Mikaela's 13th

One of Seleia's bff's turned the big one-three, and did the girls ever have fun at her party! Water toys, balloons, and guns..cakes, cupcakes, candy, a pinata...a fun and festive way to enjoy the late summer heat! Even Dad and Dashiell had a great time. Friends, fun and sun, who could ask for more?

Elora and the Slip n' Slide

For those of you who may not know, little Miss Elora can be very....well, enthusiastic. (She will either be President or an aerobics instructor. Seriously.) When she met the giant Slip and Slide at a friend's party recently she could not get enough. She ignored the cake.  She ignored the candy.  She ignored the games. She didn't want to miss one glorious second of sliding down a hill on a giant sheet on 6 ml. plastic. (Note to self: next year don't buy a Slip n' Slide-ours barely got used- go to the Home Depot and buy a roll of plastic sheeting.  Who knew?). She organized slip and slide games and got entire groups of kids going in lines while holding hands. There were tangles of kids all running and going together at her instruction. General hilarity ensued. Ahhh, simple pleasures.

Family Portrait

The Juhala Family, as drawn by Elora Kay.  Left to right: Melanie, Joel, Dash, Elora, Amarra, and Seleia Vaughn. Aren't we lovely?

His Last Baby Day

It has gone by so quickly.
And I am still so in love with this amazing, beautiful little man.
My heart is overwhelmed when I think that tomorrow (at 2:22!) my little preemie, my little miracle baby, will be one whole year old. He is funny, sweet, loving, adventurous, and tough....we simply cannot imagine our lives without him.
I am so grateful for the gift of this precious child.
Happy Birthday, Dashiell Monroe!!
You are loved beyond measure.

Live long and, well, you know...

Elora has been working hard at her customary Vulcan greeting and is quite proud of herself.  I love my little geeks-in-training.

Yeah, I'm cute.  And oh, so clever.

This Evening

 This evening was just one of those nights. Too hot to get much of anything done, the swimming pool beckoning us after dinner. We skipped the dishes, headed outside, and enjoyed what is sure to be one of our last summer evenings this year. Sleepy baby soaked himself in the kiddie pool almost immediately, so skinny dipping seemed the way to go. He splashed and played and squealed with glee before heading over to cheer on his sisters' lively game of 'monkey-in-the-middle'. And cheer he did, with great enthusiasm. Then he crawled around, explored, and was happy to find a lone plastic dinosaur, left behind from one of yesterday's games. After climbing on and off of the little tykes picnic table a few times, greater mischief soon found him and, after checking if anyone was looking, he headed for his favorite thing...the stairs. After reaching the top he surveyed his little kingdom and found, right at his feet, three little pots full of glorious dirt.
He played with it, talked to it, and had the best time any little boy could possibly ask for, before finishing the evening off with one very thorough bubble bath and falling fast, fast asleep.

At The Lighthouse

 

My whole family.  In a picture.  Together! Here we are at the North Head lighthouse, one of our very favorite places. More lighthouse pictures to come soon. 

  

xoxoxo

A Little Bit of Funny

This cracked me up. And then the girls watched it 5 or 6 times, laughing their heads off. Enjoy.

A Few of His Favorite Things

 Dashiell's number one favorite thing: this book. "The Zoo". It is literally disintegrating. He loves all books, but this dollar store number takes the cake.

 Second most abused (I mean loved?) item in our home: Mama's Star Trek toys. The best (worst?) part is that they talk. You can regularly hear Dash crawling through the house with one hand going, "Red Alert! Red Alert!" each time it hits the ground and the other repeating, "Captain, we're being hailed." From his mouth you might hear a slightly muffled, "I'm giving it all she's got, Captain!!" at the same time.  Or maybe, "Kirk to Enterprise." You always know just where he is...it's better than a cat bell.

 "Baby move it move it" and "Vinny". Vinny is by far the best use of felt scraps I've ever had. And apparently he and his little giraffe are delish.

 Juice can lids. Good times to be had here. I'll never fully understand the appeal of these things, but, boy, have my babies all loved them.

 Melissa and Doug dinosaur magnets. The lower half of the fridge has become expressly for Dashiell's dinosaur play, but you can regularly find them in the kitchen, in the dining room, in the living room, in the hallway, stuck to his toy bin, stuck to the front door, in his mouth....

 This lizard. We have about a hundred plastic dinos and reptiles, but he likes this one.  Also apparently delicious.

 The pegs from his little wooden workbench. Or as his sisters call them, Dashiell's cigars. He could give a rip about the workbench, but oh the wooden cigars....

Well, Dash. Favorite car toy extraordinaire.

Honorable mentions:

Pots and pans. He loves to ski around with each hand grasping a lid as it slides along the floor and he walks along behind them, little bum in the air.

Toilet paper. Or as Joel calls it: the other white meat. Also a tasty treat.