Our Daily Life: July 2013

不It was cool when we were in China. We didn't get to wear the short-sleeves much at all. As soon as we were back home, it was completely different. The kids dove into all kinds of summer activities to battle the heat. Swimming was their top choice. Emily enjoyed every second of it as usual. It was Andy's first time to take the swimming lessons. But he only cried a couple of times when he was flipped into the water. He tried his best to catch up with Emily. We were so proud of them!

June marked the 10th anniversary of my baptism. David and the kids decided to celebrate it with cinnamon rolls, cheese cakes, and a family time at the indoor park.

Emily drew and wrote these cards:

She loves drawing and coloring. For Mother's Day, she colored all these cards and hung them on the kitchen wall.

We got a "color-your-own" type of tent for Andy's birthday. Guess who enjoyed it more?

Emily did a great job coloring this tent. She sat there for a couple of days. Then she got this (there were pictures on both sides):

This is another picture she painted

Playing with water balloons

Several big sunflower fields popped out in McKinney area this year. Aren't they beautiful?!

We started the food waste composting (Bokashi composting) back in April. We already had a couple of patches next to the vegetable garden. The melon on the top of the first patch grows vigrously. We are planting a couple of strawberries close to the second patch. Hopefully they will thrive too!

We had a combined birthday party (Dad and Amy) and Father's Day celebration in Mid June. We were so glad that Amy and Kendall moved back to Dallas.

When it was too hot outside, we spent lots of time playing hide-and-seek, reading books, and watching the animals outside: birds, horses, and rabbits (Oh no, poor carrots and lettus). We noticed a new gray horse back there after we came back from China. This horse loves running. He has a free spirit that no other horses had before.

These bird seeds were mainly for the cardinals. But those cardinals certainly got lots of competitors.

This humming bird visit us all the time. Emily and Andy gave him a name "Sammy".

There is a nest in one of the trees in our front yeard. One day, three little birdies hatched out and begged for food. The mommy bird was so protective that we couldn't get close to take a good picture. A couple of days later, one birdie jumped out of the nest and started to fly. See the three hungry mouths:

Mmm, homemade popcorns

In order to teach the kids the importance of washing hands, I asked them to rub one piece of apple with their hands before washing their hands and rub the other after washing their hands. They saw the difference one day later. Now no need to remind again!

For July 4th, we organized a FriendSpeak fishing party at Gene and Cathy's house. We all had a great time. Andy won the first place by catching five fish.