Heat Wave

This is accurate.
This is disgusting.
This is our upstairs thermostat the 1st week of July.
This really does say 91 degrees.

The window units are in the kids' bedrooms and when they are on, the doors are shut and the hall remains roasty.

We find relief in the kitchen and in front of fans.

We do not find relief in the upstairs hallway.

We love cold fronts and cool nights.

Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July!!! We did a low key celebration this year--sparklers and cheap-o Target fireworks. The kids had fun as usual.

Annie even got into the sparklers



Getting ready for Dad's Ultimate Firework Show. I'm sure the rest of the world would cease to be amazed, but we had fun.

Poor Annie got freaked out by the noise. She buried her head in my chest the minute Matt lit any firework. As soon as she could hear it was over, she perked up and said "All Done." Repeat that scenario like 18 times. Whit spent her time running in and out of the garage, peeking out near the end of each firework and then acting oh so brave. It was all rather hiliarous.

Hay Un Amigo En Mi

In case your Spanish is a little rusty...this post is really "You've got a Friend in Me." Thank you Toy Story theme song! We went and saw Toy Story 3 yesterday. The kids were loving the 3-D glasses and popcorn and treats. Matt and I loved the movie--the kids liked most of it, though they were scared a few times. And yes, the theme song was done in Spanish at one point during the movie. :)

Check us out!! Note Matt already eating all the popcorn. :)
Annie sat on my lap and didn't move during the entire show. I kept checking to see if she was asleep but she wasn't.
The aftermath: a blowpop and a tired 1 year old equals a bad combination.

The best part about the movie was that it didn't cost us anything. Thank you Kelloggs for your Toy Story 3 promotion on your cereal boxes (and General Mills for a promotion last year). I spent around $25 for 25 boxes of cereal (good deal as is) and with that scored 5 free movie tickets and $5 of concession cash. Sweet! I love my coupons and good deals!!

Summer Lovin'

Summer is off to a good start. We've been busy and so far everyone is still happy (always a plus). Went to Six Flags last week and had a great time. Thank you friends with season passes for getting us in free!! Of course, I left my camera's memory stick in the computer, so there are no pictures documenting. The kids LOVED it and were all more brave than I thought they'd be. Even Annie rode quite a few rides, though I oftened wondered what was going through her cute little head while she was on them.

The garden is doing well--here's our load of peas that we got. They took a bit longer than I hoped they would and as a result threw off some of our other planting--let's just hope the stuff that I just got in this past week takes off and does alright.
Pea Pickers
It was a battle of the buckets--who gathered the most?
Annie messed up the contest since she kept grabbing peas out of other people's buckets and dumping buckets over and sneaking things like that!

We've done a lot of bike/scooter riding as well. It's nice to be able to pick weeds, trim bushes, or just sit and have the kids just play.

A common face at our house (though this exact one is an 'act')

An uncommon face at our house--Andrew's really not a great face maker.

Whit makes lots of faces--fortunately we get to see this one quite a bit.

We've had to say good-bye to our dear friend "Pontiac". It had a leak that would cost more to fix than the car was worth. We were going to drive it as long as we could but then it had more problems that would cost too much money just to hold us over. We're hoping the kidney foundation is loving this 'amazing' vehicle. In the meantime, we'll be loving when we finally find another car. Thanks for the memories, "Pontiac."

Mary, Mary

Mary chose to spend her birthday $$ from Nanny and Papa on getting her ears pierced. It was an exciting day.

Here she is in 'the chair.' I was worried she would be overly emotional when the lady did it. (Mary happens to be overly emotional about a lot of things) Another mother and her little girl were watching the process and I turned and warned them that they might not want to watch--I worried Mary's loud crying would scar the little girl for the rest of her life!!!
Much to my surprise, there was no loud crying, or crying at all. We had one brave girl!!

It just so happened to be free ice cream cone day at Friendly's so we stopped by the Friendly's in the mall and each got us one. Happy day! I can't say no to my ice cream!!!

Mary also did Daisy Scouts this year. The last day they had a 'bridging ceremony' as she'll be moving up to Brownies.

Here's Mary crossing the 'bridge'.

And saying the girl scout pledge. Fun stuff.