July is over...

I can't believe it, but July will officially be over as of tomorrow. That month just flew by and I'm sure August will as well while the excitement of starting kindergarten and a new school for Abby quickly approaches.

I am still taking the train to work and am so proud of myself for doing it. I have also found the bus that takes me back to the train in the afternoon, because it is pretty unbearable walking in 103 degree heat. UGH! it is so hot here and all the grass is just drying up with our lack of rain.

Last weekend was pretty laid back. We went swimming at a friends house and I got some really great underwater pictures. Hopefully I can get around to posting them by this weekend. I have been completely drained since I started to get up at 5am each day. The house is clean which is awesome, but I'm sure will be a mess by Monday.

And something to look forward too this Sunday....The Circus. The girls will be so excited.

Took the Train today!!!!

This was a first for me. I took the train this morning. I am so proud of myself. I did it! And then walked 5 long blocks to work (about 15 mins). This afternoon with it almost 100 degrees it is ging to be a killer, but I brought a towel (to wipe off the massive amounts of sweat, lol) and a bottle of water. Oh, and the walk back is uphill as well. I may change my mind about riding the train until Fall after my walk back this afternoon. We will see. But all in all it saved me money and I got a workout.

oh, and it did suck to have to get up at 5 am. I planned to go to sleep early and then laid there until 11 pm and still was not asleep and that was even after taking a sleeping pill at 9:45pm. I think I was anxious about my train ride today.

I won't be able to do this every day since I have things to get the girls to some days by 5:30, but I'm sure if I can do it at least 3 days a week it should make a huge difference in my pocketbook.

So yeah for me.

Time to stop sucking those fingers...

So We have been encouraging Abby to stop sucking her fingers when she sleeps. She picked up this habit at the nice age of 14 months after not sucking her thumb or taking a pacifier. What timing right. She chose to suck on her first finger on either hand. Well after many weeks of telling her she is a big girl now and needs to stop she decided that she was ready to give up her baby blanket and stop sucking her finger. When she got her nails painted on Monday after school I told her she couldn't suck on her fingers because her nail polish would come off. This week so far has been a challenge at night and I know the reason is because she is actually NOT sucking her finger. So last night we decided to give her baby blanket to the Baby Fairies to pass it on to the other babies that need it. We went outside and hung it on a tree, gave it a kiss and waved goodbye. Then the Baby Fairies came while she was sleeping and took the blanket, but left her a note and a present of a star necklace (because she is a superstar) and a princess Belle necklace set with bracelet. They also left her sister a Ariel necklace set since Abby asked the Fairies to also bring her nice sister a present. Wasn't that nice of them. :)
So we are no longer using our baby blanket and sucking our finger. Lets home that bedtime gets a little easier as it has been hard for her to go to sleep for the last two nights.

dancing, gymnastics, swimming...oh what a weekend

Yet another busy weekend. I was amazed I even got the laundry done.

Starting Thursday night with dance class. I got some really good pictures with my new camera. I was so excited to figure out how to take a picture through the one way mirror. Alexis is doing amazing. She is really loving it. So good a pointing her toes and is really paying attention. Abby is, well, a typical 3 year old. LOL Has trouble staying on track and really understanding what to do with her feet. Overall the teacher says she is doing great for what is expected at that age. She was trying to be the ring leader with falling on the floor on purpose and then the other kids following after her, however the teacher showed them the time out chair and that all stopped. I'm glad she did that because Abby can really get off track.






and now Alexis

I LOVE this picture with her teacher...





Saturday morning we got up and headed out for gymnastics. I got to use my telephoto lens on my camera for today.

Abby..





Alexis..






After gymnastics we headed over to swim for a couple of hours at Doreen's apt so I could try out my new $9.99 underwater Olympus digital camera. In case you don't know the story, I was looking on line at prices for the water digital cameras, went to Circuit City.com and saw the blue camera listed for $279 minus a $20 discount. then I go to the yellow camera and click on the bundle which includes the 2GB memory card for $9.99 and it also listed the camera for $279 with a $270 discount. Total price $9.99 OMG! What a deal and I was thinking the whole time they would cancel my order and didn't. WOW They changed the price back right away and I'm sure if I would have ordered more then one camera they probably would have canceled my order too. So my total cost with shipping was $27. :) Talk about getting a deal of a lifetime.

The water wasn't completely clear so they are not awesome, but still pretty cool. I'm sure we will be getting a lot more over the summer. The only problem I have is that you can't see the LCD screen very well in the sun, so I would just hold the camera underwater and hope that I got them in the picture.

funny girl..

here I come..

All of us...



Abby..

Alexis is doing an awesome job of learning to swim on her back..

She was trying so hard over and over to sit on the bottom. She was doing it by the time we left.


Then back home for a quick nap and then off to a BBQ and picnic with some of the kids that will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. We had a great time. The kids had fun on the playground, we had hamburgers and hotdogs and then the kids discovered that the water fountain shot the water so high that it made a great sprinkler. LOL They were all soaked. It was hilarious. Too bad they didn't discover it earlier in the evening when it was so incredibly hot. We got home around 9pm for a quick bath and bed.










Sunday was just as busy..
Rodney mowed the lawn, I did laundry and cleaned up a bit, ran to Walmart, took Alexis to see High School Musical at the Fair Park Music Hall (which was so good) and Alexis really enjoyed it with my friend Kim and her daughter Brooke. After that took Alexis with me to the nail salon and she choose to have her nails painted blue. LOL She has been dying for me to take her and since Abby wasn't with us I took her back Monday after school to get her blue nails as well. Then back home for dinner and more laundry. the weekend came and went way too quick. (we took Abby Monday after school to get her nails painted too, pictures below)

We are on our way to Franklin, NC!

So the girls have been so excited for our trip. We are off for a week and to celebrate the 4th with all my family. Uncle Jason, Aunt Julie, Jaden, Kayla, Grandma Jo, Uncle Zach and all of us. While we are there we are going to get a family picture taken. Have a birthday cake for Alexis, Jaden and Zach. And do lots of fun outdoor things. The last time Jason saw Abby in person was when she was 9 months old. It is about time we all get together.

The airport: the girls got Barbie MP3 players and they were the best thing ever. They were so busy listening to their music that there was no fighting. It was wonderful and made for great traveling.



We have arrived: A quick stop along the way to the Abrams house





We arrived: Here is where they live. We all had lots of room. Kayla was so nice to let my family take over her room. They live on the side of a mountain. What a cool view. We spent lots of time on the front porch.




The girls fell in love with their kittens immediately. They loved Holly. Jaguar was not quite a friendly, but they still played with him. Holly let them carry her just about everywhere and put her in just about everything. LOL
Jaden, Alexis and Abby started having fun together right from the beginning. Abby was a little bit of a bully at times to Jaden. He just did not know how to deal with such a pushy 3 year old. LOL






(a little off topic and out of order since I forgot to put it in, but...)
On Saturday after we had family pictures taken in the morning we went to lunch at The Fun Factory (kinda like a huge dave and busters) with ride and games for everyone. While we were having lunch Rodney was like, that is Trace Adkins over there. What?
Well I thought the day would never come, but I actually got to meet someone famous in real life. I am not a county fan at all, but I did watch him when he was on the Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump. He didn't have much to say, but his wife was very nice and let me take a picture with him.

Julie also got his autograph for me on a $5 bill.