Memorial Day 2013

Golfing for the boys, bike ride for the girls, another bike ride for Millie and the boys, playing (pool, ping pong, & foosball) and eating with the Morris fam, gelato at the Palladium in Katy (Richmond?), first real swim of the year. Get ready for a lot of pictures... let's just say it was a great day!

Millie LOVED my hazelnut gelato

Her first words after getting in: "All done! All done!" But we convinced her to stay.

L to R: Andrew, James, Heidi, Lauren, me, Millie, Tyler

Holidays are just the best. 

Book Review: Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

These two books get one post because they're a series! And I'm lazy!

I had seen the movie based on these books a long time ago, so I was curious about them. For some reason it took me a ridiculously long time (over 2 months!) to get through them, but not for lack of good writing. There were just always other things to be done first. 

Anyway, the books were pretty good! It's a really sad story right up until the end. A daughter has a hard time being happy and forgiving her mom for a hard upbringing, but then in the end (spoiler alert!), she does forgive her and is able to be married finally. It's set in the South, which was fun. I enjoyed reading about the Ya-Yas and their long friendships with each other- made me miss some people I would consider my own Ya-Yas! The characters and stories were pretty funny sometimes, all deeply flawed but that's the whole point of the book: that life is and can be beautiful even though it's never perfect.

Water season begins

We've been waiting for the pool to open since, well, a long time. It gets hot quickly here! (We actually have had a cooler-than-normal spring, and I am so not complaining) Since ours just opened for the summer this past weekend, we previously tagged along with friends who lived in neighborhoods that had an open pool/splashpad. Last week we went to Bridgeland's new splashpad! It was a great way to let the kids play while we ladies did our visiting teaching. Plus, I think Millie has found a little crush!

Romance blossomed over a bag of goldfish

All in all, I think she enjoyed it. She likes to watch other kids more than anything! But I'm sure once we go a few more times she'll get the hang of it. 

Around these parts

-Millie and I met Tyler for a little lunch date on Friday. We take advantage of these opportunities whenever he's at this closer client!! We had planned to meet at Chik-Fil-A, but when we saw three ladies walking through the parking lot with Freebirds bags, we revised our plan.  Dear Freebirds World Burrito: We love you. Want to move next door?

-Family Fun Friday: we went to the splashpad in another neighborhood. It was kind of a cool (ha!) night and the water was a bit cold, so Millie was happier watching the other kids and playing on the playground.

Once upon a time I had really white legs.

And then we came home and drew Millie in chalk.

-We did a bad thing. Well, we failed to do a good thing. And I think we will be fired from owning a home if we ever do it again. We let our back yard lawn grow for way too long! I really think it was 4 weeks. Doesn't matter how long it was though- it took us forever to fix it on Saturday. Never again will we let that happen.

It looked like a hay bale had exploded on our lawn!

So we blew it onto the porch and swept it up.

Resulting in a lot of bags, right AFTER the garbage truck came by.

-My mom and Sarah came to stay with us Saturday night. Even though their visit wasn't long enough, it was fun to see them! They came to the first hour of church on Sunday and then took off. Unrelated pictures: Millie loves to watch movies of herself on our phones! We call them Millie Movies. Anything to have a few snuggles from her, right??

#sillymillie

If you follow me on Instagram, you see that hashtag a lot. Our Millie girl is as silly as they come!

-The other day, I made chocolate chip cookies. They turned out flatter than pancakes! 

But Millie didn't mind. It just made it easier to eat the cookie the way she eats everything with chocolate: pick out the chocolate chips, then eat the cookie.

Happy girl! Excuse the poor quality.

-We tried a new park today, venturing out into another neighborhood. Except for the extra bugs (there was a lake nearby), it was awesome! Millie especially loved walking on the wall that went around the playground. Just when I think I've figured out what she likes, girlfriend surprises me!

-The other day we were outside and our neighbors a few doors down started mowing their lawn. Millie, fearing lawn mowers (and anything loud), ran to me, shaking like a leaf. I suggested we go inside, but she wanted to stay out! So we snuggled in the 90 degree heat and humidity. This girl loves to be outside. 

 -Millie doesn't like otter pops very much, but loves to chew on the wrapper when I've eaten most of it.

-We found these pink chairs on the side of the road on trash day and Millie is obsessed with them! She sits on one and then pats the other, saying "sit, sit!" until I come sit down by her. We just sit and talk about planes and birds and clouds and bunnies and anything else we see! She rarely sits still so this is a treat for me.

-When Heidi and James arrived for the summer, Heidi showed us the recording of her senior project. It's a beautiful dance and she did a great job! Millie was obviously inspired too. She has been dancing non-stop ever since, and even has a special move where she extends her right leg behind her (just like Heidi does in her dance)! It has morphed, however, into looking like a dog using a fire hydrant.

Again, poor quality, but I had to capture the moment.

We love our silly girl!