July adventures

With a new baby and temperatures in the 110 degree zone, plus the fact that our SUV's A/C is on the fritz, we have been spending a lot of time at home. 

One especially sizzling hot day I allowed the boys to wet down the sand in the sandbox to make it tolerable to play in. They made a nice little pond and ended up covered in water and wet sand. (What else would you expect?)  They stayed cool and had a great time, even though cleaning up all that sand from my floors was a pain in the you-know-what.
Ryan has figured out how to turn on the hose and he sneaks outside and turns it on all the time. Now it makes sense why our water bill seems extra high this month.  ha ha.

These boys had so much fun splashing and playing in their sandbox pond.

Ryan is pant-less once again. This happens often in our house. If you are male, and you live in the Hall household, pants are optional.

Also, Ryan was just potty trained (which he picked up so quickly and with almost no help from me) and sometimes he forgets to put his pants back on once he has visited the bathroom.

 Simon was trying to bury his train in the cool wet sand. He has become quite the ham in front of the camera. "Mom, take a picture of me putting sand on my train!!" 

 Almost as good as a swimming pool right? Ok, not quite. But it sure beats sweating in the Arizona summer heat.


Simon got a belated birthday card and $10 from his Grandma Udall and I took him to Target to pick out his present. He is a super shopper! He got Cootie, one of my favorite preschool games, and a "bubble bug". It's a ladybug that blows bubbles as it skitters around on the sidewalk.

 This is what Ryan thought of the bubble bug! I think he likes it.


There was one morning this month that was cool enough to take the boys to the park.  I stuck the 2 younger boys in the stroller and Simon rode his new bike. We took a soccer ball, a baseball and mit, and a jump rope. I was ready for some good ol' family play time.
The boys had their own plans.
Simon and I kicked the soccer ball around.  As far as I know Simon has never actually played soccer before, but he handled the ball like an old pro! Maybe my kids will have some athletic talent. It definitely didn't come from their mother. There was a reason I was a cheerleader and not out on the field.

 Ryan, on the other hand, was not ready to play. He happily sat in the stroller and proceded to repeat over and over that he was ready to go home. We're going to have to work on the family sports time so we can get Ryan involved too.

I let Mason bask in the warm shade while we ran around. Mason LOVES being outside. He has such a sweet temperment and when he does get fussy going outside always calms him down.

He even got to wear his own Cantaloupe Corner onesie. (yay!)

What else has happened in July?

This:

 Jeremiah fixed our broken sprinkler in the backyard.  My hero!

This is his audience. They wanted to get in on the action too but this is as close as dad would let them get. Somehow Ryan still ended up getting wet.

Last week we played with bubbles some more. I made up a new batch of bubble liquid and I let the boys dig through the kitchen utensils to find anything that would blow bubbles. Then we tried them all out and divided the ones that worked and the duds.

 The best kitchen utensil was a pasta measuring tool.
But the boys forgot all about the spatulas and spoons when I got out the real bubble blower.

So if you need an activity to do that is fun and cheap, bubbles is the way to go. Simon has been asking me to play with bubbles every day since then.

On a side note, I have finished a few projects this month. I have been working on t-shirts for Simon. He starts school in 2 weeks! (holy cow!!) I wanted him to have some unique shirts to wear. I'll post pictures later.  I also finished my solar oven last week and even cooked a meal and brownies in it. It sure beats heating up the house. 

And I figured out how to make the coolest pancakes ever!

Check out my Cantaloupe Corner post here for directions. It's so easy!

I love these boys! We have so many fun adventures together, little and big.