June

We’ve had a fun couple of days to kick off summer! Kyndall had her first (socially distanced) play date in eleven weeks, complete with gourmet popsicles, pizza, bike rides and fishing. We watched history being made and cheered on Bob and Doug from our living room on Saturday and then again on Sunday as we watched them dock and open the hatch at the ISS following their 19 hour journey. Kyndall started back to her weekly sewing class which she was VERY excited about. She and Matthew talked me into fishing with them and I showed them my skills by reeling in the very first bass, caught on a piece of hot dog which was my own brilliant idea. To round out our wonderful weekend, tonight we had the most gorgeous Texas sunset that I’ve seen in a while! I love summertime!

Kyndall's friend Ryann came over on a Friday night for an outdoor play date. It was Kyndall's first interaction with anyone outside of our family since March 15th.

Matthew took them down to the neighborhood pond for some fishing

We have the sweetest friends and over the last few weeks Kyndall has received several gifts in the mail simply because someone saw something with a turtle on it and thought of her. Our friend Mr. Jason sent her this beautiful necklace.

Looking like a teenager, hanging out in the driveway using her ipad

Each day at 2:30 Kyndall hops on a live directed drawing demonstration on Facebook. I decided I wanted to do it with her and surprisingly, it was a lot of fun!

Both in need of haircuts!

Matthew recently introduced her to The Flintstones and she is obsessed with watching them. She decided to sketch her favorite characters just by looking at them and drawing what she saw. I was super impressed!

More pool progress! Getting closer!

Back at her happy place, sewing class

Mrs. Dian taught her how to applique! 

I'm not sure which she loves more--Going to sewing class to sew or going to sewing class to see this cat named Ashley that belongs to her sewing teacher.

A neighbor across the park sent me this picture of a gorgeous rainbow that was right over our house

Glued to the TV as we waited for the launch!

When your little cousin lives 14 hours away but you want to watch a movie together, you make it work through FaceTime!

Kyndall is always making things for other people. She sat this by the back door one night so that Matthew would see it on his way to work the next morning. I love her heart!

How could I pass this up when I saw it in Walmart?!

Another Saturday afternoon spent doing what they love

Kyndall's friend Ashlyn got a new bike so we all went for a ride

Sunday morning snuggles in my bed as we watched astronauts Bob and Doug dock at the International Space Station following their 19 hour journey. Can you tell we're fascinated by this stuff??

Sunday afternoon, back at the pond and they talked me into joining them. I haven't casted a rod in years but I got the biggest catch yet!

One thing I love about living in North Texas is the beautiful sunsets we get to see. This picture is not edited--The sky looked just like a beautiful painting on this Sunday evening.

Just four days after the astronauts docked on the space station, we were able to see it passing over us for a few minutes. Pictures don't do it justice but we stood in absolute awe as we gazed at the gorgeous, rare "strawberry moon" just as the ISS passed over us. These are the things my nerdy astronomy dreams are made of! Kyndall seems interested in them as well, which makes me so happy.

The strawberry moon on the bottom and the ISS up top

This past week was probably our most exciting week since Spring Break, which is pretty pathetic considering we didn’t do anything that would’ve excited us twelve weeks ago but these days it doesn’t take much! Kyndall and I ate inside of a restaurant for the very first time since March 6th which was both wonderful and terrifying at the same time. We indulged on our favorites—chips and salsa and virgin pina coladas! We also went into a store for “non essentials” for the very first time which was the fabric store so that Kyndall could replenish her stash for all of her sewing projects she’s been working on during our quarantine. I admit it was hard to relax and just browse because I kept thinking “I hope we don’t regret this...I hope this wasn’t a mistake!” Nonetheless, she was in her happy place and hopefully we didn’t leave with any extra germs! 

