Greetings, friends! Just a quick note to let you know that I'll be on hiatus for the remainder of July - keeping up with two blogs and additional writing responsibilities while on the road is just too much for me, so I won't be putting up any new content here until after we return home from our summer travels. I promise lots of great pictures of our Wisconsin adventures in August!
E
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Lemonmade
Last summer, Tom spent an entire weekend planning and then building a lemonade stand for Will and Hallie. The kids and I painted the stand yellow (because a stand should match the consumables sold from it, according to Hallie) and black (because I didn't know chalkboard paint came in other colors) just in time to present the finished product to Tom on Father's Day.
The kids loved playing with the lemonade stand in the backyard, but they never actually sold anything from it (unless you count selling water to each other) until a few of weeks ago, nearly a full year after Tom's brilliant idea first popped into his head.
Will took responsibility for the stand's header. When I suggested he check his spelling of the word "lemonade", he immediately acknowledged his error but refused to fix it because doing so would "take SOOO long". Yes, erasing the letter "m" would have taken weeks.
Hallie took responsibility for the stand's front/face. I wrote the cost of the lemonade (after three attempts Hallie still couldn't write the numbers any larger than the actual size of two quarters) and when I finished with the numbers, she drew multi-colored lemons to entice buyers to stop at the stand. During lulls she added more lemons to her masterpiece.
After about two-and-a-half hours the sun started to really beat down on us and we decided to call it quits. Will and Hallie did fairly well though - each ended up with $8 profit.
I know for certain Will and Hallie will set up their lemonmade stand again, but I imagine their next official sale won't take place until fall...at this point in the year the weather is too hot for Will and Hallie's wimpy Midwestern parents to sit outside with them. Maybe if we also sold "sprays with the hose"…
The kids loved playing with the lemonade stand in the backyard, but they never actually sold anything from it (unless you count selling water to each other) until a few of weeks ago, nearly a full year after Tom's brilliant idea first popped into his head.
Will took responsibility for the stand's header. When I suggested he check his spelling of the word "lemonade", he immediately acknowledged his error but refused to fix it because doing so would "take SOOO long". Yes, erasing the letter "m" would have taken weeks.
Hallie took responsibility for the stand's front/face. I wrote the cost of the lemonade (after three attempts Hallie still couldn't write the numbers any larger than the actual size of two quarters) and when I finished with the numbers, she drew multi-colored lemons to entice buyers to stop at the stand. During lulls she added more lemons to her masterpiece.
After about two-and-a-half hours the sun started to really beat down on us and we decided to call it quits. Will and Hallie did fairly well though - each ended up with $8 profit.
I know for certain Will and Hallie will set up their lemonmade stand again, but I imagine their next official sale won't take place until fall...at this point in the year the weather is too hot for Will and Hallie's wimpy Midwestern parents to sit outside with them. Maybe if we also sold "sprays with the hose"…
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Baby, You Can Wash My Car
Ah, summer…
I honestly feel like we're "doing it right" this year. Swimming lessons, but not every day. Camps and classes, but not too many. Playdates, but only a couple of times a week. The swimming pool, library, children's museum, and movie theater whenever we feel like it. Ice cream cones and popsicles, a little more often than usual. And now…now we're on vacation.
As it turns out, it was a good thing we followed through on our tradition of cooling off with a Dairy Queen treat on the first day the temperature reached 90 degrees, because a couple of weeks ago we drove by Dairy Queen (we had been waiting to go again until the temperature reached 100 degrees) and the building had been torn apart for renovations.
It was also a good thing we followed through on part two of the Dairy Queen tradition - staging a family carwash - because if we hadn't, I wouldn't have these adorable pictures of Will and Hallie (not) washing my car.
They did a terrible job - Will scrubbed the entire vehicle but managed to remove absolutely no dirt, while Hallie focused all of her energy on one two-inch square of tire - but I couldn't have cared less because theyworked played together and didn't fight at all for nearly 45 minutes.
What a wonderful way to kick off the summer season!
I honestly feel like we're "doing it right" this year. Swimming lessons, but not every day. Camps and classes, but not too many. Playdates, but only a couple of times a week. The swimming pool, library, children's museum, and movie theater whenever we feel like it. Ice cream cones and popsicles, a little more often than usual. And now…now we're on vacation.
As it turns out, it was a good thing we followed through on our tradition of cooling off with a Dairy Queen treat on the first day the temperature reached 90 degrees, because a couple of weeks ago we drove by Dairy Queen (we had been waiting to go again until the temperature reached 100 degrees) and the building had been torn apart for renovations.
It was also a good thing we followed through on part two of the Dairy Queen tradition - staging a family carwash - because if we hadn't, I wouldn't have these adorable pictures of Will and Hallie (not) washing my car.
They did a terrible job - Will scrubbed the entire vehicle but managed to remove absolutely no dirt, while Hallie focused all of her energy on one two-inch square of tire - but I couldn't have cared less because they
What a wonderful way to kick off the summer season!
Thursday, July 3, 2014
School's Out for Summer
School wrapped up more than a month ago, so I guess it's about time I posted all of my pictures from Will's last day of first grade and Hallie's last day of preschool…
On the days before their last days of school (the actual last days of school are too chaotic) I took pictures of Will and Hallie in their "class of" shirts. I can't wait to see how they grow into these shirts as they grow older.
Hallie loved preschool with Ms. Candice and Ms. Fran, and Will had a wonderful first grade year with Mrs. Trotter and Mrs. Burkhalter. It was difficult to bid farewell to all four teachers, but I know that plenty of adventures await us in kindergarten for Hallie and second grade for Will.
When Will headed out the door for his last day of first grade, neither he nor Hallie had any idea what would await them when he arrived home.
A few days before school let out, Mandi and I went shopping for and put together bins full of summer-themed goodies for the kiddos. We made sure the littles were occupied in the playroom while we set everything up, and then we bypassed the garage on our way to pick up the bigs.
All four kiddos were surprised and thrilled to discover what waited for them outside our garage.
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| Not really sure what's going on in this picture... |
Earlier in the day Hallie and I baked and I decorated this funfetti sugar cookie cake (which was delicious, by the way - I'll share the recipe soon). After going through the summer fun bins, all six of us enjoyed cookie cake and the cherry limeades Mandi picked up from Sonic. Yum!
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| I love this picture of her. And in case you're wondering, it only LOOKS like her hair was in the cake. It wasn't, I promise. |
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| Kind of wish I had a piece of this right now... |
Farewell, preschool and first grade…hello, kindergarten and second grade!
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
June Wrap-Up
As you can see below, the first month
of summer vacation was a great one!
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| Hanging up the American flag. |
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| It's been in the 90's for more than a month, but summer officially arrived on June 21st! |
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| Swimming in the pouring rain. |
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| The boy honestly enjoys ice cream now! |
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| Sound asleep midway through movie night. |
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| Completely zonked. |
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| Just another day in angel wings. |
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| And another day in a swimsuit, stocking cap, and snow gloves. |
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| Another tooth bites the dust! |
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| A Little Library sighting in College Station! |
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| Sleeping with Mom and Dad's wedding albums. |
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| Elsa(s) and Anna doing push-ups. |
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| She puts bandaids in the strangest places. |
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| Working on his typing with me at my McOffice. |
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| Playing a little soccer at HEB. |
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| Reading at Barnes & Nobel. |
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| Just "hanging around" at the park. |
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| Swimming with the Logman. |
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| She wore an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini. |
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| "The Thinker". |
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