Fall in July

We woke up Thursday morning to rain and cool weather. Like in the 60's and hardly touching 70's that first day. Such a nice surprise to get in the middle of July!  If there had been access to pumpkins, I probably would have bought one.  In my mind for those few days, fall was here! I did end up making a pot of soup and some warm peach cobbler.

The kids played for a few minutes on the back patio that first morning.  Of course Amelia has to get extra wet standing out in the rain and splashing in the water! 

Jack had some good indoor playtime playing with his new truck while the rain was falling.

 At one point we got out the umbrellas and walked out in the rain.

 Then they decided they would take a "nap" under their umbrellas on the porch.

 We watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2."  Jack made sure to make himself feel right at home on the couch while eating his popcorn. :-)

 Amelia went back and forth between watching the movie and taking care of her baby doll.

 Friday was cool again but without rain.  Perfect day for the zoo!! The car thermometer said it was 66 degrees outside on our drive there.  I think it got to be a high in the mid 70's that day. Not bad for July! I had zero intentions of taking the kids to the zoo this summer because I am not one to put up with spending the day out in the heat.  But hey, if there is a summer day that feels like fall....I'm more than happy to go to the zoo!

 Our picnic lunch

 Jack sat on this wall what seemed like forever just observing the monkey.

 Tara, Griffin & Eliana met up with us later in the day.  They let Jack use some of their giraffe food to feed the giraffe's. What a treat!

 Up close to the lion.  Thankful for windows between us and the animals!

 Griffin, Eliana, Jack & Amelia looking at the zebras.

 Swim lessons had been cancelled Thursday & Friday due to rain and cold weather.  Saturday morning was the make-up day.  Jack was not happy.  He really hadn't been overly happy to go to swim lessons the whole last week (being the homebody that he is) but it made it extra hard going when the water hadn't warmed up yet. Poor guy. But I love this face.

A cupcake made it all better in the end though.  He left swim lessons saying, "that was fun!" So glad he left with good memories of swim lessons!

 Amelia got a cupcake too (but only ate the icing).  An award for being a patient little sister while watching Jack in the pool each day.

 After swimming we played at the playground for about an hour.  The weather was still in the 70's and perfect! Must note: Amelia climbed up that weird red ladder thing all by herself (with me hovering over her from behind, of course). Such good motor skills this girl has!

 Mom-mom, Pepa & Hannah were there at the playground with us.  Hannah spent so much time running and playing with the kids in the field and helping them get some energy out! Such a fun memory! We are sure gonna miss her when she leaves for Michigan to go to college next month. :-(

More fun at home....Chalk outlines on the sidewalk.

Jack wanted to trace me with the chalk, so I laid down on the sidewalk.  Not a bad job...although when I look at this, I see a walrus!  

That's kind of a scary thing to see after your child traces you. :-/

Saturday night Zachary came over to play.  Matching PJ's for the best buds!

As of today (Monday), the heat is back.  So sad for those surprise fall weather days to be over but incredibly thankful for 

A Merry Heart...

For the last several months I have been working with Jack here and there on memorizing scripture.  One of our verses has been "A Merry heart does good like a medicine." Proverbs 17:22.  We listen to verses played to music on "Songs for Saplings".  For "school" one week we made this craft that has been hanging on our fridge for a couple months. When struggles of having a merry happy heart come about throughout our days, we start singing this verse.

Well, I had a proud mommy moment yesterday!  Jack, Amelia & I hopped in the car to go to the grocery store yesterday morning.  As we were pulling out of the driveway I was telling the kids that I want them to behave while at the grocery store.  Unprompted by me, Jack turns to Amelia and says, "Amelia, no crying at the grocery store. A Merry heart does good like a medicine." Thank you Jesus!  He is getting it!  It is so amazing and precious to me that Jack was able to make the connection of behaving, not crying, and was able to quote scripture about having a merry heart and then able to tell his little sister about it! So excited for the future Jack has ahead, learning more about Jesus and sharing what he knows with others in such a practical way.

