Puppy Love

Eva is giving Lelly some lovin'. Sometimes she nearly loves Lelly "to death". We are off to the pool today with some friends. We never left the house yesterday... a nice lazy day for the 102+ weather. Summer is flying by too quickly. I seem to want to put off El being a 5th grader as long as possible! How can my baby be in 5th grade? Oy!

Now I know what was different about the sleepover...

Todd, Eva, and I went out to dinner last night. When we came home it was time for bed. So Eva and I got on our jammies, brushed our teeth, read stories, tickled each other, listened to music, and went to sleep. Then at about 3:15 am she wakes and says she is hungry and that her belly is rumbling. Usually I give her a drink and back to sleep. However, her belly really was rumbling, loudly! So we went down stairs and grabbed some crackers and milk. By the time we were back up we were pretty awake. So I grabbed her DVD player and she watched "Ice Princess" while munching her crackers. So then I decided to get El's DVD player (with headphones) and watch Twilight again. There we were, middle of the night, snacking and watching movies. This really was a sleepover! With full belly and entertained mind she drifted off to sleep, as did I.

She really missed El and asked several times when she would be back and exactly why did she go.

Sleepover

El has left the building. She has gone to a Christmas in July event at Cafe' Monet (pottery painting) with her friend Catie and then they are sleeping over and going to church in the morning. Eva and I are having a sleepover tonight. Eva (aka Marissa) is very excited about this. I am not sure how this is different than any other night... oh well, whatever keeps her happy. Not much to report today. Ciao.

Choo-Choo

Eva and I set up the train track today. She has really enjoyed setting up the towns and trees around the track. She spends most of her time rearranging the set up than sending the train around the track.

The house

Here are some of the latest advances. The floor is being sealed today. The interior doors are still not here and are holding up the process! The stone walls are in the foyer. This view is from the living room. The garage doors are up but have not been stained yet. Spending lots of time on details!!!

Too Too Sweet Elyse

We just came home about a half an hour ago. El and Eva are playing school, Eva is the teacher right now. Pretty cute! El's assignment is to write a poem. She wrote it to me. Here it is.

Makes kindness and love engulf the air

Only she can comfort me in my greatest despair

Makes ominous thoughts be repelled in her presence

Mine she will always be, even in different places and meeting different faces

Young or old, in life or death, her love is eternal even in the deepest depth

I am blessed.

Spa Day

I was not feeling well last Friday. I had a really bad headache. My kind girls decided that they would treat me to a back massage at the Runkle House Spa and Resort. They created a blissful atmosphere in my bedroom with low lighting, flowers, music, etc... The girls dressed as spa staff in white shirts and dark bottoms. They then gave me a back and foot massage for about an hour. (El did the majority of this) This having kids thing is really paying off!

clicker, clicker, where?

Eva asked to have "her" show on the TV this morning. I turned the three units on that are needed to watch TV and then looked for the clicker. And continued to look for the clicker. Darn it Todd, where did you leave the clicker? Eva became increasingly frustrated that her show was not on yet. I explained that I needed the clicker to change the channel. She said, "Oh". She walked over to a cabinet in the kitchen, opened the drawer, pulled out a wine gift bag, opened it and pulled out the clicker. I nearly burst with laughter. All I could think of was the words Todd must have used last night when he wanted to change the channel!

click, click, nothing

That is what I heard yesterday when I turned the key my ignition. Time for a new battery. This will be the second battery in CherryBomb's ten years. Not too bad. We were on our way to meet some friends at the Lazy River. We called and they happened to be close by; so we rode to the river with them. We had a great time!

So today, first on the list of things to do is buy a new battery. Then stuff for the house...

Tomorrow is another day at the pool with more friends. We are about 102 degrees every day so the cool off feels good!

Home Sweet Home

This was shot from the back door.
Front of house (left side).
Living dining kitchen flooring
Driveway and garage.

Well, the house is coming along.  I have been dealing with one issue after another.  I will be heading out there shortly to deal with a stone and a driveway issue.  One day, hopefully in mid-September it will all be worth it!  

Anti-climatic reunion and honkers

Well... Eva did arrive for fireworks on the Fourth of July.  Only it was not quite as I had envisioned it to be.  I thought my sweet three year old daughter would be Eva and I would be able to grab her and hold her and say, "Eva, I love you!".  As I said, she did attend, but as an invisible friend of Sleeping Beauty!  So I still wait for my sweet Eva to return to me.  I do get to hug and play with Fairy Elena for today.  

Todd and I went out to dinner and had our babysitter Casey and her boyfriend Walter watch the girls.  They took the girls out to dinner and a movie.  They next day El informed me that while at dinner Eva was telling her knock-knock jokes for Casey, Walter, and the waiter.  There was a lull in the conversation so Eva decided to add, "I think my mom has big honkers!".  That statement certainly received more laughter than the jokes!  So glad I was not at that table.  Disclaimer:  I never refer to any of my body parts as honkers.  This type of reference could only come from one source.  I will be strongly suggesting that my husband watch his language around Eva!  

