This month was all about work! After two weeks of vacation, we came home and went right to work. Gary laid 2,000 square feet of flooring at his aunt and uncle's house in Idaho and then came home to start our siding project. We have been delaying the project for years and now I know why... it is a lot of work! Gary's been slaving away all summer but it looks amazing!I went back to work after vacation with one less person in our department and no plans to rehire until 2010. That opened some doors for me to take on more responsibilities but it also means I have a lot of work!! Oddly enough, the changes have made my job easier in some respects and I really love going to work each day!!
We had a visit from Mimi and Bawmpy this month and spent some time at the beach to escape the heat. It was a lot of fun having them here. We painted birdhouses and made stepping stones and went shopping too. It was also VBS which we always love. This time we went to Jerusalem. The big kids built and raised crosses and Molly was the lone girl in a group of boys, but held her own!
It was a big month for the girls. Maggie turned 10 in July...no more single digits!! And oddly enough, just prior to her birthday she started looking older. It's totally killing me. We did a quiet celebration this month, with plans for a bigger party before school starts. We made all her favorites - like ribs and chocolate cake - and she got a pool for her birthday...just in time for the heat wave (new high temperature of 103, highest on the record books). We all spent a lot of time in the pool!! She also learned a valuable lesson on the 4th of July when she stood too close to one of the fireworks and got burned. Luckily it wasn't serious and she played fire marshall the rest of the night.Molly started the month off saying good-bye to the binky. Someone recommended I cut the tips off of all her pacifiers, because they don't work with the hole in them. So I did. The first night she tried every one and then said "Hey! Daddy broke my Boo!" She held one when she went to bed that night and didn't make much of a fuss. On night #2, she asked for it again and when I gave her the dud, she threw it down and said "I don't want that!" She never asked for the Boo again. She also started potty training this month which has been the source of a lot of comic relief. She insists that the toilet swallows and has even pleaded with the toilet while perched upon the thrown "Don't swallow me, okay toilet, don't."
