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We also spent some time in the backyard with sparklers. Thanks to Pinterest, sparklers are now suitable for all ages!
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Towards the end of July, my sister's husband had a business trip to Chicago. The whole family came along, and my parents picked up their girls and brought them down this way. It was rainy and cold, but we had fun at the $1 kids movie and playing around. If only my kids were better hosts - ie could share their toys and boss a lot less - then I think it would have been perfect.
Aren't they adorable all eating pizza together?
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The same week that my sister's girls were visiting, Ryan found a lofted bed on Craig's List. It was just what we were looking for, and the price was right! So Collin and Brennan have been sharing the "Big Boy Room" for about a month now. B is a chatty little monkey, and Coll usually falls asleep while Brenn is still chatting away. I'd say they usually have one really bad night per week, which is much better than I expected. I think they are each having some adjustment struggles to having less to call their "own," but I guess that's just part of being in a family, right?
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Ryan has spent several Friday nights outside camping with Collin. Brennan finally survived a full night outside about two weeks ago. (That was the requirement to earn going to the Father-Son Campout, which is next weekend.) 
The boys love their Daddy ...and smores, banana boats, toasted pies, etc. It's been fun to have our own "campground" just out our back door. I'm glad Ryan loves it as much as they do.
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This summer was also marked by making our final goodbyes to my parents, who arrived in the Philippines this week. We were able to go to St Louis the weekend they spoke in their sacrament meeting and hear their testimonies in Tagalog. We sure are going to miss them.
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We also spent a random Tuesday doing Nauvoo. (Ryan has all this vacation time left still to use this year, and we found out a few weeks ago that he has to take two weeks off in Oct & Nov for lay-off - a strange method Caterpillar uses to supposedly save money when sales are lagging. So he has been sprinkling in days off here and there the last few weeks and will continue to do so through the rest of the year.) Anyway, our Relief Society presidency arranged to babysit kids in Nauvoo so the sisters could go to the temple, and Ryan took the day off and came too. We were able to attend the temple together, pick up the boys at the Stake Center, have a little picnic in the park, and tour the town. Brennan is getting old enough (and is generally a pretty happy camper if his dad is around) that he skipped his nap, and we learned about brick-making, cooking over a fire, horseshoe-making, rope-making, candle-dipping... you know, all the fun Nauvoo things. Anyway, we didn't take the camera, but it was a thoroughly-awesome day together as a family. I would say it was my favorite single day of the summer.
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Last week was probably the most exciting thing of the summer for the boys though - They got a giant trampoline. Nana and Papa sent us an early Christmas present, and they love it! Right after we got it set up, it got really hot. In fact, this week's heat indexes have been over 100, so we put the sprinkler underneath. Good times.
And now on to the fall...
Now that B has almost officially surrendered the baby's room, I am gearing up to spruce up our boy nursery one more time. I need to go through the bin of newborn clothes and sort out the stained and/or worn. We did get our Amazon delivery of itsy, bitsy diapers today though. Scary that he'll be here to fill those soon enough...
For Labor Day weekend, we are heading to Iowa to visit my uncle and his family. He is quite a bit younger than my mom, so some of my cousins - his kids - are still at home and even in elementary school. It is sure to be a great time... and they have dirt bikes, four-wheelers and property. :-)
Collin is starting preschool next week. I've put him into an afternoon class that meets three times per week. I love the teachers so far, and the curriculum is all science-y and project-based. It is right up Collin's alley. We went this week together for the first day, and he ended up picking apart a sunflower with plastic tweezers and extracting a bunch of seeds. His teacher asked if it would be okay for her to bring a pot and some dirt so they could plant the seeds and see what would happen. If you know Collin, he could hardly contain his excitement!
Brennan is going to do a co-op preschool with some kids and their moms from the ward. He'll just be meeting one day per week, but I think he's excited to have something to call his own. We got him a backpack when we bought all Collin's supplies, and he wore it around the store the rest of the trip. He is my social butterfly, and I think he'll love all the time to play with other kids.
We bought my mother-in-law's plane ticket last night for her stay when Boy #3 debuts. It is really starting to feel real now. I am big, but actually feeling quite comfortable this week. I have finally been able to give up my afternoon nap (yep, only took me until 32 weeks to start feeling some energy...). I always feel the best at the end.
Is it bad that I like to keep the baby in? They are so much easier when they don't have to be fed, changed, clothed, napped, held... Well, I am looking forward to the holding part. I hope C & B can let me do that once in a while. I like the end of pregnancy soooo much better than the rest. I love all the movement and the dancing tummy under my shirt. I think this part is fun, despite the hugeness. I figure if I'm not puking and can stand more than 10 minutes, then it's all good. Maybe I just like this part because I'm so miserable the rest of the time! lol
Have a happy fall. If this summer is any indicator of the future, I make no promises for the regularity of posts on this blog. :-)
