from the frying pan to the fire

and i mean that in two ways. first of all, i came back from boston on monday, where i thought it had been warm, and exited the airport here in texas. oh mymymy. it is hot in texas. 95 or over every day this week. so yes, i met my sisters in boston for a last minute getaway. something we've talked about doing and haven't in about 5 yrs. emerson came, but she wasn't much of a distraction. we had a good time, but i dont' have any pictures yet. except the above: do you see how light i can travel now, when i'm by myself? 3 nights, in that one little bag. except i ended up having to spend one in atlanta. oh, airtran!


when i came home patrick had the whole house cleaned and grilled steak salad made for dinner, which i absolutely love. i was a little disappointed how well they did without me! and i didn't realize how much i missed hannah until i saw her in the airport. i wont' do that again for a long time! i was especially appreciative of his preparations because the very next morning i started my regular summer schedule of extra kiddos. it's a good thing i didn't think i was that busy with my last posts activities, because things definitely kicked up a notch!




this is Gavin, Hannah's new best friend! I have been so pleasantly surprised at how well it's going. We enjoy having him around, he makes our lives more interesting. Not only is he new, but he's a boy, and he's 3! They play so well together. Of course they have their toddler moments, but they seem to restore unity after these altercations significantly faster than adults (or at least I) would! We go to storytime at the library together, and i've just started going to a playgroup at the park for new/young homeschooling families. I've met alot of new people, and even though we're not quite there yet officially, i can still learn alot from people who are ahead of me.




bunnies are about as prolific as squirrels in this neck of the woods, so it wasn't a big surprise when patrick found a bunny nest in our yard. natural selection apparently starts early, because we've already had to dispose of a couple. hopefully some will make it. Hannah loves going out to check on them.


We do love going to the huge play pool at the gym, but sometimes we can only make it to the backyard. we still have fun though!

She's such a big girl now, she can put on her own shoes (R). she also is working on riding her trike, but she can only go backwards.

when Gavin's not here, we have 2 or 3 more friends! Brooke and Brody, and sometimes big brother Blake, come play and Hannah loves the company. She learns so much from older kids. Here they were watching a puppet show. That lasted about 2.5 min!

rehydrating at the pool. She can drink from a regular cup now.

not sure what these faces were about.

i have been looking for a kids table for quite awhile, and we finally got one. patrick actually picked out this noahs' ark set, and hannah loves it. all day long she kept saying "daddy got me my table?"

hannah had her first tea party with water this week, due to the influence of an older friend? peer pressure to drink starts early! :-) you can see her pouring water in the first one, then the puddle on her pants in the second. oh well. she had so much fun!

It has been a crazy busy week, but in a way i'm grateful because i've spent alot more time really playing and interacting with Hannah than I normallly would, because they take my full attention. having patrick here is soooooooooo wonderful. hannah and i are both getting spoiled; i know he's here if i need to run to the grocery store during their naps, and she can run in to his office and get a daddy kiss almost whenever she wants. i dont' know how long it will last, but i, for one, love having him here. even just to talk to an adult sometimes!

i took hannah to her first birthday party today, a friend from church. I didnt' document it because i was a pool party and i have to stay 2 steps away from her all the time, because she does tend to go under. but it was really fun. we then had a barbeque with our SS class this afternoon, which was also fun, aside from the heat. everybody was in little clusters wherever there was shade, but we were still melting into puddles. there are so many kids, it's a regular baby factory! lots of food, and more swimming. again, not documented. sorry!

next week is vbs every day, so i wont' have any kids. we have a midwife checkup, so i'll let you know how charlie's doing. next weekend my dad is coming, so we are very excited about that! and hopefully i'll have pictures from boston soon. patrick is almost done with his next airplane model, which he's going to display with the first. he has been keeping really busy at the gym, working hard there. we have alot of stuff for charlie's room for our farm theme, that i'll show you soon. thanks for checking in!