Holy...

Peanut butter and jelly and a two year old - always a good time.

Happy Fourth!

In honor of our country's independence, I will now throw this handful of rocks!

Oh, fine.  I'll just put them down.

And sit here, in my flag shirt... not looking at the camera.

Finally - someone shows a little patriotism.  Is it really so much to ask? (I'm pretty sure your hand is supposed to go over your heart, not your diaphragm.)

He draws!

He does acrobatics!  He's the amazing Boobah!

I took these pictures to send to Joe, to show him the red marks V left when she pinched her brother.

But now, months later, I'm putting them up on the website because of how smoochalicious he looks here.  All pale and squashy.  Delish.

Ever since I started my craft blog,

I've been making Violet model everything I make for her.

I think she's really getting into it.

Look at this posing!

Maybe too much ANTM for this kid, eh?

Halfway through Joe's deployment,

Aunty Suz came through with an awesome care package.

Because hopscotch isn't fun enough...

and sprinklers aren't fun enough...

enter the squirting water Dora hopscotch sprinkler thingy (official name.)

The kids thought it was the greatest toy ever.

As did the random neighbor children, who would wander by...

... see it...

... and beg their parents to run home and get their bathing suits so they could join in.

It was a party every day.  Thanks Aunty Suz.

Violet!  Are you trying to steal the birthday girl's balloon?

Who? Me?  I'm not doing anything!  BYE!

Now we will have 74 pictures of Jonas.

Because he was all dressed up for the birthday party in his very smart button-up and hat.

And because he looked freaking adorable.

That cheek was made for kissing.

The mouth?  Made for bubble blowing.

Hmmm.  I think I like this cupcake.

What? A little frosting where?

My nose?  Oh, come on.  Who *doesn't* get frosting on their nose when they eat a cupcake?

See, Violet?  If you lick all the frosting off first,

you don't have a mess when you bite the cake!  (This is a load.  He never actually bites into the cake.  He licks it clean then discards it.)

Party over, we move to the playground to check out our goody bags.

This is the party outfit that V picked out and put on all by herself.  I think she did an excellent job.

I think it was about 172 degrees that day.  Look at that poor sweaty head.

Back on base, we head for the outdoor amphitheater.

Too much reality tv for these kids - they love to get up on the stage and play "American Idol" (usually means singing Twinkle Twinkle really, really loudly) or "So You Think You Can Dance" (dancing around like fools, duh.)

This was the summer of mouth injuries.  Here we have evidence of the first one. 

Also evidence of what a mess the house was without Joe around to keep us all in line.  Whoops.

"Party Cheese" - for when your kids have fat lips and loose teeth, yet still need something nutritious to eat.

Yes, I said kidS.  Mouth injury numero dos.  I know the er docs by name.

Three days later.  Still a little puffy and scabby, but back to her sassy (and uber-stylish) self.

More modeling shots for my craft blog.

I had to include them here - look how gorgeous she is!

Outside the bowling alley, Violet dances like this to the (very extremely loud) music.

Jonas rolls around on the ground.

Violet dances like this.

Jonas throws himself on the ground.

I try to take a picture of the kids dancing together, and instead get this one.  They collided right as I hit the shutter button.  Best action shot EVER.

Ok, I'm used to all the stuffed animals in his bed (his "boys" - he seriously doesn't fit in there unless he's laying on a few of them), but one night I went in and found this.  Ridiculous.  If you look you can see a flashlight, a book, a little cd player, a talking Diego doll, a drink, and a toy car.  Obviously, he closed his eyes and went right to sleep just like I told him to.

Glamorous LA look.

Pretty as a princess look.

Cool snowboarder look.

Yo Gabba Gabba teaches the kids all kinds of valuable skills.

Like beat-boxing, and funny faces.

"Now take a picture of my belly!"

"And of my statue!" (statue = tattoo)

"Now you can take a picture of my MEAN FACE!"

If this doesn't say "Summer" to you, I don't know what would.

Maybe little pink toes in pink flip flops?

Sometimes, I just can't put the camera down.

This was one of those times.

Frozen lemonade,

pink sunglasses,

and the cutest girl on the planet.

Obviously, a photo-shoot was in order.

Fun fact about slushies and two-year-olds - you have to re-teach them about brain freezes approximately every third bite.

Four-year-olds?  They've got it.

They've also got hamming it up for the camera.

They are experts at that.

And they walk off, hand in hand.  Bye, July!