Summertime happenings...

I am so far behind on here I don't know that I'll ever get caught up, but regardless, I'm moving forward. Here's quite a long post to recap how we've been spending our summer days.

Here's Felicity on her last day of school...taking gifts to her teachers, Mrs. Brenna and Mrs. Sarah. She had a wonderful year at CLC with great friends and great teachers and is already looking forward to next year.

For reference, here she is on her first day of school this year. I think she has lost a bit of that sweet baby face :-(, but the main difference is that her hair has grown...not longer, just bigger. 

Our neighborhood had a really fun start-to-summer bash complete with yummy food trucks and a Jimmy Buffett cover band. 

Felicity and her friends danced and danced until they dropped.

Felicity has always been and still is a great little shopping buddy. On one of our summer outings she picked out this pink heart scarf and probably the biggest headband/bow I've even seen. Loving her bold fashion sense...most days. :-) 

Not so sure about these shoes though...at least it doesn't look like she's a fan either.

She is also a big fan of trying all the lipstick samples at Ulta...

She also started taking gymnastics or "bynastics", as she calls it, this summer. This entailed getting her first leotard and also her first ponytail. She's having so much fun and was super pumped when she learned how to do a forward roll all by herself. She practiced and taught herself how to do it in her bed during "rest time". Naps are non-existent at this point, so at least she's being productive while she's confined to her bed! 

We've also visited the carousel at Stonebriar a few times which is always a big hit. 

She and I have both grown to adore Rachel Khoo. We have her cookbook and watch her show over and over. Felicity pretends to be whipping up French cuisine in her little kitchen and also really likes to help me cook. Its so hilarious to hear her using phrases like, "let's zest the lemon"..."we just need a pinch of salt"..."where's the olive oil?"  

And of course...always lots of art projects going on...

We went to a puppet show at the Frisco Library with some of her sweet friends from school...little cuties.

Justin has been playing on our church softball team, so if the games weren't too late (or sometimes even if they were) we were there cheering him on. They came in 2nd place overall!

Please note the massive gash on Justin's leg. This happened mid-way through the season, took weeks to heal and then the exact same injury happened again in the playoff game. Ugh...

And after a disgusting amount of indecisiveness on my part, we had the shutters repainted on the front of the house...and are very happy with the result!

Before                                  ::                               After 

 After 

Ants invaded the kitchen pantry, so that was a real treat. Here's a pic amidst the nightmare I had cleaning out everything...but after we sprayed this stuff we have not seen one! 

And just to make sure we're keeping it real here, we've had our fair share of lazy summer days, especially with pregnant mommy... complete with fast food and too much TV...

We also celebrated Father's Day...really I got no pictures of this event, but wanted to post one anyway. Here's Felicity bringing Justin his gifts - first thing in the morning, of course. 

We also spent part of Father's Day weekend with Justin's family...we went to lunch together and then came back to our house, went swimming at the neighborhood pool, to church and then to a Frisco Roughriders game. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of that either, but here's Felicity with Aunt Erin and Rachel enjoying her first taste of cotton candy!

The next weekend, my parents and brother, Ryan came up for a weekend before Ryan left for France this summer. For weeks, Felicity had been planning a huge birthday party for two of her stuffed animals - Teddy Bear, who turned 5 and Esther, who turned 2. She had organized decorations, presents, themes and more. It was quite elaborate and she was definitely running the show. 

Everyone had to bring presents for Teddy Bear and Esther and Felicity had made them some special gifts and wrapped them up herself.

Her artwork she made for them... 

Then, she went upstairs and came back down as Minnie Mouse - the special entertainment for the party. (Minnie Mouse made an appearance at Felicity's 3rd bday party this year, so she must think this is now what happens at every party...that could pose a problem in the future. :-) 

 Everyone had to pose with Minnie for individual photos. (She had dressed Mimi up too as Belle, so that's why my mom has that thing around her neck...just in case anyone is wondering.)

 Then for some reason we all had to go lay in our bed...never quite figured that one out. 

I made a peach galette for Teddy Bear and Esther and Felicity blew out their candles. Happy Birthday! 

Felicity has also been quite helpful in taking care of the flowers this summer.

We celebrated the 4th of July with our neighborhood parade and picnic at the pool. Felicity was so excited to ride in her wagon again. 

 I love how my belly is so big it's blocking Felicity's face. 

Later that evening our small group from church came over and we grilled out and had a great time. Here's a shot of the kiddos in our group. 

Felicity also completed swim lessons...she still can't swim by herself, but she had a fun time and made some good progress. Her favorite thing was riding on the magic cheese. 

And I was also proud of her for doing such a good job floating on her back. Last year at swim lessons this was the only thing that scared her to death.

And we finally got rid of the broken sleeper sofa in the media room and our new couch arrived!  The room is still a work in progress, but we've so been enjoying having somewhere big and comfy to hang out at night together.

Since our due date is August 10, our summer is winding down as we count the days until baby #2 arrives!