Cornelius Chronicles

The kids have been coming up with new games of pretend to play. I get a kick out of listening to the stories they come up with and the things they pretend to be. One day as they were playing in the living room their game sounded shockingly familiar to me, even though it was a new game for the kids. Their pretend game was almost identical to a favorite pretend game my sisters and I would play during the summer, "Cast-Away Ocean Voyaging Orphans." Our game was quite a tragic story. My sisters and I, the oldest orphans at the local orphanage, learned that we had to escape from some evil bad guys who were out to steal the orphans and make them work in the local mine. (We watched a lot of Dickens, Heidi, and other stories of heroism.) We bravely gathered all the other children (our dolls and stuffed animals) and secretly loaded them onto a boat (the living room couch) for our great escape. Then the adventure began. This ill fated ocean voyage would be beset by storms, hungry

I finished another experiment in doily making. I made this pretty little thing by special request to coordinate with my little sister's beautiful kitchen decor. I really enjoy working with multiple colors. I think it adds something fun and different from your standard white doily. I've also been working very hard to try and budget my time more wisely so I can fit in a new goal. I've been busy studying for the GRE test I'm signed up to take at the end of September. If you have any great suggestions for keeping kids happy and busy so I can squeeze in a few extra minutes of math practice or vocabulary building I'm happy to listen!

How grateful we are for the rainstorms we have enjoyed since the Stake fasted for rain. The Heavens have begun to open up. We are thankful for every happy drop!

We have had so much fun this week showing Grandma and Grandpa C. and Uncle Jared around the Houston area. We are so glad they were able to come and visit and see some of the things we enjoy so much about our home. Here are some pictures of the many fun things we were able to do. :) Bekah was the only one we were able to catch for a fun pose with Grandma and Grandpa on July 4th. The boys were way too wiggly and interested in exploring to hold still for a picture. The pictures above were taken at the Challenger 7 Memorial Park during the ward pancake breakfast. We ate lots of yummy pancakes and enjoyed playing on the big playground toys. After the ward breakfast we went to the City of League City's Citizen Appreciation party at the League Park. It was a wonderful party with several free family friendly activities, great entertainment and lots of free food. They had a free petting zoo. The kids couldn't get into it fast enough to say hello to each and every goat and pig. Xa

Our peaches were ready to harvest this week. The kids have had a wonderful week of picking and eating fresh, warm peaches off the tree. I think they all have definitely met their fruit quota for the week. The peaches this year were plentiful, but small due to the lack of rain this season. Lucky for us they still taste wonderfully sweet. We are enjoying our little peach tree! During this week of harvests we also finished painting Loyd and Xavier's bedroom. It makes an awesome NASA rocket room. They boys love sleeping in their cool new bedroom. Swimming lessons came to an end this week too. We have had fun going to swimming lessons at the city pool for the past month. Bekah would go to class and the boys and I would hang out by the kiddie pool while we waited for her. Bekah has been perfecting her freestyle stroke and her back float. I am really proud of the progress she has made getting comfortable in the water and gaining confidence in her swimming abilities. It has