More of Summer 2018

Summer is going by so quickly! We made it home from our Bonaire vacation on July 8th. Boogs went to Mobile Loaves and Fishes Camp from 9 am to 12:30 pm July 9th through July 13th. Mobile Loaves and Fishes is an outreach program to the homeless and needy in our community. Each day, the kids helped prepare sandwiches, cookies, and care packages which were passed out by adult volunteers in the evening on the streets of our city. Each year there is a different theme to the camp. Previous year's themes have been: plight of the homeless, poverty, keep Austin fed, service in your community, cultures around the world - one world/one people, serve to fight the world's hardships. This year's theme was Fling the Doors Open - welcome all without judgement but with dignity, respect, and love. Boogs enjoys this camp. This year he helped prepare food, managing donations for the clothes closet, organizing food pantry donation, paint bags to be sold with the money going to fund the food pantry, and contribute to a community project. It is a wonderful opportunity for him to experience life outside of our suburban bubble.

We had a quiet week last week. We visited with friends, read books, got in some writing practice, played at a couple of different pools, Boogs practiced his trombone each day, we played card games, hide-n-seek,  Boogs and I both had dentist appointments, Boogs had an orthodontist appointment, and we even did a little bit of crafting. Boogs and Daddy took a day to themselves and went to Main Event. They played laser tag, went bowling and rock climbing, played video games, and went to a pinball place.

Boogs bought this emojii poo pool float for my birthday. He is having a blast with it. We have been at our neighborhood pool many times recently. Sometimes as early as 7 a.m.

I am so thankful to have pools near us to cool off in. This summer makes it exhausting to be outside without a cool dip.

  Daddy joined us at the neighborhood pool one day.

We me friends at Milburn Pool for an afternoon. I prefer the quiet of our neighborhood pool.

Boogs chose some interesting hide-n-seek spots. 

We were in Bonaire on the 4th of July. It is a family tradition for us all to get pedicures on the 4th of July. Boogs was happy that this tradition was merely postponed and not called off.

We went and saw The Incredibles 2. Boogs liked the first movie better. I liked both movies.

In the mornings, it was barely cool enough to enjoy a little hammock time. Boogs spent a few mornings reading in the hammock. He usually came back inside by 8:30 a.m. and then immediately went to take a shower to cool off. This has been a very hot summer.

It has been awhile since Boogs has wanted to do any kind of crafts with me.   I pulled out some canvases and paint and talked him into painting pictures of our pets. He chose to paint his hedgehog Nebraska and I painted my dog from many, many years ago. Our first step was to get pictures and do a bit of sketching.

Boogs is holding Nebraska. Hedgehogs are so cute!

I think my dog Nikki is just as cute as Nebraska. She was a Yorkie Poo. Sweetest little dog, she lived for 17 years. I still miss her.

After we sketched out our subjects, we painted them. Here are the results. My husband thought they were "interesting" looking. You know, it is about the process, not merely the results. Ha! We had fun working on them even though they look a bit odd. Yes, I do realize that my dog looks like a raccoon.

I also did a bit of crafting of my own for my friend's wedding. I made a wedding card and a garter for her. I free hand cut the dress and tuxedo. I embossed the dress with a BigShot swirl, but the card looked a little plain.

I went to Michael's craft store to find a little bit of bling to liven up the card. I think it made a world of difference. The Mr. & Mrs. metal plate was leftover from a set I bought 15 years ago after my husband and I got married.

The couple said that gifts were unnecessary but if you insisted, they would prefer money to help fund their honeymoon. I don't like to give cash as a gift in a plain old ordinary envelope so I decided to turn it into a garter. I took a regular garter, folded bills in half, secured the bills around the garter with small rubber bands, then wrapped ribbon around each bill. I was not very neat with the ribbon, but I was okay with how it turned out. The wedding was beautiful.

It was so nice to have a quiet(ish) week. It seems like life has been non-stop since our school year ended.

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