Why I'm savoring summer, like I've never savored summer before

Gotta love a kid who thinks spraying down garbage cans is fun. Wait, it gets better: After this, Max hosed down our minivan.

I know the child labor lawyers are going to be after me one of these days.

Sabrina was under the impression she's been growing pickles, no doubt because Dave has been calling them "pickles." When I broke the news that her first cucumber wasn't going to taste like a pickle, she refused to eat it. I may just have to learn how to pickle stuff, which could come in handy given that I have no other kitchen skills and that one could certainly impress friends and family. The tomatoes and peppers in the garden got eaten by the squirrels before we could get to them since SOMEONE forgot to put up fencing. DAVE!

We are really savoring this summer with the kids. Things are easier, for one; Max is a lot more independent. I don't think he could have held that hose last summer, at least not with such accuracy. (Or, for that matter, tried to get me with the spray—and then understood what I was saying when, weenie that I am, I asked him to hit the garbage instead. His comprehension has also significantly improved.)

This summer, Max is also enjoying outings more than he has—he doesn't get as intimated by new places, especially if a car wash is involved—and we have been going nuts with the weekend trips. (I'll tell you about Sesame Place after I upload the photos, I seriously sometimes wish I could pay someone to do it, why aren't there robots for that yet? Or robots who put up garden fencing when SOMEONE forgets to? DAVE!)

But I'm also savoring this summer because I feel as if it's the last one when the kids are going to be little. I mean, they won't be old or anything when they're six and eight, but by next summer I will no longer have two really young kids. And, yeah, we're still debating #3.

[Insert much sentimentality here.]