 Love this 3 1/2 year old boy!

Daddy's Red Jeep

For the first time ever, we put 2 car seats in the back of Barrett's red jeep and took both kids for a ride while the top was down and the doors were off.

 So excited...

 ...but not sure what to expect.

 Our family piled into the Jeep

 We drove down the small country road behind our house.

 Amelia really loved it!  She loved the wind and wasn't sure what to do with it.  Part of the time she was sticking her tongue out into the wind.

 We ended up at Sonic for 1/2 price milkshakes!

A nice treat after a warm day.  Amelia is the queen of ice cream.  She drank nearly her whole strawberry shake.  Jack still doesn't care much for ice cream even though he said he wanted a chocolate shake.  Next time, he may need to stick with tater tots...

Fun Free Friday!

Who doesn't like a fun Friday? Better yet, who doesn't like a fun FREE Friday? That is exactly what we had yesterday!

First for the day was bowling.  Thanks to Kidsbowlfree.com Jack is able to bowl 2 free games a day all summer long.

 We met Jack's buddies Cody & Mason at the bowling alley.  They are all getting so good at taking turns and becoming such good bowlers.

 Maggie & Amelia cheered on the boys.

 After free bowling was FREE lunch at chick-fil-A for "dress like a cow" day! Dress like a cow, get a free meal. 

 Moo!

 Since the date was 7/11, we got our FREE Slurpee's that 7-11 was giving away.  So refreshing on a hot summer day.

 Amelia even got her very own Slurpee.  She was in love!

 We just happened to be hungry for some more chicken, so we turned ourselves into cows again and went out for another FREE meal! (Barrett joined us for dinner this time, along with our friends Stef & Zach.)

 Amelia came up with her own form of FREE entertainment while walking around the store after dinner...a ride on the bottom of the shopping cart. 

Jack thought it looked like a good idea too, so joined right in with his little sister.

SO THANKFUL for such wonderful companies that are so generous with their customers and make for a fun and free day out!

Kids 1st Texas Rangers Baseball Game

A few months ago Barrett won 2 tickets for the Rangers Game!  The game was this week!  Thanks to having 2 kids at or under 36 inches that got in free, we were all able to go to the baseball game together!

 This was Amelia's first baseball game to go to.  We had great seats right behind home plate, about 3 or 4 rows up.

 

 Jack had been to a couple Roughrider baseball games before, but this was his first time to a Rangers game in the giant stadium.

 Going into the game, we had no idea how long the kids would last, especially considering that the game didn't start until after 7pm.  Apparently there was nothing to worry about!  Both Jack and Amelia did AWESOME!  They had so much fun staying entertained with all that was going on in the stadium and with eating all the snacks we brought with us.  Amelia was the greeter to all the people sitting near us, telling everyone "Hi!"  We got so many compliments on how great the kids did.  Before we knew it we were in the last inning and it was after 10:30pm!

 Jack (3 1/2 years old) and Amelia (19 months old)

1st Rangers Game

July 2014

 They are starting to look sleepy!

Go Rangers!

Swim Lessons for Jack

This past week was Jack's first experience with swim lessons.  They offered lessons at our neighborhood pool, so we took advantage of that!  They are 4 days a week for 2 weeks - 45 minute lessons each day.

 Day 1 before the lesson...not too sure what is about to happen.

 He has been learning how to scoop with his hands, kick his feet, blow bubbles, make a bubble in his cheeks, and float like a starfish.

He has such a serious looking face whenever it is his turn to practice swimming with the teacher.  Really concentrating!

 He has been so happy at lessons most everyday!

 They have also been practicing how to jump into the water by playing the "3 little speckled Frogs" game.

Amelia does her best to sit in the stroller and watch.

 Practicing his "starfish"

Such a happy little swimmer!

Once lessons are over, if we have no where else to be that morning, we stay and swim a while longer, which has really ended up being that we stay and play in the sandbox instead of swimming.  They love it!