Tyler and Jamie

I love how these two are starting to play together! Tyler asks to "hold it," and likes to give her kisses and hugs. Jamie, who would complain if anyone else tried to hug her like Tyler does (these are near smothering hugs), just smiles her silly little smile at him, and makes little happy noises. She loves her brother! When she hears him talk, she twists her head around trying to see him, and if he wakes her up, she just smiles. (Just so you know, when I disturb her sleep, it is not a happy time.)

Arts and Crafts for Mommies

If you check out the links I have on the side bar here, most of them are crafty blogs. I am ADDICTED to them! U-Create, Make It Love It, All Things Thrifty, I check them all everyday, and more often than not, I come away from them with a few new ideas. I have a folder on our computer full of to-do projects. I rave about them so much that I've got McKay's mom hooked too. She doesn't have babies to get up with anymore, so she can stay up until 2 AM blog-hopping and perusing and idea collecting. Lucky!

Anyway, I did finally get one finished:

These are animal alphabet blocks, and they're on the wall above Tyler's bed (just out of reach!).

They are already doing their job! He's been so interested in them, and has been picking up on the letters fast! Now if we could just get him to look at some of the other letter beside S (snake), W (whale, or "fishy"), and B (buggy-fly).

Everything's Waiting for You

McKay's new work schedule has him working on Saturdays, but now he has Wednesdays off. Perfect for exploring downtown Dallas and checking a few things off our list!

There were four HUGE sheds full of produce stands from all over Texas, and from out of state too. There weren't a lot of people there, since it was a weekday morning, but I hear Saturdays are really crowded here. Can you imagine how HOT it would be?

The vendors had free samples of their fruit, and offered bites to anyone walking by. Tyler got the hang of it really fast, and helped himself to mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, watermelon, canteloupe and whatever else he could get his little fingers on.

We also visited Fountain Place, which is a cool little plaza between skyscrapers in Dallas that has this:

and this:

Tyler wouldn't go near the shooting fountain unless Daddy was holding him.

What a fun day!

This is our vacuum.

When I was pregnant, nothing made me quite as happy as seeing vacuum lines in the carpet (I had to put limits on the number of times per day I could vacuum because I was starting to wear it out near the baseboards).


And now, when the babies are loud and crying/whining, and I'm a little crazy, all I have to do is flip on the vacuum.

One does this:

because he is a little afraid of it.

And the other does this:

because it makes her sleepy.

Vacuum, let's not mince words. I love you.

Put on Your Shoes!

"The answer to boredom is this: put your shoes on!"

Summer 2010 Bucket List Update

Done:

Play hopscotch

Go swimming

Go the the park

Go to the library

Go to the Galleria playground

Catch fireflies

Go see Joseph

Still to Do:

Send Daddy on a treasure hunt

Take a picture each hour for a day

Make root beer

Get ice cream cones

Go see the Declaration of Independence

Go on a picnic

Go to the Farmer's Market

Wash the car

Fly kites

Go to the zoo

Go to a farm

Visit the Grassy Knoll

Go to the lake

Go watch airplanes at the airport

Go see the trains at Children's Medical Center of Dallas

Play at the Fountain Place

Go to Hands on Museum

Visit Pioneer Plaza

Go Ice Skating at Galleria

Visit Deep Ellum

Go to a summer Symphony concerts

Try a new kind of food

Hot, Hot, Hot!

It is so very hot here in this last stretch of summer (111 degrees today!), but if we can get out early enough and be back before 10, we like to walk to the park down the street from us.

Jamie and I camp out on a blanket in the shade of a few trees

her contemplating the branches and birds and clouds

me on bug-smooshing duty

and Tyler runs around until he gets too hot,

and then he sits and plays with his buckets.

Then we hurry home, melting all the way, and spend the rest of the morning huddled around the AC vents, drinking ice water and generally moving as little as possible. I think it's worth it :)

How many times have you cried today?

THREE.

#1: Tyler rubbed half a tube of Desitin into his hair.

#2: We watched Dumbo, and you know that scene with Mrs. Jumbo and Dumbo cuddling outside the window of her jail makes you teary too.

#3: On my way to bed after a 4 AM feeding, I couldn't get the childproof doorknob on our bedroom door open in the dark.

So, to offset an unusually blubbery day, we have some silly Jamie smiles below. (They're from Photobucket because Blogger is having issues posting pictures)

(Yay! I finally got it to work!)

Happy August!

We're celebrating with 109 heat index!