July Jubilance

Our Bucket List Adventure continues:
20)  Neighborhood July 4^th Parade
21)  Blue Bell Creameries & Fireman Park
22)   Dunlavy Splash Park (Ervan Chew Park)
23)   Statues of the Presidents and The Beatles
24)   “Greetings from Houston” wall mural
25)   Art Car Museum
26)   Donovan Park
27)   Bellaire Nature Center
28)   Westbury Park
29)  Studio Movie Grill: Charlotte's Web
30) Main Street Theater: Pippi Longstocking
31) Memorial City Mall: Play Castle and Carousel


Now for the next installment of cute/funny/crazy things the kids do or say:

- Grace wrote a thank you note to the windshield repair/replacement guy.  I'm pretty sure it made his day!

- Matthew: My peepee looks like a water gun.  It's funny!

- Grace: (Walking in ear shot of random people at church)  "I was adopted AND born.  Matthew was just born." 
Me: (I think she's proud to be adopted!)

- Matthew: (Said to mommy after showing a new dress she bought) "That's the prettiest dress I've ever seen!"

- Jeff heard a wimpering sound coming from Matthew's room after bedtime one night, but when he walked in he couldn't find him.  Then he heard the wimpering start up again after Matthew hit his head trying to sit up UNDER the bed!

- When we were looking at these huge sculptures of the Presidents sitting in a parking lot, Grace noticed an artist using a blow torch with some metal.  She commented. "I bet they have a dragon to help with the fire!"
 

-  After seeing these enormous (2 story tall) sculptures of The Beatles, Grace said, "I will meet the Beatles in heaven!"

- After having a successful trip to the bathroom, Matthew flushed the toilet and said, "Bye Poo Poo, have fun with your friends!"

- One of our summer outings was a trip to see the Pippi Longstocking musical at a children's theater.  In preparation, I read the chapter book to Grace before the musical (she really enjoyed both).  The day after the play, Grace asked to have her hair braided like Pippi, or maybe like Ana (from Frozen).  After a visit to time-out in her room that morning, she declared, "When I saw myself in the door handle, I thought, yep, I look more like Pippi than Ana!"

- When Daddy pulled into the driveway 45 minutes early one day, Grace declared, "This is going to be crazy!"

- Grace is becoming more and more independent and told me she likes having projects or working, so now she has started putting her folded clothes away in her drawers, emptying the dishwasher, and makes her bed every morning before breakfast.  She is also excellent at picking up and putting away her toys!


Parenting lesson learned:

I don't know about any other parents out there, but one of the most difficult challenges in our house each morning is getting one of my kids (to remain nameless) to cooperate in the morning to brush teeth, wash face and wash hands.  Well, this mama finally wised up and discovered a method that works!  I started timing Grace and Matthew and told them the fastest one to accomplish these things in the morning (with my help) would get to choose what flavor of bagel we would have for breakfast.  You wouldn't believe how effective this method has been!  A few times I forgot and fell into the same struggle, but I quickly went back to this method and it has worked for an entire month now!!!  Now if either child accomplishes this task within 4 minutes or less they can choose their own bagel flavor!  Hallelujah!