Go Lady!!!

Summer is officially here and boy is it hot!!!  Temperatures are in the 90's but with the heat index...it feels easily in the 100's.  We have been spending lot's of time in the pool, on slip and slides and in the air conditioning.  Our summer is packed full of adventures!

I will work through the summer and James will continue to go to school.  James loves going to Mrs. Christie's where he is learning so much. He knows his ABC's and days of the week. If you ask him when his bday is he will tell you "August." He is counting with his fingers now, manipulating each finger holding them down with other fingers to make the correct number. He also knows a little Spanish...colors, numbers, and a few other words.  Everyday he surprises me with something new.  He told me yesterday, "Mommy you Shelly.  I know that!"  He is definitely listening and absorbing everything. His newest thing is when we are driving. When we come to a red light, he say's "red light, STOP!" When it turns green, he yells "green light, GO!" And when we come to a stop sign, he firmly states "GO LADY!" Hmmmm...wonder where he learned that from. ;0)


The girls are excited about camps which start up next week.  Ashlee will go to Padre Island for Beach Retreat with the youth group.  Sydney is going to Camp Carolina with the JUMP kids from church.  It is her first time to be away from home at camp. 

The week after that the girls will go camping in San Marcus with Grandma and Grandpa Higgins and all the older cousins.  Then ... Ashlee's trip to East Texas to visit Mimi Jones and her family there while Sydney visits Mimi Powell and family there.  They will arrive home just in time to go with me to Austin.  I will be there on business, but the girls will be boating and having plenty of fun with Gma and Papa Hoenerhoff.  James and Dad will be home, living it up ... just the boys! 

Then I turn around and leave again on business to Phoenix for a conference the last week in July.  The girls are going to be a big help to Dad while I am away for the week!  And then we will wrap the summer up with our trip to visit our dear friends, the Tremblay's in Pittsburgh. We will take the kids to Niagra Falls and best of all...the Hershey Chocolate Factory!

Darrell and I just celebrated our 4 year annivesary!  Can't believe it!  For our anniversary/Father's day, the kids and I got him a fishing kayak.  He has been wanting one for a long time and our friends Roger and Moe found a really nice used one.  So we surprised him (blindfold and all)!  He was so happy!  He is actually fishing right now with Roger...left with his kayak at 4:30 this morning!!!  And I haven't seen or heard from him since.  I might regret this gift ... nah!!!  Just means the girls get to for a pedi and movie later ... heehee!

Oh, I almost forgot about our new family member!  We rescued a puppy that the kids named Balto.  He is a gentle, sweet dog that showed up in our yard one day.  He hung out for about a week while we searched for the owner.  Darrell went to take him to the Humane Society where he learned that they would euthinize him because he has Pit Bull in him.  Needless to say, there was no way we could allow that.  He is an absolute sweetheart!  So here he is with James (in his kennel).  His best friend as you can see!