For those who don’t know, Kyndall is utterly OBSESSED with Dude Perfect. It’s hard to even put into words how much she loves them. She has seen every episode multiple times, she knows their names and their personalities/likes/dislikes/who they’re married to/how many kids they have/etc. to the point it’s scary, she just read their entire book cover to cover and she insisted on seeing their recent documentary the same day it came out. To say she’s a loyal fan is actually an understatement! For Christmas we surprised her with tickets to their summer tour which was supposed to take place here in Dallas this month. After anticipating it since December, she was pretty bummed when they announced the tour was postponed indefinitely. She’s been asking us to take her to their headquarters for a long time so this weekend we decided to do just that. She already knew they don’t allow fans inside but just seeing the building where all of the magic happens was beyond exciting to her. Their cars were in the parking lot so we knew they were probably inside so we hung around for a little while, hoping they would pop out as they often do when they see fans drive up. She actually suggested that we just sit there all day because “eventually they’ll have to come out”. I’m all for making dreams come true but if I’m gonna die of a heat stroke in Texas in June it sure won’t be from sitting outside the Dude Perfect headquarters! She then says “we’ll just come back every day! Eventually we’re bound so see them coming in or out of this place!” Sorry kid, that’s called stalking. If I’m gonna end up in jail it most definitely won’t be from stalking out Dude Perfect. Even still, it was a thrilling experience for her. She came straight home and packed up a box of “fan mail” that she wants me to take to the post office since she was unable to deliver it in person. She’s holding out all kinds of hope that her mail will be featured on the show! 

A few other highlights—Nightly bike rides and driveway play dates, a visit from the ice cream man, sewing class, palm tree shopping for our (almost!) completed pool, FaceTiming with my Grandma for her 82nd birthday, free donuts at Krispy Kreme for National Donut Day AND free donuts at the neighborhood club house for an early Father’s Day celebration,  lots of crafting, lots of sleeping late, and her first day back at gymnastics class since the end of February. All of these things are so very ordinary but when life as you know it completely changes so drastically, it causes your perspective to shift. In this case, it hasn’t been a bad thing because we now appreciate the little things oh so much more!

When you haven't stepped foot inside of a restaurant in over 3 months, you go all out with all your favorites!

Kyndall's idea of Heaven--the fabric store

Wouldn't you know, she found fabric with sea turtles on it and the words "save the sea turtles". Needless to say, she bought it!

We look forward to National Donut Day every summer! Free donuts at Krispy Kreme!

Popsicle cheers to front yard play dates

Making a blanket with her new sea turtle fabric at sewing class

First day back at gymnastics

We love it when the ice cream man visits our neighborhood!

DP's biggest fan!

Palm tree shopping

98 degrees outside and she's over it!

Another day, another popsicle for these two

We visited another palm tree nursery the following day and naturally, she found this cat to love on

She spent much of her free time this week sketching this by hand! We are definitely framing this one!

I came across this picture from my 4th grade year. When I asked Kyndall if she could point me out, she wasn't able to! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not! I'm on the second row from the bottom, second from right in the floral dress.

As I said, Kyndall loves making thigs for people. She decided she wanted to make a "lovey" blanket for Easton. She had me take her to the fabric store where she picked all of the materials out herself and even paid for them with her own gift card. I really didn't know what to expect since she had never made anything like this but I was so surprised when she called me upstairs to see what she had done!

Sweet summertime! A long overdue lunch outing with friends, smoothies from Bahama Bucks, play dates in the street that last until bedtime, art camp, crafting, yogurt on the patio at Sweet Frogs, gymnastics class, nightly bike rides, Daddy/Daughter golf practice, chasing bunnies around the park until nightfall, cotton candy sunsets, dinner at our favorite local diner, lazy Saturday mornings, grilling burgers and enjoying dinner on the patio, homemade peach cobbler “just because” and a sunset game of wiffle ball with new neighborhood friends. While the rest of the nation seems to have lost their ever-loving minds, these are the things making our days so sweet!

Girls lunch date! Kyndall and Maley.

Smoothies from Bahama Bucks is one of our new favorite treats

Kyndall and her friend Katie made a gigantic jump rope out of loom bands and then convinced Matthew to try it out

Another blanket made at sewing class! This one will be a gift for her Great Grandmother. Once again she picked out all of the materials herself and paid for them as well.

Art class has resumed and she continues to amaze us with her abilities!

It's been a while since we've been here!

