Summer Update

* I traveled to Nebraska to stay with my dear friend Jill and her family for 6 days at the start of June. We had a lovely visit, and I got to snap a few pictures. I hope to post more in an upcoming blog post, but here is a cute shot I got of my goddaughter, Lydia. She's so cute! Here, she's modeling her brother's fireman's hat.

And here, she's also modeling my sunglasses.

* Mom, Hannah, and I went to pick some strawberries in Wooster in June. Neither Hannah nor I had ever done this before, and we found it to be great fun. Look at all the berries we picked by ourselves for $8.00!

* Hannah is taking swim lessons. Getting over her fear of submerging her head has been challenging, but she's done it a few times and is doing great! The trick, thanks to my friend Jill, is to close your mouth and hum when you go under. This keeps the water out of your nose.

This is helping a lot. She's also learning to swim unassisted, jump in,

float on her front and back, and, of course, go under!

Here she is swimming on her back with help from her instructor, Miss Christina.

* Hannah is getting more and more creative with her play. Here, she attached her shopping cart to her bicycle, using the string from Cody's cat toy, to pull her princesses around as if they are in a carriage. She's one clever little girl!

* We've been in the habit of having sundaes at night when I'm at my sister's house. I use vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup (but not hot fudge, because "I don't like the fudge taste" - a reference to something silly I said to a friend once), dry-roasted peanuts, whipped cream, and a raspberry (since I don't like cherries). Delicious!

Here's Hannah's version, which has the same ingredients except she likes strawberries on hers and opts for no peanuts (what?!?). Oh, and the princess-themed, heart-shaped bowl is different, too. :)

* I took a sweet picture of my sister and Hannah one night after dinner. I love this shot and (ahem) keep waiting for this to become my sister's profile picture on Facebook...

* Miss traveled to San Diego for a week for business, so Mom and I shared babysitting responsibilities. I had a great time with Hannah; we went to see Cars 2, which was cute, we went to Target to buy a present to take to a birthday party for Emma, my best friend's daughter, who was turning 3, and we ate at Fazoli's. Hannah loved it. She said, "I've never been here before, but I'm coming back!" I was sure to text this to my sister, who doesn't like Fazoli's at all. But Hannah has great taste, right Jaimi? ;)

* I've gotten to hang out with my good friends Ben and Mary a few times this summer. Usually, they invite us over around 7 in the evening so Hannah and Vaeh, their daughter, can play for a while. They giggle almost constantly! Then they snuggle in to watch a movie on Ben's iPad, and we either keep talking, watch a movie, or play a game. This week, Miss wasn't there, but I took Hannah over. She and Vaeh had a great time as always, and we (along with a few other friends) played card games, 31 and Uno. I didn't win, but we had fun! :)

* I'm working 23 hours a week for my part-time job, Smarthinking, and am appreciating the chance to make some extra money. It's also nice because it adds some structure to my life since I don't work during the summer. I only work until July 15, when the first summer session ends, but I hope to pick up extra shifts from other tutors who need days off in the 3 weeks between the 15th and when I go back to work. Can you believe I go back to work in just over a month???