July 2020

We are still mostly hanging out at home to try and stay safe.  We live right on the edge of Allen and Plano and we got lucky that both cities put on a 4th of July fireworks display on different nights.  We had fun watching in the parking lot for the back of Nathan's truck. 

We have always been thankful that my parents have a pool, but ESPECIALLY this summer when we are trying to spend most of out time outside!  The girls are little fishies and just love being in the water.  My mom got some great photos with her underwater camera.

Our church has been doing a hymn sing on the first Sunday night of each month and live streamming it.  Last month they invited the choir and orchestra to attend in person.  We enjoyed singing all those great songs!

This was our 3rd annual Christmas in July.  My mom has gotten really into cookie decorated and has made them for several holidays this year.  That also means she's learned a lot of great new techniques.  She gave us some pointers and I was really pleased to see how much better the girl's (and my) cookies turned out this time.

July 2017

All of our summer church activities are over so now we have more time to relax.  We had a wonderful time celebrating the 4th of July.  We stated off by heading to the Plano Lions Parade.  It's really small and kind of cheesy, but my girls love it.  And we can arrive 10 mins before it starts and leave without fighting traffic...so it's a WIN!

Then we headed to my mom's house to hang out, play, and swim.  My mom bought these super cute wings at Dollar Tree.  The girls love anything dress up related so they were excited.  The cute outfits were from my sister. We had lots of great family time together and ate yummy food.  And we got some adorable pictures too!

Then we headed home to change into jammies and watch a family movie, Madagascar 2.  The city fireworks didn't start until 9:30 so it was the perfect activity while we waited.  There is a church at the edge of our neighborhood that is kind of up on a hill.  You can see almost all the the fireworks from their parking lot.  So we sat it the back of Nathan's truck and enjoyed, but didn't have to fight any crowds when the show was over.  Perfect!

We also did swim lessons this month.  Both girls took a class through the city of Plano and then Hannah did a few extra lesson with a former piano student of Grammy's.  I am super impressed by the progress both girls made this summer.  Although it still makes me a little nervous I feel like Hannah swims well enough to not use or puddle jumper anymore at least in the shallow end.  Hopefully the two videos I included will work.  =)

We were also able to have a few friends over to play.  Hannah's best friend from Kindergarten moved to Euless last summer but the girls have stayed in touch by writing letters...and we've actually seen each other in person a few times too.  We also had Hannah's precious Kindergarten teacher and her two kiddos over to play as well.  We LOVE Mrs Beckham and were heartbroken when she got moved to another PISD school  Thankful we've been able to stay in touch via Facebook.

July 2016

Lots of family fun on the 4th of July.  We started off at the Plano Lions Club Parade.  It's short and cheesy, but the girls think it's fun.  This was our third year so now it's a tradition.  Then we headed to Grammy's house where we made fireworks pictures (thank you Pinterest), went swimming, played, and ate dinner.

Last year I had Nathan scout out locations close to our house that we could watch the city of Plano fireworks....without having to go to the actual event and get stuck in traffic.  Luckily the church at the edge of our neighborhood has a decent vantage point and a large parking lot.  So we let the girls stay up late to watch this year. We watched a movie while we waited until it was time to go.  We all enjoyed the fireworks show, we could see about 90%...not bad.  And some storms rolled through that morning that cooled things off so it was actually kind of pleasant outside.

Hannah also lost her 3rd tooth at dinner that night (4th of July). We were eating and she said "Mommy there is something in my food I don't want to eat."  Then looked and realized it was a tooth.  Still not used to the snaggle tooth smile, but LOVE this picture Grammy took.

A few swimming pictures finally!  =)

Other fun activities this month include playing at the splash park, play dates with friends, and playing Pokemon Go with Daddy.  Yes we jumped in on the mania.  Daddy has been playing the nerd precursor version of the game (called Ingress) for almost 4 years.  Pokemon is more kid friendly and Daddy's previous knowledge helps us find Poke Stops.

Splash Park Fun

Play date w/ my college roommate and her kiddos visiting from San Antonio.  This is the 4th summer we've gotten together.  So fun!

Looking for Pokemon on Daddy's phone

Hannah started piano lessons at the end of last month, totally forgot to write about that last time.  There was MUCH debate as to whether Grammy would be her teacher.  In the end we decided to try it for a year and if it was awful then we'd look for a new teacher next summer.  So far it's going really well.  Hannah was totally ready to start, she does great in her lessons, and we've only have a few arguments about practice. LOL!  Here's a picture of her very first lessons.

Grammy bought a toy (but playable) pink guitar online a LONG time ago.  She envisioned it being a really cute photography prop.  It's hard to tune so we put in a closet and kind of forgot about it.  Hannah asks me about it from time to time, but never while we are at Grammy's house.  She finally remembered one day and she happily agreed to be the subject of Grammy's photos.  We got several cute ones, but I'm only sharing one here.  Love how she looks like a little hippie folk singer in her peasant top.  =)