Wrapping up July

It seems lately that at the end of every month I find myself looking forward to it and hope that the next month will be less chaotic.  However, it turns out that each month is just as crazy, stressful, demanding, and busy as the previous month.  Here is a little of what we did for our month of July:

We ended up putting 508 miles on our car alone with our church callings: 395 of those miles was for Nathan's high council calling, and 113 miles was for my calling with the Young Women.  Let's just say that Nathan is pretty much gone 2 of the 4 Sundays each month.  For one Sunday he usually spends about 10 hours total for one high council visit (traveling time, meetings, visits afterwards, trainings, etc).  Sundays are not a day of rest at our house.  The Lord's work is never done.

On a funnier not, one afternoon Hannah was taking her bath, and she started to cry (somewhat hysterically).  When this cry happens it is usually because she has pooped in the bathtub and she FREAKS out about the little prize she leaves behind.  So I went into the bathroom expecting to find a stool floating in the tub, but I came in to find this:

Apparently, she had dropped some of her toys outside the tub and thought she could get them herself.  She got halfway out, but couldn't seem to push herself back in/up.  Hannah was totally stuck.  It was so cute and funny that I couldn't help but take a picture.

In the middle of the month we had to say goodbye to some very dear friends (who were also our neighbors).  I am so, SO sad about this!  This couple invited us over to dinner when we were house hunting last year in PA.  We clicked instantly as friends and Hannah loved to flirt with Rich (especially at church).  Hannah also loved it when Pamela would come with me grocery shopping, or running any kind of other errands.  As sad as I am about this move, I couldn't be happier for them and the incredible opportunity they are about to embark upon.  Good luck Rich and Pamela.

I ended up making a chore chart for Hannah to hang up in her room.  Right now, it is still a "toy" to Hannah.  We are working on having her not play with the magnets.  I can't take credit for the idea -- I got it from Pinterest.

Our biggest news for this month is that we finally sold our Iowa house!  WAHOO!  We closed last week and are no longer homeowners (until August...hopefully).  It is soooooo nice to have that burden off of our back.  It seems now that the only ties we have left to Iowa are the friendships we have made (and we really miss our friends by the way).

On the day we sold our Iowa house, Hannah and I drove up to see some friends who live about 30 minutes away.  They have a beautiful piece of property with lots of land, and they also have 5 ponies, so Hannah got to have a pony ride (this is her second one so far in her life).  This pony's name is Cowboy.  Hannah had a blast, and knew exactly what to do -- hold on to the saddle, put her feet in the stir-ups, etc.  She loved every single minute of it and did not want to get off.  The entire way home she kept saying "Ride Cowboy!"

Later that day, we actually headed back up to help the Markel's unload 4 truck loads of hay (which by the ways smells awful).  After the men unloaded the hay, Hannah got to go on another pony ride, though this time it was a larger pony named Shannon, and Hannah rode it bareback style!  Again, Hannah knew exactly what to do -- she grabbed the horses mane and held right on.  Shannon is actually the horse I ride when I go for my riding lessons (did I mention I'm taking riding lessons too?).

Nathan and I also got to go on nice date this month.  One of my Young Women that I work with was in a play with her parents, The Crucible, so we went to go see a matinee.  Afterwards, we went and had dinner at the Nittany Lion Inn to celebrate the closing of our house in IA!  Dinner was delicious, and we were the only people in the dinning room (we ate dinner at 5:30 pm after all).

Nathan went home teaching later in the month, and Hannah helped Nathan get dressed.  She loves helping Daddy choose ties, put his belt on, get his socks, and help choose his shoes.  This time, Hannah wanted to wear a tie so Nathan helped her put it on.  Hannah loved it.

One funny thing that Hannah did this month was actually on Sunday.  We all got up at 10:00 am (still not quite sure how that happened, but it was amazing because we all slept in!).  We were out in the family room when Hannah farted.  She turned her head, looked over her shoulder, and went in a circle or two trying to see where her fart went.  She then said "see loud?"  We laughed and she laughed.  It was priceless.  Afterwards, we got ready for church (it starts at 12:30 pm -- ugh).

And today when I was laying down during nap time, Kronk came up and decided to sleep on my stomach.  Weirdo.  I guess he just needed some reassurance.

Our 4th of July

First and foremost, our house was more decorated this year for Independence Day than it was last year.  You may remember that last year we had just moved from Iowa so we were still unpacking boxes then.  Plus, I made some new decorations this year.

I spray painted some kidney beans to fill my vases.  I'm actually excited about these beans because I can store them and use them over and over again for other holidays.  I know some people will put M&Ms or other candy in there (which is a brilliant idea), but I can't do that because they will get eaten by myself, or by one of the many kids that come over to my house in the course of a week.

And I also made a few wreaths to hang on a few of our doors to help make the house more festive.  I think they turned out really cute.  Plus, they were really cheap to make.

We spent our Independence Day shopping for mattresses, bedding, lawn mowers, work shirts for Nathan, eating, napping, more eating, visiting with neighbors, and then of course, watching fireworks.

In order to celebrate for the 4th of July we had to dress for the occasion.  I got Hannah's skirt from Walmart for $4.  Isn't that awesome?!

I also did her hair really cute too.

Our next door neighbors invited us over again this year for a tasty BBQ.  It was nice not to have to drive somewhere or sit in any traffic.  We love our neighbors.  We made a tossed green salad and some Funfetti cookies for the kids.

Hannah enjoyed the Doritos chips and got them all over her face.  She would not stop chowing down on them.  Luckily, I got her to eat some corn and watermelon, which is a miracle in itself.

After dinner, Nathan napped while Hannah and I played outside with the kids (luckily, it wasn't too hot here).  As dusk approached the fireflies made their appearance, and Hannah was freaked out by them.  She would scream and pretty much sat on our laps the rest of the evening.

Once it got dark enough, our neighbors put on a cool firework display.  This was the first time that Hannah had seen any kind of fireworks.  I was a little nervous and thought that she wouldn't like them (noise, smoke, sparks and all), but she LOVED them.  She was totally engrossed, jumped up and down with excitement, and loved every minute of it.  She loved watching Claire and Harrison play with the sparklers, but her favorite were the bigger fireworks that put on a cool display.  The last picture is of Hannah jumping up and down during one of the bigger displays (it's a little blurry...sorry).  It was so fun to watch her.

After the fireworks we walked back home, put Hannah to bed, and then we ourselves turned in for the evening.  It was a nice, enjoyable day.