Eva is coming!!!

This is the evening we have all been waiting for... we are told by Fairy Elena/Thumbelina/Sleeping Beauty that EVA is going to visit us tonight during the fireworks!  We are excited to see her and call her by her name:)  I will let you know how it all turns out.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Twilight

We are full into the Twilight obsession in our household.  I have read all of the books and El is about half way through the third book (which will be her last).  The fourth book is not at all appropriate for her age.  I am going to tell her the story instead.  Today we will ichat with Katie and Lolo to discuss our special powers.  We have each made a list of what we feel each others special power would be if we were vampires.  We are going to share these with each other and maybe decide on one.  El and I have to be careful when we talk about the books.  Eva has been picking up on discussions.  We try not to use words like vampire, blood, kill, etc...  El has been dressing some of the barbies and styling them to be the characters of the book.  She then makes scenes from the story.  They turn out really cool.  I will blog about them when we download the pictures.  Here is a picture of Katie, Lolo, El and Eva from their last visit to Austin (too long ago!).

Expressions

It is interesting as children grow to hear what they have to say.  What you soon realize is that you often hear an awful lot of what you sound like!  I use the word actually, a lot.  I came to this discovery as El grew.  Eva and I were playing the other day.  We were chasing  and hiding and that sort of stuff.  I was able to evade her and then double back to surprise her.  As I rounded the corner she jumped, screeched and giggled, "Mom!  You scared me out of the daylights!"  So apparently, I use the phrase, you scared the daylights out of me, quite a bit.   

This picture is of Eva waiting for a butterfly to land on her at the Butterfly Museum.

My Heart Sings

I always know I am one of the luckiest moms in the world.  Yesterday was just more proof of that feeling.  Todd called and said he would be home late.  El asked if she could make pancakes for us for dinner.  Who am I to pass up a meal that I do not have to cook?  As soon as she started her little sis wanted to join her.  I thought, "Oh boy, I am going to need to distract Eva for a while."  Much to my sweet surprise El said, "Sure, here let me get your chair".  So there were my lovely girls working together to make dinner.  El guiding Eva with the patience of a grandmother.  I have to admit I was a bit choked up.  We have always had a lot of sister love in this house but this moment just warmed my heart so.  

The Butterfly Museum

We left Houston Wednesday after a stop at the Butterfly Museum.  Eva had never been.  The top picture is of a plant I found very interesting as it looked more like a bug than a bud!  The next shot is a butterfly I was trying to transfer to Eva's finger... it was only mildly successful.  The butterflies seem to like me, but El was getting frustrated.  She was not able to get any to land on her finger.  Her strategy was to rub her hands up and down my  arms to get my scent. The strangest part is that is seemed to work!  After that she held three or so.  We ended up staying there for 2 1/2 hours much to our surprise.  It seemed like much less time.  

If you are wondering why I am blogging about days ago it is because NOTHING is happening in my life because I am engrossed in the Twilight series.  I just finished the third book and will be starting the fourth in the morning.  Then I hope to get a life!  Don't worry, I am remembering to feed the kids.  Eva will keep me in line!  El and I could quite possibly wither to nothing with books in our hands.

Dinner with Rex and Jim

Tuesday evening we had plans with our favorite guys!  We went to Carraba's and... yum.  We later headed back to their house as Rex had made a CHEESECAKE... double yum!  It was just a regular night out in Houston.  Miss it.  I did realize, for the first time, I had to think about where I was driving.  That was strange.  

Babyville

We met with  Paola and her sweet girls GiGi and GuGu (Joo-Joo).  OK, only El and I call them by those nicknames:)  They are Gisella and Guiliana.  Paola has these twins who turned one in February and is 7 months pregnant!   I'm tired just thinking about it.  She, on the other hand, seems completely cool and collected.  These pictures are of the kids enjoying the toys and snacks.  El thankfully was right by GuGu when she started to get out of a chair and fell forward.  El managed to catch her with about a centimeter between her head and the floor.  It was so nice to get to spend some time with them.  I now know them apart!  

Houston Happenings

We arrived in Houston on Monday at 1:00pm.  It took exactly 3 hours from my driveway to the Mission Burrito parking lot.  MB being our first stop.  Mary, Chloe, and Alex met us for lunch and then we went back to their house for play time.  Later, Laura and sweet Bella came to visit.  We had a home cooked meal at Mary's and then we all fell into bed exhausted!

Vocal Performances

The evening before we left for Houston, Todd and I were given an impromptu concert.  El and Eva sang songs in full costume!  It was quite a treat.  El sang, Put Your Records On, Eva sang her own creation of a Barbie story.  They did a duet of Bubbly.