remembering June

June is long gone, but I still have many pictures I haven't shared.  Sometimes I wonder why I take so many pictures, so many that I can't keep up with uploading and sharing them.  Not that I feel the need to share every picture.  Despite what it might appear here, I only share a fraction of the pictures I take.  Digital cameras really let a person get out of hand with the volume of pictures taken.  Many of those find the delete button before they ever make it to the computer, some get deleted once uploaded, some get shared here on the blog, and a few just hang around holding their position on my hard drive indefinitely.

Most of the time, though, I'm really glad I take so many pictures because they help me remember all the little things we did.  June has become just a blur in my memory at this point, but with the help of a few pictures, I can remember random moments and funny stories about my girl, and it helps me appreciate the happy little moments we had in between all the stressful ones.

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Cousin Evan had his third birthday in June.  Laci, although the youngest of the cousins, insisted on being in the middle of all the party action of playing together, riding bikes, opening presents, and hitting the pinata.  She skipped cake time because she hasn't figured out how awesome cake is yet.  And trust me, I've tried numerous times to show her how amazing an overly sweet piece of cake loaded with frosting can be.  She just doesn't buy into it yet.

Some quality time with Shiloh.

In the middle of the action.

Obviously, the best present of the day...a Cars convertible kid-sized couch, just the right size for hiding.

In nearly 50 attempts at a group cousin picture, these are the best I could get.  I'm thinking that adding another cousin or two to the picture won't do anything to help the odds of success.

I can hardly believe I'm saying this myself, but, if you crop Laci out of the first picture, it improves significantly.

Cute siblings.

Without these pictures, I might not remember to tell Laci how much she liked the gift we bought for Evan, which was the race track in the above picture.  I'll tell her about how she insisted on matching the cars to the correct track based on color, even when I tried to switch them up, and how I love how her organized little brain works.

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Even more than remembering the big events, I like being able to remember the everyday boring things we do.

I like that I'll be able to tell Laci about drinking out of the dog's bucket of water...and thinking it is the best thing on earth.

Gross?  Yes.

But I'm a believer in building up the immune system the good old-fashioned way:  with lots of germs.

And I'm pretty sure Maverick doesn't mind sharing.

I'll tell her about the crazy weather we had that kept us from filling up the wading pool until the middle of June.   I'll tell her that she finally realized it is not only a good idea to sit down in the water, but it is also fun to lay down and put her entire face in the water...a long way from last year when she would only stand up.

I'll tell her how she is obsessed with eating ice, and I'm doing my best to convince her that ice is not, in fact, a real food with any nutritional value.  Because I'm pretty sure if it was up to her, she would eat only ice some days.  Also, I must now disguise my own glass if I put ice in my drink because she will insist on eating all of MY ice, and frankly, I like to avoid tantrums if at all possible, so she ends up getting her way.  Also, I don't really like sharing my drink...or my ice.  I should probably work on that.

And, although I'm pretty sure she'll always know she has a special relationship with Maverick, I'll tell her how they grew up together, and that is why they're such good friends (or at least they will be good friends in a few years).  I'll tell her how her "love" for him often turns physical and aggressive, so he chews on her arm, and then she screams, and then I say, "If you put your hands in his mouth, he will bite you."  And no one is happy with my response, least of all Laci, but it usually distracts her long enough that she stops putting her hands in his mouth and he stops biting her and we move on to the next child/dog argument.

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And, since I always have a hard time ending posts, especially long, rambling ones like this one, I'll just borrow the words of Forrest Gump:

"That's all I have to say, about that."

The End.