The 4th of July...

Yesterday we went to our friends house for a BBQ and fireworks. In all there were three families, with a total of 5 girls...no boys, except of course for the daddies! The kids had fun playing in the pool, the slip in slide, and the bounce house.

We didn't get Emma to bed until about 10:30 or so, but she did great and had soooo much fun. She even loved the fireworks...she is so excited to tell Jay (her cousin) all about it.

Emma and her friend "D" playing in the pool

All the kids played so hard and had a great time.

Isn't he handsome!

Barry helping Emma try out the roller blades. Now she wants her own pair for her birthday.

Enjoying the fireworks from the backyard.

Rainbow...

Barry drove to Austin last week and on his way he snapped a picture of this rainbow.

Visitors...

I was very excited to have my aunt and uncle from Washington here for several days. We had such a wonderful time with them. On Saturday (6/21) we went to the Downtown Aquarium. We were only there for about two hours, but it was the perfect amount of time.

Here are the two tigers watching everyone watch them.

This was the highlight..the train ride. It went all the way around the park and stopped in the shark tunnel. You literally have shark swimming over your head while sitting in the train and listening to the guide talk about the different types of shark they have. It's pretty cool. "Sorry Emma, you got lost behind Mommy's purse."

One of the fish aquariums. I think Nemo and Dorey were in there...

Barry with Aunt Marlene

If I remember correctly, I think this was a catfish????

Emma in her scuba tank

Barry in his tank

A Breathe of Fresh Air...

I was thinking about some of the things I miss about California, the obvious of course, is my family and friends, however there is something else I had not even thought about.

Since the weather in Texas is typically hot and humid, you usually run the air conditioning 24/7 and rarely open windows, if at all. So, what do I miss?

Being able to open the windows when the temperature finally cools down and you can let the breeze blow through the house and have fresh air circulating through instead of "recycled" air.

For those of you in So Cal experiencing the hot weather, take heart that by evening when the temperature drops some, you can breathe in the fresh air. While your doing that, remember us in Texas- the temperature is now 75 degrees, it's finally cooled off but the a/c is still running.

The Greatest Thing...

If you are anything like me, I DO NOT LIKE mopping floors, so I avoid it at all costs. When we lived in CA I never mopped the floor in the kitchen, just swept or vacuumed them (O.K. I know what you're thinking, but please, if you knew what kind of flooring I had in that kitchen, you'd say forget it too.)

However, in my new home I have this nice tile floor and although it gets swept several times a week, I knew I needed to mop it. So, I found this great new invention. It's called the Shark Steam Mop. I used it on Saturday and it was great! It really did a good job of getting scuffs and such off the floor, and the best thing, is it doesn't leave it wet, just a little warm for about 30 seconds. Barry and I thought it looked so much better afterwards and CLEAN! So, if you need a new way to mop your floors, I highly recommend this product.

Happy Mopping!

A play date and swim lessons...

Yesterday we had a play date with a gal from our Sunday school class. They have two girls, 4 and 2. The best part is they live in Gleannloch, in the section where we were going to buy the first home. All the girls had a great time and Lara and I talked non-stop. We left there and headed home (5 minute drive, yeah!) to have dinner with the rest of the Calvert's. Jerry's family left this morning to fly back to California, it was so fun to have them here and Emma loves playing with Nick and Maddy.

Today, after the thunder and pouring rain moved through, Emma had her first swim lesson of the summer season. We have her enrolled at FINS, and her teacher is Miss Mimi. Emma did so good. We've started her out slow, even though this is her 3 summer of lessons, she really detests putting her face in the water, and with all the changes this year I don't want to overwhelm her. However, I think we'll continue her year round so we don't lose ground. I really want her to have a good experience with swimming and enjoy it.

One thing led to another...

Yesterday I had to vacuum out Emma's closet...her cousin had given her fairy wings and a wand that had A LOT of glitter on it. Well, that glitter was falling off in chunks and it was all over her floor. So, I pulled everything out to vacuum and while I did that, decided to purge the things she did not play with any more or wear. Then, I decided to re-arrange her closet.

Her closet has the Elfa system in it from The Container Store that was already installed by the previous owners. So being the non-mechanical person that I am and not knowing how this system works I had some trouble. I ended having to call the store and have them walk me through how to take the shelves off and then put them back on. This whole project took the entire afternoon!

Emma seems to like it, but when she woke up this morning, she said in a grumpy voice, "Put my room back the way it was." Wow, I guess we woke up on the wrong side of the bed...she's not really a morning person. Then, after getting up and dressed, she said, "Mommy, I like the way my room is." Girls.