Nathan Wilmer & Evan Michael Heins

Considering how hot it was, it was amazing how much time the boys spent in the sandbox this summer. Pretty sure they would have lived out there, had we let them. A lot of sand came in the house and there were some days that required all clothes be removed before entering the house. And eventually I got smart and brought a bucket of warm water and some soap out to rinse them off a little. But they had a BLAST!

So just before my birthday, we took the boys out for a day on the boat with Uncle Mike, Aunt Carla, Claira and Maddie. It was a beautiful day and perfect weather for boating. We had lunch. We swam. We waded in water. We went and had ice cream. Lovely day. I’m glad I remembered to bring my camera…and actually take pictures!

He’s growing up so fast!

Nothing against Toronto. Just it started on a bad foot and got worse. Let me explain.

Carla’s family hosts a fitness expo every year in Toronto the last weekend in May/ first weekend in June. This year, we thought it might be fun to go help out for a couple of days and then take Nate and Evan to the Toronto Zoo for Nate’s birthday.

My oh my, where has the time gone.

From this:

To this:

Ok, so I basically spent the summer on the couch trying not to move my rather large self around in hopes of avoiding total meltdown. Mother Nature seems to have it out for me. When I was pregnant with Nate, we got over four feet of snow that I had to drag my waddling butt through. This last time around, it was the hottest summer in recent history. Normally, I’m all for a good, hot, sunny summer, but when a girl is already nauseous and sweaty and carrying around an extra 40 pounds….not so much.

What is it about a hair cut that makes my boys look years older?

We braved the city, just mom and the boys to get sandals, shoes and haircuts on a sunny day in March. Pretty sure I’ll only repeat that when absolutely necessary. What a trip! But totally worth the end result.

We had an unusually warm spring around here. There was a wonderful two or three weeks between the onset of spring and that of mosquito season that we took full advantage of. Thankfully, the onset of spring brought summer-like temperatures. Most weekends in April were spent outside in the sandbox.

And most days, at dinner time, there was a required rinse on the deck before entering the house.

Dinner time is often a war zone in our house. Its not that I expect my children to hoover their food and not taste it. But a pace faster than an arthritic snail would be nice.

Hell, even eating more than three bites is sometimes asking too much.

Not the case when tacos are served.