Evening bike rides have become part of our daily routine

Daddy's golf camp?

A trip to the ER was narrowly avoided and I caught it on camera! Ha!

Another gorgeous sunset

Each night she visits with her "pet" baby bunny that she has affectionately named Starflight. He/She comes out each evening around dust and lets Kyndall get pretty close. This evening Mama came out too!

A typical Friday night

Lazy Saturday morning making cinnamon rolls while wearing her favorite pajamas--Her Daddy's old cut up high school football shirt.

Saturday morning cartoons--This brings back so many memories from my own childhood

Another Kyndall original

Learning wiffle ball

Burgers on the grill and dinner by the (almost complete) pool

Slow paced weekends are good for all of us

Kyndall tried a burger which was HUGE since she refuses to eat meat. She loved it and says she's been missing out!

The artist at work 

I made a peach cobbler, just because!

Sunset wiffle ball with a new neighborhood friend

We spent the day celebrating our favorite guy just the way he wanted. In typical Matthew fashion it was a low key day consisting of sleeping late, watching cartoons with Kyndall, piddling around in the yard, and at his request we had a super fancy Father’s Day take out dinner from Raising Cane’s. Kyndall made him some sweet gifts and we surprised him with his favorite homemade dessert—a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. He’s a simple man who doesn’t need a big production to feel loved and appreciated and I think that’s one of the things I adore most about him. We were both able to FaceTime with our own Dads which is no substitute for being together, but in a little less than two weeks we’ll all be reunited at the beach! We are counting the days!

She sewed him a steak because that's his favorite food

Since they share a love for the Flintstones, she thought it was only fitting to draw a caricature of the two of them as Flintstone characters!

We made him a cake--His favorite--Yellow cake with chocolate frosting 

Thanks to technology, we were able to see our own Dads through FaceTime

In other exciting news, yesterday we kicked off the “official” first day of summer by filling our pool! We can’t use it just yet and there are still a few finishing touches needed but we are certainly in the home stretch! 

Making the cake we surprised Matthew with

The most patient dog that has ever lived

Using the neighbors pool while we patiently waited on ours to fill!

Again, the most laid back dog. Kyndall actually sewed these clothes for him, complete with a little brown cane that she attached to his paw.

Kyndall met a new neighborhood friend, Cameron. She's been coming down to play almost everyday and Kyndall is happy to have someone new to spend time with.

Water balloons!

Kyndall and I broke out of isolation for a quick girls lunch out. She ordered apple juice and we both giggled when it came out in a frosted mug looking a whole lot more like a cold beer than apple juice!

Chips and salsa is our favoite food group!

A few neighborhood kids set up a lemonade stand and Kyndall and Katie happily showed their support by walking down and making a donation. 

Art class creation--She made Dino from the Flintstones out of clay!

She sketched this picture of her late fish Bob the Beta 

I've been writing this blog for almost ten years. I have poured countless hours into documenting every last detail of our lives with thousands of pictures and stories. Each year Matthew has it printed into beautiful books that will someday be passed down to Kyndall and I hope she treasures them as much as I do! My 2019 books came and I loved flipping back through them to see all of the wonderful memories we created in 2019. 

Backtracking a little to show some pool progress pictures

"Where did our back yard go?!"

Plaster day! Finally!

Plaster is in, now to fill it!

Filling her up!

Not ready to use quite yet, but so tempting!

Fountains began working and landscaping was finishing up!

Finally, the very last weekend of June was officially opening weekend! We gave Kyndall the honors of being the first one in. She was SO excited!

Over the next few days we practically lived in the pool, staying out there many nights until after the sun went down.

Cam and Huck weren't too sure what to think and kept their distance on the porch

Until we decided they needed a little cooling off!

It wasn't long before Kyndall had friends over to swim--Something she had been waiting patiently for!

All that swimming wore her out!

On Thursday nights we go to sewing class at Mrs. Diane's house. I'm not sure which she loves more--sewing or visiting with Mrs. Dian's cats!

June was an exciting month because we were officially free from school PLUS we finally had a completed pool to enjoy! But...July would bring our long awaited family beach vacation!