Saturday, July 12, 2014

We love summer!

Our summer is turning into a great one! 

Last night we let the kids stay up late. We roasted marshmallows in our firepit then walked over to the tennis court to let Macy and our neighbor Parker ride their bikes. Ja rode his skateboard. Ja threw tennis balls all over the court and the kids rode their bikes around picking them up. It was the perfect idea. Parker took a break once and Macy rode by saying, "I don't need a break. I have so much energy!" Then we put cones out in the street in front of our house and let the kids ride around. Two more neighbor kids joined in. One wants to learn how to skateboard so Ja gave him a lesson. Ja had the smart idea to use toliet paper to make a finish line for the kids to ride through. That helped get the kids to stop (after riding through it at least 3 times each). That was the perfect summer night activity. And it's 8:35 am the next morning and both girls are still asleep which is great!

Macy requests to go swimming everyday. We go almost everyday since it's right outside our backyard. It's like having our own pool without the responsibility of taking care of a pool. Because we go so often Macy is turning into my little fish. She loves to swim underwater now. Even Anna is progressing in the water. She loves to copy her big sister and plug her nose before putting her face in the water. 

Last week Macy attended a summer day camp at her new preschool. They learned about a new country each day and did crafts and made food. Macy loved it. When I told her she had 5 days of camp her eyes grew big and she was so excited. Everyday she would tell me how many more day camps she had. It went from 9-1 Monday through Friday. It was nice to have her entertained in the morning because she would come home exhausted. She slept well last week!

Anna is saying more and more words. She copies a lot of what we say. Just yesterday she told me she was thirsty. I couldn't quite make it out but when she reached for her water I realized what she said. In the pool yesterday Ja was taking her around and she told him to go "this way." That is new. 

She also loves to draw. She will walk around the house with a paper and a pen taking notes. She will do this for a long time too. It's very cute to watch. A couple Saturdays ago she went through 3 pieces of paper. She has started to color on things other than paper so I have to watch her. I have remind her that we only draw on paper. Yesterday she accidentally wrote on the table. She looked up at me and pointed to her paper and said, "paper, paper." She knows to only write on paper now :)

We made ice cream and I thought it was adorable how the girls sat and watched it churn. It only lasted a minute but they were excited. Macy wanted party ice cream so we added sprinkles to it. 


A family in our ward took us out in their boat on mountain island lake. I had expressed interest and they gave us the invitation so I jumped on the offer. We only got out on the water for a few minutes when it looked like a storm was coming so we went back to their house to eat our sack dinner. The storm ended up being nothing so we went back out. The girls both loved being in the boat. Macy even went tubing! At one point her legs were flying up in the air and I thought she would fall out but her strong little hand kept holding on. As soon as she got out she requested to go again. I was so proud of her bravery!

Anna started saying boat on this trip. I hope we can go again!

The girls and I made muffins to take on the boat. I thought my muffin buddies were so cute. They loved licking the spatula. 

 
It's so great having a big kitchen so both girls can help and we still have counter space to make the muffins!

Our friends, the Anderson's, came over to swim and eat dinner on a Monday night. The sister missionaries in their ward put together a Facebook group for FHE. They posted video clips for the songs and ones we watced for a lesson. We then talked about the videos. The kids loved it. They say very still on the couch and listened and watched the whole thing. I thought it was great because the work of finding coordinating songs and videos was done for us. The kids love watching things on the computer anyways. 


Macy has been taking swim lessons at Little Otter swim school. Anna wants to be like Macy and wear her bathing suit even though she can't get in the water. She is a very patient observer. 

Our next big adventure is going to California for 3 weeks! We are loving our summer!!