Long, hot summer!

Hi all. We have been enduring a long, hot summer here in Abilene and I am so tired of it but Fall will come someday, right? :) Here is the quick run down of what we've accomplished this summer. :)

MAY:
We finished the school year on a high note. Both girls did great and will miss their teachers. We had both of their teachers eat dinner with us (one in a restaurant for Miranda's birthday & the other came to our home). The girls had dentist appointments which they love and they still have healthy teeth, so yay! :) Miranda is officially six and LOVED her birthday party at Bonzai Japanese Steakhouse. We all enjoyed the Hibachi experience and the gong they rang for her birthday. It scared Natalie to tears. Ha ha. ;) I threw her the first friend party she's had. It was at the park across the street in 103 degrees with a princess castle pinata. It was fun for her, so that's what counts. I was so hot and exhausted. :)

Our air conditioner needed a new coil and we didn't need $1,800 sitting in the bank anyway! :( It's a good thing we got it repaired before this INSANELY hot summer started, so I'll count my blessings. The Easter hail storm last month did a number on the roofs in our neighborhood and I finally called our insurance to check ours out since everyone was getting a new roof. Ours was totalled and the process was begun with our insurance.

Ben performed his first wedding at church and did really well. I played the piano for it and it all went off beautifully. Happy for Brenton & Tabetha! :)

JUNE:
Jill & Miranda took swimming lessons at a local university. It was WAY better than the teenaged teacher at the YMCA and Jill is quite a good swimmer and getting better every day. Miranda is less and less scared of swimming and actually love to jump into the water from the side, go down the slide, or let dad throw her high in the air (as long as she has her life jacket on). A VAST improvement for both of them. Jill did an Art Camp at the library (love free summer activities!) and has kept busy all summer with Activity Days.

We visited family in Kansas and on the way we stopped in Fort Worth for my dear friend Meredith's baby shower. SO fun to catch up with a bunch of friends at once. Then we headed on up to Kansas and saw my family for a week. Ben was at Scout Camp while I was gone. We went swimming, rode horses, and played with cousins! Super fun! When we got back, Jill & Miranda went to Music Camp. Two people backed out at the last minute and my kids got to go for free! Pays to know the person in charge of filling the class! :) Both girls will be in Chorus Abilene next year. Miranda backed out of her original audition date in May but changed her mind and did great! I will still volunteer this year but am the Attendance Taker this year and will go to every rehearsal, concert, event, etc. BUSY times!

We talked to a roofer and we started discussing what kind of roof we want (I want the exact same kind because it's the best curb appeal of the house!) and we decided to go with a certain company but they would start in July some time.

JULY:
The ward had a swim party and the kids did great. Lessons were so worth it! We have some very generous friends who have pools and let us come over all the time. Thank you Ugazio family, Davis family, and Woodbury family! Taking all 4 swimming is easier now but still not a TON of fun for me. I am always hanging on to wiggly Lucas and I'm constantly watching to make sure everyone is ok and happy and safe. It's exhausting. :)

I took Lucas for his 18 month appt and he was doing great. The dr said he should have 6 to 8 words by now but he had only 3 or 4. She asked if I wanted a referral to a speech therapist!!! Um, no thank you. I should just work with my kiddo and make sure his sisters don't fulfill his every need without making him ask for what he wants. :) So we started paying attention to it and he has more than a dozen words that he can say just six weeks after that appointment. I think he's good. :)

Our school kids got free tickets to Six Flags for reading a lot, so Ben & I left Natalie & Lucas with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Andy and took Jill, Miranda, and our nephews, Jacob and Brady, with us. We had so much fun! It was about 105 and smog alert was on high. Ha ha. The worst day to be outside for hours but we really had fun. We went on water rides to cool down and we stayed nice and cool (and soggy-shoed) the whole time.

Later that same day, we went to see our wonderful friends, the Coopers, who deserted us and moved to Dallas a couple of years ago. :) We went swimming with them (and Lucas fell in the deeper part for about 5 heart-attacking seconds and I seriously had a nightmare about it later that night!) and had dinner with them and the kids played hard! It was such a great time. We dropped the girls off at their cousins' house in Allen, so they could sleepover and then we stayed the night at Ben's parents' house in McKinney. It was so nice to hang out with family.

