The First Week of Summer

Well, folks, it's officially Summertime here in Texas. We know this for certain because some of us are already dying of heat stroke. I love the carefreeness of Summer and all of the activities, but oh my heavens, the HEAT. Sometimes I think we should bring back the whole fad of women carrying parasols to shade themselves from the sun. Except maybe now it could be the 21st century edition of a parasol that has a built in fan inside. You get shade AND you get a cool breeze. OOH! And MAYBE A MISTER!

If some inventors would like to invent a nice parasol that includes a cool breeze and a mist feature, I would be willing to spend probably one hundred American dollars on that. So go forth and invent, please.

So, Ellie doesn't have school this Summer, which means we are in danger of spending our every days inside watching movies and eating Goldfish. While this doesn't sound all that bad for me, I am pretty sure childhood development experts would frown upon this, so I've got to come up with some other things. I'm not going crazy with it or anything (I'm getting bigger with pregnancy every day) (at some point I'm going to be sitting on the edge of the pool like a beached whale) but while I can still function, I'm trying to have some Summer fun with my girly girl.

In the afternoons, she always convinces me that she needs to just sit and put her feet in the water. I say okay and I sit in the shade while she splashes. She always, always ends up getting totally soaked.

I have to go inside, get a towel, panties, and new clothes. Every time. But hey, I guess that's what Summer is for, right?

One night this week, Grant got home from the gym and jumped straight into the pool. Ellie was losing her mind with jealousy so we stripped her down and she swam naked. I had already gotten her dinner ready (frozen pizza) (it was from Whole Foods so I felt a little better about it) and we brought her pizza outside and she sat on the edge and ate her pizza and I was just so tickled with the whole thing.

We went to a splash pad for the first time this week and it was a hit! 

I did make a rookie mistake before we left the house that morning. When I was getting her into her suit, I decided it would be a better idea to lather her (and myself) with sunscreen before we left the house. I knew once we got to the splash pad she would have a pretty low tolerance to stand there and get drenched in SPF 50 for 10 minutes. So I pulled her into my bathroom and that's where we got all sunscreened up.

Y'ALL. 

MY BATHROOM.

The floors are sooooo greasy and I can't get it to go away. 

Don't apply sunscreen indoors.

THE END.

Another thing that has been going on this week is the lack of napping. I think I've mentioned that we took away Ellie's paci. For the most part, it has gone well and she's done just fine. The one thing that has suffered is nap time. And I really, really love nap time. She just plays in her bed for 2 hours and jumps up and down and will not even attempt to fall asleep, even if I know she's tired. 

When we got home from the splash pad the other day, I knew she had to be tired. But sure enough, after one hour of jumping on the bed and playing, I could tell she didn't think a nap was a necessary thing in her life. I walked up to her room, opened the door, and BEGGED her to close her eyes and fall asleep. She informed me that she could not do that. I told her that if she took a good nap, she would get a popsicle when she woke up. 

I do believe I will be using popsicles as a bribery tool throughout the Summer, thank you very much. 

Sometimes I am not interested in the heat of being outside and I choose to look for activities that involve cold drinks and an excellent air conditioned room. So, when my friend Tamara over at Katy Moms Blog posted a link to all the kids Summer movies going on around town, I printed that sucker out and highlighted all the movies we will be attending for $1 or less.

Yesterday, we went to our first at Alamo Drafthouse. 

We saw an old classic, Land Before Time, and Ellie really loved what she is now calling "Dinosaur Movie." It was a fun throwback for me too, as it's been decades since I've seen it. The nice thing about Alamo Drafthouse is that we can also order lunch and eat during the movie, which we certainly did. We shared a chicken tender basket with fries. And I also got a soft baked pretzel with cheese dipping sauce because that sounded amazing. 

AND IT WAS.

As for today, it's National Donut Day, so my friend Olga is coming over with her sweet girl and she is bringing donuts and I am providing coffee. I'm not sure what Ellie and little Blythe will be doing, but the pregnant mamas are going to be enjoying ourselves some donuts.

And I'm pretty happy about all that.