Summer: The Short Version

Scarlett had another violin recital where she played "Rolling Along" AKA "Mary Had a Little Lamb".  She did such a great job and I am so proud of her.  Since she is my girl, I went kinda crazy and made her a pink, real SILK dress.  It turned out gorgeous, but the fabric felt like working with wrapping paper and I'm not sure I'll use it again.  The most fun and exciting part though is that GRANNY came all the way from Indiana for the performance!

There's Scarlett, her teacher and Jud.  Thank goodness Jud snapped that pic of Scarlett putting her violin away.  And Scarlett with some of the other Plano Pluck students (along with some dad's head).

We were lucky enough to have Granny visit the rest of the week until Scarlett finished school (she also rocked kindergarten, is a reading mad-dog, and again, I am so proud).  Mom, Jud, Damien and I didn't have any problems staying busy that week.  We did the driving tour of Dallas, sneaked down to the fabric district and ate at a local diner while Damien was at work, and also had a lovely birthday dinner in honor of Damien with his family.  Mom, Damien and I made like bakers and created a fabulous version of Cheesecake Factory Hershey's Chocolate Bar cheesecake. Yum. 

The next week the kids and I drove Granny back up to Indiana and stayed for a week to play.  The kids love the country and I do too, duh!  They got to ride atv's, pretend to be firefighters in the bed of Grandpa's truck, got new cowboy boots (so they aren't out of place in Texas, of course), played on "Rocky Mountain", ate at Bucceto's, Starbucks, Noodle's, and got totally worn out. I got to look at old pictures with Mom, see the new-old houses, ride the atv, get feet and hands done with Mom and Moe. I was pretty worn out too.

We had a month of pool, play, and lazing before Damien's vacation time. And then we decided to go back to Indiana for a few days during his break.  We stopped and met Mom and some cousins at Holiday World, a terrific little water park in Santa Claus, Indiana.  It was fun and also a little stressful with all the kids.  We stayed in a hotel on our visit, which felt pretty fancy and we had a great time eating all the food Damien especially misses.  He also was able to do a little work with Dad, for which I am very grateful. We also got to celebrate Scarlett's birthday with Granny and Gramps.

Back in Texas, we finished Damien's vacation with more fun.  We saw Despicable Me 2, which the kids loved.  Scarlett got more birthday celebration with family here. We also visited the brand new Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.

Lately I've been working really hard to organize/reorganize our home and get ready for school. 

The kids helping me put a new bookcase together and subsequently filling it up for me.

Scarlett and I decided that we need a creative studio.  That's been a big motivating factor for me and I think we pretty much have it set up.

See the "S" for Scarlett, Stephanie, sewing, studio?

And here is the first completed project!

This may look candid, but that is actually her pose.  Spiderman insisted on jumping into the pic.

Granny gave her a new sewing machine, fabric and a pattern for her birthday and this adorable skirt is the result.  I helped her by doing the difficult stuff (zipper, hem) but she learned cutting, some top-stitching, seaming and ironing.  Also, she is able to wind a bobbin and thread her machine by herself.  That's more than many adults can do.

Also, she wanted to make a purse for her gorilla-buddy, it's so simple, but turned out well!

 

"Bully", Jud's longhorn-buddy and "Congo", Scarlett's gorilla friend.

We have only two weeks left until school starts and I am looking forward to the routine, but plan to have as much fun as we can until then!