We have had a nice rain all day today. It has been dark and rainy and lovely! It is nice to get a break from the sweltering heat. Right about now the sun is coming out and I think the sweltering heat is running back to us. It has been the perfect combination. Now it will be nice and steamy to go swimming tonight!

After the rain, we went on a short walk by a pond and there were some lilly pads and flowers. They looked so perfect they did not seem real. I snapped a few pictures with my phone. I really like that you can see the drops of water on the flower.

Hope you are having a productive day. I am catching up on laundry. Our washer broke and we had it fixed today. One of our little guys tiny socks was stuck in the pump. He has been so worried that is yellow blanket is dirty. It is now clean and ready for bedtime.

*”Singin’ in the Rain” is a song from Singin’ in the Rain

This is my new favorite snack: Strawberries, Blueberries, Milk Chocolate Chips, White Chocolate Chips, and Dry Roasted Peanuts. Mix together and enjoy! When I am in a hurry and feeling snacky I just grab a handful of the chips and nuts and eat.

We took our little guy to his first movie this weekend. This picture is from the first few minutes of the movie. It is grainy because it was really dark in the theater, but I bumped up the levels so you could see his face. He was very excited about picking out a drink and a treat. He picked Sprite and popcorn. When the previews started he was wide eyed. Then there was a Toy Story short and he was so happy. When Cars 2 started he lost interest quickly. I think he would have been more interested if it had been the original Cars or one of the Toy Story’s. The Toy Story short was funny, Cars 2 was not very good. The animation was (as always) exceptional, but the story was too complicated for kids and had some scenes startling for kids, like shooting and blowing things up.

Overall, he had a good time and he was a good boy even when he was tired of watching the movie. We were able to sit on the front row with the bar so he was able to stand in between us at the bar and there was no one in front of us. I was thankful that the entire theater was filled with squirmy kids and parents getting up and down to go to the bathroom. It was the best environment for his first movie.

*”Let’s Go to the Movies” is a song from Annie

Stay tuned for the July garden update – first of August! How is your garden thriving?

*if you use seven be very cautious. It is toxic to children and animals.

**lyrics from “The Garden Song” by John Denver

Happy 4th of July! We packed a lot into the weekend. A baseball game, movies, fireworks, snow cones, swimming, cotton candy, grilling, and more! It was a great summer weekend. I am so thankful for weekends like that – no work or house work,  just time with friends and family.

Happy Independence Day! I hope you had a fun relaxing long weekend!

 I made a garden journal to document my first garden. I have taken pictures every month to showcase the growth and made notes and designed some graphics for the pages.

It is fulfilling to see how much it has grown from one month to another. I just took the pictures for June, and it is amazing how much the garden has changed in a month.

I will update you in July with the June pages. Have you done anything to mark the growth of your garden? I know I may be overzealous about mine. I have always wanted a garden, so I am very excited about it!

*lyrics from ”Paperwings” by Damien Jurado

My little guy had his first professional haircut today. He was enticed with a cherry sucker. When we first got to the salon he kept saying “no get haircut, no get hair cut.” As soon as the sucker came out, he didn’t say a word. He sat still in the chair the entire time and ate his sucker.

We broke out the octopus sprinkler yesterday. Our little guy has been asking to get out the “opus” for months. We keep it sitting in the garage during the winter so he sees it every time we pull into the garage.

The picture above is from two years ago today. He was just sitting up on his own.

He is growing up so fast. In three months he will be three. I can’t believe it.

This year I made a list of the things we want to do as a family that we can check off. I put it in a frame in our living room so we will see it daily and remember to schedule in the FUN! Most years we get to September and say “Where did the summer go? We didn’t do this and that.” 2011 is our family “Year of Doing” – so we are Doing! You can download here, or a blank one here.

Does your family have a summer fun list?