4th week of July 2016

It's interesting.  Most of the time I feel like our lives are pretty simple (boring) and we don't do much.  However, as I am going through and blogging, I am reminded of how much we do in even just a normal, summer week.  Take this week for example, there's nothing big and special but it was a full week!

Emmalyn in her sleep sack with her best buddy, Landen.

Kids all crowded around Peter

This is not posed.  This is how she sleeps.  How perfectly sweet is that?!!? Those sweet hands, those cheeks, and that tousled, curly mess of hair laying on her pillow. (Turtle placed right on her forehead and purple puppy on the other side.)

My handsome big kid enjoying some time at school this week.

Silliness

Max had a splash day at school and for awhile he just didn't want to participate.

Eventually he got into it though.  :)

Splashing Dylan

Going after Mrs. Cynthia

He's coming along really well with his swim strokes.  He loves his coach Katie.

Joe joined the fence staining crew.  The boys decided to see if the sprayer was a better option than the way we had been doing it.

I helped stain the fence and paid the price - look at that mess! (I also got eaten alive by mosquitoes because we were out at dusk. I'm not kidding, like 9 bites on one leg.)

Playing at the park after Kindermusik

Look!!!  I got a tomato off my plant! (It wasn't very flavorful though because I picked it when it was a little green and let it ripen on the counter)

My old boss at work, Marc Rapp, was diagnosed with lung cancer so a bunch of us are showing our support and Running for Rapp (R4R) since he can't run any more right now.  I'm not running but I'm walking and logging miles (and sometimes rocking my hat).

Morning time on the ipad

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese

Maxwell asks to do school work when he's at the Montessori school even though during the summer they typically don't do any work.  He loves learning - especially math!  This is a chain that helps him learn his times tables.

We have our membership at the Frisco Athletic Center again and are loving the great outdoor water park.  We've found a few friends who also have a membership and try to meet them there. 

Maxwell and Preston

Maxwell going to Kinder is about a month away (seems unfair to have to start thinking about school when it's still July!) so we went to find a backpack and lunch box.

We found the "one"

It looks so big!  The only thing smaller were little kid backpacks with characters on them and I just don't do characters if I can help it.

We signed Maxwell up to take tennis lessons at the FAC.  He really wants to learn.

I gave up on my bell pepper, jalapeno, and zucchini plants.  They haven't grown any veggies...I guess it's just too hot now.

Oh no!  When I pulled up my bell pepper plant, I saw this little baby bell pepper so I quickly replanted it.  Hopefully it will make it! :(

My helper

Putting in the miles again.  It's hot at night but I'm really focused on hitting my steps and losing some weight.

Last week of June 2016

Lots of photos to finish out the month.  This is mainly a photo dumb.

Love her in this sea green color

Happy to be dropped off at school

Big smile

Sweet smile

Curls and lashes

Those curls!  It's crazy when I look back just a couple months and see how they've grown.

This is how she goes to sleep.  Hands in prayer pose and her turtle by her forehead.

She is still sleeping in a sleep sack.

Bedtime reading with dad

Having a "picnic" at Brittany's house

Maxwell enjoyed a splash day at school.  I hung out at watched them have fun before I went to work.  (I ended up going to work a little wet thanks to all the splashing.)

Maxwell and his buddies - Preston, Joshua, and Dylan

He had a great time speeding down the slide into the pool at the bottom.

He loves Ms. Cynthia

The whole class

Even teachers get to have a little fun

Three amigos - Maxwell, Preston, and Joshua

Look at my garden!!! :)  The plant on the right is my cucumbers.  I'm getting what looks like the start of cucumbers but then they never grow beyond that.  I googled it an apparently they aren't being pollinated, so I've learn how to cross pollinate my cucumbers.  I take the stamens/pollen from the male flower and rub it on the stamens from the female flower (forgive me if my terminology is wrong).  Hopefully this will work and I'll get some cucumbers!

The pepper plant is growing but no sign of any peppers

I have both regular and roma tomatoes growing.  It's so exciting!

Those sweet curls turn into craziness in the morning

I adore the back of this dress

Excited to get in and play his soccer game

Such a girl - talking on her phone with her purse in hand

Pretty girl in a pretty dress.  I love that sweet profile with the chubby cheeks and the baby fingers.

We had Peter's cousin, Brian, who just moved to TX over for dinner with his wife and daughter.  She's a little less than a year younger than Emmalyn.  It was cute watching Emmalyn engage with her.

I painted Emmaln's toes for the first time and now we have matching toes!

Maxwell got to have his thumb painted blue and was so excited about it!

Silly yes but both of those toothbrushes are her brother's.  Ew.

At a neighbor's birthday party.  Emmalyn had a great time pretending with all the toys.

This register was the biggest hit for both kids.  We had to make them take turns.

Giving me my change

Maxwell was playing with some toys that were stuck to the wall with super strong magnets and he yanked one off with such force that when it released, he ended up hitting himself in the head with it.  It swelled up super fast and looked awful.  He was a trooper though and didn't get upset.

I painted his other thumb with white/red so his thumbs were like the American flag for the upcoming 4th of July.

Video - Maxwell was really so excited about having his thumbs painted.

I stopped with the kids and got Subway that we enjoyed as a picnic outside.

Video - We went swimming next door and Emmalyn decided she wanted to jump off the rock like her brother.  This girl has no fear.

To show you how much Maxwell has done in preschool this year.  The pile on the left is all the work he brought home last year compared to the pile on the right which is the all the work from this school year.

Fun in the pool with cousins.

Cute picture of my siblings in their uniforms.

Sigh...owning a house can be so much work sometimes.  Our fence needs to be re-stained.  So we had Jared next door pressure wash it and then we are going to stain it ourselves.  It's so expensive to have someone else do it all.

Maxwell's progress in swimming lessons.

We went to "popsicles in the park" with a bunch of the other kids going to Kindergarten at our school as a way for them to start getting to know each other.

Maxwell's friend from pre-school, Luckshya, lives in the Elem school boundaries so he was there (but it sounds like his parents are going to put him in a charter school. :( )

Another hot summer day, another popsicle 

Smiley girl cuddling with me in the morning (hands still in the prayer pose)

She decided she didn't want to smile for me anymore.