Souers Summer Survival

Like everyone else around here, the only way to survive the summer is to spend it in the water.  At least that's what Blake and I think.

Caroline and Ellie, on the other hand...not so much.  They loved strutting around in their swimsuits and shoes all summer long and somehow, they didn't get that wet.

Even if we went to the pool, they loved walking around the pool and moving all the chairs around.

These girls are constant motion.  They aren't overly dirty or climbing on top of things, but they are busy!

I enjoyed taking them to the splash pad near our house just to change it up from the backyard sprinkler or the neighborhood pool.

The setting is really beautiful and there always seems to be a nice breeze coming off the lake giving us a little reprieve from the oppressive humidity and heat.

Caroline and Ellie seem to enjoy it too, but for all the reasons that I hadn't anticipated.

I brought my camera on this particular day with the intention to get at least one cute picture of them playing in the fountain.

Instead, I got pictures of them taking a snuggle time out with beach towels...

Digging for treasure in the beach bag...

Playing on the stairs...

And pushing each other out of way to get where they need to go in this entire wide open area.  These girls are always on top of each other!

And as far as getting cute little picture of these girls playing in the fountain.... well, this is what I got.  And, sad to say, this is the best one.

Oh well.

Better luck next year.

Rewind

I'm so far behind in my pictures that I don't even know where to start.  I continue to take pictures and videos but ever since the girls dropped their morning nap in June at 20 months old (i.e. my time to work on my pictures) I haven't found a new schedule for myself to stay organized.

But...I don't want to forget these memories of this age leading up to turning 2...so I'm catching up and am determined to get caught up in time for their 2nd birthday in a couple weeks.

So, for starters...rewinding the clock to 20 months old...

We dropped the morning nap, and months later, there are times that I'm still missing the 2 nap/day schedule.

They have gotten busier and busier and take advantage of any opportunity when I am not totally paying attention to them to get up in the front seat of the car pushing every button and pulling every lever as hard as they can.

I am sure that one day they are going to pull my blinker and windshield wiper controls straight off and I will have no one else to blame but myself.  

We found some horse stables open to the public here in Kingwood that I never knew existed before this summer.  The girls were enthralled from a distance and terrified up close.  We have gone quite a bit since then to see the horses and they love it.

We still went to the park all the time despite how hot and sweaty we would get within the first 5 minutes of being there.

Ellie saying "cheese" for the camera

Sweating is just a necessary evil of surviving Houston summers.

Well, that, and swatting mosquitos.

Caroline

We had an outdoor shower installed in the early part of the summer that we used with the girls almost every single day...and on days like this...probably twice a day.

I would just strip them down in the backyard, hose them off from head to toe in efforts to avoid tracking shoefulls of sand, dirt and sweat through the living room.

Ellie

The girls have great fun together and they have the same way of doing everything.

Caroline tends to still be our trailblazer with setting the stage of how something is going to be....

...and then Ellie copies.

Even if its something as simple as drinking out of their water bottle.

When You Want Something Done, You've Got to do it Yourself!

Last week, the girls and I were skyping with Aunt Laureno.  The girls loved interacting for a couple of minutes, but with their short attention spans, they quickly move on to something else.  They are in this phase where they will do anything to get my attention, and so they started asking me to change their diapers.  As I'm talking to Lauren, I suggested that they change their sisters' diaper.

And that's all I said.

They proceeded to go to the drawer where the diapers are, pulled out two diapers, the package of wipes and their changing mat.

They laid out the changing mat and Ellie laid down on it.

Caroline stood over her and started taking off Ellie's diaper....and then going to town wiping Ellie's bottom.

Caroline getting after it with the wipes on Ellie

And 50 wipes later, they traded places, and Ellie took her turn changing Caroline.

This whole time, Lauren, on Skype, and I are saying nothing.  Just laughing and taking pictures.

Ellie changing Caroline

I guess this is what its like being a twin.  Who needs to pretend change your baby doll's diaper when you can your sister's diaper for real?!?

I don't think I'll ever forget this.

Sweaty Souers

We spent the first part of June in CA visit Blake's family.  I stayed with the girls for an extra week and Sharlene flew back with us to Houston to help me get the girls home.  

Bakersfield is hot this time of year...hot but dry.  Houston, on the other hand is just plain sweaty.... and Blake's mom voluntarily left her dry climate and came to stay for a week.  That's love.  

Granddaughter love!

When Blake was growing up, his brother, Coleman, went through this phase when they were little where he had an alter-ego, named "Sweaty".  To this day, the family still affectionately talks about "Sweaty" and he even made an appearance this past Christmas.

Sweaty would have definitely been in his element with us in Houston.

We were incredibly busy the whole time doing projects around the house, like we always do when she's here, but we also had time to hang out in our jammies and just let these girls get as much time with their Yiggie as possible!

 Whenever Blake's parents come to visit, we are busy from sunup to sundown.

Sharlene is my design consultant, my project executioner and according to the neighbors, the hired help.

This time, we focused primarily on the backyard patio, which required a few new purchases of plants and an umbrella and hanging Blake's hammock.

We moved around my ridiculously heavy pots, nixed our ugly storm door that I ended up selling on Craigslist....

...and then, because we weren't sweating enough, we decided to relocate all the flagstone that was stacked up and throwing off the decor of the newly designed patio.

We rearranged the furniture upstairs, did some light rearranging of the furniture downstairs....

...and even did some sewing.

We went out to lunch, shopped....

...laughed a lot and even laughed even more about how much we were sweating.

Growing up and living in this humid climate, I'm used to it.  But, in all these years of living here, I've never licked my arm to see how salty I tasted from sweating so much.

Actually, come to think of it, I've never seen anyone do that.

Sharlene kept doing it and then gagging/laughing because she was so salty.  I think Coleman needs to send his alter-ego down to Houston with Sharlene for her next summer visit.

I can see it now.... Caroline and Ellie are going to be asking me to lick their arm to determine who is saltier.

Ew, no thank you.  That's what Yiggies are for!  :)

Either way, sweaty or not, we had a great time, and Yiggie, we're already looking forward to your next visit!!

A Father's Day Surprise

Blake has wonderful memories of growing up with a hammock in his backyard.  

Since we've been working on our backyard for the past several months now, he's been talking about how fun it would be if we got one for our yard.  

We have the perfect tree in the perfect spot for one of these netted family swings, and so for Father's Day, Blake's mom, Sharlene, and I surprised him with one.

He loved it only after he spent some time in the hot humidity hanging it up himself.  But once it was up, it was a total winner.

...and the girls totally loved it.

Now, instead of Dad being their own personal jungle gym, they now have one on a huge swing!

I even thought we'd try to get a little family photo enjoying the momentous gift together since we had Sharlene there to snap a picture for me.

...and for the record...Pinterest lies.  How they get those adorable family photos where everyone is looking at the camera and looks natural and happy....whatever.

This was how most of our pictures turned out.....

 We did manage to a couple that were a little better...

 Happy Father's Day Blake.  I love you like crazy and I couldn't dream of a better Dad for our girls than you.