Lots of Little Stuff

I have been way to hot and tired lately to blog much.  Plus we haven't really done anything big to blog about, so I have some little stuff saved up and so I will just do a bunch of mini posts within this post. 

Father's Day

For Father's day we decided to go to Colorado.  Doug's work schedule was arranged so that he would have Thursday, Friday and Monday off.  So with a nice 5 day weekend we HAD to get out of Clovis.  So Wednesday night we drive up to Colorado.  I have to mention we had to go a much longer way because I-25 was closed in one spot due to a wildfire.  So instead we drove from New Mexico through Texas and Oklahoma to get to Colorado.  We had a lot of fun visiting, and I have to say that it was nice to get out of the hot, brown, dry desert.  

James making Grandpa's gift.  We had the boys
decorate ties for Grandpa.  

 We went to Tiny Town again.  Mikey loved it.  He still asks to go to Tiny Town.

Mikey and Grandpa on the train

Mikey in the little house

Keeping Cool
When we got home it was HOT.  It has already been like 99 degrees almost every day.  Then I heard on the news that we were going to get a heat wave.  So this past week it has been 105, 106 108...almost everyday!  We have not wanted to even leave the house.  The boys don't even really want to go outside because it is just too hot.  The AC can't even really keep up, but the boys are finding a few ways to keep cool:

James lays his blanket right over the vent and lays next to it.
letting the cool air seep out to keep him nice and cool.

One morning I thought, "Hey lets go to the park as soon as we wake up so we can get there before it gets too hot."  We got to the park before 9am and it was already 95 degrees!  Needless to say we didn't stay long.  We talked the boys out of it by bribing them with the swimming pool at home.  When we got home I realized the mistake as soon as we got home, someone would have to sit outside to watch them while they were in the pool.  Doug was a good husband and agreed to take that job.

Boys in the pool.  This pool is getting a ton of use this summer.

 Jello
James' favorite thing lately is making Jello.  We NEVER make Jello and don't even have it in the house, but last time we visited Grandma and Grandpa they had green Jello.  It was all he could talk about on the way there this time.  So I now keep Jello stocked in the cupboard and James always grabs a box and asks to make it, even if we already have some in the fridge.

James and Dad making Jello, he knows all the steps.

 Our "New" Table
We bought our table 5 years ago, from Shop-ko.  So while it works, it is not the nicest table around.  The finish was coming off the top and it needed to be sanded and re-stained.  Doug had the great idea that instead of trying to match the stain we could just paint the top white and let the boys decorate their spots. I agreed since I don't see us having this table much longer because it only seats 4 and we are about to be a family of 5.

The boys loved painting.

The finished product. 

An added bonus is James now LOVES to help set the table.  He goes and get things to fit in all the spots.  It was funny at dinner tonight Mikey had set his cup off to the side after he got a drink and James told him that it did not go there and fixed it to go where his cup was supposed to be.

Best Night Ever!

Ok, that is probably a bit of an over statement, but I have been in a bit of a funk lately.  It is sooooo hot and dry here.  The wind has finally stopped blowing, but that just makes it hotter.  Also we started James' Gluten free, casein free diet 100% last week.  So we haven't been eating bread or dairy for over a week.  Doug is having a hard time with everything, and I am really having a hard time not having bread around.  I have tried several times to make bread, but it always comes out so dense and dry.  I just have to keep practicing.  

They boys decided to eat their tacos and jello with chopsticks!

It seems like every new recipe I try comes out OK, but not great and definitely not as tasty as things that are filled with gluten and casein.  Tonight we tried this new recipe Thai Chicken Wraps.  It was soooo good!  Probably something we would eat even if we weren't on this diet.  We did change a few things, like I cut the onions smaller, cooked the vegetables longer, and we used this sandwich wrap bread that I have been making instead of tortillas (where would I even find rice tortillas in Clovis NM?). Oh I almost forgot to mention, Doug didn't even notice that the veggies were BROCCOLI!  He actually didn't even notice he was eating broccoli.

While we were eating dinner I thought I had heard some rain.  We have been getting storm clouds in the afternoons, but no rain.  It hasn't rained a drop since we moved here.  The only moisture we have seen was 1 snow storm in February.  I wasn't very hopeful for today's clouds to bring anything since we only had a 10-20% chance for rain but, when I looked outside it was raining.  I think I made such a big deal about it that both boys were immediately done with dinner and outside playing in it.  I was tempted to join them.

James jumping in the rain

Mikey found a puddle

I have to say, a good dinner and a nice rain storm have done so much to lift my spirits.  Hopefully it isn't another 5 months before we see moisture again.