Happy first day of summer - now it's official - I have my first summer cold! It was a going away present from Elliott - bless her heart : )

We went out to dinner with Jackie and Jamie last night in celebration of my older and wiser friend's birthday. I only have thirteen days of her being older in numbers than me - so I have to get my cracks in while I can! We had a great dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

I had to snap some pictures of Jackie's cats - she shaved 2 of her 3 long haired cats. They look tremendously funny - quite a bit smaller without all that hair. They like it though - I think the petting is better without all the fluff in the way. And of course - I don't have any kids to post pictures of this week - so the cats will have to suffice for entertainment.

The girls went home with Grandma Katie and Papa Al on Friday. Chris and I have been busy around the house - with projects!!! I scraped the wall paper border from the kitchen - was surprised to find a second layer under about half of it. We then repainted the kitchen and dining room. Chris is so good at the cutting and the trim. I stuck with the roller - and still there were a lot of "dopes" coming from my mouth. He has much more finesse. The walls in the kitchen are golden corn, and the soffit is baked pumpkin. The dining room is blue again - but brighter.



You can see in the picture, it looks really great with Olivia's artwork!

When I go too long without blogging, it's hard to even know where to start! I think I will let the pictures do most of the talking.

The girls had a great time with a face painting kit that Olivia picked out at Dollar Tree.

Olivia had a great last day of school and has been promoted to third grade :)

The girls had a lot of fun in swimming lessons - it was every night for two weeks. A lot of running, but they loved it. Grandma Katie, Papa Al, and Grandma Diane and Papa Roger came to watch their last night of class.

Olivia is looking forward to the end of school - her last day is on Monday. It's hard to believe that she will be a third grader, even harder to believe that I will be the parent of a third grader!!! She was cooking up a storm today. She made french toast for breakfast, and then was inspired by the side of the cereal box to make rice krispie treats. She required very little assistance, and she loves to cook.

The girls start swimming lessons on Monday night. Elliott is very excited to be able to join in this year. It was hard for her to watch and not be able to participate last year. She really likes the water, loves to blow bubbles and play in it - so I think she'll do fine - as long as she listens to her teachers. She hit me with a new one this week. We were in the bathroom, brushing her teeth. I asked her to come over so I could give her a once over. She looked and me and smiled and said "make me". Let's just say that didn't go over too well. Sarah said that her little sister's favorite line when she was little was - "you're not the boss of me!" I can just see that in our future...

It hasn't rained yet today. It seems like we've been on a nonstop rain cycle here lately. It will probably rain tomorrow morning though as the guys are planning to do a bike ride.