Reality

The other day I was getting on to post another fun week of themes and reality settled in. I had truly only a few minutes before Isaac was into our computer wires or Vivi was getting up from her "rest" time in her room (which lately is time I have her in her room with a childproof lock on the inside so she doesn't roam the house!). This is my crazy life right now. So I get on to post some beautiful pictures and after searching for 30 minutes or so and calling Nick to blame him for relocating them on the hard drive, reality settles in. I have erased pictures before I downloaded them. It's totally my fault. This sets me into a downward spiral of failure as a mom. I spent so much time trying to make our time fun and capture it perfectly...but I'm not perfect. I mess up all the time. This of course, is after losing it on my daughter for peeing in the laundry room through her last set of underwear (after all weekend long peeing through underwear in public, in our home, outside, etc. and her telling me she did it because she doesn't want to use the potty!). So...I felt the need to post this lesson that God has been teaching me lest I deceive anyone into thinking I've got anything figured out! Friends, God has really been working my heart in the area of motives and I have realized my motives are so often impure. God says He loves a "cheerful giver" and I believe unfortunately so much of what I do is not out of the overflow of His love for me but some selfish motive. On top of that, I have realized I am measuring so much of my worth as a mom based on my kids performance. YUCK!! Pride at it's worst. Basically, when they are acting out I feel like a failure and when they are behaving well I feel really good about myself. Fortunately, we love and serve a gracious God who doesn't judge us on our performance. This is the "true" reality and I am so grateful!

Week 4- Under the Sea

Go figure, the week I pick for water we get rain in July! It still turned out beautifully. We started Monday off with a bang. We met a good friend of mine Amber for her birthday and her boys John Paul and Andrew at the aquarium in Dallas! It's tremendous! Vivi had a ball. Tuesday, Nana watched the kiddos for a day inside of "Little Mermaid" and matching shells game. Wednesday we had my sister and niece over for a day in the slip and slide. Great entertainment for little money! Thursday we joined Ellen and Rachel for "Nemo" and some playtime in their Nemo room. Friday we headed over to my sister's for a day in their pool. I have to say the best day was our family day on Saturday. We packed up and headed to the best kept secret of Granbury- a public beach. The water felt great and we enjoyed just sitting on the beach and having the waves hit our toesies. Nick spoiled me with a lunch at Babe's afterwards. What fun! Last night, Sunday I made a special under the sea dessert- blue jello waves with Nemo gummy treats. Enjoy the shots. This unfortunately does not include the aquarium shots as I erased them! For understanding, read my last blog.

Week 3-Pets

Last week we focused on pets of all kinds. We happen to be petsitting for some friends and my sister so we had a little fish-Fin. Monday we cleaned his tank which Vivi helped put all his tank toys back in. We also watched my sister's dog-Oreo. We got to spend a day playing in the sprinklers with Oreo and I wish I could post video of this because it could win me some money on America's Funniest Videos. Tuesday we set up a pet shop and bathed/brushed/blowdried our pets. We also made special doggie treat desserts. Wednesday we joined my sister for a Chihuahua movie. Thursday we ran some errands and finished up at the Petsmart where we said hello to the dogs, kittens, fish, birds, guinea pigs, mice, and more! Friday we had a friend over and made some pet puppets with lunch sacks and random craft materials. Enjoy the shots!

4th of July

I am getting so backed up as we've been BUSY BUSY in the Dons household. Here are our 4th of July pics. We headed to my sister's for a day in the pool and just did sparklers out back in the evening. It was great fun and the pool felt fabulous! It was a lowkey and really relaxing day. Thanks Em for hosting!

Week 2-Camping/Dinosaurs

Our second week of theme was focused on camping and dinosaurs. This week we set up our little tent and tunnel inside for the kiddos to play in. Isaac loved crawling down the tunnel and Vivi loved reading and playing in the tent with her flashlight. Some of the hightlights of the week included having Ellen and Aaron over to play. Ellen enjoyed a tink flashlight of Vivi's that they put on a show with inside the tent. They also sent camp postcards to their cousins to tell them we'd miss them for camp week. Vivi also got into dress up with Ellen and ended up doing a camp cheer for daddy that night. We also retrieved a long lost toy from my sister's our dinosaur! Isaac loves sticking his hands in the holes and slobbering on the balls. Wednesday was the most fun heading over to the library to get books on camping. It was even camping theme week there for storytime! How perfect! Then we went to see "Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs" with nana and papa. Lots of fun! Thursday we went for a dinosaur fossil hunt in a shady sandpit near my sister's. Unfortunately, Isaac picked up a little headcold so plans changed a little for the weekend. Friday we moved the tent to Vivi's room and let her "camp out" in there. Saturday night we ended up grilling hotdogs and cooking marshmallows on the grill for smores. Vivi really enjoyed those! Overall it was a fun week. I also got a little whiteboard that I put our plan for the week and a verse for the week with our theme. Vivi's taken to decorating the bottom half. Enjoy the pictures of my little camp cheerleaders, my crazy dino man, and fun smores.

Summer Themes-BUGS

We have a long summer ahead of us like most friends! Here in Texas once the summer temperatures hit it's very hard as you really are restricted to pools or being inside. With having a toddler who can't swim and an infant I knew this summer would be a challenge. We opted not to put Vivi in summer school so I had to get real creative! I came up with this idea to have different themes each week which help dictate our activities, crafts, movies, books, foods, etc. Last week was our first official week and our theme was "bugs". We spent the last Monday of June at the zoo for early opening and focused on the bugs. What a treat, God gave us a day with high temp's in the 80's and we ran into our friends the Jones. Tuesday we planted out our back bed with flowers and added some to the front as well. We enjoyed exploring outside and looking for bugs. Daddy enjoyed the hammock with the kiddos that night as well as bug hunting with a new net and plastic cases for catching bugs. Daddy also brought home a yellow towel which Vivi wore so she could be a bumblebee. Those were the big activites but we also really enjoyed some fun foods. I made ants on a log, and these breadstick snails. The best day was when we invited Clara and Becket over to help make cupcakes with M&M/licorice bugs. They turned out real sweet. Finally, we focused our reading time, movies, and games on bugs. I found these bug dominoes you can cut out of High Five magazines and Vivi and I REALLY enjoyed playing those. Friday we watched "Bug Life" which we love. We also made a hungry caterpillar by painting a water bottle and glueing on some fuzzy balls. Vivi loves to paint so this was a good activity for her. My sister also gave us a fun idea which we're trying to incorporate a letter of the week. This past week was "B" for bugs but you look for pictures of anything that starts with the letter and glue them/draw them on to a large letter. Vivi LOVED typing out words that start with B. Tune in next week to hear what our next theme is.