Summer Summary

I cannot believe how fast this summer has flown by.  We've been busy every single day of it and haven't had hardly any days just hanging out at home in the morning.  And that's actually been a good thing.  Megan has had art class once a week and then we have a pool day with friends.  That's only 2 days out of the week and yet we've filled the other days with more pool time, dollar movies, playdates, and even some park days!  We've had probably the mildest summer we've had since we've lived in Dallas and it has been hot in the afternoons, but for the most part the mornings are great.  Abby has even complained at the pool that she gets chilly!!

Megan and Abby took swim lessons again this summer but this time a friend in our ward did them here.  It was so nice to not drive all the way to Carrollton and to be able to get in with William while they did their lessons and then stay and play for a while.  They both did really well.  About halfway through the summer we went to a friends pool that has a 3 foot end -- shallow enough for Megan to stand, deep enough still to swim.  Something clicked in her head and she is now swimming all over without a floatie!!  She is still very cautious and stays close to the sides where she can grab on when she needs to but she's doing great.  The only downside is that Abby and William have also tried to swim without floaties and I've had to pull them out of the water several times.  Always watching!!!

Sundays are still hard because with chruch from 1 to 4, the kids come home tired and cranky.  THey like to watch YouTube videos on Choppers phone while I make dinner.  Some  of our Sunday favorites are Nature's DUCKumentary and How It's Made.

The other thing we've been doing this summer is sprucing up the house!!  It's amazing the difference that a fresh coat of paint on your baseboards makes.  We're also having the kitchen tiled and the bathrooms and laundry redone with fresh linoleum.  It's a fairly inexpensive fix (compared to others we could do) that I think will make a big difference.

One thing that's made a difference too is I finally made another queen size quilt for our bed!  I've really loved the gray and white decorating that's been popular and I had bought a duvet from IKEA that I loved.  But Chopper and I don't love a duvet so I turned it into a quilt!!  I won't go into all the details but it was my first queen size on my little machine and it came out really well thanks to a method of quilting in pieces.  I love the result and am now working on a cathedral window pillow for the center.  The houses will go onto my reading chair. 

And that's been our summer -- work and play!!  Only 2 weeks left until school starts and that will also go way to fast!

One last thing -- in Primary (where Chopper and I are both teachers right now), they've had a challenge to bring their scriptures to church.  When they did, they filled a jar with rocks and got a trip to the temple.  I was a little skeptical about it because it's not like the DC or Salt Lake temples where you have a visitor's center, but the kids went into the foyer and sat on the stairs.  Some temple workers talked to them about the temple and showed them pictures and then the kids sang some primary songs.  It was really beautiful actually and it was really special to me to see all my children in the temple and hope that someday they will be there as adults by their own choices. 

After, it was back to the church for ice cream sundaes and William discovered a bag of Oreo cookies on the edge of the table.  I'm not sure how many he ate but he would go over and sneak them out while looking at the adults around him.  And the evidence is all over his face.