hello, baby

here she is.

baby gwen is finally here.

she came the fastest of all our kids and was the biggest at 7 lbs 2 oz.

we are in love.

oh. my. goodness.

this brings back scented memories.

11 years

thank you for all the goodness and happiness you've brought to my life.

i love you.

i love you.

goodbye june

june was a blur. i'm assuming since july is the last month of my pregnancy

that it will C R A W L by at a snail's pace.

let's take a look at what went down in june.

the last day of school marked max's ninth birthday, so of course boating and cake were on the docket.

max popped up like a cork the first time, which was a relief since this was the first time out for him since breaking his leg.

then it was off to california for some cousin time

and some grammy and grandpa time.

and some fire pit fun

i'm assuming they're watching nikki's flip flop melting away in this picture after she accidentally dropped it in the fire. two seconds after this another flying shoe landed in the fire, but my dad leaped to the rescue before it was a goner. devan must have assumed this to be some sort of fireside ritual before she removed her shoe and tossed it in.

this was my kids' first major league baseball game.

max with his cousin and his handsome uncle.

and my cute dad and a couple more cute cousins.

we took a little hike in the beautiful hills of morgan hill where i grew up.

blowing on a wishing weed.

oh, the oak trees were amazing.

and the manzanita

whitney was so excited that she "caught" a cacoon, which was actually a seed pod.

then there were more parks and picnics with cousins.

and visits with dear friends

back in idaho, nikki turned seven and had a visit from aunt bille, uncle mike and little nico.

six + one = seven

we took nik to lunch on her birthday, just the big girls (plus nico),

followed by a little antiquing and thrift shopping.

perfect.

then more of this.

a first for nico.

and then...

there were pollywogs.

oh, there were pollywogs.

the thrill,

the chase,

the excitement

of pollywogs.

does it come any more summery than pollywogs?

now we await the sprouting of legs.

goodbye june.

see you next year.