Getting Into the Routine of Summer

Four more weeks. Is it really possible that there are only four more weeks left of summer?!? 

I'm juuust now starting to settle into our summer routine. Our routine this last week has been busy and full but the best kind of busy and full. 

We kicked things off with a visit from Auntie Molly and Chance.

It's not a secret we like dogs around here but Grace needed to shout it from the rooftops…or spell it out in yarn that she carefully and intricately cut.

I'm thinking this might be adapted into our next craft project!

Tennis continues but I have yet to upload the videos. It is awesome and they love it and 

I love watching them love it!

Then there was the swimming. 

Lots and lots of swimming.

Both girls are swimming sans me these days!

Hallelujah!

I just have to standby and sort out who gets what pool toy. 

Behold. My little mermaids swimming with their tails!

Grace had a pool party to celebrate the end of t-ball season. She was SO excited! Unfortunately, she was only able to swim for a few minutes because there was an "incident" in the pool - if you catch my drift - and the whole thing was cleared. She was beyond disappointed. Reason #2,594 why we need a pool!

Awards were handed out.

We celebrated with pizza! 

My mother's intuition told me a few months back that we were going to be broaching a very important topic in the near future. I stocked up on a bunch of books just to be prepared.

It was a good thing because this past week they came in useful.

Grace and Charlotte peppered me with questions.

We read. We talked.

We are good.

For the moment.

We did a fun project.

Highly recommend. You can find it here.

A break in the weather - only in the mid 90s as opposed to three digits - led us outside to do some blueberry picking. 

We tickled the ivories a bit. 

Grace proudly assembled her Lincoln Log set all by herself. 

And we ended the week with a much needed dinner out.

Grace invented the french fry glove and we ended the night with chocolate cake!

The perfect way to end the week and prepare for the next!

Viva la summer!

4th of Puke-ly!

Last Thursday, I HAD to drive to Yakima just to pick up my new contacts. It was urgent as I had no backup contacts left and the contacts I was currently wearing were starting to tear. Like I said, it was urgent especially since their office would be closed Friday for 4th of July. 

As it is summer and it is boiling hot, I figured some time spent in the air conditioned car would be a pleasant reprieve. So I loaded up the girls and drove 45 minutes to Tri-Cities to the gym. My plan being that post work out we would drive the 45 minutes back home plus another hour to Yakima, get my contacts, maybe grab lunch and then drive home. For those of you slow at math, that is 1.5 hours in the car post workout and then another hour post-contact-pickup for a grand total of 2.5 hours…just to pick up a box of contacts mind you!

Feeling grand after my workout, I went to pick up the girls from the Little Gym (what we call the gym's play center) and the "babysitter" told me Grace had been complaining of a stomach ache and that they were just about to come get me because she was asking to go home.

Hmmm….

Now it isn't that I didn't believe Grace that her stomach hurt, but I often find myself over-sympathizing with their ailments - keeping them home to rest, etc. only to find that they have miraculously been cured 30 minutes later. I figured a snack and a little "rest" in the car would be just what the doctor ordered!

So into the car we pile and start heading "upstream." Grace complains and refuses all of her favorite snacks. At about an hour and 20 minutes into the drive - well past the turnoff for home - she starts requesting that we go home RIGHT NOW and is squealing from time to time in pain. 

Pushing the speed limit, I told Grace to hang on, that we were almost there and that we would be out of the car in no time. Just as I pulled into the parking lot of the eye clinic, she told me to hurry and I ran around to her side, opened her car door to her PUKING all over. Luckily, she is beyond awesome and managed to get all the puke outside the car!! 

We sat outside a bit, drank some water and collected ourselves before going in grabbing the contacts and heading home. In hind sight, riding in the car with a child with a stomach issue was probably not my best decision. 

This is where Grace posted up for the remainder of the day. I figured it would be a 24 hour thing like usual and we'd be up and at em the next day for the fourth of July.

No such luck. 

All day. All night. 

Then Charlotte came down with it too.

Mid-afternoon they seemed miraculously better. They were up and chatty so I figured the worst was over! We went swimming at Manna and Boppas house before a Family Fourth of July Feast!

These poses say it all! Cracks. Me. Up!!

Should have gotten pics of them BEFORE they swam in their blueberry dresses but once again 

hindsight got the best of me. 

Upon our return from our 4th of July evening, this guy showed up at our house!

He seemed starving, scared but so sweet. Of course no collar. People can really suck when it comes to caring for animals. Being a holiday weekend, there wasn't much we could do to help him other than give him a bit of food and water. Stranger and Hiccup took to him and kept his busy and 'Brown Dog' was my entertainment for the weekend as I watched him come and go through the windows…

but as of 2 in the morning on July 5…we were back in Flu-ville.

Both girls sick with "the throw-ups."

Saturday and Sunday. All day. This is where they were - the couch.

They slept on and off which was good but it meant they were really sick because they never sleep when the sun is up. Never!

