It's Hot!

You want me to eat what?

Look at me!

sweet cousins

Happy 4th!

Love these guys

Snuggled up with two of her favorites

Precious pouty face

Happy girl

Determined

Are you gonna get me?

Beating the heat in Joplin by making an inside fort

I will go ahead and say it, it's hot!  It has been 100 degrees for almost a month now!  My tree shriveled up and I was gone for 10 days in Joplin and my flowers died.  We went to visit Jeff in Joplin while he is on an out rotation and the extreme heat made it tough to stay busy while he was working.  We started every day at a local park but had to spend most of the day inside.  We got adventurous and attended a baby story telling class at the library.  She loved it so much!  Not only was she surrounded by books, she also got to sing songs.  Two of her favorite things.  We also spent time in the mall riding the carousel and lots of time in the book store organizing the books and stuffed animals.  My time in Joplin is planned around the great food.  There is an amazing cupcake shop that actually won cupcake wars on Food Network.  I ate enough cupcakes to earn a free one!  We also found a new ice-cream shop where they make 64 homemade flavors.  We were in heaven. While the food is good in Joplin, I am ready for Jeff's out rotations to come to an end.  He has spent 4 months a year out for the past 4 years!  We try to go when we can, but it is getting much harder now that Violet is getting older.  Only two more left for the rest of our lives, and Jeff is lucky enough to spend August in KC with my brother.  That will be so much nicer than our apartments and who wouldn't want to spend time with Tyson!  

     Violet is a little sponge right now and her vocabulary is exploding!  She can say just about anything and has starting putting two words together.  My favorites are her phrases like "Oh no" and "Oh man" and "Oh toodles".   When she wakes up she has started saying "mommy, oh no.....mommy, oh no!"  That's my cue!  She now knows all her upper case letters, most of her her lower case letters, numbers to 10, shapes and colors.  I can't even believe it.  I have loved sharing in her excitement when the knowledge clicks.  She gets so excited and wants to perform over and over again.  I think that is the teacher in me.  She is so thirsty for knowledge.  If she finds something that she doesn't know the name for, she holds it up to me until I tell her what it is.  

     We have had such a great summer and I am so excited for more.  I think it is going to cool down a bit soon so hopefully we can spend more time outside!