Water Fun in the Sun

 Claire

This was the last week of eating at the park with free lunches and they had a very special Tuesday with toys from the children's museum and the library who helped the girls make rockets they loved. There were a lot of other kids there that day but the other days weren't very busy and now we won't need to go in the middle of the hot day anymore. I think they are going to miss it but her school will be starting soon so hopefully they are happy enough with a change of pace. We have a meeting with Claire's new school this Monday and then she is headed for 1st grade! Hopefully, she hasn't fallen too far behind this summer because we had vacations that distracted me a little too much. She loves to dress up her hair these days and they both wear more dresses recently. 

Shay

When they aren't wearing dresses they pick skirts that we have and always dress like cute little girls. We went to a park a town over and found a fountain that I let them play in even though they got their outfits soaked. It was a fun kid moment and I'm glad they love the water so much because the next day they did the same thing but I didn't get a picture because I was at a job interview. After we got home and they changed into clean clothes we had some cuddle time later in the day when I found out I didn't get the job. I think Shay is great at catching me when my emotions are rolling out of my eyes and she will ask me about it and often give me a hug. I love her sweet soul and her excitement for certain things like going to her class in church. I was hoping to get her into a preschool this next year but I'm not sure if it's going to happen, it depends if I decide if I'm going to be a substitute or start a daycare. I'm now discouraged about finding a job so I might try the daycare idea again so we will see...I love being at home with my children so it would be better than leaving.

Making It Through Summer

Claire

It has been a typical summer week just playing, making the girls do homework, going to the park, and being at home trying to find things to do. I can feel the need to get to something important now that life has calmed down from moving and vacations. First, we have to celebrate some birthdays next month and then school can make life too busy for a while. I've been thinking about Claire's 6th birthday and she constantly asks how much longer and asks for certain types of gifts and things at her party. We saw bouncy houses at the park this week for some reason and she of course asked for one for her birthday party. Then the next day she changed her mind and wants a mermaid birthday party so I've been looking at a place to have a pool birthday party. Super fun. I hope I can make it a good day for her, but she is at the age that I think no matter what I do she will have a good day because it is special. She made a special friend at the park and they conspired to have the moms exchange numbers so they could have a play date soon. Then they invited us to the Riverwalk in town and even though we all had flip-flops and dresses we went and had a good time. 

Shay

I think it is interesting to observe the differences between my two girls already and even though everyone thinks they are twins, they are really so opposite. They have selected their favorite types of toys, but I don't know how much of that is because they wanted something unique. They have different temperaments and enjoy different things when they aren't together doing the same thing. For the most part, Shay joins her sister in a lot of things, but her personality is growing and I think she will bloom this next coming year because I hope to find a good preschool for her to be in. I know she can make friends at the park and listens but her speech ability is still struggling and sometimes I can't even understand her! I know I thought about it, but I'm glad I'm not doing home school because I haven't had much success with teaching them enough to make me feel accomplished. I am meant to teach middle school and hopefully, now that we are settled in this area I can find where my career is going to be.

We had visitors!

 Claire

We had a great week being able to get new beds for the girls from some people around here and then hosting some family. She has a tooth that has been loose for at least 3 weeks that we know should come out soon because the adult tooth just popped through this week. There was also a big issue with her earring just yesterday that the back got pulled through into the skin and we had to get it back out which wasn't fun and now we have to baby it a little. She said it happened when she put her shirt on and it got caught so I'll be better at not having them wear earrings 24/7. Claire's coloring and artistic skills seem to be growing more than I expected because we don't color every day or anything. She used chalk and made a mermaid on our back porch and I was surprised at how good it looks compared to what she used to draw. She still doesn't think she is good at drawing when she wants me to draw it, but I keep telling her to try. 

Shay

I was trying to get both beds the same day but one fell through so Shay had to wait a night to have her bed and wasn't very happy about it. Luckily she seems to be getting more mature and understanding even though compared to Claire she is more emotional sometimes. She does love her new bed though so one night of being upset wasn't too bad and now they have a decorated room and beds instead of just a mattress on the floor! She is mostly the one who encourages elaborate games because she likes to dress up as her characters and create games for us all to play with her. Claire will often join in her own way, but Shay seems to be the one to start it while Claire always asks to watch a show or something instead. She loves to color as well and she is getting better at writing as we are practicing homework every day before they get screen time. I'm surprised she wasn't more possessive over toys with her cousins over, but she was very willing to share! The boys were playing with us for 3 straight days while their parents were at the market they came for and there were only 2-3 times they had small issues of sharing!

