Waiting for Baby

Most of our summer after school let out was pretty uneventful.  I was too pregnant to take any long trips, and most of our weekends were used to work on projects or get ready for the baby.  For example, we stacked Connor and Elise's bunk beds and moved Evan into a toddler bed in their room.  Of course, when he realized he could get out of bed whenever he wanted, it became the greatest game ever for a few nights.  Then I discovered that if I threatened him with the crib, he'd hurry to bed and stay there.  It was kinda cute.  One morning we found him like this:
  

 
Ryan had been working with Elise in the pool to help her overcome her water-in-the-face phobia.  I hadn't scheduled her for swimming lessons because I figured it would be a waste of money until she calmed down a little.  By the last week of July, she was able to put her face in the water (mostly) for a few seconds, blow bubbles, and tolerate being splashed (although she hated it.)  So, when we were told there was a last minute opening for a week of lessons, we took it.  She was a lot braver for her teacher than she was for us, and she was really proud of herself.
  

 
Of course, there were all kinds of kid-initiated projects and games, as usual.  My children are pretty good about entertaining themselves.  Oh, and you can see that Elise had her first short-ish haircut.  I think it's super cute.
  

Elise made each member of the family, and taped them to the windows.

Skeleton

It's a very tall skeleton.

  
Last year we met a friend of ours for lunch at In N Out.  With her order, she got a chocolate shake, with the excuse that she was having a baby in a week, so she deserved it.  Well, this made a great impression on Elise.  She made me promise that, if we were to have another baby, we would get chocolate shakes a week before.  She frequently reminded me of this long-standing promise throughout my pregnancy, so of course I had to honor it.