End of Summer

 Now that July is over, I feel like the summer is over too....August is just too hot and School is getting ready to start.

Getting ready for the game

We went to the library for story time and we were able to get free food at chick fil a this year for cow appreciation day. Its true, once a year, they give away food if you dress up like a cow. Its pretty neat. I took a video you can watch where the boys were eating. I NOTICED IT RIGHT AWAY....Dom and Ethan are always bickering when they sit next to each other...and the video shows a rare event that went on for 5 minutes!!! I will spare you and only show you about 40 seconds...haha.

Everyone was a cow

Dom loved it. 

Dominic was able to get some swimming lessons shortly after his piano teacher ditches us. So, he's been doing that twice a week for over a month, and he's really good. If he keeps it up, we may put him in a swim team...we'll see. I tried to sign him up for fall sports...but he didn't like any of them...so we'll take a break, I didn't want to force him. He has asked that he do Tball again next summer.
Speaking of Tball, he finished the season and got a nice medal out of it, he was so happy. He also got a free buffet at the local pizza place, but have yet to use it. We'll have to do that soon. He did really well, he practiced, he met some new buddies, and learned what team work is all about. I'm really proud of him. I know it wasn't easy to let somebody else catch the ball. My mom knows someone who may be able to give him piano lessons...so we may do that this fall/winter since we won't be doing sports. He seemed to enjoy that.

Swim lessons

Ethan is still being Ethan....and he's such a smarty. Just a couple of days ago, I left the kids with Spencer to go to the gym early (no one was awake). Soon after, Spencer said he was woken up by somebody making noise in our bathroom. When he got up to look, Ethan was actually sitting in the master bath sink!!! That is high!!....I would not have believed it, if I would not have seen it myself....cause he did it a second time, while I was standing next to him . He pulls the three drawers out and makes a staircase out of them...steps up and just sits on the counter top!....who taught him that?!? I dunno, cause his big bro doesn't do that (he uses a stool). He's a smarty one....it's like they always say...You always gotta watch out for the quiet ones. I think he may be the one who causes me grief in his teenage years. Truth be told, he is quite honest. When he sticks things in the air vents, He will come and tell me right away and let me know something is stuck....and just smile. For now, I dont care, I"m just happy he tells me. I have found lego pieces, crayons, watercolor brushes....ugh all kinds of things. He still eats like a beast- usually for breakfast we'll share my cereal and he eats a whole banana and half a cup of milk....yeah...that's a lot haha. And still naps about 3 hours a day ( one long nap). This week, we will start potty training hard core.

The only one that grabs a plate and sits in front of the tv....I really
dont' kow where he gets these ideas

he's addicted to technology

I finally was able to get the kids to sleep in the same room. Everyone seems fine with it. Ethan goes to bed first...I will give him an hour to go to sleep (around 8pm) and he usually does...he's pretty good at sleeping. Then Dom will go in around 9:30pm and be quiet and go to bed. It has worked well so far. Before I go to bed, I leave the door open, so whoever wakes up first (usually Ethan) can come get me up. Ethan usually is the first and slaps me to wake me up. Dom will wake up around 8:30am...yeah, he's a night owl. lol. But i'm so happy, they can sleep together. Now, we can buy Ethan a much needed mattress and the toy room can stay the same way.

family story time at the library

Spencer and I (mostly Spencer) finally finished framing out our master shower. WE took it down to the foundation and studs....put in a pocket door and rebuilt the shower walls and floor and curb, put in liner and waterproofed the entire area. We have ordered the tile and are hoping to get it in next week (that's what they said). It will look awesome and we are so excited. This will go fast....I think tiling is the easiest of everything we have done so far. The pocket door still needs to be painted white (its just primed) and maybe a few more trims to hide the pocket door holes (and also a lock- now that I know Ethan can climb on everything), but it's not urgent...I just want my shower back. Next time, Spencer is off, maybe in about 4 days, we will go look for shower doors...we want a glass according door...but not sure where to go. I will have to go ask around and see how much that is. We may just have to get something from the local home improvement store and call it a day....but hopefully here in the next couple of weeks, everything will be done. I'm so happy to get my shower back.
Once the shower is completely done, we will take a bit of a break by painting the hallway and the rest of the living room (all same color) and THEN we will tackle the kitchen. I'm so excited!

Down to the studs and foundation

Waterproofed and ready for tile!

I haven't really done anything out of the ordinary. I'm still going to the gym, I'm still couponing, I still clean the house, and I still garden. Our cucumber vine is exploding with cucumbers right now...it's insane. They are all little right now, but we can see at least 20 growing on there...one one VINE!!! Next year, we will make the garden bed bigger and plant those again. Also, the pumpkin vine has taken over the bed too.....no pumpkins yet though...but holy cow....the leafs are HUGE! Also, our watermelon vine has about 5 little watermelon balls. One is the size of a baseball...so it's getting there. I don't think they will be big...but we'll see. The tomatoes are on their way out, I guess that was all the tomatoes they could give. No matter what I do, they are brown and crusty....so sad. The jalapeno plants are hanging on. As soon as they left their pot and got planted they grew like 20 times! No jalapenos yet though. And the green onions...are still there....haha. I planted some strawberries, but did not survive at all. I did plant cilantro, oregano, parsley,basil....but we have already used it all up, except the oregano.

Garden- tomatoes (left), cucumber (far right) watermelons (front middle) and pumpkins
(back middle teepee)

first cucumber of the season

first tomatoes of the season

Now that August is starting, we have one last hurrah to the beach coming soon, and getting ready for School. Dom will not start until the end of August, which gives me more time with him and trying to teach him how to write. His apraxia frustrates him when he grabs pencils or crayons...so we gotta work on that. I want him to write his name by the end of the summer....we'll see. And we're also working on addition....he's actually really good at that...maybe we'll start subtraction. I was thinking maybe this summer I wanted to teach him how to read, and make him learn some sight words....but I think writing is more important at this point. I don't want to overwhelm him. I do make him do a craft every day (prob around 10-15 min) to de stress. He doesn't take naps, so he needs something to take him away from everything. One day we made a key chain, other days we color, other days we do stickers,....I dunno, I'm not very good at this lol. I just know he gets cranky when there is nothing to do. I gotta give him some jobs around the house...but he hates cleaning up.

And here's comes FALL!!!!