This summer has been full of pool days here and there and we've loved it. Greta is really comfortable in the water these days. She loves jumping in off the side to me and "swimming" around. Surprisingly, she doesn't cling to me anymore and rarely cries. In fact, this week I was enjoying my pool time so much with Greta that I got a little carried away and injured my back. Greta can be so unpredictable with her moods sometimes that when I catch a stretch of straight happy I like to milk it. Holly preferes wading and playing with buckets and her friends - she has some wonderful besties. Summers in California are perfect.

This is a big winner of an activity. We've been leaving the rice on the tray because then it's easy for us to pull it out for Holly to play with. And play with it she will. For long stretches of time. It's a great sensory activity. Holly loves to fill up different containers, pour them out, and bury her hands. We recently threw in a couple of her animal figurines for added fun. The rice was easy to dye, I just squirted in regular food dye and stirred it really well. It turned out more beautiful than I anticipated. It's a cheap and easy activity. And not nearly as messy as I thought it would be especially after I took a couple deep breaths and relaxed a little! Let me know if you try it!

Notice that Holly is wearing a princess dress in all these pictures? And pretty much all the pictures I've taken of her recently? Every single day she wears it. She loves it! And she's super good about wearing it only when we're at home. No medivial throw-backs outside these walls.

Greta absolutely loves to read books. It's one of her favorite things. Her attention span for books is pretty impressive. I love finding my little girl absorbed in a book! And I really enjoy reading to her. One of our new favorites, borrowed from the library is, "If You Throw a Pig a Party," by Laura Numeroff. It's the balloons. Gigi goes crazy for balloons.