June

I can't believe the month is over! It's been busy and fun and full of mosquitos. We have had a lot of rain here, including some violent thunderstorms, and the mosquitos are worse than I ever remember them being. I've been spending a lot of time outside, too, because I've been working in the yard. There was a great sale on perennials at Lowe's and I went a little crazy buying plants. It took forever to get them all in the ground, but they look very nice! I think this is the best our yard has ever looked. Now I just have to keep it weeded . . .

Ethan finished up the school year with a bang, and stayed on the high honor roll. He had a couple of lazy weeks (although he'll tell you I badgered him to work most of the time) and now he's off at scout camp. I really miss him! Ethan is great company and we enjoy chatting and having "megafeasts" and watching Seinfeld or the Office. But I know he's having a fun time. The camp is a full week, and Ethan planned to earn several merit badges, including swimming, archery, tracking, and rifle shooting (!) At home we've been working on merit badges as well: medicine, dentistry, music, disability awareness, reading, and family life. Ethan is continuing with guitar lessons over the summer, and is volunteering as a "book buddy" at the library (he listens to a younger boy read and helps him out). He's had fun hanging out with friends and is looking forward to enjoying the rest of the summer.

Noah had one week off (during which he missed school very much!) and then started NISRA summer camp (Norther Illinois Special Recreation Association). It's 4 days a week from 9:15 to 3:15. Twice a week he goes swimming, on Mondays he visits the library, and on Wednesdays he gets to go to McDonald's and order a meal. He loves camp! On Friday's he's signed up for some fun field trips. Last week he went with a group to a children's museum in Milwaukee. Noah is Mr. Social, so the camps are awesome for him. Today he didn't go to camp so he could attend the ward cub scout day camp instead. It was a really beautiful day, sunny but not too hot, and he swam and played soccer. We have great kids in our ward who really go out of their way to include Noah in the activities. It was so sweet to watch them let Noah kick the ball in soccer.

Noah is so funny, when he's at home he likes to set up a little work table for himself. He goes through reams of paper, writing numbers and letters and drawing funny little pictures. He has a little magnifying glass shaped like a megaphone that he uses as an inkwell - - it's a hoot watching him pretend dip his pen in it. Last week he set up his table with paper, pens, a magic wand, his plastic briefcase . . . and a nasal aspirator. Guess he wanted to be ready for anything!

Little Meredith is getting bigger and bigger (she'll be one in 11 days!) Her hair is long enough now that I can put a barrette in it! She has such a sweet temperment, and is always willing to give hugs to our friends. She's "cruising" (walking around holding on to things) and I'm sure she'll be walking very soon. She loves to get into things, open cupboards, and make messes. And everything goes in her mouth. I have a missing library book, and I'm beginning to think that she might have eaten it.

One of the adoption caseworkers has parents in our neighborhood (what a coincidence, right?!) and was in town this week. She's the one that was there when Meredith was born and watched her all day. She got to come over and visit and it was wonderful to see her and show her how big our baby has gotten. Hard to believe it's been almost a year, and yet I can't even imagine our life without her!

Scott is such a great dad. We honored him with some fancy chocolate and a nice father's day dinner (kabobs on the new grill). He's been travelling a lot for work and we sure miss him when he is gone! He went up with Ethan for a couple of days at scout camp and will be picking him up on Saturday. He's still playing tennis, and even gets free lessons from one of the pros at the health club.

I got to spend a night up at girl's camp last week (well actually they didn't have room at the cabin, so the yw pres. (Sarah Felsted) and I shared a hotel room, which was awesome!) It's a beautiful camp, more like a resort really, and if it's at the same place next year I'll go for the week! Sarah and I had lots of fun talking during the 3 hour drive up and back. We really have awesome young women in our ward, and it was beautiful to see how well they were all getting along. The theme this year was "superheroes" and our girls were the "wilderness adventurers" from the movie Up. They came up with some really cute things!

I'm staying busy driving kids to various activities and working in the yard. But I still make time to read and play word bubbles on lumosity.com (check it out, it's awesome!) And I'm working on applying to a graduate program in the humanities. Got to keep my brain from turning to mush. I should probably try to keep my body from turning to mush as well. I only have one more month of my 30s left, better make the most of it!

We're really looking forward to seeing everyone this summer in Idaho/Utah!