Around the House Today

This summer (like the past two summers) Abigail is in my Dad's musical theater production.

Annie is back here

Lion King is back here

This year it's Music Man. She got the part of Amaryllis!  Have you seen the 1962 movie with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones? I love old classics. If you do too, see Music Man, I promise you'll love it.

I haven't been taking rehearsal pictures but I will soon! Here's a little clip of my Dad working with her today. Trying to get her to be sticky sweet in her part.



Being in my Dad's show is an amazing opportunity. To be in a show, well that's so much fun. Singing, dancing, learning... it's all good. But having that special time with your Grandfather? It's priceless!

I have to admit, I don't like 'sharing' her for a few hours each morning so I've set up relaxing "time with me" routines in the afternoon as much as we can. Right after lunch the three of us head to the family room. I bring a cuppa tea and we read. Each our own book. We sink into our 'same spots' and relax. I love it! Having 'readers' is actually a mommy dream come true for me and I count my lucky stars that I have that special afternoon time with my girls each day.



Abigail is reading this...





Anna is reading this...



And I am finishing this today. (It's kinda silly to read this in the summer when every day feels wonderful but it's like studying for that busy school year)



Anna has a joke waiting for Abigail each day when she comes in from musical theater.



Oh, and these were an afternoon treat this week!



The girls have their playroom back! (we had a little flood back here)



And this week are playing a lot of My Little Pony.





This week for dinner we loved an Italian chili



and crispy on the bottom, skillet cornbread!



I've had time to try new recipes. I'd rather be baking than anything. Many days there are 'must dos' that I ignore because I just have to bake. I have to substitute ingredients many times for Abigail's allergies. And this is one of the best recipes that worked well with the switches. Most of my chocolate chip cookies are flat because I can't use butter but this oatmeal chocolate chip recipe came out so good!



Do you keep a few glasses in the freezer? Warm cookies, ice cold milk is Anna's dream.



We were going to keep the tub in the bathroom renovation (and get it refinished) but decided the day before the dumpster left to get a new one.



The dumpster left yesterday and as it pulled away I kinda felt a mix of sad and panic. I LOVED having it and cleaning everything out. Guess how many strollers we had in the attic? SEVEN! Yup! SEVEN!

I love summer.  I love that my focus is my family.  And food (working on gaining weight... I'll get to that post soon).  And fun.