It's here, it's here. . . Summertime is here!

Sorry for my extended absence from the blogosphere. We've been real busy 'round these parts lately, especially me. I'm taking a writing class, volunteering with Angel Covers, and oh, did I mention that I've had three job interviews in the past week? The back-to-work debate is an entire blog post (or two) on its own, but for now, I'm going to share some of the sun shiney goodness we're having here.

We are pretty tough cookies and we try to get outside rain or shine, but now that it's warmer and sunny, I think our whole family is almost giddy with excitement for the summer and all the promises it holds for us! Our recipe for fun includes. . .

more of this:

and this:

and this:

thrown in with a pinch of this:

a dash of this:

and if we're lucky, maybe a few more funky drink cups for good measure!

My kids' dad could kick your kids' dad's butt . . .

I know it's not Father's Day yet, but I need to give a 'shout out' to my amazing husband today for being the best dad ever. Keller, the awesome little guy that he is, has been going through some tough stuff lately. I'll leave the details out for two reasons: 1) privacy, of course and 2) because it would require more back stories than a full season of LOST. Anyhoo. . .as I type this, Dave & Keller are out getting lost in the woods together. They packed up a car full of camping gear and headed into the forest to forget about the world for awhile. I hope my kids know how lucky they are that this guy, this dad, is the one they get to grow up with. And I need to remember to tell him more often how grateful I am that he's my partner on this wild ride called "Parenting."

Huffman Highlights

We've had some fun times and big accomplishments around here recently. Here's the wrap-up:

Keller and Dave went rock climbing at Great Falls with our friend and climbing enthusiast Jude. It was Keller's first time climbing outside, although he has mastered all of the walls at our gym and REI. I have to admit it stresses my mama heart a bit to think of my baby hanging from a rope on the side of an unforgiving rock face, but the kid is good. He went straight up 3 times, Spidey style:


Casey's interest in letters, numbers, and drawing has suddenly exploded, which is so cool to see. He constantly uses his fingers, arms, pencils, crayons, anything in reach to make models of letters and numbers. He's going to be set to go for kindergarten in the fall. He has been drawing me lots of sweet cards and love letters:


Marley's wild and crazy hair is suddenly earning rave reviews among moms. She's got these beautiful big shiny waves and curls now. She has hair like a mini-version of Sandra Oh. Granted, I have to chase her around with detangler spray and a big comb every morning, but even on a bad hair day, she's got pretty good hair! It's hard to believe that this:

has turned into this (uncombed in this photo, but you get the idea!):


I ran the Frederick Half Marathon on Sunday 5/2. It was a great race for me--I beat my previous personal record by almost seven minutes, which makes me think that maybe I'm not "too old for this sh*t" as I've been saying for months now! I'm looking at a few fall races, maybe a trail half marathon next time?


Dave registered for the Nation's Triathlon in September, and his training is in full swing. The distances are challenging, but the fact that he has to swim in the Potomac is the scary part for me!

We said 'goodbye' to our fun old pop-up a few weeks ago. We hadn't used it at all last year, and knew we probably wouldn't take it out too much this year, so we sold it to a nice dad whose daughters are hopefully enjoying it as much as we did. Now we are the owners of a rockin' new 8-person Columbia tent that is tall enough for Dave to stand in, has a separate bedroom for the kiddos, and has a great spot inside for projecting videos on rainy camping days. We can't wait to get out for a weekend with it soon.