The next day we met the Coopers at the temple and did a session and then ate lunch at the Purple Cow. I highly recommend it! :) We went back to Ben's parents' house to pick up the kiddos and then headed home. A quick, whirlwind trip that was VERY full of fun! Uncle Andy entertained Lucas most of the time and he has a new best friend! :)

We came home and the next day our friends had us over for Parents Day. Their kids decided it was a holiday and invited some families over. I was vigilantly watching my Lucas at the top of their stairs as I was telling a friend about the swimming incident. Suddenly he fell down the stairs! Ben launched himself across the room and caught him halfway down the stairs!!! Of course he had been looking at Daddy when he stepped off the top step without looking, so Ben saw the whole thing. I about had a heart attack AGAIN and Ben had sent an end table sliding across the room and scared the dickens out of one of the ladies there as she jumped up and screamed. It was SO hilarious! Everyone laughed and it made it not so traumatic for me. :)

The next week Jill had a Science Camp at the library. She brought home a tornado in a bottle and a lava lamp. Pretty fun stuff for her. We also fed the missionaries a ton in June and July. With everyone going out of town this summer, their calendar has been pretty blank. We have four guys now, so it's a lot to feed but they are very fun dinner companions.

A friend of mine had to go out of town for a couple of days and I watched her two kids during the day and her husband came to get them at night. They are really good kids and had fun playing with mine. One of the days that I had them, I also watched another friend's five kids for about an hour and a half. I had someone from the lumber company come here to measure my doorways because we'd like to replace our old, yucky doors and he said, "Oh, do you run a home daycare?" Ha ha. No, I do this for free. 11 kids in the house but it was fun! They all entertained each other, so my part was easy!

I accompanied my friend who sang twice in church in July. She has an amazing voice and I like to be a part of that beautiful performance. :) I am playing for her again at Stake Conference at the end of the month and I really need to get practicing on that song. Why is 2 sharps so hard for me to play???! :)

Book Club happened all summer too, of course, and I really enjoy going to that. In July, we were able to see the movie adaptation of one of our favorite reads, "The Help," by Kathryn Stockett. It was premiering early on the Air Force base and we got FREE tickets. Seven of us went to see it and it was amazing! I'm so glad they lived up to the book!

We signed a contract with a roofer and materials were dropped. Then the crew's truck broke down in Houston and we were set back a week! We decided to have our garage sale that we had been postponing and just worked around the roofing materials on the driveway. I made my goal of making $300 and cleared out so much stuff! I still had a bunch of baby boy clothes and little girl clothes and shoes, so I donated them to people at church and they were so grateful! Does a heart good. :) I'm glad people I know are using those adorable things.

Our hot water heater stopped "heating" our water, so after several days of tepid showers and baths (the kids loved that!), we paid a plumber to come out and adjust it. We didn't need that $50 anyway! :( I'm loving the hot water again and am grateful to not live in a time with no air conditioning and no heated water. Count your blessings, name them one by one...

Ben & I went on a date to see "Hairspray" at a local university and we loved it! I have always loved live productions and musicals are my favorites. Ben has really come to like them as well now and that makes me so happy. :) The other guys in the group we went with were grumbling about being there instead of watching "Cowboys & Aliens." Ha ha. Thanks for taking me, honey!

AUGUST:
The nightmare that is our roof continues. The roofer even told me our house is cursed! A local crew started working Wednesday and just didn't come back on Thursday!!! They said they had a bigger, better job and just left! So no work Thursday. Roofer going crazy finding another crew. They showed up 4 PM on Thursday and worked for a few hours. They came back on Friday but by 3 PM, they were gone. I text the roofer and he says they are too worn out from the heat and will be back Saturday. I TOTALLY don't blame them. Can you imagine working on a roof for hours in 105 or higher heat!!!!!? They were supposed to get the huge dumpster off my property by 4 PM Friday and they weren't done cleaning up, so I said they could leave it until Monday. They were supposed to start bright and early Sunday morning and... the crew leader had a family emergency. REALLY???! So the crew (totally separate crew out of Houston) was supposed to be here this morning to put the new roof ON and the old one was still partially on! There was a layer of wood shake shingles under our metal roof and that is not up to code anymore, so they were removing two roofs basically. ANYWAY, both crews showed up this morning and went to TOWN! The old roof is totally gone and they've decked it and will start putting on the tile tomorrow. It is FINALLY getting going and the president of the company was even here today to smooth things over with me and he really got things back on track. Yay! I wasn't being mean but I made it known that I wasn't thrilled with the progress of this project! Should be done Wednesday or Thursday morning at the latest, so cross your fingers for us! :) The storm was only FOUR MONTHS AGO! Let's hope we don't get another one right after this!

