E&E : Sweet Summertime

I can barely believe that summer is already halfway over for the Martino family! With the way it's been going, I kind of wish it would last forever! Nanny Sally is amazing. I absolutely love having her with our family. She is great with the kids, takes them to do all sorts of fun things and she does random chores around our house without me asking her or expecting it at all (vacuuming, loading and unloading the dishwasher, sweeping, etc)! And it just makes mornings so much more laid back and better when the only one I have to get ready in the morning is me! We give the kids breakfast when they get up but they are often still in their pjs when Sally shows up. We don't have to make or pack any lunches and there's the beauty of no added commute picking up or dropping the kids off from school. It's like I got an extra hour back each workday. I know these luxuries won't last forever but I am certainly enjoying them while they do!

Anyway, the kids have been having a blast this summer and I am so happy they are getting to spend it together. Here are some of the things we've been up to:

Ms Sally will text us pictures periodically of their adventures. The Frisco Library play area is a favorite destination.

And of course, it wouldn't be summertime without lots of visits to splashpads!

Frisco Discovery Center

Hahaha this picture

One morning when Levi went over to Kyler's house to play, Ms Sally took the girls to the Prosper Fire Station! They got to pretend to drive the fire truck, meet the firefighters and also meet the firehouse Dalmatian. Ms Sally said that Emery was very brave and even pet the Dalmatian after one of the firemen talked to her about how he used to also be scared of dogs and showed her how to hold her hand out to the dog to smell.

We finally got our Sienna! Eric was a rockstar and called the dealer So. Many. Times. to secure this car for us. Thanks to his diligence we only had to wait 2 months instead of like 6! It was so wild to me to drive this van off the lot with the odometer reading "4." I love that it is a hybrid and it has a very smooth ride. Unfortunately, I have such bad luck with cars, less than a month after we got it, a truck on 428 kicked up a rock and cracked the windshield 9"! So I have to get the whole windshield replaced already! We have to pay our deductible so it's going to $500 out of pocket and we haven't even made a car payment yet! Yikes! And then last night, we went to the Celina Splash and Blast (which was really great this year) and then right after we got back to our car and got in, a truck driving by clipped my side mirror and knocked the back off! Eric was able to re-attach it and said it just clicked right on and is very secure but I just couldn't even believe it. If that truck had been 1/16th of an inch closer, it would have taken off my sidemirror completely!

Isla loves to ride around on Levi or Daddy's back!

We went to get frozen yogurt as part of FHE the other night and Isla quickly became obsessed with climbing up onto these bar-height stools! As you can see, the little mischief maker also colored herself earlier that day. Levi was being a good big brother and guarding her carefully to help keep her from falling.

Went to the annual Splash and Blast in Celina last night! We were worried it would be just miserably hot because we had a heat wave this week with feels-like temperatures up to 112 deg but thankfully by last night it had cooled down and it wasn't too hot at all! It was so nice.

Isla had fun climbing up onto the stroller repeatedly and then swinging from the bar like this. I swear she is a monkey!

Matthew, Valerie and Silva joined us and Emery was just living her best life dancing like crazy to the music and playing with her cousin.

Isla watching the fireworks sitting on Daddy's lap.

Levi and Emery are getting even closer with their relationship this summer (which was exactly what I was hoping for). They have been doing sleepovers in Levi's room every weekend and I love hearing them play and chat together. Obviously, they sometimes have their disagreements, but I just love all the memories they're making together.

Me: "strike a pose!" Them:

I wish I could say the same for Emery and Isla but unfortunately, they are definitely fighting a lot lately. They still play together too but Isla tends to do things that Emery doesn't like (such as unplug her tablet while it is charging) and then Emery cries and then Isla hits her and then Emery cries more and then Isla goes "Emmie crying."

Speaking of Isla, little miss has been talking soooo much now. She says new words every day and is so chatty! She has been speaking in little sentences like "my turn!" "I helping!" "bread out" and "my do it!" She is very independent and still likes to try to dress herself and brush her own teeth. She loves ice in her water and climbs all the things. Her favorite mischief right now is to sneak into one of the bathrooms and climb into the sink and turn the water on to play in it! She also loves putting on other peoples' shoes and walking around the house with them on. She is a very determined girl and can be very vocal in her objection when things aren't going her way. She loves her binkies and recently figured out how to climb into her crib to get them! She still gives the best hugs and loves to read books, be tickled, and play with her baby dolls.

Eating her pizza big like the big girl she is at Carson Rick's pool birthday party.

She rocks Levi's slippers haha

Sweet girl gave us a fright the other week. She woke up from her nap one Sunday and wouldn't put weight on her L heel at all. She flinched and said "ouchie" when I touched her heel even though we couldn't see anything. And then for the next several days she walked around only on her toes on that side! So we ended up taking her in for an x-ray. Thankfully nothing was broken, she must have just bruised her heel- probably while jumping off of something (which is one of her favorite activities).