They colored a bit. I once looked over and saw Charlotte doodling her name - all nine letters of it! She'd never done the whole thing without help before so that was the highlight of my 48 hours spent indoors cycling through laundry, dishes, blankets and sheets - you get the drift.

They watched E.T. for the first time which was a kick for me seeing Drew Barrymore at Charlotte's current age! Grace kept calling E.T. 'the robot' instead of an alien or an extra-terrestrial. 

Finally, FINALLY, Monday rolled around and so did some stronger stomachs and some smiles. Our big outing of the day was grocery shopping. 

They LOVED having their own carts. I was a bit worried that each of them in control of their own cart was going to be a recipe for disaster but it was actually awesome! All I kept thinking to myself was grocery shopping in just a few short years is going to be SO boring! I will most certainly miss these golden nugget moments throughout the day.

As it is pushing towards triple digits every afternoon, I took the girls swimming on Monday. I don't know what came over Charlotte but she just decided she was going to swim and that was that. She threw some rings in the pool and dove down and got them. Boom! Swam from one side of the pool to the other. Boom! She even jumped into the deep in and swam to edge without help! Check and mate! Fingers crossed I am laying pool side by the end of the summer - book in hand - and that my having-to-go-in-freezing-cold-public-pools-in-the-dead-of-winter days are over! Swim lessons start next week so things are looking pretty good in the recreational swimming department!

Ugh but back to reality. Woke up to this guy still here this morning. It was time to take some action. By days end, he was taken to a safe place that will try to reconnect him with his family or find him a new family. It was super said but I am so grateful that there are people and organizations dedicated to caring for animals in tough situations.

With that downer of a post ending, I will sign off wishing and hoping that this next week brings more laughter and smiles and less 'throw-ups!'

Visits...of All Kinds!

The girls and I snuck away for a few days to visit my parents.

While it was hot in our neck of the woods, it was even hotter in Boise. Luckily, my parents have a pool in their neighborhood. All of Boise must have been camping or vacationing or something because the pool was empty everyday! Score!

We swam. 

We hit the splash park.

Enjoyed quiet time by the river at dusk. 

Excitement, heat, a long drive and staying up way past bedtime eventually led to this:

Just a few short days in Boise, then we headed back with my mom in tow!

My dad followed a few days later to visit and to drive my mom home!

They had yet to see our new house, our new dogs or the chickens!!

This guy showed up right after they left.

Yes, that is a kitten.

In a nest.

In a tree.

Clearly, the word is out in the animal world that we are good people.

Funny how the universe works. When all those "let's-have-another-baby" feelings (I blame them completely on Prince George!!) start bubbling and brewing, I am flooded with babies - but of the canine/feline kind. 

Not exactly what I had in mind but it has quelled the fires...

for now. 

Ironical Weather

Grace has had her casts off for officially one week now. In that week, we've had only one, quasi-warm-enough-to-swim day. It's been windy, cool and overcast. And today? Today was the day I had planned on swimming and it is raining!! RAINING?!? In August!! I think Alanis Morissette would have a little something to say about all this....It's like RA-ai-IINNN when you get your casts off....Isn't it ironic? (You know what's ironic? All girls LOVE scream singing Alanis and all guys hate anything Alanis Morissette related. I think she touches a little too close to home for most guys. Hmm? Don't you think?)

Anyway, we did 'force' a swim day on Wednesday. Not super warm, but warm enough. The girls' cousins were finishing up swim lessons in the morning and I had an emergency dentist appointment at 11. (Long story.) So we scooted down to the local pool - which was empty - aside from the kids in lessons! It was so nice...but the water was cold. Grace and Charlotte went in and immediately got out. They made me put their clothes back on and everything. Not 15 minutes later when swim lessons were over and the cousins were ready to play, guess who wanted to get back in their swimsuits?!?!

Oh to be a kid and get so much joy out of such simple things.

Water and jumping.

The water they are jumping into is shallow - Charlotte can stand with her head above water.

But the pool is on a gradual incline so it gets deeper. The bigger kids kept meandering deeper and deeper and it didn't cross Charlotte's mind once that she couldn't keep up - regardless of the fact that she can't totally swim yet!! It was hysterical, challenging, frustrating and scary all at the same time!

No flippin' fear I tell you! Have to watch her like a hawk!! 

The good news is we are headed to Boise next week where it is supposed to be hot as blazes so a trip to the water slides might be in order!

In other news, the chickens spent their first night outside in their coop. Of course, I chose the coolest night of the summer to acclimate them to their new home. 

Before I went to bed, I checked on them and they were all huddled and squished together. They compacted themselves - all four of them - into an area the size of my fist. So I'm pretty sure that meant they were cold. I tried putting a heater in the coop but found out (the hard way) that the outdoor outlets nearest the coop don't work. Ahhh...another thing to add to our (long) list of broken or damaged items that need fixing or replacement. Oh the never ending joys of home ownership!!

With that, who's ready for the weekend?!? Uh, this gal! Court turns a year wiser on Sunday so we get to drink wine excessively and not feel bad about it!! woo hoo! Have a good one!!

