A Third of Summer

It’s hard to believe that a third of summer is gone. We’re already into July…August is just around the corner, and then fall will fast forward into the holidays before I can blink. To be honest, we didn’t do too much this week. It’s hard to find motivation when the weather is so hot and humid. We mostly just sat around the house and soaked in the fact that we didn’t have any plans. Paul was able to take Friday off and he also has Monday off (Independence Day falls on a Sunday this year, so Monday is the observed federal holiday), so he has a nice, long four-day weekend (which is nice because he’s been at work while the rest of us have been lazying around). Oh, one funny story: Abigail was pretending to be a doctor and I was her patient. She was using her play kitchen utensils as doctor’s tools. She checked my reflexes and then checked my heart (with her toy stethoscope). Next, she said, “Now where’s my knife?” 😳 I pointed out her play knife and then asked her why she needed it. She answered (rather matter-of-factly), “I’m gonna cut off your arm.” 😂 She then proceeded to “cut” off my arm (very gently, thankfully) and bandaged me up with imaginary bandages. She finished up my (rather extensive, if you ask me) check-up by using a plastic fork to give me a shot (she told me I had to tell her that I didn’t want a shot so that she could tell me it would be okay) and offering me a Bluey bandaid. 🤣 Always on my toes. I’m always on my toes with her.

She loves to make forts!
I love seeing my patriotic decorations. I have them out whenever there isn’t another holiday (Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day/Easter/spring, fall/Halloween, and Christmas).
These little (and I really mean little…they’re about half the size of my thumb) toads are so cute! I’ve counted half a dozen so far (not sure if I counted any of them more than once…they’re pretty fast), just hanging out in our yards.
Texas sunsets.
We got him a bigger bike, so we went out to practice a bit.
Paul pulled Joseph’s old balance bike out for Abigail to use. She’s a little tall for it, I think, so we might need to get her a bigger one, but we’ll see.
Paul also pulled out Joseph’s old Spider-Man scooter which Abigail (of course) needed to try out.
I took down the handmade sign I had for the downstairs bathroom and had Paul put this one up for me.
I’ve always been a sucker for a simple metal sign…and I love the clean look of this one in particular.
Yet another gorgeous sunset!

Bonus videos: outdoor fun!

Abigail scootering along. 😊
Joseph riding his bike solo for the very first time!

Fun Adventures for All

This week was a little different. Early Monday morning, Paul left for a work trip to Monterey, California. He got home last night. During his time there, he obviously had to do work stuff, but he did have the chance to visit the coast. He got to see sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks, but he also got to see a rather unusual sight: a portion of a humpback whale had washed ashore. I guess I never really thought about something as huge as a whale having a predator, but when I asked Paul about it, he said that a group of orcas had probably gotten it. I researched it a little bit further and came to learn that the reason why orcas are nicknamed “killer whales” is because a long time ago, whalers witnessed them, well, killing whales. I think they originally called them “whale killers”, but over the years, the name got switched around. Crazy, huh? While Paul was gone, I tried to make the week special for the kids. We went to the zoo and we also made a trip to Buc-ee’s. I wanted to grab some souvenirs for a friend and of course we needed to grab some fun things for the kids as well as some treats. It was a fun trip! We’re glad to all be back together again, though.

Paul’s Father’s Day haul: stuff so that he can start learning how to weld, snacks, and homemade cards.
A picture that my brother Dave shared with the rest of us siblings on Father’s Day. I’m the baby in the picture. I sure do love and miss this man!
They like each other sometimes.
Checking out the black bear.
Madame Butterfly. 😉
Checking out the rhino.
He got first choice since we happened to be first in line. He loves getting the dragon!
She opted for the shark.
New sunglasses! I really like having two pairs of glasses (having one available as a back up in case something happens to my main pair), so I decided to do the same thing with sunglasses. I love, love, love that I’ve been able to find affordable glasses and prescription sunglasses!
This is the picture Paul took of the part of the whale that washed up on shore. It’s pretty much the bottom part of a humpback whale.
When stopping at Bucc-ee’s, one must always take a picture with the Buc-ee statue.
I got her a new sweatshirt (for when the weather gets cooler) and a Bucc-ee pillow pet.
I got Joseph a new sweatshirt and a soft, fuzzy Buc-ee blanket.
Lazy sea lion…
…this is the life!
I find it slightly amusing that they’re bigger than the rocks they’re perched on.
It’s hard to see, but if you look right at the center of the photo, there is one that is sticking its head out of the water.
Color-changing toys are fun…especially since it means you get to use ice water.
Our matching necklaces.
Joseph’s necklace.
Picking shells. Some are ones that Paul collected on the shore and others are ones that he bought at a store.
Cute new fridge magnet.
My shells.
When I picked up the little jars for our sea shells, I also picked up this bottle/vase. I love the texture and color!

