Dress Up

Loving the "Magic Mirror" on the Side

Annabelle has a new dress up closet! She was so excited when Justin decided he would build a dress up closet now that he is out of school for the summer (he taught during the first summer session this year). I think we were all getting tired of the big pile of dress up clothes in the corner of Annabelle's room and this was the perfect solution. She loves looking through her costumes and playing dress up and now it's so easy to get to everything. It even has wheels on the bottom so she can move it around the house!

Everything IS Bigger in Texas...Except Cats

A little over a month ago a stray cat wandered up to Annabelle & I while we were getting in the car. The poor thing was pitiful, just skin and bones and looked so sad. Being the cat lover that I am, I just couldn't resist, I ran inside and brought out some of Walter's cat food and a big bowl of cold water for the poor thing...and that was the exact moment that Edith became our cat.

She only weighs 5 lbs. and looks like a rat compared to the bulky 15 pounder that we're used to. And we thought everything was bigger in Texas!....everything except cats.

Lazy Days of Summer

The last few weeks have been sweltering hot down here in deep South Texas. Makes you just want to sit around and do nothing. But, we've been keeping ourselves busy. We've been keeping up with the events at the library and the summer reading program, we went to a magic show and a soccer presentation at the library. We keep the blow up pool full of water on the patio for quick afternoon swims. Other than that it's just been a lazy summer so far!

"Percy" to the Queen

Yesterday Annabelle and I were out and about running a few errands when I heard her talking to her stuffed animal in the back seat, she was giving ballet instructions to her stuffed dog and ended it with "now Percy". I said "Do you mean CURTSEY?" Annabelle said "Noooo Mom, PERCY". She then sounded it out for me "Puh, Puh, PERCY" We went back and forth for the whole entire trip, Annabelle INSISTED it is "Percy NOT Curtsey". I finally gave in and now I am convinced the proper word is "Percy" So everyone, Percy at the end of your performance please :)

Baking Cookies

Fresh Baked Chocolate Mini Chip Cookies

Even though it's 100+ degrees outside I still get the urge every once in a while to turn on the oven and bake some cookies. Yes, I could just run down to the local HEB and pick up a package at the bakery but there's just something about making your own cookies from scratch. Plus, Annabelle just LOVES cracking eggs and measuring flour. Now if I can just resist eating them all!

Sitti & Papa's Visit

Under the umbrella at the beach.

Justin, Annabelle & I at the Sea Turtle Rescue

Sitti & Annabelle at the Sea Turtle Rescue

Annabelle in front of one of the big sea turtle tanks.

Annabelle biting my nose off at the Hilton restaurant.

Sitti, Annabelle & Papa at the Hilton restaurant.

Papa sitting at the gazebo at our hotel.

Annabelle & I feeding potato chips to the seagulls. (They loved them!)

Annabelle and the seagulls.

Pelicans flying over.

Sitti, Annabelle & Papa at the beach.

Sitti, Annabelle & Papa in the pool.

Our view from our hotel room.

Sitti & Papa left today after a week long visit. We (especially Annabelle!) had a good time hanging out with them. They arrived on Monday evening and we headed to South Padre Island on Tuesday morning to spend the day at the beach. Unfortunately, the water was a bit too choppy and it was a little too scorching hot to sit on the beach long. We had reserved rooms at the La Quinta Inn on the beach so we headed to the hotel to swim in the pool and relax at the gazebo. Thank goodness the hotel had a pool and beach access, it was so nice to be able to wash off at the outside showers after walking on the sandy beach. Sitti & Annabelle collected shells on the beach and everyone swam in the pool even though the pool water was hot like a warm bath, yuck! We visited the Sea Turtle Rescue on the island and walked over to the Hilton for dinner. We had a nice time on the island.

We headed back home on Wednesday since Annabelle had ballet class and Sitti wanted to see her dance. Annabelle was so happy that Sitti got to see her dance although she (Annabelle) did look a bit tired since we had had a busy day at the beach the day before!

On Thursday morning we had an appointment with my OB/GYN for a sonogram and to talk to the doctor about having another baby. So glad that Sitti & Papa were here to watch Annabelle since the appointment took 3 hours! No problems were found on the sonogram so my hopes are still high for having another baby sometime soon (fingers crossed!).

On Friday we spent the day preparing for our garage sale (on Saturday) that I have been putting off for months. Our garage was full of "stuff" we had been moving around to different rooms in our house to get it out of the way & random items we had been stashing in the attic. We also had old living room furniture that I was never able to sell on Craigslist. We sold almost everything at the garage sale on Saturday and made quite a bit of money. It was a nice morning for a sale but by the afternoon it was sweltering hot out so we bagged up everything that was left and donated it. Thank goodness Sitti & Papa were here to help with the sale and Sitti helped Annabelle run a successful lemonade stand!

We decided to spend Sunday relaxing since Sitti and Papa were planning on getting up early the next day to head back to Kansas. We had a fun week & Annabelle was so sad to see Sitti and Papa leave.

Schools Out!

Ms. Diana (from the library) & Annabelle

The end of the school year really snuck up on me! I was getting Annabelle ready for school last week and I thought to myself "I better check on the May schedule and see when school is out". After I dropped Annabelle off that morning, I stopped at the front desk and asked for a May schedule. To my surprise, the last day of preschool was that same week! So now Annabelle is home for the summer, she graduated from story time today & we have an entire summer open to do anything we want, well, almost anything since Justin will be teaching summer school (he's off for a couple weeks before school starts again!). We're planning a couple visits to the beach and maybe Sea World if the weather isn't too unbearably hot. Sitti & Papa are coming to visit and we'll have fun hanging out with them. Lets hope the summer doesn't fly by as quickly as the school  year did!