Cicadas Singing

The light still lingers till it's late;
Summer breezes whisper through
Leafy branches as we play,
Then we hear the sweet debut.

Summer's singers
Raise their voices
Stopping swingers
With their chorus;

Hundreds chirping while we swing,
Blue eyes wondering at the noise
Of invisibles who sing,
Hiding all their grace and poise.

Clinging, swinging, flinging flight.
Ringing, winging, singing joy.
Catching final rays of light
Is their common ground and ploy.

A child will laugh, such music sweet,
At this deafening love song;
Shrill cicadas call to meet
Another before day is gone.

The symphony of tympani
Can prove to overwhelm the sky!
How many can their number be;
Will they swoop, or stay, or fly?

They quiet suddenly and then
When shoes are off and swings are high
Their courtship song begins again,
Filling ears and hearts and sky.

Cicadas' chorus rising, fading
Welcomes summer evenings still;
Yet their voices calling, aiding
Autumn's changes, autumn's chill.

To Clarify...

The other day someone left a comment that said something along the lines of how fun and creative I was. 

Well.

While that is a very kind thing to say, and sometimes I do fun things with my kids (not many moms would wear udders in public, I guess), when we are at the beach or in Florida with my in-laws all of the credit for fun and creative activities must go to my sister-in-law. 

I have spoken of Wendy before, many times.  Wendy has been such a great friend and I often wish we lived closer than we do, so that we could hang out all the time whenever we wanted to.  She has fed and bathed my kids, she has cared for me when I was going through a tough time, she has helped me beat my soda addiction (for a month anyway), she has made me laugh, she has cried with me, she has eaten brownies and watched movies with me, and even watched baseball with me (okay, she sat in the same room...I don't know if she watched or not).  She has helped Christian get out of a major funk, she has encouraged Michaela to face conflict rather than run away from it, she has managed to get Eliana to eat something other than the five things I can count on her to eat.  She also potty trained my youngest, and can get her to float in the pool.  She has secret powers that I do not possess.  (This sounds like a very one-sided relationship...why on earth does she even want me around?!)

She is calm where I am a maniac.  She is logical where I am irrational.  She gets in the pool while I sit on the side and take pictures.  And yet...we are two peas in a pod. 

She is the one who planned and executed the fiesta (last year it was a luau).  She also got my kids to do math while we at the beach.  See?  Secret powers.  Maybe it's in the tea.

Wendy, I miss you!  I miss the tea-making process.  I miss the commisserating.  I miss the laundry-cooking-eating brownies-togetherness.  I hope you know how much you mean to me.

You really are the sister that I never had. 

Clearly, There Was a Fiesta

Maybe you were wondering why my daughter had a mustache.  I think the answer would be obvious.

We had a Mexican fiesta!

Everyone knows that the party would not be complete without...

empanadas

margaritas (made with frozen lemonade, of course)

a piñata

a sombrero

and maybe most importantly, los bigotes maravillosos!

Never underestimate the power of a singularly fantastic mustache.

Never!

(Just like her mommy.)

Life's a Beach

We headed back to Florida and stayed in town for a few days.  Mike had to come back to Dallas (in order to go to Kenya); after he left, Wendy and I headed to the beach with all of the kids. 

At the beach might be my most favorite place to take pictures.  I love it so.

Heading down to the water

Happy feet in the ocean

She started out being brave, then decided that she would rather be on the beach than in the water (unless it was the pool).

Happy toes in the sand

They are always so busy.

Whether they are digging their own hole or enjoying someone else's hard work, they occupy themselves for a long time down on the beach.

This is the six "little cousins" all in the hole.  The older girls are 10, the middle boys are 8, and the two youngest are 5 and 4.

They dug for periwinkles

or just dug.

While they loved being on the beach, it was even greater when the big cousins were also at the condo. 

The big cousins were so sweet with our kids (as they always are).  They boogie boarded and skim boarded with them,

They played all kinds of ridiculous fun games with them in the pool,

were wowed by their sand creations,

and spent time making giant holes with them.

Could it get better than that?! 

We'll see...

Spotlight on Andy (and Eliana)

One fun aspect of our trip was having Mike's brother Andy there with us. 

He doesn't have kids so it was most assuredly an assault to all of his senses living in the same house with six children for a little over a week.  They all love him very much and were excited to show him all manner of things down by the lake, have s'mores with him, and devour his attention whenever they could. 

(I had fun astounding him with my baseball knowledge.  It helped earn us a piece of the pie while playing Trivial Pursuit.  You never know when the oddball facts that you pick up along the way will come in handy.)

One day, Andy borrowed my camera for a few minutes while I was pushing Eliana on the swing.  I wanted to share the images he captured.  They are precious, and very touching for me anyway.  I love her reactions to him, particularly as she went careening towards him on the swing.

There were big, big laughs

Little giggles

Twirling

Upside down looking

"Are you still paying attention to me?"

(I want to go nom-nom-nom on that appley cheek.)

Thank you, Andy, for taking beautiful pictures of my baby girl.  I love you, brother!  See you when we see you.