"Funders"

We are experiencing quite a lightening/thunder storm right now. Chloe actually fell asleep without earplugs. Earplugs have been her storm security for well over a year now and it has worked great. But tonight Isaac was really scared of the "funders" when he was trying to sleep. So I offered the pink earplugs to him and he was quick to accept. When I put them in he said, "Funders won't get me now".

This is how I found him sleeping during the storm:

Monkey pillow, snuggle blankie on his pillow just as he likes it, big bear on the left, and most importantly Dogger on the right.

I agree Isaac. The funders won't get you now.

WATERMELON!

Our homegrown watermelon is A M A Z I N G. All of us love watermelon, but this watermelon is just soooo good. Today Royce picked the big kahuna that was in the garden. It was beautiful. Some of them are mis-shapen although they taste just as sweet. But this watermelon was worth devouring. We only ate a few slices and there is a ton left in the fridge, but we were sloppy and dripped juice everywhere and spit the seeds in the yard. These family moments are the greatest.

I love this.

And this.

This is how Isaac eats his watermelon...avoiding the seeds in the middle.

The evidence.

Walking to Happy Days

Today was the first day that Royce & Chloe walked to Happy Days. Of course I had to take a picture. The big tree trunk is in our front yard. Happy Days is just past the white fence across the street. It's THAT close.

Happy Days

First things first--Happy Anniversary to my hubby! Seven years...wow! It's much cooler today than it was on our wedding day in Manhattan with triple-digits. But it was a perfect day and the last seven years have been a wonderful adventure.

Today is Chloe's first day at her new preschool. She is going to Happy Days and was SO excited. You can see in the picture she had a new pillow to take. This is the first daycare she'll be at where she won't have her "snugglies" with her. So I told her we'd make a fun pillow to take for nap time and she was super excited. Mermaid & pink were Chloe's requests and luckily we found fabric that worked just right. She didn't really need a back-pack but sure wanted to take one. So we put her extra clothes, enrollment forms, toothbrush, etc. in there so she could wear it. The preschool contracts lunches out from the school district. School in Hays hasn't started yet so she has to take a sack-lunch a few days until the school meals will start. She was excited to use her lunch box she got from Granddad Doug!

And yes, Isaac got to be in the picture too. We had to make a big deal of him going to Julie's by himself as a big boy.

"Snicker-noodles"

Today Chloe and I made Snickerdoodles, or "Snicker-noodles" in her words. It all started with a gift. Yesterday was Chloe's last day at the daycare she and Isaac have gone to since I started painting in November. Julie was (and is) great at letting the kids help prepare meals and Chloe often brought treats home that they made at Julie's house. So for Chloe's last day at Julie's house Julie had a special gift for Chloe. Julie had compiled recipes that Chloe had helped prepare or really enjoyed at her house. Plus they were in the cutest pink box, just for Chloe. As soon as we got home yesterday she found a place in the cabinet just for her recipe box. She was so proud!

Today after naps Chloe asked for a snack and opened the cabinet and saw her recipe box. She asked if we could make a special snack from her box and it just so happened that she wanted to make Snicker-noodles. Royce happens to be a HUGE fan of Snicker-doodles. And the best part...I actually had all the ingredients! Ha!

I must say, she is a PRO at making Snicker-noodles. When it came to rolling the dough in balls and in the cinnamon/sugar I could have let her go on her own and she would have done fine. It was so great.

Chloe even helped with dishes...she didn't suddenly disappear from the kitchen like I would have done if I were the helper, ha ha!
Monday Chloe will start going to Happy Days. It's a daycare/preschool. The feeling is bittersweet. I know she's ready to go to a preschool and she will do amazing. And I do know it's not as symbolic as Kindergarten & I don't even want to think of the day that will come. But I do think it will be good for her to have more kids to play with, especially girls. I'll post next week to give an update on how it's going. Happy Days is just 6 houses down and across the street from us. So the normal routine will be for Chloe, Royce, and Lexi to walk. It'll be good for all three of them! And I think it'll be good for Chloe and Isaac to be split for a while. They are such great friends and do play really well together, always thinking of the other. But I think Isaac in particular could use some independence and get to do some thinking on his own.

