Life and Times in Texas

Heaven = Texas in August.
Right?!?

Well, if Texas in August includes my girls- then YES. That is heaven.

I flew down the first of August and spent a week with them.
Ostensibly it was for Kelsey's birthday.
But in reality it was for me.

Look at this beautiful birthday girl!
What kind of cake is that you ask?!?


That would be a tapioca/whip cream/fresh strawberry dessert.
And it IS possible to light candles on that type of celebratory dessert - it's just not real easy.
We didn't put on the full candle count.
That's a really overrated custom anyway.
Now lest you think I don't know how to make a cake...
I do! Just not the exotic kinds Kelsey makes.
She specifically requested tapioca.
I LOVE tapioca and made it fairly often when the kids were growing up
and she also has become a big fan.

Back then we didn't always have whip cream to go with it -
but I must admit the addition of the cream and berries was pretty tasty.
Not to mention lovely to look at when spooned into glasses.

Leyla seems partial to it as well.
(Even though she didn't get a "real" glass for hers.)

It was a fun evening and some of Kelsey's friends dropped by.
I helped keep the sugar stoked girls out of mischief helping them play dress up.
We used fabric and I just wrapped it around them in different ways.
Chloe seemed to get into it a little bit.

Speaking of getting into things, Chloe is Very talented artistically
and LOVES to paint, draw and color.
She is very unrestrained and loose in her artwork.
So loose in fact, she uses pretty much anything that is handy -
paper, wall, floors, toilet seats...
and she always signs her work with her name..
Here she is in the bathroom standing in front of some of her handy work.


At first Kelsey was kind of flattered because
in addition to her usual name she had written "mom" .
The classic thing was Chloe denied that she had done it.
Pretty sure Leyla, the dog, cats and snake could not duplicate her distinctive style.

Both girls LOVE to read stories.
This is Chloe with a popup book I brought.
Before the the popup lost some of it parts...
Must have been those pesky pets again.

We did a lot of cooking while I was there.
Note the delicious meat and veggies she's working on. Yum!

Meanwhile Leyla is working away helping to paint the walls in their bedroom.
Remember the artistic walls incident? Yeah, that's why.
Though the working in the nude idea was totally Leyla.
Please don't report this to child protective services.
I DID cover her bum with the pink "faux" pants before I posted.

Here they are using "approved" artistic materials.

We spent some time at the beach.
Can you tell that posing for photos isn't always Chloe's favorite thing?

Leyla was really into protecting her eyes from the sun.

And playing peek a boo.

Chloe loved the water.

And her stylin green shades.

We also went to the Aquarium.
Leyla was more excited about going than getting her hair brushed.

And playing on the smooth floor in the foyer.

I LOVE this picture of Chloe.
It is sheer joy.
She is in a bubble that goes up into a fish tank on the underside .
Chloe really liked all the fish.

Leyla did NOT like sharing her camera ops with anyone.

She DOES however adore her pink cowboy boots.

There was some serious play dough activity.
Some balancing.

and laundry shenanigans.

Which necessitated some refuelling .
Gramma's balck beans, corn and rice hit the spot.
She did NOT want a small bowl,
preferring to eat it straight up out of the container.
A girl after my own heart.

Doing the happy dance cause she gets to use markers.

Checking out gramma's wallet contents and counting coins.

The latest fashion for discerning 4 year olds.

I have photos of Kelsey in similar plastic attire
she created out of Winco grocery bags about that same age.

Every day we had nap time.
We would read for a bit and the settle down for sleep.
Chloe would drop off pretty quickly.
Leyla resisted a LOT more -
but this old gramma can be pretty persistent herself.

All in all we had a blast!
So when it was time for me to go
I wasn't the only one who didn't like the idea.
Nice stink eye Leyla.

Even her pink boots didn't make her happy here.
(Just like my glasses - every time I got out of the air conditioned car
the heat and humidity caused the camera to fog up.)

Don't go gramma!

It was so stinkin hot -
but Chloe insisted on wearing her coat
because it had rained for all of two seconds.
That would be enough to make me cranky.

She was NOT about to give me a smile before I left.
Shades of teenage years to come?!?

However, this girl did give me a lovely smile as we visited in the airport.

I love my girls.