Our summer

I just registered Julia for first grade today (yes! public school!). They gave me a school supply list, a schedule for the year, and took the wind from my "Yay for summer!" sails. Dude, it's August. 

School doesn't start until the 25th of this month for us, so we'll be continuing with our days full of nothing for the next three weeks, thankyouverymuch. No, seriously, besides a few local trips and the girls having summer dance class for one day a week for 5 weeks, we have had zero plans. It's been amazing.

So, here's a (somewhat) short recap of our summer so far.

July 4th obligatory flag picture with nice faces: 

 With silly faces (although, to be honest, Elisabeth's face is not silly so much as unbelievably frightening):

Evan celebrated his 31st birthday to much fanfare.

 July was oddly "cool" for Texas, so we tried to be outside as much as possible. Please note the bottom of V's feet because the child refuses to wear shoes. Whenever we move to a state that has proper soft grass, she is going to be sooooo happy.

We had a few last bbqs with our favorite people who moved (despite our protesting) at the end of July. Julia and Dutch have been buds ever since they met despite a two year age difference. She is really excited to be his pen pal. When Dutch's mom asked if he wanted to be Julia's pen pal he said, "Yeah. Does that mean I get to marry her?"

Poor Vivian has had a rough time with Dutch and Mac moving. She keeps thinking that they're on a trip and just aren't home yet.

 She still asks every day for "my best friend Mac". It's truly heartbreaking.
At their going away bbq, Mac wanted to show me his marshmallow roasting stick:

More outside playing:

Of course, the "cool" temps didn't stick around long and now it's mutha hot outside. I'm totally blaming my in-laws for bringing this terrible heat wave with them since it started getting over 100 degrees right after they showed up to visit. But, the other night, around 8pm, we trekked it over to the park to play since we knew there was zero chance of melting since the sun was going down. It was a balmy 95 degrees and there was a nice breeze. Perfect.

 Jana and Ebeth frolicking on the playground equipment.

 Dear Lord, watching V climb up that ladder makes my hands sweat and my heart race.

I love this picture:

Vivian is head over heels in love with her Papa. Thank goodness he's made two trips to see us this summer!

So, you all are fully aware of the wild child that is Vivian. I bought her this leashed backpack months ago but she was having none of it. Recently, we tried it again and said, you can either hold our hands or we can hold your string. Dude, she is so happy to be hands free and we are so happy to have at least one way to save her from jumping into rivers, off ledges, and not lose her in crowds. The tantrums thrown when we try to get her to let us hold her or hold hands is almost at 0%, a true win/win when we are somewhere that her safety is more important than whether we're "those parents" that leash their kids.

Hope you all are soaking up these last weeks of summer!!!