A Quick Labor Day Visit from Grandparents

Grandma and Grandpa Howe came to visit over Labor Day weekend.  It was a short stay, but the kids are always excited to have them come, especially after covid has made us cut back on the number of visits we've had with each other. We had an enjoyable few days just hanging out a the house while they were here since it was to hot to be outdoors and  most places are still closed, including church. 

Grandma and Sophie twinning in their floral prints

Helping the kids assemble their Home Depot kit for the month - a crane! 

Bedtime stories

Playing with papa

Sophie Starts 2nd Grade

Sophie has started 2nd grade and get's to go to in person! We are very grateful, as many students around the nation went back to school virtually. So far she is loving her teacher and being back in the classroom. There are a lot of things she wasn’t happy about like her friends all being in different classes, and assigned seating at lunch, and the playground being closed at recess, and parents not being allowed to visit, and of course wearing a mask for seven hours a day, but despite all that she still said she is so happy to going to 2nd grade. On her first day she was so proud because she was the only student who knew how to read an analog clock. The teacher asked what time it showed and the other kids said 11-6, but she knew that the hand pointing to the 6 meant it was 11:30 - smart girl!

Picking up Sophie after her first day

Some photos Mrs. Cano sent home since parents could not come to the school to see their kids

August 2020 Roundup

It’s hard to believe we are already at the end of August! After returning from our trips it took me a while to unpack and get caught up on laundry, groceries, and all the day to day stuff again. Since we were gone so long, our fridge and pantry truly were bare and it felt like starting from scratch. At least Walmart is just around the corner!

Covid is still here and many things are still closed, cancelled or limited, but Sophie goes back to school on Tuesday after the longest Spring Break ever!! (she was in the classroom on March 13th). We met her teacher in a drive thru line this past Tuesday and she seemed nice, but it was hard to tell too much when someone is wearing a mask and you only get to see them for 30 seconds. 

I love summer storms! A big one rolled in to welcome us home after we drove back from Dallas.

Davey is a weed pulling machine! He loves to help me work in the yard and we had lots of really big weeds to pull after being gone for so long.

Griffin cuddling some paper towels

Can you even see Davey with how much camo he is wearing??

Sophie being an awesome big sister

Dave started teaching classes in person again this month. He had also been home since March, and I think it will be easier for everyone now that he can work in his office again. Our house is not calm or quiet so accomplishing any real work was difficult. 

Charlie gave up naps cold turkey when we returned from our summer travels. Sad day for me!! He does go to bed much easier now, though, and sleeps great at night.

Taking a walk in new sunglasses!

Charlie scored some free sprinkles on his ice cream because he is just too cute :)

August 2020 Video Clips

Griffin at 5 Months

We've had five wonderful months with this little guy! Griffin has become a champion sitter and roller and loves to practice his new skills all day long. He's still toothless, and we have no idea when that will change. We were starting to see a nap pattern emerge, but the start of school pretty much obliterated any schedule he'd like to have so we're just rollin' with the punches over here. At least he's still cute when he's teething, overtired and crabby.

Griffin at 5 Months

• He loves to chew on anything and everything so I hope that means he will be excited about food when it's time to start solids in a month or so.
• When he gets angry he will start spitting. At his last checkup he had to take an oral vaccine and he did not like it AT ALL. The harder the nurse worked to get it in his mouth, the more he would spit. It took about 10 minutes to get him to take a few ml of liquid and who know how much ever made it in. If he gets rotavirus down the road, we will not be surprised!
• His hair is still pretty thin, but what he does have is fluffy and wild. There is a tuft on the back that always sticks up just like a duckling. 
• He is always moving, kicking his legs or waving his arms. He does not like to sit still and snuggle.

We love this sweet face

We got the walker out of storage after returning from Dallas. I put him in and Charlie immediately went to get his car so they could roll around together. 

He can roll! Normally our babies are too fat to roll until they are older, but I put him down on a blanket for a minute and when I came back he was just on his tummy looking around the room.

He graduated from his car seat to sitting upright in the stroller

Is this a late nap or is he in bed for the night?? We never know with Griff.

And these two pics are stolen from my Instagram stories. I have know idea what happened to the originals. 

Summer Isn't Over Yet (Thanks Covid!)

We returned home from all our trips for Sophie to start school on the 20th, but then it got pushed back to September 1st. I was actually not sad about the delay, and hope the district is using this extra time to make sure all the proper protocols are in place so the kids can return to school and stay there! I would hate for her to start back up and be all excited, only for everything to shut down again the following week. Sophie would be so sad and disappointed and I would be too! I am looking forward to getting back into a somewhat normal routine after all these months of unknowns and uncertainties.

One of the best part about our bonus summer days, was the neighboring district did not delay their start so we were able to enjoy some local fun without big crowds. We did a day at Lake Mackenzie with friends are were the only ones there! It was so awesome to to just relax and enjoy the water. I could have stayed there forever.

The Discovery Center opened a new outdoor play area with dinosaurs and a sand dig pit. Davey was so excited to finally go see it since we had been watching them install things behind a fence for months. 

Griffin was very skeptical of the sand

We also took the kids for a midweek play day at Chuck E Cheese! They think it is the greatest place on earth and always have so much fun when we go. 

Our last bonus summer outing was too the zoo. Sophie hardly ever comes with us to the zoo anymore since she is at school and we don't like going on Saturdays when it's crowded.  Like most zoo trips we spent a quick 30 minutes looking at animals, and then a good hour playing in the sand.

Sophie loved this little tiny turtle

Griffin was more comfortable in the sand this time around