Update - July!

I can't call this a "weekly" update - being that we haven't updated it for over a month now. Oh gee - where to begin??

Tiffany had to go back home - something about a college orientation. She's going to JMU next year. I tried to make her miss her flight by getting stuck in horrible Atlanta traffic. But her flight was late, so she made it anyway. We really enjoyed her visit and miss having her around! Of course we haven't heard from her to know how badly we scared her. Except that her mom (my sister Vicky) called us for our "Taco Pie" recipe. So I guess she got one good thing out of the visit! ;-)

We had an uneventful 4th of July. Parade, pool, cookout. No fireworks other than some sparklers and fountains we set off - the kids were just too tired. Oh yes, and Alex got "hand, foot, mouth" again. Hideous childhood funk.

Veronica had some swim lessons this summer and is doing great. She needs her goggles to swim comfortably, but has abandoned her water wings and swim vest. And she really tries to hold her breath under water longer and longer now. She's not comfortable being more than an arms reach from the side or stairs, and prefers to stay in the shallow end where she can still touch - but we're getting there!

Veronica's Big 5th Birthday is coming up. We have a huge "wet and wild" party planned - complete with an inflatable water slide, water balloons, and a visit from Ariel. I have no idea what to expect. I am so unprepared for 25 kids in our house. Oh yes - segue to next item:

Our renters are moving out August 1! FINALLY.
(Did I mention that Veronica's party is August 2? So that is 25 kids in an empty house, which makes it a bit more manageable!)

The timing isn't the greatest - we have Veronica's Birthday, then we'll be on vacation for a week (at Ariel Dunes - of course) and then it's the first day of school. We plan to do some work at the house and officially move back in on Aug. 15. (Work like: paint, change the locks, etc.) We should be minimally ready for visitors by the end of August!

Yes, we have recent pictures, no we haven't posted them yet. Will soon.

Oh yes: I'll be changing jobs AGAIN. Yes - this is starting to be as funny as how often Nathan and I move. How many jobs can Jen hold in ONE year??? But I get a bye on this one - I'm actually going back to an old job. But I can't say any more until after Aug. 1.

Imagine It!

June 28 - Atlanta Children's Museum - "Imagine It!"

We finally trekked into the city with Tiffany - with Veronica & Alexander in tow. We took something of a scenic drive around town, and settled upon a first time visit to the Atlanta Children's Museum...aka Imagine It! A pretty neat place.

I think we (the adults) were skeptical at first as it seemed to lack more than a passing semblance of structure, but it really was pretty neat. It was like a "thinking version" of the relatively recent phenomenon of "jumping places" where you can get your kids sugared up and set them loose on a number of inflatable environments and slides. One of the differences being that at the Children's Museum, I didn't lose square inches of skin on my arms form chasing Alexander up and down an inflatable mountain and obstacle course.

The video you see is Tiffany and Mommy working with Veronica and Alexander on a mural. I think Tiffany will appreciate that I'm not sending the other two videos in my phone of her dancing with Veronica in front of a greenscreen with different dress-up outfits on. Cute stuff.

Anyway - we hope you are having fun, Tiffany! :)

Veronica Jumping

The Jumper - June 23

Sorry for the grainy quality, but it's still precious. Believe it or not, this is from the Cobb County Rodeo. After the broncos, Veronica got bored pretty quick with the rope tricks and dragged daddy off to look at the other things about the rodeo. She rode the ponies for a long while, and eventually climbed off (for a second and final time) and wandered over to the bungie jumping setup they had rigged. She wanted so bad to do what the bigger kids were doing - going a-boing-boing and doing flips. Most of her jumps were done "a la Superman" as she tried flipping forward or backward - she didn't have enough weight to manage anything but outstretched arms, looking more like the Wiley Coyote in a repetitive freefall. Precious. ;)