And there goes August

We had a very fun but very busy August. The two highlights were visits from Cliff, Susana, and cousin Brandon; and from Grandpa and Nana.

Cliff and I were fortunate to grow up only a few hours from our cousins Joy and Noel, and some of my favorite childhood memories are of the four of us together. I really hope our kids can have that with their cousins too. So it was really a treat to get to spend some time with Brandon - for Theo his second time and for Grady and Clara their first. 

Theo may look sweet....

 And of course, spending time with Uncle Cliff and Aunt Susie is pretty okay too.

I love Clara's look of adoration here

Their visit was short, so we didn't have too much time to do much outside the house (particularly when everyone's nap times were factored in) but we did manage to all go to the Alberta Street Fair, and the Swaps ventured out for a hike at Multnomah Falls. Mostly it was fun just to hang out and catch up, commiserate and celebrate parenthood, and watch the little ones run around like maniacs. 

Although the trip with Grandpa and Nana was just as fun, it was not as well documented. I belatedly realized that we failed to take any photos at all.  Well, almost. 

As you can see, we really packed in the Portland activities. Just ignore the cacti. And the similar composition of this group shot in the last post.

Their visit was too short as well - they were just stopping by in the middle of a road trip across the west coast - but we will take them whenever we can get them. Other than going to the PSU farmers market, we stayed pretty low key. Matt was gone the first day for the Hood to Coast relay, then was recovering, then Clara got sick....  As always, the kids were over-excited to see them and put them to immediate use reading books.

Our other big adventure in August was a trip apple/pear picking. Everyone helped - even Theo! 

The rest of August has been spent getting sick, getting better, enjoying camp, learning French, playing outside, climbing trees, exploring playgrounds, eating corn on the cob, and generally loving Portland summers. 

Theo has grown a lot this past month. He can no longer be trusted to stay where put down, and is threatening to start scooting (up on his knees, butt in the air, then back down). 

Not where he started

He has gotten two teeth - the two bottom middle ones - and only rarely bites the "hand" that feeds him. 

A few weeks ago - they're pretty much all the way out now

We have been introducing more foods, and so far he is quite pleased with all of them. We even gave him some gluten-ous foods, and he didn't have a reaction, so I am quite pleased about that. 

Gluten tolerant.

He LOVES to play peek-a-boo. You can tell he's a third child since he had to figure this game out for himself and is most often stuck being the peek-a-booer.

Where's Theo?

There he is!

He slept through the night for the first time last night - though I am not counting on that being a regular occurrence. (He had a horrible night the night prior and barely napped that day so he was probably just super tired.)  In general his sleep has been a bit rockier lately - not wanting to go to sleep on his own, taking shorter naps - but we are weathering our way through it. He makes up for it by being such a sweet, happy, loving little boy.  

Clara had a really long period of being just lovely, which was rudely interrupted by her getting a nasty virus last week. She hasn't fully recovered, but we saw that glimmer and we are holding onto it! She is learning a lot about dinosaurs courtesy of Grady and correctly identifies Triceratops (which she no longer calls Tater Tops), Parasauralophus, and Pteranodon, in addition to T-Rex of course. She has started memorizing some pages of her books and enjoys reciting them. She has also treated us to some interesting renditions of her favorite songs lately. Even at her post-sick-crabbiest, she makes us laugh that goofy girl. 

Grady finished up camp for the summer and is getting geared up to start his last year of school before Kindergarten. He is required to go 5 days a week now, which will be a big adjustment for everyone. Luckily some of the days will be half days.  Unfortunately, his best friend Clyde from school will be going to a different school next year, so that will not make things easier. We did have a fun celebration with Grady and Clyde at the local amusement park. They had a great time - although you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell Clyde did from the photos. 

He is very interested in dinosaurs right now, and has memorized a few of his favorite dinosaur books with surprising speed. 

(Yeah we wear capes and crowns around here, what about it.)

Grady and Clara continue to be great friends. I'm excited for Theo to start to be old enough to be part of the crew. Clara is quite protective of him. The neighbor's dog came over and gave Theo's foot a lick. Clara screamed indignantly "Don't touch my baby!!" He will be well cared for. At least once she stops trying to shove things in his face. 

Grady really has some winning outfits in this post

Our three troublemakers