July Catch Up

July was filled with a bunch of random things. One of which being spyware. That's right, spyware broke my computer again and now I am finally catching up. Is it just me or does it seem like I'm always catching up?

Jason was very busy during July. Besides trying to fix our computer he has been very active in his church calling with the Young Men. He goes to all the activities and teaches nearly every Sunday. He even volunteered to go to scout camp for about three days. We were sad to be without him but glad he got to go. He had a great time and is really enjoying his time with this group of kids. They were sad to see him leave and I was anxious to have him back. Just because I can handle the girls all by myself on Sunday doesn't mean I want to.

Jason skipped a day of work in order to attend scout camp but didn't miss a beat. He continues to dazzle his peers and managers with his creative ideas and data bases and other things that I don't understand.



I'm still busy working for Hallmark. I work on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I like Saturdays better because I get to listen to Crazy-Stock-Room-Walmart-Guy singing, well mostly I'm not really sure what he's singing but I do know it's pretty funny. We even got a new home phone line, a requirement for work. I'm sure my brother will be very happy since he made a point of ridiculing me for only having a cell phone. Which is odd since he never calls me anyway . . .

Anyhoo, when I'm not working I am trying to avoid playing Barbies with Adri. It seems like that is ALL she wants to do. Ever. So I take the girls to Sam's Club for a cookie, we do crafts at the library, we go swimming, we get a toy at the dollar store, we visit the local pet store where Juliet enthusiastically barks with/at the puppies. While Jason was at scout camp I even took the girls to Longwood Gardens and stopped at Dunkin' Donuts on the way home. It seems like we would have no time at all to play Barbies but, alas, there is always plenty of time left over it seems. Oh well, a healthy relationship with Barbies never hurt anyone.




Adri is getting more and more excited for her birthday. She keeps wanting it to be today or tomorrow. Aside from those two days, time really has no meaning to her. I try to refocus her excitement on other things like making snow cones and playing Barbies but, because her birthday most likely means MORE Barbies, she isn't very easily distracted. She was distracted for a few minutes at least when she fell off of the top bunk of her bunk bed. She was playing with her cousins and took a tumble. She also took a good sized chunk out of her lip. She recovered quickly and the wound healed in a week. Unfortunately, we might have to ban playing on the top bunk for now. Oh, and we found a pile of sand in our parking lot (to be used in making cement)and absconded with some of it to make a small sandbox on our patio for Adri.




Juliet is a year old. It makes me feel, well, not old but, something . . . Juliet has taken her first step but became extremely upset when she realized that is what had happened. She has finally learned how to sign "all done." Signing isn't something I'm super excited about but we do like to teach "all done" and "please." For a while I thought she was just refusing but now I think she is getting the hang of it.

The rest of the month wasn't super exciting. The 4th got rained out and we set off a few sparklers during the day and tried to catch the end of a fireworks display at a golf course near our apartment in the evening. We made up for it by having a great time at our apartment pool party. The girls made hats and swam in the pool and ate hot dogs. Best of all, I won a raffle prize! A $5 gift card to Dunkin' Donuts and one to the Wawa (a local gas station). I mused that I could use my card to buy about one gallon of gas at Wawa. Luckily prices have dropped quite a bit since then.

Some of our East Indian neighbors also made hats and Jason thought it would be funny to take a picture of said hats. Even funnier is that, a few weeks after the party, I met a little girl named Aditi at the park and told her that I had seen her hat at the pool party. She was unimpressed but I was pleased to have remembered the name for so long.

I hosted another mother's night out party at my place and we managed to stay up until midnight this time. The next night Jason and I went to see Mama Mia, the play, in Philadelphia. I was so excited to like it and so disappointed when I didn't. Then we came out to find TWO tickets on our car and then got lost on the way home. This made me like Mama Mia less and less.

Juliet attempting to give her friend Madelyn a kiss

We celebrated Juliet's birthday on the 23rd at Nancy and Bruce's house. We invited some friends over, ate pizza and opened presents. Juliet enjoyed her rice crispy treat "cake" and I enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to make a real cake (I went a little crazy for Adri's first birthday). My mom sent Juliet a thoughtful package but we had been away for the day and found her box on our porch full of melted gummy bears and other goodies. It's a good thing Juliet isn't particular about the shape of her gummy bears.

Juliet's new bubble mower - from baby Madelyn and family

I know this entry makes my last entry seem a little out of order but I'm doing the best I can so let's all just deal with it.