Summer Reunion

Girls

So far we fill our days with making the girls do some homework and learning in the morning before we go to lunch at the park. After getting home they play a lot of goofy games and join me in puzzling when I get my own puzzle out, or we play in the backyard with our pool and water. It feels like summer but I hope I get to be back into a classroom when the next school year starts, even if I am only a substitute again. I want to give Shay the experience she wants and start her in pre-school, and Claire's school has an open enrollment day for new students at the end of the month so she will be ready to go! We pass the school every time we go to the library so Claire gets excited and Shay asks if it is hers too so I know she is excited for school because of her sister. The library gave them some free stuff for reading over the summer and they have a big pull-string bag, some pins, tickets to a rodeo, and a free book they get to keep. We all have really liked this library so far!

July 4th

Since we had our friends over last Sunday, our 4th was pretty boring but we did get a used grill and used it to make some shrimp kabobs for our mini celebration. We also let the girls stay up to watch the fireworks from our backyard and Chris and I caught the finale of the show that was half a mile away while we were brushing our teeth. I am not used to staying up late anymore and it made it hard to get up in the morning even though we still went to bed by 11pm! I feel like an old couple that goes to bed super early when it is still light outside, but some days are really long during the summertime. The fireworks are cool to look at but the girls would get really bored waiting for a new one to go up so they missed a lot of them. We have pretty close to patriotic colors from our family pictures when we were in Alabama so I'm including them here because we got them back this past week and need to share them!

Reunion

Chris, as the boss, was able to figure out the schedule so we could leave earlier than expected on Friday and make it to a reunion across the state before bedtime. Of course 'bedtime' was 3 hours later than usual because the girls were playing with cousins, watching a movie, and being excited! I was extra exhausted and I still feel like I am still recovering because Chris and I got up early to run a 5K race the next morning. I beat my previous time and we both won small things from the raffle give away so it was a good race and we are now more than halfway done with the races. Only two more in this series and then I need to find races closer to where I live so I don't have to travel so far. While we were at the race the girls played a lot with their cousins and when we got back there were plenty of crafts and fun things to do before lunch and leaving to come back home.

Fun in the Sun

 Claire

Now that we are home my formula might go back to normal and start to be boring again. Claire was doing something kinda funny because she found the little scrapbook that her kindergarten teacher made for her and started fake crying and saying she misses all her friends and her teacher. She then remembered her first teacher from before we moved to Farmington and was sad with her fake cry for a good 5 minutes. I know she feels sad and she knows I cry when I'm sad so I think she was trying to make herself cry because she felt sad but it was so fake. I found their old bubble lawn mower and Claire came out to help me, but I had to take a break because mine is on a battery and this was the first time mowing this sod and some of it had gotten too long. She parked hers next to mine during the break and it was kinda cute when I came back out to see it.

Shay

The girls both seem to be still able to play together in the house with all the toys and come up with things to do at home, but they like to ask to watch a show when they eat. I'm glad for lunch we escape the house and go to the park for their lunch or they would ask at lunchtime too! I keep it for later in the day and they usually have plenty to do with the new pool I bought them and the nice backyard we now have! Shay is the one that will come up with the idea to go to the store or DI, and also want to go to the Wolf Lodge, Lagoon, and The Dinosaur Park. She definitely needs to get into school soon because she needs adventure in the great wide world! I'm thinking about a preschool this coming year if she gets really jealous after Claire's school orientation. She hasn't yet learned that we can't go into just anyone's house and when we met the neighbor she was very mad at me for keeping her outside and talking before we gave the banana bread to them and said goodbye. They seem friendly but their kids are at least a few years older than the girls and the next day their youngest, the daughter we met with a kitten, left a note for the girls with pictures on the porch which was sweet. 

Guests!

We hosted some friends for the first time in our new home! We have had a few visitors like an old friend and the RS presidency but we had dinner with some friends that we usually crash their house. It was nice to be able to host them for once and had a small bag of fireworks they brought to set off as well as the kids playing in the little pool in the backyard. The girls loved the fireworks and wanted more after they were all gone so maybe I'll look into getting more in the future celebrations. They act a little differently when people are around so they were a little more crazy than usual and didn't eat a lot of dinner until the dessert came out and they couldn't have any until they had eaten their dinner. I would like to teach them how to act when I am talking to another adult because they are very bad at interrupting