Getting the Most Out of Summer - Before It Starts/Ends

Technically, it's not even summer yet. You wouldn't know it though because we have been squeezing all the summer we can out of every day. Water slides, parks, pools, playing outside...I probably have more of a tan now than I have in five years! 

Charlotte finally worked up the courage to go down the little slide by herself and LOVED it!! I knew she would! So I took her down the BIG twisty slide - on my lap - but when she saw all the other kids going down by themselves, a fit of epic proportions ensued! She wanted nothing to do with me and everything to do with going down the slide by herself! She didn't understand that this was opening day at the local pool and it was PACKED! The lifeguards were in overdrive because it was insane and they were eager to blow their whistles. So no rule bending was going to be had - no matter how much she wanted to do the slide by herself; no matter how capable. While her mind may be that of dare devilish five year old, her body still measures as a two-year-old-just-three-months-shy-of-her-third-birthday and that equates to a no-go as a solo on the slide. Frankly, that was just unacceptable and pissed her off. 

Grace enjoyed the pool too and was able to do a solo trip down the big twisty slide but we won't be mentioning that in front of a certain two year old I know! ha!

We've been making the best of the great spring weather we've had so that we don't feel like we are missing it while Grace is recovering. I must say that she seems to be doing well with her upcoming surgery. We talk about it several times a day and she 'understands' the timeline and the process. She knows she will have casts and will wake up feeling "weird and maybe a little upset." I think her practice run with Grandpa REALLY helped. Even though she is able to regurgitate back to me all of details about her surgery, I know she has no idea what casts are, how they really feel and how miserable they will likely make her. (I've never had a cast...I've just heard horror stories - particularly about casts getting wet!) So it is had to expect how these next few weeks will go.

The good news is the new house doesn't have a pool and Court will have to make build a new sandbox so she won't have those temptations staring her in the face everyday! But we will have a surprise for the girls in just a few weeks...

The first half of the surprise came late last week, the other half comes toward the end of the month - hopefully! Any guesses?!?!?

Water Slides

Last week at this time, the girls and I were on the road to Boise. It was a three part trip: 1) prepare Grace for her upcoming surgery, 2) visit the grandparents and 3) hit the water slides! As swimming is Grace's FAVORITE thing to do and she won't be able to do it most of the summer, I wanted to sneak in as much swimming as possible. As we rolled into Boise, it was cold and windy! Hitting the water slides did not look good. By Saturday afternoon, it was in the low 80s. Once it hits the 80s, that is swimming weather in my book! Lucky enough, my parents live just 15 minutes away from one of the largest water slide parks I've ever seen! So off we went..the girls, Grandma and me!

As we were walking up to the entrance, we saw a family of quail - complete with teeny, tiny babies! They were so cute and the girls LOVED them! Even if the slides were a bust, I think the girls would have been happy with just seeing the quail!

But the slides were not a bust. In fact, they were far from it! I wasn't sure what to expect because water slides seem to be a big kid activity. This place had an entire pool dedicated to just little kids! With three big slides and several play toys scattered through the pool...it was amazing!

While it appears that they are hating life, I promise they had fun - Grace in particular!

Grace was big enough and brave enough to ride on all three "big" slides by herself!!

She even went down in a twirly intertube!

Charlotte, had she wanted to, could have gone down all the slides by herself as well. Understandably, she was a little apprehensive. So she and I went down the yellow slide...

over and over again!

By the end of the day, she decided she wanted to go down the yellow slide by herself!

We also went on the lazy river but I think the girls were so cold at that point that they didn't enjoy it all that much. Plus, there were a lot of rowdy big kids.

Grace was totally content paddling around by herself - waiting for me and Charlotte to join her at the bottom of the slides. 

The park was hot - especially amidst all the concrete - and I thought the water felt great!

Grace and Charlotte got a little cold and had to take a break to warm up.

I'm glad that they are a little more adventurous than me! I was always afraid of water slides as a kid.

Come to find out they are a lot of fun!

As we rolled out of town the next morning, we passed by the water park and Grace was sure to state for the record that she wanted to go back the next time we are in Boise!

Chicken Sitting

This past week, we've been chicken sitting! It's been a lot of fun! 

The chicks aren't really chicks anymore. They are in their awkward teenage years. Losing the fluff and getting their feathers. Still sweet as can be though and guess who wants their own coop full of chickens?

As it was HOT here last week - in the 90s!! - we'd stop by for some chicken love and then head up to Mana and Boppa's house for a dip in the pool! It's made for some tired girls...and with both of them zonked out by 7:30 pm every night (and Court asleep by 8 pm because he contracted the bubonic plague - AKA bronchitis) I've had the entire house to myself! It's been heavenly! 

I've gotten so much done and feel so productive! I even moved my "office" into Charlotte's room since she's sleeping in Grace's room now. 

But the weather is supposed to cool off and Court is on the mend, so I'm sure my quiet, productive evenings will come to a screeching halt.

Oh well! I'm on my way right now to pick up a new book called "Selfish Reasons to Have More Children" so that ought to keep everyone at arm's length! hahah