Hanging at the Houston Home: Week 11

School is officially over for the year for the boys but mommy still has to work for another three weeks so Grammy has volunteered to continue working with the boys to provide a little structure before the summer fun can officially begin!  My mom has always been my favorite teacher and my best teacher.  I feel so lucky that my boys are blessed to have her working with them while I'm going into school for the next few weeks to get the school year officially closed out and hopefully anticipate a face-to-face return in August with students and staff!  There is much to do and most of it requires being in the school building.  Children are not allowed to accompany us at school at this time so Grammy has been so incredible to come over to our house every day this week!  I would not have been able to do this without her! With hiring our AP as our new principal, we are still down a person to get all of the work done as we finish the 2019-2020 school year, a mammoth task with approximately 750 students and 100 staff members!  I'm incredibly exhausted as I type this on a Friday evening but very thankful for all that got checked off the to-do list this week!  Here are some of the fun things that happened when mommy wasn't working....

The boys got recognized for random acts of kindness during our school's morning announcements!

We took the boys to a local trail and gave them the opportunity to get wet and cool off at a nearby creek!  We saw a lot of wildlife (including a snake digest a salamander (that is what the boys are watching in the top left picture), a blue heron, many fish and turtles!  The boys also enjoyed throwing, skipping and collecting rocks!

I just love being an aunt to my two nephews and niece!! With Emerson being the only girl in the whole bunch, she is sometimes outnumbered but also spoiled with all things girly! I had to buy her an Elsa dress after she has been singing "Let it Go" on repeat!  This little girl twirling around my living room in that dress will be forever stored in my memory!

She also loves when Aunt M reads to her.... so she brought some of her favorite books over when she came to visit!

We got to watch the SpaceX launch and Crew Dragon Demo-2 dock at the International Space Station.  This marks the first rocket to launch from US soil since 2011, making it the first one since the boys were born.  Since a private commercial company using US astronauts started this mission, it is opening up many future opportunities in space travel!  I had two excited boys (and one excited mommy) as we had been anticipating this launch for days!  I told the boys I used to watch these rockets from my yard in Florida as they would take off into space.... it was a cool experience to share with them!

Just another Grammy appreciation post..... she helped Linds and I one day this week when I had to be at work and Linds had an appointment at the DMV!  She had all four kids!  What can she not do?!

Here is some of the school work she has been doing with the boys... designing a kite, creating butterflies and caterpillars, creating new games to play in the backyard and practicing reading and math skills!

I think we missed spring.... we are headed into the heat of summer..... we had the kids use the splash pad one afternoon in the backyard to cool off and enjoyed a pizza dinner on the back porch!  It was a relaxing and refreshing evening with the family!