My dad, his wife, and my brother's three kids came to visit this weekend and it was so nice to spend time with them! My nephews are 13 and 10 and my niece is 10 days older than Jill. They love to entertain my children and I wish they would just move in with me! :) My oldest nephew stayed up late chatting with me and playing games. We've always been close and I love that even though he's a teenager, he still thinks his "Aunt B" is cool. :) The other kids all slept on the floor in one room and stayed up way too late having fun. That is a wonderful part of childhood that I have fond memories of as well, so I allowed it but now I'm paying for it. They are tired and grumpy and sad their cousins are gone. Oh well, it's worth it!

We have had a TON of baptisms at church lately and I'm so excited for these missionaries that are working so hard! I usually get asked to play the piano at the baptisms. Either last minute before the meeting starts or 30 minutes before it through a text. :) I am trying to be willing to serve but I wouldn't mind a chance to practice!!!

On Saturday we had a ward Fiesta to welcome the new Spanish-speaking members in our ward. We are holding Spanish classes and we have Spanish missionaries, trying to build up a group big enough to have their own branch. It's been really neat to have people bearing their testimonies in English and then again in Spanish. We are very blessed to have MANY people in the ward who can speak Spanish! Ben even conducted a baptism in Spanish and I could understand 90% of it! I can't speak it worth a darn anymore but oh well. :) So someone had the idea of having a Fiesta but everyone thought someone else planned it! So I called around to those who I thought might be involved and no one knew of anything being planned, so I went with it. I sent out an email, posted it on Facebook, and bought some cheap and easy decorations. 24 hours later we had a rockin' Fiesta! :) I was so glad that so many people came. It was a great turn out with great food. We had an "Enchilada Throwdown," there was a candy cannon shooting candy into the parking lot for the kids to scramble for, there was Mexican music playing in the background, and I think everyone had a good time. The missionaries thanked me over and over for doing it and they say they owe me big time. Ha ha. I didn't do much but now they're offering to do yard work and stuff for us. Score! :)

If you've read this far, you must be really bored right now. :) I wanted to right it all down to look back at later, so it's mainly for me but now you all know what we're up to. :)

Jill is still growing like crazy and she looks 12 but will be 9 next month. She wants pierced ears and painting supplies for her birthday. She starts 3rd grade two weeks from today. She is beautiful and kind and tries so hard to make everyone happy. She is very helpful at grabbing the phone for me while I'm changing a diaper, getting something I forgot out of the van, unloading the dishwasher while I make dinner, preparing parts or sometimes all of dinner, and she is my "Mom, let's talk!" kid. Just like I was with my mom! :) She's also the only one who calls me "Mama" and I have no idea why. But it just fits for her. :)

Miranda is growing taller now and looks much more grown up. Her beginning of the year kindergarten pictures look so different from her now! She is ready for 1st grade! Natalie is still growing like Jill did and is the same height as Miranda and now they have to share clothes and shoes!!! Oh the dread! They have totally different styles (I know, styles at this age? I definitely did not have a "style" at this point) but there are still several items that they love to fight over. In fact, their favorite thing to do together is FIGHT!!! Miranda is stubborn and feisty and doesn't mind throwing a punch. *SIGH* I do not like that! Natalie is a screamer who dissolves into tears at the drop of a hat these days. Can you say, READY FOR SCHOOL TO START!!!!! BUT... Miranda is my most helpful hard worker when she's in a good mood. She seeks out opportunities to help me and can clean up a room (the correct way!) faster than anybody! And Natalie is the sweetest, cuddle bug who just needs a LOT of attention. With her sisters home, she doesn't get as much.

Lucas is AWESOME! He is so much fun and I love this age. He is unfortunately in the HIT and THROW stage that I knew would come with a boy but oh my goodness! I can't count how many times a day I say, "Don't hit!" "Do not throw!" He totally knows what I mean in almost everything I tell him. It's amazing he's only been here for 19 months but knows so much about this big ol' world. :) He is also oh so handsome. He still has his nice big head (ha ha) and I think it's bigger than Miranda's and Natalie's! :) He fits in 2T clothes and has outgrown his size 6 Sunday shoes. :( Growing so fast! I sure love that cute boy!

Ok, so I have taken about an hour to go back through my calendar and remember all we have done this summer. It's been fun to remember. I've had some hard times with having ANY motivation on some of these super hot days when I'm trapped in my house with my kids and they're BORED with their DS and TV and the computer and the Wii and all of our board games and books, etc. :) I hope to get back in the swing of things with our school time routine and get some projects done around the house. Painting and stuff. Wish me luck! Ciao for now. :)