New design, same 'ole blog

I got bored today and decided to edit the blog settings. It's by no means as fancy as some of them out there! But at least it's a change from the normal. Plus I figured out how to add pictures which is nice. If only the little creatures I call my children would allow a good picture of them TOGETHER or all of us as a FAMILY. I think I'm asking too much with that. Have a good weekend!

My kiddos

Wow, today was a great day. It was one of those days where the kids were just amazing, nobody threw fits, nobody threw toys & food, and everybody got along. It was just great. Isaac is doing AMAZING at potty training. He's come leaps and bounds in the last few weeks and it's been great. He actually understands how proud he is when he keeps a dry pull-up all day. But today I got off work about 4 and Royce & Robynn both had suggested we go to the pool. I picked up the kids early and off we went. It was so hot out and the pool was great. Chloe has become quite the swimmer. She keeps on her arm floaties but she is fantastic in the water. She plays where it's too deep for her to touch and she jumps in, swims, holds her breath, goes under water, etc. She has become so confident since our first video of her in the pool. Royce and Robynn would even trick her into looking at something and then knock her into the water and she would laugh so hard every time. I love that she wants to be such a good swimmer. It's honestly a trait I never had and wish I did.

But the kids were good at the pool, ate amazing this evening, helped me in the garden and entertained themselves, and got PJ's on with no arguments. We read three stories because I was so happy with them. And the best part is......now they're asleep and I get to watch them sleep. One of my favorite things to do in a day and makes me such a proud momma.

August Already?!?

Wow, summer has gone so quickly. But we've enjoyed every bit of it. Not much to update on actually, and my camera is not working at the moment so no pics to upload either.

Mid-end of July brought Robynn's birthday, the Ellis County Fair, a Landwehr reunion (my maternal grandmother's family), and Dustin's birthday. Chloe and Isaac always assume there is going to be a big party for each birthday and don't understand that not everyone wants party hats and streamers. I'm sure I'm missing an event or two but most of all we just had a really enjoyable July.

Our garden is UNBELIEVABLE. Wow wow wow. The lettuce was early summer and was fantastic. Since it's an early crop we also planted watermelon in the same place and the timing was perfect. So now we have all of the following THRIVING in our garden: tomatoes, carrots, onions, lots of green beans, cucumbers, cantaloupe, peppers (red, yellow, green, and HOT), and watermelon. I just can't believe how well everything is doing. We've already had 6 cantaloupe! Yum! Our cucumbers are doing well and we pick probably at least a dozen or more each week. The green beans have been great. Definitely my favorite. The tomatoes are really growing but we got two different plants than expected. I wanted two plants that had the cluster/vine tomatoes and they ended up being cherry tomatoes also. So now we have 3 cherry tomato plants and I'm not joking...I pick about 75 every two days. Last night I picked 110. That's a LOT of cherry tomatoes. Our 3 big tomato plants are just now starting to have fruit turn red. As far as the watermelon, we have 6 that are growing well now (larger than zucchini). There are 10 cantaloupe (at least) that are larger than softball size. Our colored peppers are doing well and the hot pepper plant is out of control. One plant, I picked 32 hot peppers last night and that was only about half of them growing. Quite a successful garden!!

I'll try to get some garden pictures uploaded. It does look really nice and both Royce and I enjoy spending time in the garden. It takes a lot of up-keep but it's relaxing to us both.

Not much else on the Purinton home front. I'm home with the kiddos today because the daycare provider went on a trip back to her home. I always enjoy the extra time with them and am glad that my schedule can be flexible to do so.

Okay, enjoy August and those of you who have to go back to school in a few weeks I hope it cools down a little bit!