"mommy, where'd the sunshine go?"

typical Nevada blustery storm. blech.

Indeed. Just moments before, we were outside in the sunshine, enjoying the heat (well, mostly) and playing in the water. One of my favorite smells (besides rain in Nevada -- nothing beats that fresh, sagebrushy smell!) is how the girls' skin smells after they've been playing outside. Sunkissed. Salty. With a little touch of sunscreen. It just smells so sweet and pure and playful. If playful had a smell, it'd be the sunkissed skin of a little girl!

mmmm kissed by the sun!

We've been enjoying our summer so far and as I type this, there are 55 minutes left until it is officially August. Where does the time go? The days are already getting shorter and the nights have a little more of a chilly bite to them (although we're still sleeping with the windows open. Love hearing the rustling leaves in the morning. And the birds. Oohhh the birds. Ok they might fall more on the "I'm about to throw a molotov cocktail at you. If I knew how to make one." side).

The rushing-of-time isn't helped by the fact that I live in the future so much with my work. I'm always prepping things for days in advance of the day I'm actually in. It makes the present almost unattainable. I'm never in the moment.  I had a lot to do this weekend as far as house-things go. Camping recovery is still not completed (mountains of laundry, various food-things to re-organize in the pantry, bags to finish unpacking, blankets to put away, etc) but instead of tackling that stuff, I played with the girls outside most of today. I savored those moments because summer is almost over and the next time we are poolside in the backyard it'll be next summer. I'm not saying that our summer days are over now, but you know how it goes. "Tomorrow" turns into "next week" turns into an ambiguous "later" turns into .....when? Live in the moment, right? Sticky popsicles and all.

Before I know it, Jovi will be 4 1/2 going on 15 and Aven will be 2. Jovi's already counting down the days to her next birthday and tells everyone that I'm going to be four and we're doing Fancy Nancy at the bowling alley. She's got it all planned out already. Makes those 3 1/2-year-old moments even sweeter. She's in a hurry to grow up; I'm in a hurry to slow down! Sometimes I look at her and wonder when she got so tall. Or when her hair got so long. Or her words so.... old.


I'm loving this stage of the girls' lives because they are sisters, and very aware of it. Jovi always asks me Can I go see my sister Aven? when Aven is napping. Aven seeks out Jovi as well and adores her. Of course there are the fights, which are always awesome for everyone involved and I'm sure they are just going to get more and more awesome as the girls grow up. Instead of fighting about wooden blocks, they will fight about a pair of jeans. CAN'T WAIT! I'm giving myself a headache just thinking about it.

But really, their interactions are mostly fun and it's neat for me to see them finding their way into sisterhood. I hope they grow up being close; sharing secrets and keeping them from Kyle and me... Hmm..  maybe I should be careful what I wish for. I just want them to be close. I hope I'm able to foster that relationship between them without getting in the way of it.