The heat is even affecting my blogging

I know this is Texas... but really? Does it have to be this hot?  And for this long?
Seriously.  Doesn't Mother Nature see the school supplies on the store shelves?  And the Fall linens and decorations?  And all the cute Fall boots and sweaters, and scarves, and boots, and jackets, and boots for sale?  And for the love of Jiminey Cricket... has she ever heard of a CALENDAR? 

As for Summer here, two inches from the sun in Leander, we had a blast.

We swam

We went to Grita's house

We swam

We went to Disney

 

Well, some of us went to Disney. Others of us never left the great state of Texas.

We swam
















We played with our best peeps

Tequila has always been one of my best peeps

 

I love minis and minis clearly love me!

We swam

We went to Pinkalicious

Some of us liked the ice cream part of the day best of all



We swam
















We went to events with our children that we probably should have hired a sitter for

We swam

We dreamed of going to Playa del Carmen and coming home withOUT our heads lopped off

We swam (at home and not in the beautiful Caribbean sea)

We bid Haylie farewell and dropped her off at UT
We swam

We had a great time!
And we had a great time swimming!

Now we are on to other things.
Blogging
Swimming
Starting Pre-K
Swimming
Wearing uniforms
Swimming
Going tinkle in the potty
Swimming
Talking in sentences
Swimming
Planning someone's #2 birthday (how did that happen so quickly?)
Swimming
Waiting on football season
Swimming
Waiting on some cooler weather
Swimming
Praying for rain
And of course, swimming

We are still having a great time.  Albeit a sweaty great time.
Life is good here two inches from the sun.

Not a children's book

 This is such a cute book.

We did not feel cute yesterday as helicopters flew over our neighborhood trying to put out the 60 acre fire that was creeping towards our house.



All the homes in our neighborhood were evacuated for a brief period as the fire was not easily accessible to fire trucks (what a snarky thing for a fire to do)... and the wind was picking up.

In the end the awesome fire fighters and pilots controlled the fire and we did not burn to a crisp.  Although the neighborhood does smell like we were all doing some serious BBQ-ing through the night.

Interestingly enough, we have plans on what to do in all sorts of emergencies when we are AT home but not a plan for if our home IS the emergency.  As I rushed home (warp speed = 10 mph on Mopac) I was making a mental list of what I needed to get out of the house.  All I could come up with was:

1.

2. Pictures (already boxed and ready to go)

3. Computer tower

4. Sandy's wedding dress (right beside the pictures)

I figured the rest could be replaced.  Campbell and Stratty were at school, so was the Stinky Old Green Lovie (otherwise that would have been the first material item on the grab and go list). Alan was at work.

And, I had on a really cute pair of shoes that go with practically everything... I kid. I kid. Sort of.

Anyway, we were lucky and are very grateful to all the Public Safety workers that put themselves in harms way to keep the fire at bay.  Campbell and I are planning to bake something for the fire fighters in our area. 

Now, go check your smoke detectors, put a fire extinguisher in your kitchen and by your outdoor grill, and shame every smoker you know into quitting or at least keeping their ashes and butts in the car!

Love you all and thanks for checking in on us yesterday!

Karma

Stratty has found his voice.  Now if we could find an interpreter to tell us what exactly he is saying. And saying. And saying. And saying!!!  This kid is a talker.  Hmmmm, I wonder where he gets that? 

Oh, did I mention that he is a bit of a ladies' man?

 

Do these skates make me look 4?

As we are winding up April, we are also winding up a month-long celebration of Campbell's 4th birthday! 

We partied at Grita's (...With an non-birthday cake, as her father did not come along and did not want to be left out of any birthday celebrations.  It took some quick thinking and outstanding penmanship, but the crisis was averted!)

She and all her school peeps got their princess on at Reagan's party. 

Then, we hosted our own Princess party where all her best peeps were transformed into beautiful princesses, yet again.  This time, her princess of choice was...

Yes, Belle!  CampBELLE. And she was the bell of the ball. 

In all honesty, Grita asked her which princess party was more fun, hers or Reagan's? Well, Diva does not care for being the center of attention... guess whose party got top ranking? Um hmm. Oh well.  I think she is sweet divalicious perfection and as you can see she looked the part.

(And side bar, I haven't got my party grade from Hooty, yet. She must be waiting on the thank you note before she issues a grade.  If I don't get on the ball, I might get and Incomplete.)

Our final stop on the birthday tour this year was the Easter picnic. She and Opal had a ball- Campbell being a country mouse for a day and Opal showing her the expert techniques of how to be a country mouse.  One thing is for sure, these two mice love each other.

Happy Birthday, Campbell! I love you!



#2 for #2

Here is a little snapshot of Prince Charming's daily log from yesterday

Shut up!  (Sorry we are not allowed to say shut up) What?? Are you kidding me?!! 

Don't you just love it that the teacher felt it necessary to describe it, too?  Hilarious! When I inquired about his reaction, she said there was none.  Complete stoneface.  Like, 'What's the big deal?'

So before Alan put him in the tub last night he sat him on the potty just to see what would happen....

Shut up! (Sorry, it's hard to break that habit) Yep!  The Bean actually tinkled in/on the potty!

Which instantly brought me back to this  memory...

... especially since he was sitting on the very same princess potty!

Oh well, just one more topic he can discuss with his therapist one day.  In the mean time, we are celebrating this little victory and crossing our fingers that it wasn't a total fluke!

Mrs. Nesbit

Here's a rare pic of the two Campbells together at school.  One is a Diva and one is a Sporty Spice... care to guess which is which?

Yes, I was the only Mom wearing a bonnet...

Alan was mortified. 

Campbell was delighted. 

And, Prince Charming couldn't have given a hoot less.

Almost-4 year old math

I suppose one must be specific when asking an almost-four year old to, "put one of these in the dryer."  In her defense, I did hand the whole box to her...

Guess how many.  Let me tell you... 29.

Yes, 29 dryer sheets in one load of kids laundry.  One load of extremely lavender scented and grounded kids laundry.  No static electricity within a mile of these princess panties.

Campbell heard me laughing as I took the box, yes the entire cardboard box, out of the dryer. "Mommy, why are you laughing?"

"Because this is funny!  Did you mean to put the whole box in the dryer?"

"Oh yes! It smelled so good I thought we should use one whole box."

As they say, the devil is in the details. Or, is it the Diva is in the details?  Either way, she just cracks me up.



Bridezilla

Last night as I tucked Campbell into bed, I kissed her and said, "Have sweet dreams, baby."

"Mommy, if you want, tonight you can dream about me getting married."

"I can?" I asked.

"Oh sure...but not with that fing on my head.  You know I don't like that fing.  It looks itchy.  And Baby Brudder will be up there with me, too."

"He will?  This sounds exciting!  I would love to think about you getting married."

"Mommy, I said dream- not fink!"

"Ohhhh.  Ok, I'll just dream about it, then.  Who do you think you might be marrying?  Got any ideas?  Maybe Thaelon (boy from school) or Braden (another boy who has had a longstanding crush on the Diva)??

"Mommmmmy.  I already told you.  Stratty is going to be up there with me.  That means I am going to marry him."

"Hmmm.  Well you will be a lovely bride!"

"Mommy, don't call me that."

"What?"

"Bride."

"Why?"

"E-cuz, I don't like that wuhrd.  It sounds like a tacky pants."

"Ok. Good night, Your Majesty!"  And with that she closed her eyes and snuggled up with her stinky old green lovey.  I swear I am going to wrap that thing around her bouquet when she does walk down the aisle.

This picture was taken before she could verbalize her distaste for the veil