Braving the Pool

I took the girls to the pool this afternoon for the first time this summer.  It's pretty hot here, so I figured it would be a good way to get some outside time after naps (or non-nap in the case of Miss).  My husband had a meeting, so I braved the pool on my own.  Through having the girls in the water at my sister-in-law's in the past few weeks, we have learned that Lass is fearless when it comes to the water, so I was a bit nervous.  I figured we'd be okay though since the pool has zero-entry and I put a floatie on her.  At first it was super easy, and I wondered what I had even been nervous about.  Sis sat in her car

seat in the shade and Miss and Lass splashed around harmlessly in less that one foot of water, pretty much right by my feet.  Then a friend, who is about two months older than Miss showed up.  It was great for the girls to be able to play with her, but her arrival disrupted our little peaceful, safe, easy playing.  She and Miss immediately headed for deeper water ("deeper" in this case meaning one to two feet) and of course Lass went right along with them.  They were playing "horsey" on some of those pool noodles.  That, in addition to the slightly deeper water, was enough to throw Lass off her balance a bit, and twice I went running though the water and hauled her up after she lost her footing and went face first into the water.  With the noodle under her she couldn't quite get her feet back under herself.  After the second time, I had to call it quits for Lass for today.  I think I'm going to get a more substantial life jacket and maybe we'll try it again in a few days.  That girl freaks me out.  She's my little dare devil.  

I really would love to have some photos of our pool time to post, since it was mostly lots of fun and the girls were, naturally, oh so cute splashing around.  But between hawk-watching Miss and Lass, trying to keep the sun off Sis (she was perfectly shaded in her car seat, but then got fussy, so I put her in the Ergo), and making life-saving dives for my middle child, the camera never made it out of my bag.  So instead, I'll share with you a few of the photos from last week at the farm.

Of course my husband did tons of fishing and the girls were very excited to see some of the larger fish he caught.  No filleting this time, though.

Foos-ball-room for the princesses to dance in.

We had a very big and somewhat scary storm the last night we were at the Farm.  It blew up right around snack time, so we took our stuff to the basement for a picnic.  The girls seemed unfazed in spite of all the thunder and lightning, the 40-50 MPH winds, sideways-falling rain and hail. 

Of course we celebrated Father's Day morning at the Farm before heading home.  During the week prior to our trip, I had the girls make Father's Day paintings.  They painted canvases for their Daddy.

Then Miss did paintings on paper for my Grandpa, my Dad, and my Father-in-law (Lass lost interest after her canvas was done).  At the end as she was finishing up the painting for my Father-in-law, her Papa, she decided it would be funny to stick her face in the still-wet paint.

She seems to be our little budding artist.  She really loves to paint anything.  She got really into painting some gourds with my Mother-in-law when we were at the farm.  She seems to understand the power of art to make people smile too.  When she created her painting for my Grandpa she said, "I think this will make Great-grandpa happy."  Yes, I think so too.

Full

Starting swimming lessons and gymnastics class and three forensic cases to do and trying to get in my 20 days of exercise this month and watching Chopped last night. . . and this week is quickly getting away from me. So I realized, "What happened to my Independence Day post?" Well, it got combined with my Wednesday July 6th post, that's what. Here you go!

As I predicted, our 4th of July celebration consisted of more of the same festivities that filled the rest of our holiday weekend.

Well hello there Hunk.

Celebrating the birth of our country with my sunscreened babies, splashing and loving the water. Cherishing family. Perfect.

That and great outdoor food. We had grilled kielbasa, veggie kabobs, potato salad, the works. Even ice cream!

Miss loves her "Chocolate ice cream on a stick" - otherwise known as a Dove Bar.

And this little one had her first taste of the sweet stuff.

The brat making continued. Here's my hubby making sausage.

My hubby after I pointed out to him that he's wearing his "Wiener Shop" T Shirt.

Wieners.

We ate some for dinner tonight. Fantastic. There's nothing like fresh, homemade sausage. He also made chorizo, which I love to cook with. I can't wait to try out a new recipe using it.

Speaking of new recipes, my "Chopped" ingredients this week are cherry tomatoes and raisins. I wasn't able to get to the grocery store until today, but I got my ingredients and have something of a plan for my dish. I need to refine it in my head before I dive in to make it, so it'll be Friday or so before I do it. Stay tuned.

I think I've written about how I have ordered some new big girl outdoor toys for Miss so that the push-behind lion can be passed down to Lass now. We are still waiting for her trike, but her roller skates arrived yesterday. And so did these:

We had to try them on today to make sure they fit. I ordered them with the intention that they would fit her now and also be gear she can grow into, so they look a little big but they do fit. Naturally she didn't want to take them off and had to dance around in them until I had to nearly pry them off her for nap time.

Soon to come will be photos of this ensemble, outside, with little Barbie roller skates. I love it.

Right now we're busy in a great way. Miss loves her gymnastics class and seems to be enjoying her new swimming class so far. We're having play dates.

I'm enjoying work. Being a professional. Sorting out the intricacies of psychiatric diagnosis when a case is a little unusual. It helps me to be well-rounded. To be challenged and stretch my brain in a different grown up way. Then I come home and get back to my real job. And it's good. My life is full. In the best possible way.

A Daddy Weekend

I can't really even put into words how much I love having a weekend when all the stars are aligned and 1. we are not traveling, 2. the weather is nice, and 3. my husband isn't working. Oh, it's wonderful. Fortunately, I do not need to rely solely on words to describe this happy time. I have photo documentation.

Daddy has been making lots of forts and Little Sister has been able to join in the fun. The girl loves to roll around on a blanket.

"Can I come in?"

This one lights up at the sight of her Daddy.

This morning we baked our banana chocolate chip muffins for Daddy.

This is the face she makes when she says, "Cheese!"

"They're puffing up!" She kept calling the muffins "mushrooms." This kid cracks me up.

After they baked, she "painted" honey on top of them.

She was so proud of herself!

She said, "I eat a bwownie out of the mushwoom!" when she picked a chocolate chip out of the muffin.

Sharing a special snack with Daddy.

And can I just gush for a moment about how ridiculously easy it is to take the girls to the pool when I have another pair of hands along??

I was even able to take photos for once!

Lass is happy when she can play with a ball. Or two.

Easy, easy, easy. I'm gushing here.

Did I mention this one loves to play with a ball?

We've been playing very hard this weekend.

And even after all this playing, Daddy is making bratwurst tonight. I can't wait to eat them. Homemade bratwurst are the best.
I'm listening to fireworks outside right now. I tried to get Miss out of her bed (she's not asleep yet) and take her out to see, but she didn't like the sound. She wrapped herself around me, clung on for dear life, and said, "I want to go in my bed and go to sweep." So she's missing the fireworks tonight, but tomorrow we will celebrate the 4th of July. Mostly our day will consist of more of what you see here. Family. Love. Fun. Eating. Pool. Mix in some patriotism and perhaps a sparkler or two, and you have a celebration. Happy 4th of July.