July Misc

 Little by little, I'm sorting through pictures and sloooowly trying to catch back up. Here's what our family was up to in July!

ALTITUDE

Our Schleicher nephews all received free passes from their church to this popular trampoline park this summer. Our kids were thrilled when they invited us to join in the fun.

Uncle Jon got some of the greatest slo-mo videos!

To be honest, I'm pretty sure Jon captured all of our great photos from the day! We're so glad he always has his camera out. :)

These cousins loved their time jumping together.

ICE CREAM EMERGENCY

After hearing about this event for multiple weeks on our favorite Christian radio station, we were so excited when the DJ mentioned they were holding an "ice cream emergency event" at a park close to our house. We drove out to this park for free ice cream, some KSBJ swag, and a chance to meet Carter, one of the morning DJs. So fun!

BROKEN PINKIE

In the middle of July, we had a real emergency on our hands when Jaden came in from playing football with Cody in our yard and complained of terrible pain in his hand. We let Jaden ice his injury for a while but started to get worried when he said he felt really dizzy and wasn't hungry for dinner. We figured a visit to urgent care would help us all feel better. The X-rays there showed that Jaden had, on a total fluke football catch, broken a bone in his pinkie finger. What a bummer!

The urgent care bandaged him all up but then suggested we see a pediatric orthopedic doctor to be sure Jaden's bones were properly aligned. We visited Texas Children's the next day and were relieved to hear that Jaden's bones didn't need to be reset. The doctor was concerned, however, that his bones could easily jostle out of position since the break was so close to a joint. The answer was to put Jaden in a cast for 4 weeks to protect his healing. For a very active & athletic boy, being told you can't swim, play sports, or even get too sweaty in the middle of a Texas summer isn't an easy thing! We were proud of Jaden, though, for handling his injury with maturity and patience. Especially once the pain lessened after the first few days, Jaden complained very little and adjusted well to life in a cast.

VOLUNTEER READING

In the spring, I was mentioning to a church friend that I was bummed Covid policies still restricted our kids from reading to nursing home residents like they had done a couple summers ago. This friend was the right person to talk to! Unbeknownst to me, she regularly makes visits on shut-ins from our church and said she'd be happy to bring our family along with her. We ended up joining her only twice over the summer, as multiple visits ended up falling through. But these two visits were a fantastic experience! Our second visit was to her neighbor, a sweet widower on oxygen. He patiently listened as the boys read a few stories and also agreed to play a board game with Adley.

SUMMERTIME CRAFTS

Occasionally, Cody goes on craft kicks at home. In July, he had the idea to build an aquarium diorama.

He also got excited about diamond art after his Cody Day with Grammy and Papa and used some of his spending money to purchase a Pikachu diamond art kit. This project took quite some time, so he was obviously very proud when he completed it!

On our regular visits to the library, Adley often picks up the take-home craft kits our children's department offers. Most of the time the craft kits involve gluing construction paper pieces together to make an object. One week, though, we received a bag of pony beads and directions to make a gecko keychain.

SUMMER CAMPS

At the beginning of the summer we signed up our kids to participate in a week-long Christian sports camp. Even though we knew nobody else at this camp, Adley jumped right in with no worries or tears and had a great time learning new games and making new friends. It made me feel really good thinking about her adjustment to preK in the fall!

I didn't get any pictures of Cody, but he, too, bravely jumped in to the new setting (even without his best buddy Jaden by his side!) and enjoyed telling us about several fun new games that he learned.

 Unfortunately, the camp was no longer a possibility for Jaden after he broke his finger. Instead, Jaden and I were able to spend the days just the two of us-- getting donuts, running errands, and playing lots of games at home. One day, we brought out a Science Magic kit Jaden had received for Christmas and had our own science camp for the morning!

FRIEND TIME

One of our friends from church was cast as Jasmine in a kids' theater production of Aladdin, so our family bought tickets to the show. We ended up seeing other church/school friends there too. It was a great show!

Adley's playgroup met a couple times over the summer, this time including big siblings. Since our group plus siblings was so large, we opted for water activities like splashpads and swimming pools. 

This particular playdate was at a friend's backyard pool, and only Adley and I attended. Jaden, of course, wasn't able to get in the water so he and Cody hung out with their cousins for the morning instead. We enjoyed our summertime playdate!

SPECIAL VISITORS

At the end of July, our area hosted a LCMS Youthworker's convention. We had two friends attend this gathering from out of state that stopped by to see us. Our friend Josh, a great guy we knew from Montana who now lives in South Dakota, joined our family for dinner one night.

Another family, the Danleys, made the conference in Texas a whole family vacation. We had the family of 5 over for lunch one day, and the kids and I went to Bouncin' Bears with Tiffany and her kids another day. So fun spending time with these fellow churchworker families!

JULY BIRTHDAYS

Jason and I both turned the Big 40 this summer! Neither of us wanted to make a big deal out of our milestone birthdays, so we both chose some quieter activities with the family. As I posted about earlier, we spent my birthday at Candytopia. In the evening, Jason served some fancy bundt cakes for my birthday dessert.

For Jason's birthday, we went bowling as a family.

We enjoyed mallow bars for dessert.

We love our summer days!