Mutually Beneficial

While we were in Utah, my sister Emily volunteered to babysit Riley at her home one evening so we could go out to eat.

Emily recently sent me photos of their evening together. Turns out, in additional to being a kind and generous sister, Emily is a brilliant and resourceful aunt.

The Best Medicine

We spent yesterday afternoon organizing the toys in Riley's room. She rediscovered some old favorites and developed some new favorites, too. Like a toy doctor's syringe that I have no clue how/when/where we acquired.

So Riley spent the rest of the afternoon administering faux shots. But only after warning me first, "I need to give you a shot, Mommy. This going to be reeeeally hurt."

(If it did, in fact, hurt, I was laughing too hard to notice.)

Summer: The Abridged Version

One of life's little ironies is that when there's a lot to blog about, there's so little time for blogging.

We have been so darn busy maximizing our fun this summer that I've got this backlog of blog entry ideas that, let's be honest, I'm just never going to get to.

So instead, here are the ClifsNotes highlights of our past few weeks:

• Riley's joint birthday party with her friends Anna and Vivian, who all celebrated birthdays within a week of each other.
• The Sesame Street cupcakes my friends Ginger, Lissie, and I made for the joint birthday party.
• Riley's three-year checkup, during which I learned that shots don't faze Riley at all if they're quickly followed by a bandaid.
• Portland's heat wave: A week of 100-plus degree weather. No a/c. Bleh.
• The mobile Matt, our new employee Ben, and I stayed up 'til 2 a.m. finishing just before deadline.
  
• Our trip to Salt Lake City to visit Grandma & Grandpa, Riley's cousins (who were in town from Houston), Matt's extended family, my sisters, and a few good friends.
• Riley's birthday party #3, thrown by Matt's mom and sisters.
• Lots of fun activities during out trip.
  
• Riley's new best (stuffed) friend, Pinky the bear. Sorry Zelf. (And thanks, Grandma!)
  
• Our eighth anniversary!

Whew.

So. If you don't hear from me for a few more weeks, don't worry. We're either busy enjoying our precious final days of summer–or recovering from the past few weeks.

the birthday girls

the cupcakes

the mobile (in process)

the grandma and cousins

the birthday party #3

the pinky bear