The Pile

Some might think I was being a little presumptuous - maybe I was. BUT, I know Carter well and I have seen him happily pick up his toys in his bedroom. I even made it easy for him - I bought those color coded bins to "throw" his toys in at the end of the day. You know, so Dad and Mom don't trip and kill ourselves in the middle of the night in the event he wakes up and calls for us.

Since summer has started four weeks ago, I have been very lenient on the cleaning up the toys. I have let it slide as long as I could get in and out their rooms safely. Since the temperature has been hovering around 100 every day, much of the time they play indoors. So I have had to be realistic and expect the mess of toys around during these times. However, before lunch today, we had a 30 minute cleanup of our rooms and play area. Carter was beaming and proud of his room he cleaned all by himself. Of course with his enthusiasm, I excitedly followed him into his room for him to show off his incredible endeavor. He so proudly pointed out his "new" way of grouping his toys....into "The Pile".

Hot Lazy Days, My Dancing Diva and Dear Old Dad

Its only been three weeks since school and the middle of June - and we are about to break the 100 degree mark on the mercury stick! Bring on the cold drinks, sprinklers and dips in the pool! We have started out this summer with non-routine lazy summer days. Lots of play dates, popsicles outside, swimming in pools, playing on splash pads, and afternoon indoor activities and movies.

Both Kelsey and Carter took swimming lessons at the end of May and beginning of June. Since we don't have pool and pools are not open year round here - although with nine months of summer they should be - both kids almost completely forgot what they learned last year. So off to lessons we go, and they LOVE it. They have both done so well. Kelsey now does somersaults and swims with no help, and Carter loves to go completely under water with his eyes open to fetch dive toys. Yeahhhh.
June 13 was Kelsey big dance recital. She was ready and could not wait to go. Although she was nervous for the first time to get on stage in front of a few hundred people, she was determined to do it. What a brave girl. NOT from her mother's side. She and her class were fabulous. She finally has a break from classes and her Saturday mornings free for the summer. She has decided to keep it up and will return for Ballet/tap again in the Fall. I was so happy she is starting to figure out her own interests.

Ysterday we celebrated Father's Day with a morning outing for donuts at Dad's request. Everyone ordered their donuts and off we went. Everyone got one kolache and one special order donut. It is customary in our house that everyone first eats their kolache while it is still warm - then on to their donut. Carter took a bite of his super duper pink strawberry iced donut with sprinkles, only to realize Kelsey and Daddy had the same big vanilla iced nut rolls. He wanted to try it so Daddy generously gave Carter the first bite of his roll - BUT, he never got it back. Dear ole Dad gave up his favorite special vanilla iced nut roll to Carter only to have nothing for his Father's Day breakfast - and never even thought twice about it. Awwww! What a great Dad. That is just the kind of person and father Todd is. He is such a sweet guy!

We had plans to take Dad bowling, but he really just wanted to hang at the house and watch movies....so off to the video store he and Kelsey went to rent Narnia:Prince Caspian. We made popcorn, turned off the lights, turned up the sound and we all laid around and watched. Just what Dad loves to do - hang out and relax with his family.

After being with my kids 24/7 for three weeks straight, they finally are off this week to their first of many planned summer activities. The kids headed off to Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church. They will go every day this week for a few hours - whew! I finally get some free time - Ahhhem. I mean time that I will miss my kids every minute and can't wait to go pick them up. Anyhow, they were very excited to go (thank goodness) and I get to play catch up on some very neglected things around the house.

The temperatures are expected to be the low 100's this week and we are in desperate need of rain. Hopefully we will have reprieve soon ....we still have many activities and two more months of summer break. As long as the heat hangs around, the sprinklers will be on, popsicles will be daily and we may be water logged from the dips in the pools before all is said and done. Is it possible to get sunscreen elbow from slathering it on so many times a day?
Maybe a rain dance would help. The kids would definitely love to play int he rain.

A Divine Southern Treat

I love coffee! I love the smell of fresh ground coffee beans, hot roasting coffee, and all the different flavors. One of my favorite mental escapes is of Todd and I sitting somewhere in the cold Northwest hanging out drinking hot coffee. I drink it most mornings, as a pick me up in the middle of the day, and here in the South, its almost as social as iced tea. However, living in the South, we only have a couple cold months and only 9 months of hot weather. Coffee is one of my standard favs, but the "hot" part is not always enticing. Thank you to the person whoever thought up the idea of iced coffee!

Sometimes the only self indulgent part of my day as a busy mom, is the 10 minute drive thru at the local Starbucks for a Grande iced skinny vanilla latte. Ahhhhhh! Such rich creamy decadence poured into a large cup over cold ice! Such refreshing yumminess on a hot, sticky, Texas Summer day!

I just had to know how to make my own iced coffee. If I did not, I might end up spending all our summer spending money just on my 5$ drive thru coffees. After scouring the Internet, I came across Divine Caroline which has the yummiest and easiest recipe ever. It even keeps for up to a month in the fridge. So check it out, get yourself a cold creamy cup of iced coffee, sit back and relax, and enjoy the moment! Cheers!