For the birds

A while ago, Dan bought a bird feeder and two kits of make-it-yourself items: one birdhouse and another bird feeder. The pre-made one has been up for a while and the birds go nuts over that thing. So do the squirrels and rabbits.

Here's a bluejay, cardinal, and squirrel.

Dan put together the two kits and he and the kids painted the birdhouse to go in the front yard.

Here's a cute video of our kids taken last week. I love how Sam flexes his muscles and wanted to get it on camera. Sorry so much of it is blurry. I was taking it with my digital camera and I didn't know I had to manually focus it. About halfway through I figured it out, but they're always moving, so it was tough.

And proof that Afton loves pretzels.

(Isn't she gorgeous??)

Sam's handsome, too.

Yesterday we went back to the gym so that I could videotape Dan climbing the whole crack. Here it is:

This morning before church I took a few pictures of the kids.

 Sam picked out his outfit.

I used some of my knit fabric to make a skirt. I decided that with this fabric I should go with a circle skirt - not a pencil skirt. I think it turned out pretty cute. I was going to try and do cheesy poses like all the sewing bloggers out there, but I couldn't bring myself to do it... So here's the pic that shows off the skirt the best. Even though it's the one where I'm brushing away a strand of hair.

This is the first skirt I've made for myself that I'm not embarrassed to wear. So that's a start! It looks a little uneven, but I think that's just the way I'm standing.

Afton had her second-ever popsicle today.

She loved it. But it took her so long that her chin and arm are now stained a weird navy blue color.

That's all for now!

Not much going on around here. It rained for a week straight, so we stayed inside a lot, went stir crazy, and went the playground at the mall.

I bought fabric to make myself some knit pencil skirts, but I'm afraid I'll mess up, so I haven't started yet.

Sam got molluscum a while ago (a skin disease that looks like warts) and it's spread a ton. I counted 46 bumps on his body - mostly his chest and arms. webmd said it can take months or years for them to go away. I hope it's months and not years.

Sam is super cute lately, don't you think?

 He talks about how he tells kids at the gym about Jesus. He used the word "quite" four times today. I think that's really cute for some reason. He's still SUPER shy and he's supposed to recite article of faith #8 at church this Sunday. Which means he'll cover his face at the microphone and I'll recite article of faith #8. He calls windshield wipers "windshield swippers." When he sneezed today he said he "bless-you'd" (which sounded like "blushooed"). He loves superheroes/superhero shows/superhero clothes. Monday is laundry day so every Tuesday he wears his favorite outfit- his Avengers shirt and shorts from G&G Cheney. He often wears them Wednesday, too...

I took the kids bowling last week. Afton hated it and spent the whole time like this:

On my lap touching me. Don't I look so happy, too? So Sam bowled for both of them. He had fun. Thankfully, halfway through we got one of those ramp things. It went so much faster!

Sam drew this picture of our family at church last week. We love it.

Afton has definitely gotten more opinionated lately. She'll scream and shake her head and say "uh-uh" if she doesn't want to do something. She still loves to be held and asks me several times a day, "Hold me, please." If I'm sitting on the couch, and she wants to sit down, it's never next to me or on the other side of the couch. It's on my lap. Here's proof.

Today I volunteered to help serve the missionaries lunch at the church while they had meetings. Afton wanted me to hold her the whole time. I didn't get much done with 30 pounds on my hip. Love that girl, but she is clingy!

She loves pretzels. The little stick kind. She talks a lot now and is really good at assigning different items to each member of the family. "Afton's blanket, Daddy's shirt, Mommy's towel, etc." Anything pink is not pink, but "baby" so she calls Dan's pink tie a "baby tie" or her pink plate is a "baby plate." Not sure where she got that one.

Dan is amazing. Since our rock climbing date on Valentine's, he's gotten really into rock climbing and joined the gym. He's lost 15 pounds! He looks great! I'm jealous. I've been going to the gym for 18 months and I've gained weight. Not fair. But back to Dan. He's almost done with the rockwall in our attic. He works hard for our family and we appreciate him a lot. Last Saturday I went to the gym with him so I could videotape him climbing a crack. Well, a girl there found out that we just did the 4-day Inca hike in Peru and she's doing it next year so she grilled me about it for like 20 minutes. All I got on camera was the last little bit of Dan. I felt bad. But he did amazing. Look at that crack he climbed!

Happy 4th

We had a nice fourth. Documented in pictures.

Our neighborhood has a parade around the lake featuring bikes, powerwheels, and strollers. It was over in 10 minutes, but nice while it lasted.

Only pic of all three facing the same direction. Sorry, Dan.

 This strange vehicle led the way, but its wheels didn't fit on the sidewalk, so it kept getting stuck.

After the parade we headed to Lowe's to buy some flowers. Told you I documented everything.

They are some of my favorite flowers here in Texas - lantana.

They should hopefully grow to be pretty big bushes.

Lunch.

Naps somewhere in there. Then we had these gigantic burgers. I couldn't finish mine. It was tooooo big.

 Next we hit the pool.

And capped the night off with some backyard fireworks. I got out all the camp chairs, plus the Handy Manny chair and the kids snatched up the good ones. I got stuck with Handy Manny.

 Above is a cone. Below is a rocket firing off into space.

We had a great day!



Not much to report around here. Here are some pictures.

This is the cake I made Dan for Father's Day, per Sam's request.

 Dan and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! Kirk and Gretchen watched the kids while we went out to dinner. Best pic of us from the night.

 Dan got me these beautiful flowers for our anniversary.

 Dan went to an Astros game for work. He brought the kids home some ice cream bowls that look like mini helmets. The kids love 'em.

 Dan loves any and all snuggle time he can get with these two. He was reading a book with them and said, "Hhmm... It'd be nice to get a picture of this..." Hint, hint. Sam looks awesome.

Yesterday some friends had us over to celebrate the 4th of July. It was lots of fun. Everyone was told to bring a red, white, or blue dessert. I made sugar cookies. While making them, of course I sampled the dough. I think it hurt my stomach, though, because it hurt the rest of the afternoon/ night until I finally tossed cookies (literally!) after midnight. Fun times.