It seems like July just got here! I can't believe next weeks starts a new month. Natalie finished up both of her summer time school's this week. At the end of Summer Play Days they had a little music program. Of course Natalie and Abbie are standing right next to each other. The program was really sweet. Jeff took a video of it and I grabbed some still shots. Of course where we sat the teacher stood right in front of us. Ugg. I never get that right or the correct lane at the grocery store!
If you watch at the very beginning a girl standing behind Natalie gives her a hug. Natalie and Abbie both look mortified and I love it!
After the program Natalie went with MiMi for a little ice cream and then played at her house for a little bit. I had a little surprise in store for the girls. Julia's eczema is just crazy this summer with the heat. It also seems to be aggravated by grass, so needless to say going outside to play has been hard. I thought the pool would be a win, but it seems to make it worse too. So, instead of trying to make it outdoors, I thought I would bring in some new play equipment. Julia loves to climb and both girls have always loved to slide, so I thought this would be great. I put it together all by my self during Julia's nap and couldn't wait for her to see it.
I think you can tell from her face that she loved it. When Natalie got home from MiMi's she also gave it a thumbs up.
To try to increase the amount of good fats in the girls diets, I have been pushing avocados. Natalie loves guacamole, so she is easy, but Julia really doesn't seem to like it and quit eating it plain. So, my neighbor gave me a great recipe for Chocolate Avocado Mousse. Sounds totally bizarre, but tastes fantastic. I did make it once with sweetened cocoa and it was terrible. Be sure to get the unsweetened! You can also add more agave nectar to make it sweeter.
Chocolate Avocado Mousse
Ingredients:
4 ripe avocados
1 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Cup open avocados and scoop out the insides. Combine with other ingredients and blend until smooth.
Here are a couple photos of the girls enjoying the mousse!
I have been putting Julia's hair into a top of the head pony tail lately, because it is so long on the top that it gets into her eyes. Tired of the look I tried piggy tails today and to my surprise there was enough hair there! Yea! I thought it looked adorable. In other news, Mom and I took Julia out to eat tonight and I let her eat from the restaurant menu. With some prep before hand and making the kitchen staff aware of her allergies, I am happy to report that it was a successful dinner! We even got sugar cookies for dessert!
I was trying to get a photo of her hair before we left, but she wasn't having it. It is a pretty good photo of all of her teeth though.
These next two photos are from a couple of weeks ago, they were on my phone and I wanted to share them. The girls and I were out shopping when Jeff was out of town and they were just hilarious!
Julia loves to sit in the stroller like this. It just cracks me up.
I stopped at a new store here in town and they have a "brow bar". I thought it might be fun to get my brows done, so to keep the girls busy I gave them suckers. This is the first time Julia had one and she loved it! Natalie was very intrigued by the brow grooming process.
This weekend was relaxing and fun! We hung out with the girls and stayed inside to avoid the hot weather!
Jeff took these photos of the girls. They were both playing in Natalie's room. It is funny to see how differently the girls were playing that day! We have Natalie jumping on the bed.
And here Julia is sitting on Natalie's bean bag reading a book.
We did a little house cleaning too and thought the girls were old enough to put to work! They did a great job!
Of course Julia loves to do everything that Natalie does, so now she gets to brush her teeth with her.
I love the way they are looking at each other in this photo.
When I went to the grocery store on Saturday, I saw that they had Auntie Anns Pretzel mix. I thought it might be fun for us to make as a family. So on Sunday when Julia was napping, we got busy making them! To add to the fun we each made on in the shape of the letter of our first name. They turned out great and tasted even better!
Natalie enjoying her "N"
Natalie giving Julia her "J" when she woke up from her nap.
With Jeff out of town last weekend, life here still went on at usual. We were excited to attend Immanuel's second birthday party. Desi stayed with Julia since heat and chlorine don't mix well with her eczema. I had Natalie sign the card before we left and I just can't believe how good she is at writing her name. She makes me so very proud! I also love how it doesn't have to be in a line, as long as all the letters are there it is correct to her!
And here we are at the pool. It was so hot that Natalie swam for about an hour and then decided that she was done. What she wasn't done with was the pool toys and insisted on hoarding them for a while.
So, Julia and I have been sick this past week and our noses have been terrible. I took her back to the doc yesterday and the poor thing has an ear infection and a thick snotty nose. So, the doc put her on an antibiotic and hopefully she will be doing better soon. Because of all this, there has been a lot of nose blowing going on at our house. And since Julia is such a "monkey see monkey do" kind of girl, it didn't take long for her to decide that she didn't need me to wipe her nose anymore. It is kind of a hard video to watch as she is trying to climb on my lap the entire time!
On Friday Abbie's mom had a doctor's appointment so Abbie got to spend some time with us! The girls are really into dressing up and this time they wanted to be cheerleaders. My Dad got Natalie and Julia these very cute outfits for Christmas. I love their faces in these photos.
Natalie also got to babysit a dog Friday night and Saturday. The Ridder's dog, Maverick, was our guest. Natalie was very attentive to his needs and he did great. He was really funny with the girls. Natalie kept wanting to take him on walks, but it was so hot out, he just laid down! Natalie was very good about taking him outside to do his business and she loved playing with his baby.
Saturday I took Natalie to see her very first movie. Winnie the Pooh was out and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity. Of course everything is way more fun with our friends, so Abbie and Emily joined us.
Outside the theater.
Standing by the movie poster.
Waiting to go into the movie.
Heading into the movie.
Checking out our chairs.
Mesmerized by Winnie the Pooh and M & M's.
Natalie and me.
The girls walking together when left the movie.
I had taken a blanket for Natalie in case she got cold during the movie and after the movie while they were waiting they decided to cuddle up on a couch! What silly girls.
