End of July Randoms

We celebrated my nephew's birthday with a "Plants & Zombies" theme because he really loves that video game.  Like his sister, I wanted to make the wrapping a little more special and personalized for him.  I wrapped his gifts in some simple lime green wrapping paper that I had on hand (tip: I love to stock up on plain wrapping paper because you can use it for anything!) and then I printed some of the characters from the game and water-colored them.  Once they were dry, I laminated them and stuck them all over the wrapped presents so that he could eventually just take them off and put them on display in his room ... or use them for bookmarks.

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We celebrated my dad's milestone 75th birthday at our house with dinner and his absolute favorite dessert: homemade raspberry cheesecake (which he requests every single year):

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Just a random afternoon doing some "science" with a volcano kit on our back deck:

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I ordered a couple of puzzles online and as soon as they arrived, the kids were quick to set up a table in the dining room and beginning working on one of them.  This was a favorite because the design was a bunch of foods with "butts."

Also noteworthy: This has been the summer of tank tops for Jack.

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Sophia spent part of an afternoon making a chalk drawing of Sponge Bob Square Pants in our driveway.  Like her mom, she can draw anything as long as she has a picture to look at and follow.

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The garden has started to take off thanks to lots of watering.  We should have plenty of cucumbers in no time!

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The girls dressed in PINK to go and see the Barbie movie at the theater.

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During a summer thunderstorm, one of our large trees in the front yard fell down.  Luckily, it fell towards the road and AWAY from the house.

The boys were onsite first thing the next morning for clean-up.

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Another watercolor drawing for Jimmy's wall in his room.  This time, he asked for me to draw a turtle and I was more than happy to oblige.

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