Time just slips away from me and I went two weeks again from the last time writing. The kids are enjoying their summer time. We decided our garden was done producing and stopped watering it. Things are too hot for the vegetables to develop. We have cleaned out part of the dead plants and the kids have enjoyed playing in the dirt this week.
Other activities we have done are go to the zoo and see the animals on a hot day. I even let the kids get a little wet in the sprays at the play ground. We went to the museum and saw a free showing of the movie “Monsters Inc.” The kids hadn’t seen it before. Spencer and Caleb were a little scared by it but they all said they enjoyed it.
I was able to go to a Stake Relief Society activity. It was a nice event and I enjoyed hearing the messages and visiting with sisters in the Stake.
We had the Elder’s over for dinner and enjoyed having them on our home. I am glad that the kids get to have that experience of having missionaries in our home often. The Elder’s were telling us that so many sisters are coming out to serve that the sisters in the Hewitt ward are “double training.” Meaning that a trainer gets a new missionary, then six weeks later she got another new missionary and they are in a three some for six weeks, then the first one can go out to a new area as “trained.” It sounds like a lot of work for the senior companion.
For a few days we had the weather cooler. It was so nice to go for walks and have the temperatures around 65 degrees, then have a day time high about 90. It lasted for about 5 days. One of the last days of cooler weather was July 4th. It helped a lot to have cooler weather than normal. We had invited Neal’s sister, Andrea and her family up from San Antonio for the holiday. They came Wednesday evening and stayed for a day, leaving Thursday evening. We really enjoyed having them here. Although adding a family of 9 to our little home with our family over crowded us for a day, it was a blast! The kids had so much fun playing together. They did water balloons, decorated our drive way with chalk art and did a little parade through our yard. We had a lots of good food to eat too. I made ice cream for everyone. We ate an entire water melon in the afternoon too. Ruth invited her school friend, Lexi, over too. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the Holiday. Also, on the 4th our sister in law, May Bo, had her baby in Ireland. They are happy he arrived safely. We hope things go well for them so they can return to Utah soon.
Our neighbor decided to replace their old fence. Which was wonderful, but also difficult. The fence was down for a few days, exposing their yard with a dirty unkept pool, weeds and even some poison ivy. I had to keep the kids inside and not let them out into the yard for safety. I am glad that the fence is up and sound. Now I wont have to worry about the kids playing by a broken fence.
The kids have enjoyed playing “super kids” together. They will pin capes of sorts to their backs and run through the house. I took Andrew to the store with me and he saw a fun Lego set he wanted to buy. I found it on Amazon for cheeper so I ordered it for him, he still had birthday money from last year. Spencer went in on it too, so they can share it. They have had a lot of fun playing Lego together. They really have liked the “City Lego” sets with the trucks and people. The one we bought was the big “Mine” set. I hope they can enjoy it together.
I gave Ruth a lesson on the clarinet. The boys joined in too. All four kids were able to get a sound out of it. I thought that was great. I ordered some reeds for Ruth so she can try more to learn to play it.
Caleb was outside in the yard and found a cockroach. He called me over to see his “cute insect.” Then he likes to call garbage trucks “pretty.” I think his view of cute and pretty is different from mine.
Spencer lost a tooth this week. He was disappointed when the tooth fairy didn’t come. But he said it was okay “because it took two times for her to come on the last tooth.” I am glad it worked the second night for him.
Ruth had a sewing lesson yesterday. I let her use my machine for the first time and she made a pillow cover. I will take a picture of it when we get a pillow form inside the pillow case, then it will look like a pillow. She did a pretty good job for her first time sewing.
I was asked to make 100 rolls for girls camp. They were wanting home made, whole wheat rolls for a meal. I just used my bread recipe and shaped them as rolls. I hope that they enjoy them next week. They were freezing the food to bring with them to camp. They feed the girls all together, like a cafeteria. Different from the kind of camping I did when I was in Young Women. I am glad that I could help.
This morning we went to the library for an activity with the “Critter man.” He brought real animals that are native to Texas. He had a baby alligator, a ferret, a prairie dog, a toad, a tortoise, a snake, and a large tarantula. It was informative and fun. I am glad that there are fun things for the kids to do.
We are having a fun summer and are happy for this time together!
We got a good view of the black swans at the Zoo
Having some fun with the statues at the zoo.
The boys like to wrestle with each other.
Our 4th of July Parade
We enjoyed the watermelon and board games in the afternoon with the cousins.
Andrew built a large tower of blocks. Amazingly it lasted for a day.
The kids playing in the dirt. Ruth has a little "poly pocket" doll in her stick house. The boys have cars and Lego.
I thought I would take some pictures of our yard in July. Things are turning brown. I need to pull out all the dead flowers. Notice the nice new fence in the back ground.
Our peach tree has some nice peaches on it, I hope they can make it to maturity in this heat.
