our family twelve times | june

(post inspired by Tara Whitney)

June | at a glance

-- It took me a few days to post this because I realized (again!) that I didn't have a picture of all four of us. And then I kept forgetting... So, here's a picture of Maggie and Caleb that was taken at the beginning of June. Maggie really loves "reading" to Caleb. I think she likes to feel in charge. :)

-- On July 1st, I think Tim and I took a collective deep breath. June was a long month. A very long one... Tim's 96-year-old grandmother passed away a few weeks ago. And while his whole family can take comfort in the fact that she led a long and full life, her death still brought sadness. It also forced us to begin talking about death with Maggie... tough stuff. The day after Tim's grandmother passed away, our niece went in for major surgery. Thankfully, she is doing well and is on the mend, but it was such a stressful few days ... July, we welcome you!

--Despite the more difficult moments this month, we also had much to celebrate. Tim was offered a job as the assistant principal at my old elementary school... I couldn't be more excited for him! I know he's going to be so happy there.

--Maggie has continued to make me smile with the ridiculous things that come out of her mouth. At lunch the other day, Maggie looked up at me with a very distressed expression and said, "I think this strawberry misses his mommy." Later that day she said, "I love you, Mommy! .... I even love Caleb."

-- Caleb biggest milestone in June was that he can now sit up for long periods of time and clap his hands. It's so adorable! He sort of nods his head while he's clapping and looks so pleased with himself when we cheer for him.

-- Along with her growing independence, Maggie has also become more mischevious. I think she spent a record amount of time in "time-out" this month. When I ask her what she's done wrong, she almost always says, "Tell me." She also likes to respond that way when I ask her simple questions. And for some reason, she says it with a psuedo southern accent.

-- I've realized that when the busy season picks up for me, I forget about the things that I like to do on my free time. I didn't read a single book in June, and I don't think I enjoyed cooking anything special. I'm working on balance. If you have some advice for me, I'd love to hear it!

-- Caleb loves to smile at strangers and is content to be held by visitors that he doesn't know. I really love this about him. It's fun to see the response when he unleashes that smile on someone in the grocery store... It's amazing, really. Without even trying, he is able to make people we don't know feel special. I love it.

-- Maggie's favorite game right now is to take her Fisher Price Little People to school on their school bus. She will push them into the kitchen, line them up on the floor, and leave them there for an hour or two. When I ask her where the kids are, she always says, "At school." And then, at some point, she'll stop what she's doing, grab the bus, and go pick them up. According to Maggie, they almost always learn about chocolate ice-cream. I hope she isn't disappointed when she learns what subjects actually take place in school.

-- Thanks for reading! We're getting ready to leave on our family vaction, and I couldn't be more excited. More about that soon!