9 months later...

...I could have been pregnant and had a baby in the time it's taken me to get back to this blog! The hard thing is finding time to do it, and then what interesting things do I want to say about our family? I don't want to BORE people...after all, I do put stuff on FB, too.

I will say that the weather is finally cooling down, not so much during the day, but definitely in the evenings, and with dark happening sooner, it's getting cooler sooner, so the kids can be outside playing after dinner. They LOVE it. If I say, "Let's go outside!" there's this mad charge for the back door -- no shoes necessary -- and a run for the sandbox out back. Sean has been pretty good about not eating sand, although a couple diapers ago, I did notice some "roughness" in what I was cleaning off his bottom. It was like he was getting an exfoliation treatment on his rear end!

Will loves to play in the back kicking the ball around, swinging (major fun for him), or climbing the swing set and going down the slide. David and I thought our swing set would be a bit over the top when we completed it last year, but it's a HUGE hit with both boys and they both like to climb up the slide (easier with no shoes), play on the platform, send their cars or balls down the slide, or swing. Sean still sometimes gets drowsy in the swing, so we have to watch him, but it's a grand time for everyone.

Sean has fun in the sandbox, mostly. He just pushes and throws the sand around. When we are able to be out there when the sun is up, we have an umbrella in the sand (like you would at the beach) to help keep them cool. Sometimes I fill a bucket with water and let them play with that. Invariably, if they're full of sand, they get a complete hose-down before they are allowed back in the house. (Sidenote: a couple days ago, we were shocked to find A TON of sand in Will's bed. I think he played outside with his grandparents that day while David and I went on a date, and I told Patsy the boys didn't need to take a bath, but I don't think I told her they needed their feet hosed off. Lesson learned!)

David is working very hard. He's a part of a new committee (see National Action Alliance Leadership press release for more info) that has some pretty high-up-in-the-federal-gov't folks participating. It's a real honor for David to be selected and we're very proud of him. He will be required to go to DC a couple times a year to participate in this committee. David has been doing a lot of research on suicide (by himself and with partners) and is well respected in the behavioral health community for his work. He's kicking butt and taking names at Magellan, too. We're very proud of everything he's doing.

As for me, I've finally gotten off my butt and have joined some mommy groups here in Chandler. Tomorrow is the first meeting of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). It's more of a faith-based group, but then so was Mary Kay and I survived that, so I guess I will survive this. I'm looking forward to meeting some new moms. A lot of the moms at this group live close to me and they do playgroups and other activities outside the two-times-a-month group meetings, so I'm looking forward to it. The other group I'm joining is MOMS Club. I was in MOMS Club when I was in Smyrna, and when I first moved here, but didn't make a good effort to get involved when I moved here. This chapter is different from the one I was a part of (and my neighbor across the street is a member), so I'm hoping to start off a little better with this one than I did previously.

Time to wrap it up...details about our San Diego trip from a few weeks ago in a different post!