What I Love About Summer

Summer just has such a special essence about it - one that I think kids just breath in the moment they wake up and fuels them through each day. I have such fond memories of summer days when I was a child, but as I grew older, summers lost a bit of their glimmer as the time was filled with employment or studying. Thankfully, having a child of my own has revived my senses to summer's essence. And how sweet it is to savor the joy anew with Morgan. Even sweeter still to present her with some of the quintessential summer experiences, like...

POOLS!

POPSICLES (WHILE IN THE POOL, OF COURSE!)

SPRINKLERS PLAYED LIKE A HARP

SPRINKLERS USED AS A WATER GUN

DRINKING FROM THE HOSE

ICE CREAM

What We've Been Up To...

Now let me explain what I/we've been up to during my prolonged silence...

Memorial Day weekend: My brother-in-law Matt surprised my sister Steph with a trip here for her birthday. Of course, my sweet niece Maddie (who is four months younger than Morgan) came along. Despite the above picture of toddlers-being-toddlers, the girls had a great time together, and Jonathan & I had a great time with Steph & Matt. We even had a kid-free double date where we went to Wildfish (pricey but really yummy - and this comes from a non-fish eater) and watched Terminator: Salvation. Definitely a memorable weekend that we hope we don't have to wait another two to three years for ;)

Two weeks later: Dad and Mom came down to visit. It's always great to get to spend time with my folks as we don't see them near as often as I like. And now that Morgan is getting bigger, it's even more important to me that Morgan knows her grandparents. While they were here, we visited the President Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch in Johnson City which was free and totally worthwhile. Mom also installed a swing in the backyard for Morgan, and Dad helped Jonathan lay more than 100 pieces of sod. Beyond that, we did a lot of just hanging out together and visiting. It was great. I felt spoiled after having family come twice in three weeks time.


Herbener Family Reunion/Fourth of July: We saw lots of out of town family over Father's Day weekend for a family reunion and the Fourth of July. Morgan became particularly enamored with Jonathan's Uncle Tom (who married us) and Aunt Kay, now known by Morgan as Tom-Tom and Kay-Kay. We're glad they live up in Arlington so they aren't as far away as some of the rest of the family. In fact, we are already contemplating going up to be with them in the fall (as well as catching a Texas A&M game at the new Cowboy stadium).


Visit with Aunt Jenny: Last sumer Jen & I (and Morgan) got together once a month during her summer break. Unfortunately, this last week was the first we were able to get together this summer. As Morgan is older this summer than last, she was able to more fully comprehend just how "special" it is to have time with her Aunt. They read Morgan's recent favorite book (several times), and Aunt Jenny gave Morgan her own private piano lessons. It was so cute to hear Morgan say "Play again Jenny" and "Read Jenny." I grew up with awesome aunts so I'm really glad Morgan is building relationships with hers.

In addition to these things, we have made a few trips to Fredericksburg on weekends, joined the gym and started going three times a week, caught a summer flu bug, volunteered for a week of VBS at our church, and crammed in some CLE and playdates in between it all. Summer fun... Whew, I need a vacation!

Father's Day Photos

Yes, yes, I'm aware that it's been quite awhile, but hey, here I am so give me a bit of a break please :) Again, if you really want to keep tabs on me, I would strongly encourage you to sign up on Facebook.

I thought I'd share with you Morgan's latest pictures taken for Father's Day. At that time, she was 1 year and 9 months old. So as you can calculate, that puts here on the fast-track toward the Treasured Two's. I hope we're ready!

Summertime Ritual #2

Popsicles. Enough said.

Granted for now it's just Pop Ice, but we have to start small (and relatively clean) before graduating on to the real thing - Bomb Pops or Itzakadoozies. No surprise the popsicle was a hit with Morgan.

Also, before you go reporting me, the girl is next-to-naked only because I expected a much larger mess. And because I followed up the popsicle with another frolic in the hose. Good times. Makes me wanna be a kid again too -- oh wait, I get the joy of living it through Morgan. Thank you Lord.

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest kid ever. (No offense to your kid who I'm sure is just cheek-pinching adorable as well.)

Summer is here!

