10 Months Already?

Already 10 months old! It is hard to believe, but time moves so quickly, especially when you are fighting two older children. Plus, she is so much smaller than our other kids at this age. I guess it is the short people DNA hidden in our bodies coming out. How funny to think that we might have a normal sized child. I think we can learn to love small children as much as large children. Enjoy the pictures of our little angel!

And speaking of things growing, this has been my bestest year gardening yet! Look at all these beautiful cucumbers and a 4 cup tupperware filled up with tomatoes that I brought in a few days ago. 

And then today I got all of these tomatoes as well. And there are so many more out there! I just hope they ripen up before we go on vacation. If not, my neighbor who knows gardening will surely be happy with some of the tomatoes we leave for him to pick while we are gone. Or maybe I will be selfish and bring them all in even if they are unripe and let them ripen on my counter while we are gone. My luck would be that I would be punished for my greediness with a pile of rotten tomatoes when I got home. Better just let the neighbor have them.

Rainy Days

We got a big box from Jet.com that the kids turned in to a rocket ship. I came home from work and found that it had also become a playpen for Eliza. I pointed out that we had an actual pack and play, but I was informed that this was just as good, or better. She does seem happy playing in it. 

Spacious enough for a co-pilot. 

We have had the real summer heat coming recently, along with some pretty thick humidity. Fortunately, we have had a few rainy days to clear the air and bring the temps down a little bit. Here is the family headed out for a walk in some light rain. The day before this when we got some pretty heavy rain Clark was running around in the downpour in his underwear. I found him sitting and playing in the gutter in front of a neighbor's house. Sabrina was there too, but with some clothing on. I realized then that my efforts not to be the white trash family on the street had failed and I might as well let them enjoy.

One last story. Clark gave a talk in primary today. I helped him by drawing pictures to try to help him remember what to say. After his talk the member of the primary presidency conducting asked Clark if she could borrow his talk for a second. She then showed everybody how his talk had pictures to help him remember what to say since he can't read yet. I think she thought Clark had drawn the pictures himself, which tells you a lot about my artistic ability. Oh well. I guess it would be too much to ask to have good looks, a great mind and artistic abilities. Or in my case any of them.

Face Painting

We went to a barbecue fundraiser event thing last week, where we got to eat lots of good meat. They also had a few things to entertain kids, like face painting. Unfortunately, the face painting line was mega long. So we told the kids that we could paint their faces the next day, since we didn't want to wait there for an hour when it was already Eliza's bedtime.

Sabrina wanted a crown with a tulip on one cheek and a butterfly on the other cheek. I think they turned out alright. I probably won't outline the crown with black next time. 

This is not meant to be a boudoir photo; it is supposed to be a ferocious tiger who just happens not to be wearing any pants. I was very pleased with how this face paint turned out, especially since we don't have orange face paint. It was Clark's idea to have two teeth beneath the lower lip. I'm not wild about them, but Clark loved it. 

Clark decided that they were Princess Jasmine and her tiger, Rajah. They ran around for a couple hours playing so well together that way. Clark was really in character. At one point her hurt himself and I said, "Are you okay, Clark?" He stopped groaning long enough to say, "You mean 'Are you okay, Rashah?'" I'm sure face-painting will become a more regular thing after how much they enjoyed it.

Summer Break is Here!

Sabrina off to school for her last day of first grade! Clark is in a much better mood than on her first day. Clark didn't get to go to his last day of pre-school because he was sick. Poor guy. He is feeling fine now. 

This was Sabrina's teacher. She was so great! Sabrina had a terrific year of school. 

Sabrina has been wanting to have bangs, so her momma obliged her now that she is a big first grade graduate. Sabrina loves them.

A key lime meringue pie, just because. Delicious! I realize for some of you yummy homemade pies might be a regular thing, but here in hippy-ville, this is a rare decadence worth documenting. 

Hooray for tomatoes from the garden! This has been my most successful gardening year by a long shot. We have probably gotten 8 of these Mr. Stripey tomatoes and an equal number of cucumbers. So many more on the vine that should be ready soon.

So my three corn plants only produced these three ears of corn, and they were kind of small, but they were very tasty, in my opinion. Of course they might be very tasty to me the same way all parents think their children are beautiful. Fortunately, my children actually are.

Fort Worth Zoo

We went to the Fort Worth Zoo on Memorial Day. We had a lot of fun. I think their zoo is better than the one in Dallas. A bit further of a trip, but not too bad. Glad we went when we did, because it will soon be way too hot to spend 6 hours walking around outside.

Is this white tiger scary or what? Beautiful animals, but I swear he is plotting on us in this picture.

The Fort Worth Zoo has an old style Texas Town in the middle, which the kids thought was really fun. It also had a leaky water tower shooting water out for the kids to play in.

A train ride near the end of the day took us back to the front of the zoo. We all had a lot of fun. Clark was excited about seeing the komodo dragons, but they just sat there. He also loves cheetahs, and their exhibit was closed. Oh well, he had fun anyway.