End of summer

I cant believe its been close to a month since I blogged. Sheesh, I am feeling like a slacker.
The kids finished up with swim lessons yesterday. James is now my fearless fish. He loves to jump off the diving board and swim to the side of the pool, only to do it over and over and over again. Toast and Kylie both have much more confidence in the water and have learned new strokes and new tricks. And we all have swim suit lines like we have never had before.
Ben has taken a liking to the broom lately. Its his favorite toy and loves to drag it around the house. He has added a few words to his vocabulary, but refuses to say them when i prompt him. My favorite is Popsicle. He has become addicted to those this summer and will stand in front of the freezer trying to get my attention until I cave and give him one. And the only reason I cave every time is cuz his face lights up like the Luxor pillar every time I do. How can I resist?
James has started telling me secrets. He loves to come up to me and whisper "I tell you seecwet...me wubs you!" Then he runs off laughing. That kid knows how to melt my heart. He has taken a liking to the computer cuz his older brother showed him some elmo games, and he wants to play them ALL the time. I enjoy watching him though, cuz the games are perfectly at his level, and after each task, Elmo breaks out into a song and James will jump up and start dancing and singing along. Its good entertainment.
Toast is getting pretty excited to start Kindergarten. He has been zooming through his library books this summer, so he is definitely ready to go in the reading department. I just hope he will not have a power struggle with his teacher.
I gotta say, I am really gonna miss my Kylie next week when she is at school for most of the day. She has been my right arm these past 2 months. And I know her little brothers are gonna miss her too. She has the sweetest relationship with James and Ben.
Last weekend we had the great pleasure of having some of our dear friends from Mesa come for a visit. We made a day trip to San Diego on Saturday and played on the beach for a while. The kids had a blast, and Ben really enjoyed the sand, as displayed in one of the previous pictures. James had fun building castles with me, and Ty liked boogie boarding with his Dad. We had a great time visiting with the Simmons family and look forward to when they can visit again.
I do think its kind of sad that our summer is coming to an end, but that the temps arent gonna go down for another 2 months. I have really enjoyed my kids and our summer routine. I have loved the tender moments between them, and have enjoyed how excited the oldest 3 get with simple things like craft day, or baking day. I have loved the games, the carefree hours filled with reading, creating and destroying, the talks, the zillion hugs and kisses, and especially the laughs. It seems like time has just zoomed by. But we have some good things lined up in the next 2 months, so here's to looking forward!!!