Ok, we only did that once.
I'm a working mom.
And it was a little too hot in the kitchen. And left me with dishes I really didn't want to wash and calories I really didn't want to count.

But they were good cookies, and worthy of summer's joy (with an added bonus of working all our soon-to-be outdated photos into one big burtastic post).

And now, after two full weeks of sunscreen and shorts, we (and by we, I really just mean crazy OCD me with big plans and no concept of time) are frantically scrawling a summer to-do list and penciling activities onto the calendar, for fear of missing out on one minute of our first unfettered summer in years.

That's right. No moving boxes. No new babies. No paint brushes (though I do have my eye on a few backyard construction projects for my handier half). No sod or rocks nor rakes or shovels.

Just summer.
Feels good.

Post Script:
As I was preparing to post this, the temps dropped and the skies opened, leaving Andy and I to compete in the Utah "Summer" Games this past weekend in gloves and hats (more on that to come). I had to wait to post the summer lovin' post until my precious sunshine returned. It has, and I'm scheming a picnic in the mountains for dinner tonight as we speak.