We had a fantastic Father's Day last Sun, although I completely neglected to get out the camera even once! Today I decided to at least capture the card that I helped the kiddos make for Tim. Joseph made some zeroes and ones, and Rosalie did the back-and-forth scribbling. Both helped put stickers on, and were so excited to run into give it to Daddy on Father's Day morning! Tim got to sleep in while we made the card and waffles and fruit syrup for breakfast, and he certainly didn't protest when I shooed him back to bed when he came out before we were done! After presenting him with his card, Joseph helped me sing Daddy's Homecoming and Rosalie even joined in on the "mmmwwwa!" for the "great big kiss" at the end. Tim said being "woken up" like that was the highlight of his day. As a bonus, his meetings for church were cancelled, so we got to spend lots of time together! It was a great Father's Day to celebrate such a great dad!

No matter how sweaty Tim is when he gets home on his bike in the afternoons, and he's been particularly so lately as the highs have been in the 100s the past few days, the kiddos run right over for hugs and fun! Here he is tossing them up in the air while getting ready to take them on a walk. What a super daddy!

Joseph and Rosalie sure love snuggling together on this pallet on the floor. What a blessing it is that they have each other to play with!

Joseph may only be three-and-a-half, but he's definitely learning to read! With the help of the book Reading Made Easy, he's already reading sentences like "The dog sat in the rain." and "I can bake a pie." completely on his own, and here he is with Tim reading lots of the words in this book about families we checked out from the library. He's familiar with the book, and is excited about the camera, so he's trying to anticipate and getting a little mixed up here and there, but when he actually concentrates on the word in front of him, more often than not he can read it. What an amazing little guy!

Last night, we noticed it was getting warmer and warmer in the house, and finally discovered around 1:00 AM that while the fan was running, the AC unit wasn't actually turning on. Tim spent the next hour or so trying to troubleshoot, but we ended up calling a repairman in the morning. He got here in the early afternoon and was able to fix the problem, which is lucky not only because it was already in the 90s inside and climbing, but also because we had feared needing to replace the entire unit, which would have cost somewhere around $6000! In any case, I'm happy to report that it's finally cooling off, but slowly enough that we're all still wearing as little as possible! Warm as it may be, our little senorita can't help but show off her moves. She sure does love to dance!

Sleeping in a tent is never quite as restful as sleeping at home, and that goes double when you've got small children in tow. Tim and I are managing just fine this morning, but the kiddos are plumb tuckered out! I took them down to the water right after breakfast, but Rosalie wouldn't stop crying, and Joseph finally just asked to go home. So, we loaded up our sandy car with our sandy gear and our sandy children, turned on the radio and the A/C, and spent just a few minutes out in the surf together. It was so nice, and when we got back to the van, these are the tired faces we found waiting for us! We'll have to keep in mind that one day of playing at the beach seems to be enough, but it sure has been nice to get away for a while!

This morning, we woke up, loaded up the car, and headed off to Padre Island National Seashore. There's just something extraordinary about stepping out of your car onto the warm sand, seeing the blue water, and hearing the roaring waves. We just love living this close to the beach!







There's not too much to report, really. We're just bumming around, splashing around in the water, digging in the sand, and Tim and I are doing a bit of boogie boarding. Rosalie was a little anxious about the waves at first, then became almost too bold, and a few facefuls of water later, is now having fun without getting in too deep. She loves the seaweed! Soon, it'll be time to set up our tent, pull out the camp stove, and otherwise get ready for a night on the beach. We're having a marvelous time so far!

Here's a little demonstration of Rosalie's book reading habits. Joseph plays with the books, too, of course, but he was busy with other things today, and I think these were all strewn about by the little lovebug herself. How lucky we are to have access to such great books to read!

Rosalie has moved on from necklaces to headbands! These are a pair that were given to her by Grandma Susan, and often she likes having one on her head and one in her hand. She is quite the girly girl!

Speaking of Grandma, she asked the other day whether Rosalie likes books as much as Joseph did when he was her age. The answer is a resounding yes! She plays with them all day long and probably plays with books as much as she does all other toys put together. Here she is grinning at what she sees inside this one!

She loves clothes in general, too, and is often raiding her dresser drawers to pick out a shirt, pants, jammies, etc to carry around with her. When I get out clothes to get her dressed, I often say something like "How about this one?" or "Is this one pretty?" and she'll answer with an "Hoooo!" or a squeak. Here she is tonight before bed walking around with this dress, also a gift from Grandma by chance, over her head. What a silly little goose!

Rosalie has been practicing walking around the kitchen all afternoon today, and sure is pleased with herself! She's even good at falling, too, and has yet to bump her head or anything, although it still makes her pretty frustrated when she does!

Joseph has been still really enjoying his Kumon workbooks, and is learning so much about using crayons, scissors, and glue! He's particularly proud of this traffic light he colored, and keeps talking about how it looks like other real traffic lights he's seen. I sure love watching both our kids grow and accomplish things!