Summer is a busy time!

So, I haven't written in a while....

Summer has been a busy time. Unfortunately, not much progress on the inside of the house. We grouted the kitchen floor and tiled the buffet in the kitchen. It looks really nice. I think we've decided to put plank vinyl flooring in the dining room, living room and entry. It's the same stuff they use in hospitals and the like. Durable like laminate, but not so phony sounding. And it's less expensive. :) I'm afraid with kids and big dogs, real wood would be a disaster. I don't want to be afraid to "live" in the house and I want that area to be something other than tile. We tiled the hallway and Silas' bedroom. It's grouted and it looks so good! We still have to seal it though. Grr... And Silas' room is ready to paint, just haven't been able to get it done. :( The yard is looking so good these days! I'm more excited about the front yard than the inside of the house right now. I planted yellow purslane and bright pink periwinkles in the front bed. I've been watering and they look so pretty. I can't wait till we can really landscape the front! I have been relentless about watering the yard. Ashley got a weedeater/edger/blower combo for his birthday and he's been doing a really nice job. The oak trees out front are forming a canopy over the circle drive and I love it!!!! All the crepe myrtles are in full bloom, smelling terrific, and cheering me up. We bought two small red buds and planted them in the front. They're pretty much crap right now, but should come out nicely next spring. We also bought 20 variegated privet and 12 standard nandinas for the back yard. Most of them go along the back fence, but I planted 3 of the nandina on the west side of the patio to shield us from the sun and the ugly part of the back yard. Like the red buds, they aren't looking their best right now, but next spring should be showtime! We got a new a new light fixture for the front porch and Ashley wired flood lights on the east and west corners of the front of the house. FINALLY! Our house has been so scary at night with no lights! After 7 months, it looks like someone lives here! We want to put in recessed lights along the eaves, and then put motion sensors on the floods, but that will be a project for another day (and another dime).

The church behind our house has started construction on their new building. Sadly, they bulldozed most of the trees on the property, but thankfully, they left the big oaks lining our fence. I video taped the dozer pushing over those old trees and I felt like throwing up. The architects told us they are planting new ones and are "doing it right", whatever that means. I hope we aren't disappointed. Ashley asked the church staff what they were doing with the playground equipment and they said trashing it. He asked if we could have it and they said yes, if we could take it apart ourselves. So, he promptly got out there with his tools and disassembled it. When he gets it put back together, we will have an AWESOME swing set, fort, slide, and fireman's pole! Oh yeah, and a basketball goal! What fun! I just wish we had some nice shade trees actually IN our back yard. For "tree lovers", the Maples had the worst kind of trash trees in the back yard. Ugh. Oh well...

Amy, Mia and Remy came down in June. They drove in and stayed a few days, then Silas and I joined them and we travelled to Texas. First, we went to College Station to visit Koby, Irma and Olivia. It was fun to visit and it was the first time we'd seen Olivia. It was hotter than blazes, but other than that we had a good time. Irma is pregnant again and I'm excited for them. I wish I was pregnant too! After the weekend there, we went to Eastland and stayed with Christy for a week. It was nice and we got to see almost everyone. Jodi came down and stayed too and I enjoyed reconnecting with her. We had lunch at Charles and Kathy's with Grandmama, John, Summer, their boys, Melanie, Andrew, Sana, and Sarah. Big crew but it was nice to finally meet ALL the new kids and I had fun talking with John and Summer. We visited ACU for the first time since Honey died (13 years!). I cried a little, but I loved being there. It made me sad that I didn't go there for school, but oh well. I got Silas his first ACU t-shirt. >sniff, sniff< We swam at Fredia's and hung out with Nancy a little. Before we came home, we had lunch out at JoBeth's and James, Amanda, Lexi and Tristan came out. We were late which sucked, but I'm glad we did it. Remy got sick and threw up at JoBeth's and I flipped out a little. She was feeling better soon, but we got kind of a late start coming home. (shocker) I was sad to leave TX, but glad to be back home.

Amy and her girls stayed until July 5th. We went to the Fourth parade with Richard and Colby then Jena joined us for a cook out at our house. It was so nice to be around people!! I feel alive again, finally. I was sad to see Amy go. I miss seeing them every week. I think she's planning on coming back and staying from Silas' birthday to Remy's birthday. Yay!

Cindy from Henderson Hills Christian Learning Center called me back and asked me to work Wednesdays and sub on Thursdays. I have been going since mid June and I really like it. I am torn because and I like just going on Wednesdays. I am hoping she doesn't need me on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the fall. We'll see. I've made some new friends and Silas and I are going to the zoo with new friends Rhianna, Audrey and Landon after "school" on Wednesday. I can't wait! The only downside to going to HH is that Silas got a fever, throwing up, diarrhea virus after going twice. We had to miss a Wednesday and Thursday, but he's better now. It was super yucky while it lasted though.

And finally, Silas! He is such a big boy these days. I am wanting to pull the emergency brake on his growing. We had a well baby visit and he's in the 75% in height and between 50% and 75% in weight. When I see other people holding him, he looks so big! His legs hang over the edge of the changing table if he doesn't have them swinging around over his head.
I'm not especially looking forward to potty training, but I bet that is our next big hurdle. I know people that have little boys nearly 3 years old that are still in diapers. I haven't hated changing diapers, but it's beginning to wear on me. He's hard to wrangle!
For the first week, he called Amy, Mia and Remy, "Memy". It was so cute, but he got Amy, Remy and Mia (I think) down by the time they left. It's sad - sometimes he sees something and starts saying "Amy? Amy?" It's so precious and tiny the way he says it. He thinks Mia is the best. He chases after whatever she is doing and squeals.
He still loves to be outside even when it's like a furnace out there. Not so much fun for mom. Oh yeah, and he's taken to calling me Mom. Not my favorite. He's too little for Mom! At least he's also calling Ashley Dad. But still... His favorite thing is too go outside, turn around, knock on the door, say "hello?", open the door, shout "come in!" and go back inside. Over and over and over and over and over and over... AAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! The repetition of things sometimes makes my head spin. He loves to climb things. Ladders, furniture, people...
He is trying to repeat EVERYTHING. You can't really understand most of it, but the inflection of his voice gives it away. Instead of saying, "oh, shoot!" he says, "oh, shoes!" I love it! The air conditioner in my car isn't working and when I put him in the car seat, he whispers "hot, hot". Poor baby. He calls his pacifier "pac", his drink "eat", milk "milp", help "mama hep", shoes "shoes", outside "owsi-ee", Grace "yace", Elmo "ehmo", feet "feet", good food "yum" airplane "a-pane". His phrase for everything is "Oh no!" He uses it in EVERY circumstance and changes the tone and excitement depending on what's happening. If he's doing something he's not supposed to, he usually will repeat to himself over and over, "No, no! No, no!"
He can repeat the animal sounds for dog, cat, lion, duck, bird and cow. He can show you his hair, mouth, teeth, eyes, nose, ears, tummy and feet. He does the motions to "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "This Little Light of Mine". When the "Check Into Cash" commercials come on, he does the motion of making a check mark in the air like they do. He can blow kisses and hold his nose after a toot or burp (not just his either!). He stops what he's doing and dances when he hears music he likes.
He runs everywhere he's going. Sometimes, he's going so fast and light-footed that it looks like his feet aren't touching the ground. Still, he's happy almost all the time and he smiles. He's friendly and wave-y.