FINALLY!

Yeah....it's time to celebrate at our house.....it's finally done! No, I did not just graduate. I finally had my diploma framed! After 12+ years I finally broke down. Micheal's was running a 1/2 price on the total framing job and I took advantage of it. It is now hanging in the kids playroom, which is really a reading room with the kids crafts stuff in it. I took all our A&M artwork and hung it on the walls in this room, so the diploma's fit in perfectly. I am not only proud of being an A&M graduate but now the proof is hanging on the wall of my accomplishment. Now the kids will stop asking me, "Mommy where's your diploma? Daddy's diploma is hanging on the wall, did you graduate too?" It's sad when a almost 9 and 6 year old don't believe you graduated from college.

Bill's on the left and mine is on the right

Back to the Pool

Christy and Kendall joined us today at the pool. Kendall is 2 1/2, loves the water and loves the kids. It was hot but they had a blast. Kendall went down the slide over and over again with Allison. Allison loved playing with Kendall, she played with her the entire time we were at the pool.

Allison, Kendall and Alex getting ready to go down the slide.

Playing in the pool.

Kendall posing.

Christy and Kendall

Snoopy and Lucy Getting A Bath

The night ended with a dog bath. I put Lucy in the bathtub and called for Snoopy. Well, just watch the video and you will see what happened next. We know, she has issues.

Cabin Fever

Yesterday was an exciting day for us as we waited anxiously for the 50 mile an hour winds and heavy rains to hit......well needless to say we finally got rain around 3:00 p.m. with no wind, little thunder, nothing exciting. We get more excitement around here when a summer thunderstorm pops up unexpectantly. Nice soaker though. Although we had anticipated much more rain, we were very thankful for the rain we did get. We finally have water back in our creek.

Since Tropical Storm Edouard was "supposed" to be so bad, we stayed inside. We stayed home all day Monday and Tuesday, well let me say, it was time to get out of the house. We all needed a dose of sanity after the last two days, so off to run a few errands, you know: the bank, post office, cleaners, Blockbuster, Monogram Boutique (Allison's backpack for school, instead of a buying a new one, I had the one she used in 2nd grade monogrammed, it looked like new when I picked it up), goodwill (after 2 days at home, you organize EVERYTHING, which means I cleaned out drawers and closets, again), got lunch at McDonald's and finally ended up at the pool. We had a picnic at the pool and then swam for a couple hours, hopefully bedtime will be easier tonight. I like to dream......I said, "let's take a picture of our picnic lunch." Alex interpreted that by showing what he was actually doing, putting food in his mouth. Oh well what else would you expect out of a boy. (This was the best shot out of 5, I finally gave up after this one.)

Allison swimming
Isn't this so sweet. Ahhhh.......

Alex loves trying to make a BIG splash, especially if Allison is around.

Alex swimming underwater

SNACK TIME!!!!

Monday - A Hot Day Outside

Bill worked out of the house for a nice change. He's been on the road quite a bit lately, so it was nice to have him home. The kids have a few weeks before school starts, so instead of venturing out we decided to stay home since it was over 100 here. Allison and Alex kept themselves busy by inventing different water games outside, I think they played with the water hose for about 3 hours. They both LOVE the water and they take every opportunity to play in the water they can. I spent the day going through boxes that had been in the attic (before that attic space became a room), which are now on the floor of the garage.

Keeping cool.........

Our Weekend - Family, Dogs and Webkins

Our Saturday was full again with Bill's parents coming to visit, which we always welcome. Allison always has a list of stuff for Linda to do. Allison does a wonderful job of making sure her grandmother is busy the entire time she is here.....so much to do, so little time. Allison's latest idea was to play store. She set her room up to be a department store, dividing everything they wanted to pretend to sell. She had all of Alex's and her Webkins in the middle of the room, doll blankets with pillows on the bed and all her bracelets on the dresser. Webkins need blankets and a "necklace" aka: a bracelet. I forgot to mention, her desk was set up as the cashier.

Allison and Linda are making price signs.

Alex and Allison posing by all the their Webkins....they are pretend selling.

Linda getting to take a break, so Alex took advantage of this situation, showing off his toy car.

While Allison was setting up the "store" Alex played in his room building with Magnetics. He built his latest and greatest rocket.

Our Furry Family

While the kids played store the dogs kept sneaking upstairs to sneak a peek. Lucy is the worst, she hates to be alone, she wants to be with someone all the time. Snoopy just loves to follow Lucy and if Lucy goes upstairs, Snoopy goes upstairs, heads right for the kids playroom and gets on the big brown chair. She used to lay on the top of this chair when it was downstairs (before we did the renovation). I think she's mad because I moved it upstairs and with the new carpet upstairs the dogs are only allowed upstairs with Bill or myself.Snoopy looks so sad, doesn't she?

Didn't want to leave Shelby out, her hair is still growing back but looking good for a 10 1/2 year old.

Art Camp - July 28th - Aug. 1st

Allison just finished Art Camp this past week. She is really developing as an artist. The art camp was held at Benjamin Knox's Art Gallery. He is a local Aggie artist who started his career drawing A&M memorabilia, now he draws a multitude of other things. Check out his website: www.benjaminknox.com. Allison learned about different media, how to use tube watercolors, color pencils, and many more art related things. Anyways, she loved it.

Some of Allison's art is displayed here starting next to her head going across (the #9 and so on).

All of Allison's Artwork

One day after camp, Benjamin Knox came into the art room to visit with the students, he sat down and drew each child a personalized picture and autograph it. What a special surprise!