The photos here are just random moments from May-August of this year.

The kids were busy this summer. Two weeks of outdoor swimming lessons for both, ballet for Emily. Cuddles, hikes, fun times with their babysitter, their grandparents, and oh yeah, us, their parents!

Brenden has spent the summer in a constant state worry about things he doesn’t ever want to do (stick his head underwater, get a shot, get eaten by a shark, go in a waterfall, go in a whirlpool, get diabetes, have wires hooked up to him, die). He has this list on a loop and repeats it all several times a day. He is very bright and has an amazing imagination. When channeled properly he uses this imagination to tell us the most amazing stories complete with chapters with titles and usually some sort of heroes journey. However, the opposite extreme leads to 1001 questions about “what happens when” which 99 times out of a 100 the answer to which is death. Which then starts the loop of “I never wanna”. I completely admire his curiosity, his need to know how things work, his imagination. But combine that with his endless energy and this poor introverted momma is left very exhausted at the end of the day! He is also showing big amounts of empathy with his tender little heart. He is so much Patrick in so many ways, but he is also me.

Emily is very chatty. She has officially entered the “why” and “what” stage. She seems to not grasp waiting for others to finish talking before she starts. To be fair, Brenden is almost always talking! She’s full of energy, and spunk, and temper, and sweetness. She gives amazing hugs, and food covered kisses. She likes to be tucked in at night. She loves to laugh. She loves to pretend. She will do anything big brother is doing, so thank goodness he is such a good kid. She will argue with you about absolutely anything. Often, she will gladly do whatever it is she’s just argued with you about immediately afterward.