I'm assuming that everyone is as busy as we are, either working or enjoying the summer sun and warmth...either that or the west coast has finally broken off and fallen into the ocean. If that were the case, however, I'm sure we would have heard about that - even if we never watch the news. We haven't been especially busy with anyting out of the norm, just the regular flow of every day life, but that keeps us hopping in and of itself.
We went down to Dean and Kathy's on the 4th and spent a nice afternoon and evening, visiting with them and their friends and family. Dean's cousin had just recently been transferred (he's Air Force) from Idaho to Andrews AFB, so he was there with his family, to include a couple of young boys that Kadie was able to spend time playing with. There was some concern that the fireworks would not occur. There were several periods of downpour and, even when it wasn't raining, the humidity was so high (90 percent), we weren't sure we'd be able to see the fireworks after the first few (the smoke tends to just hang in the air over here and obscure things - we mostly see brightly colored clouds). Thankfully, it was not raining and a slight breeze picked up by 9 that night, so we had a pretty clear view. Kadie enjoyed them for the most part, but she did keep asking if they were going to fall on us or burn us. We drove home afterwards with Kadie falling asleep not long after we got in the car. Both Saturday and Sunday, she slept in until after 9, trying to get back on schedule.
A few weeks ago, we picked up the Wii Fit. It's a small board attachment for the Wii that you can stand on and do things such as yoga, strength moves, dancing, balance games, skiing, the ski jump, etc. We didn't have the time to set it up until a few days ago (playing it down at Dean and Kathy's prompted us to get our butts in gear) but, since then, it's been regularly used by all of us. It's really quite fun and it keeps track of how long you exercise, your balance, your weight and your BMI. Kadie is enjoying it, but she does get a little discouraged because the balance games can be quite challenging. I'm using it to add some variety and fun to my workouts.
btw...Kadie is now 3 feet 8 inches tall and 38 pounds.
I'm all set up and ready to go to school, starting next week (Tuesday). Jeff and I have been discussing how we're going to handle both of us going to school - who does what on what days, when we're going to designate homework time, etc. It's going to be an exercise in time management and sharing the load, but I think we can do it. I'm looking forward to my classes as they all sound very interesting. Jeff is still mired in classes that he's not really enjoying, and it looks like he won't be taking any "good" ones until around the first of the year, but he's still keeping with it.
Kadie is just whizzing along with her reading skills. Everywhere we go, she's reading signs and words that we pass - it takes quite a bit longer to get through a store now than it used to. She's also reading, partially and fully, books to us at night. Her math skills are also improving dramatically. She's able to add up to 4 (that I know of) different numbers - i.e. 3+3+3+1. She's also getting lots of practice measuring, stirring and baking with her new Easy Bake oven. She has made five or six different items to include a "batch" (about 12) of cookies that she decorated and brought down to Dean and Kathy on the 4th (they're the ones that gave us the oven).
We've also gotten a pretty good schedule down for dinners. We used to order out/pick up food 3 or 4 days out of the 5 and we're now down to 1 day (Wednesdays, when we have to work late and don't get home until, literally, bed time). I've found that the best and easiest way for us to do this is to gather a bunch of recipes for marinades then, using a gallon ziplock baggie, throw some chicken in with a mix at night, let it marinate all the next day and throw it in the oven when we get home. After 45 minutes (enough time for Jeff to get a workout in), dinner's ready. I'll post a few of our favorites in another blog if anyone's interested.
Well, we're almost to work so I'll wish everyone a happy and healthy day. Love to all!