Blown' in the wind

Here is the newest addition to our back yard. This was my birthday present from Kylie (Thanks sweetie!) It only took Jose running into it once for us to figure out that glow-in-the-dark clothes lines would be nice :)

My Sanity

Last weekend, Joslin and I took a much needed trip to the cabin. The girls meet us there for our yearly weekend at Kanopolis Lake. We have been going off and on since we were in 6th grade. It is always a wonderful time to just relax and be together. First, we made some jewelery. I kept wanting to trade with everyone, because their stuff was so much cooler than mine. I did however end up with some pretty nice necklaces and bracelets. That is after I dropped them several (the biggest understatement) times and had to re-string them.

This is actually only about half of our creations. It ended up being quite addictive.

The weather was gorgeous. It was suppose to be 100 degrees, but it ended up being rainy and cool. We went for a walk to enjoy the weather and Joslin got to ride in her front pouch for the first time. With a little adjustment from Nan it ended up being kind of comfortable.

The next morning we headed down to the beach to find our rock. We originally carved our names in '96. It was important that we add our newest member to the rock. I hope my daughter doesn't turn into a graffiti artist because of this.This trip was a great reminder of how lucky I am to have the friends that I do. These girls are wonderful. They truly are my sanity.

Time

Where has the time gone? I really can't believe that my summer is coming to an end. The time spent with Joslin has been wonderful. However, I do get a little (ok, a lot) depressed when I think of leaving her to go back to school. I just love that little girl SO much, and we have been inseparable all summer. My first day back is August 6th, so it is time to start thinking about school again. Since I will be teaching 4th grade next year, I boxed everything up at the end of the year and moved it across the school to my new room. Needless to say, it has sat there untouched for the summer. This week, Haley, her friend Kienze, Joslin and I started sifting through things, so that I will be ready for the kids. They were a HUGE help. I am excited for the change of age group and content. I am sure that the 4th graders will keep me on my toes. Hold on Jos!

Joslin is 7 Months!

The littlest firecracker!

We stopped by to see Jose's brother Juan's new house. Joslin loved getting her toes wet in the baby pool.
Two off my favorite people!
When we got home we decided to change Jos into her swimsuit, and test out our pool. She absolutely loved it. It is a little smaller than a normal baby pool, which is good, because she still hasn't quite mastered the sitting yet (she is getting close). The duck gives her the extra support that she needs. I think you can tell from the pictures how much fun she was having.

We were a little worried about how she would handle all of the fireworks, but she just slept right through it. WHEW! We headed outside with the monitor, and except for the crazy bugs, it was a beautiful night. We shot a few fireworks including a roman candle that tipped over and shot directly into the Jose's shop, and an artillery shell that was accidentally placed upside down. Thank goodness for the amazingly strong tube :) We also enjoyed the ones from around the neighborhood.

Look out world!

Joslin started crawling today...or should I say scooting! I had just finished scrubbing the floor, and I put her down to see what she would think about playing on the hardwood. I saw her eyeing the toy basket, so I just let her go and ran to get the camera. It took her quite a while but she made it to the basket and was so proud of herself!

Here's where she started

Notice the toe action (she has her body completely lifted off the ground). Pretty impressive.
Still going...
Just a little more
I can almost taste it
SUCCESS!!!!

Summer Project #2

Well, we finally started working on the living room last weekend. On Sunday, Joslin went to Grandma's and we pulled up half of the carpet, staples and tack strips. Then yesterday, Haley came over to watch and entertain Joslin, so that I could pull up the other half. Joslin also helped out by taking an extra long nap today while I was scrubbing the floor. I never realized how much pre-planning and help from others we would need to do things that were no big deal before. Thanks to everyone for your help. Now we have hard wood in our living room. It is not in perfect shape, but it is much better than the blue carpet. I don't think it shows in the pictures but, I have also started sanding the trim. I have it almost ready to be painted. We are going to paint it white like in the bedroom and Joslin's room. Then we decided to hire someone to take off the wallpaper. It was nearly impossible to get the walls free of paste in all of the bedrooms, so we gave up and are calling in the experts. We actually got a very reasonable estimate, so we decided to have him paint it for us as well. That also helps to shorten my list of summer projects :)

Concert in the Crib

I was in the bathroom getting ready this morning and I hear all of this crazy noise. Then Jose says something about a concert. I look in Joslin's room, and he had set up all of her toys that talk and move, and had them all going at the same time. Frankie the pink elephant was counting and dancing, Tigger was talking and bouncing, while Toby the talk-bot was practicing his alphabet. What a fun dad!