Summer Fun

We’ve fully entered summer vacation mode. Lazy days, playing in the back yard (when it’s not too hot), and chilling in the house (thank goodness for AC). I’ve managed to switch my piano students to mornings for the summer, so that it leaves the rest of the day to do things. It’s nice not having students right before I need to start making dinner. We’ve also jumped in with both feet getting Abigail transitioned from Pull-ups to regular underwear. It’s not been as bad as I was anticipating, so I think she’s more ready than she was the last time we tried. I still put her in a Pull-up for when we leave the house to go somewhere and for overnight, but we’re definitely making progress! Paul has been super busy at work and has also been busy building a new little free library for the neighborhood park (people in the neighborhood have donated materials, and a guy from the neighborhood offered to help him with some of it, so that was nice). Monday was quite an adventurous day. I loaded the kids into the car to go to the grocery store and then started the car. It struggled turning over, but it started. I thought it was a little weird, so I went to the gas station to fill up and get a car wash (which was an adventure in itself because the car wash wasn’t working…which I didn’t figure out until after I purchased the car wash at the pump…luckily, I was able to go the next day and still use the same code). The car struggled again to start up, so I decided to go to Walmart instead of H-E-B and have them look at the battery. Sure enough…it needed replacing. Luckily, it was still under warranty, so it didn’t cost anything. After we got the battery replaced, we were off to H-E-B for our groceries. Whew!

Super Abigail to the rescue!
Some of my friends went to Disneyland and when they got home, they surprised me with these fun hand towels.
They also brought fun Mickey suckers for the kids.
She liked looking at Mickey in between licks. 🙂
I love big, poofy clouds.
I especially love when there is a stark contrast between the dark and the light.
I got some more bins to better organize Abigail’s dress-up area. Before, that striped bin was overflowing and she couldn’t really find anything without dumping the whole thing out (which usually took place right in front of my bedroom door). I bought three bins: one for gloves, one for hats, and one for accessories (glasses, masks, etc.). Now the striped bin is for anything else that doesn’t fit into one of those categories. The hooks hold complete costumes (and her cowboy hat since it’s kind of big). It’s been so much better!
Paul switched out the incandescent bulbs in our bathroom as well as in the kids’ bathroom for LED bulbs.
It actually made it so that the rooms don’t get as hot as they did before. It’s been a nice change!
I zoomed in super close to get a clear picture of this guy. He’s really only about as big as half my thumb, so maybe a little over an inch? Baby toads are cute!
Playing “knock over the dominoes”.
On Thursday, I got the sprinkler out so the kids could play in the water. Joseph got the slide wet and then told Abigail to slide down. I told him he needed to stand at the bottom to catch her (since it would be super-slick and she hasn’t quite learned to put her feet down to stop herself). It was a good thing he did, because she shot off the end of that slide like a rocket, haha. Luckily, the grass is super-soft, thanks to all of Paul’s hard work and all of the rain we’ve been getting.
I love that we have this back yard for them to enjoy childhood in!
When she finally filled in her “stay dry” chart (we’ve been working on it for a month or more, but she hasn’t been very motivated until right towards the end when we switched the Pull-ups for undies), she got a surprise. She loves the cartoon that this dog is from…so she was really excited to see this new stuffie.
I love seeing moments like this!
I 💜 summer sunsets!