Now that the thermometer is consistently registering in the 90s and our grass is nearly crispy-fried, I have to relent and admit that San Antonio's six months of summer have arrived. The Midwesterner in me really does try to pretend it isn't here for as long as possible, but there's no denying this sweltering heat anymore. Jonathan even knew I had given in when he came home a few weeks ago and said to Morgan, "Wow, Mommy's wearing shorts. I haven't seen that in awhile." So it's time to stock up on sunscreen, tank tops, and deodorant ... lots of deodorant.

This will be the first summer Morgan is actually old enough to enjoy summer and all its richness. I am going to try to fulfill as many of those required childhood summertime "must's" as I can -- though maybe not all this year. She checked the first one off her list last week - playing in and drinking from the hose. While I was watering flowers, Morgan couldn't keep herself from the appeal of the hose. Although I initially tried to keep her from getting wet, she would not be deterred and I consented to the summertime ritual. She and the dog had a fabulous time drenching themselves in the cold water. I couldn't help but smile and take it all in.

So Jonathan chose a camera angle that makes it
look like I'm urinating in this one. Excellent...

Wickedly Cool

So here's a nifty little follow up to our NYC trip a few weeks ago ... remember how we had our credit card information stolen while we were there (which was discovered when we went to purchase our Wicked tickets)? As we had narrowed it down to one of two vendors who possibly perpetrated this offense, we decided it would be um... fair to let them know that they were potentially employing someone with this capacity to defame their business. One of these two vendors was the hotel we stayed in. When notified of said possibility, the manager on duty acted like "Yeah, so? You can't prove it was us. What do you want me to do about it?" Honestly, we weren't jerks about it ... really. When I got home, I posted a review of our hotel on TripAdvisor, my favorite of all travel forums, recounting our experience. No kidding when I tell you, the VP of their Property Management emailed me the next day to inquire further and then asked if he could call and speak to me as well. It took a few weeks but finally last week, he did call. Mr. VP was super cool and very apologetic. AND ... to make up for it, he offered to let us stay at either of their two NYC hotels "as his guest" whenever we want! Cool, huh? We currently have no plans to go back, but I promise you if the right airfare comes along, we'll be heading back to the Big Apple ... and leaving Little Miss with G&G again :)


Also, in the wake of NYC, I recently checked out the Wicked soundtrack from our library and am loving it just as much the second time around. Sadly, I feel like I have forgotten significant parts of the plot already that occassionally shake lose while I'm singing along as Glinda or Elpheba. In fact, I'm really starting to get the itch to suck it up and purchase tickets for one of the June performances of Wicked here in S.A. as part of Broadway Across America. I'm going to start praying for this little gift :)

In further pursuit of my own personal Wicked Mania, I additionally checked out Wicked (the book) by Gregory Maguire and have to say that so far I am whole-heartedly disappointed - nearly to the point where it is ruining the musical for me and I'm tempted to quit reading it just to perserve the integrity of that experience. Can anyone else offer me their thoughts on this?

What's new with Morgan? Well, I'm glad you asked. Her latest obsession is her "puppies" - the two pictured below. She loves to take them everywhere - as seen here eating lunch with her. She also takes them in the car, wherever we go running errands, and gives them rides in her little toy stroller. It's pretty amusing.


One is a husky like our real dog, Sasha. However, she insists its name is Roxie, like our cat. Whatever. Not a fight worth fighting. And the other is Tramp, from Disney's Lady and the Tramp. It does feel a little weird to tell my daughter that her dog's name is Tramp and then to hear her call him that. Does anyone know if this dog has another name?

Okay, so maybe we are related...

I just recently learned that Morgan's hair is now long enough to be pulled into these little pigtails of sorts. Jonathan actually calls them antennas because they stand straight out from her head. I don't care; I love them :) AND I'm tired of people not knowing whether Morgan is a boy or a girl when her hair is down.


So I sent this pic and another to our family members to show off the new 'do. After receiving them, my sister Kel promptly called me and proclaimed that I could no longer allege that Morgan and I don't look alike. After seeing the pic of me below, I think she may be right. Morgan definitely still favors Jonathan and his family, but no question about it, she's my girl :)

Me at 22 Months. Morgan is almost 20 months old right now.
I wonder if she'll get this much more hair in the next two months
or if she just got bad hair genes.