Ceiling Fans

After a very cool and rainy spring (I kinda felt like we had been transported to the Pacific Northwest) it is suddenly hot and summery. There was no time for acclimating.

In our apartment we had central air. At 52 there were lots of window units for cooling. The little white house came with one wall unit, in the living room. It is old and kind of dirty and while it seems to work fairly well I am sure it is not energy efficient at all. We have a couple of standing fans, and a little desktop one for the girls' room (that one is for white noise as well as moving air around.) So Eric went to Lowe's last week and came home with two ceiling fans. One was small and white with a light fixture, for the kitchen.

I love having a ceiling fan in the kitchen. Boy, is that nice!

The other fan was for the living room ... but Eric wasn't sure if there was power run to where it would have to be installed. So he put it in our bedroom.

Boy, is THAT nice!

He will install one in the living room soon. Meanwhile I open the windows in the morning to let in the cooler morning air, then close them when the sun starts coming around to the front of the house. Our new energy efficient curtains in the living room do a decent job of blocking quite a bit of the heat, and we turn on the fans. I think I still want to do some kind of blinds in the windows but for now the curtains are a vast improvement over sheets and blankets hung up there.

Soon we will need to do something about the front door. It is painted red on the outside and while I like red, it does absorb a lot of heat and since the front of the house faces south it means direct sunshine all afternoon. Also there is a little window in the door. So we will either need to replace the door altogether, or paint it a lighter color and cover up that window.

Once it is really hot and muggy every day we will run the a/c. For now it is bearable. If I get too sticky I can always go lay on my bed ... under the fan ... ahhhhhh ...

Still Here

I miss posting. It seems that there are so many other things to do and then before I know it the day is over and it's bedtime again. I feel like I'm missing out on recording all of the cute things the girls are doing. The Boogie still says funny things daily, and Phebis cracks us up a lot, too.

The other night the Boogie got down on the floor, pulled her shirt up to show her belly, and said sadly, "I hope I have a liver."

I asked her where her cup was and she said, "I don't know. IDK! D-K means 'don't know'." She can speak texting lingo before she can type ... or dial a phone for that matter (gotta work on the phone-dialing skills.)

On a recent walk around the block we came up to a sign that said "Don't Be a Litterbug." Every time we go past it she asks what it says, so this time I said, "Don't be a ..." and paused to let her finish it. "Sinner?" she asked.

She acquired a seashell from somewhere and showed it to Eric tonight. "Isn't it divine?" she asked him.

Yesterday was beautiful and after dinner we went on a long walk. "Just think," I said, "maybe this time next year we will be walking a dog."
"Next week?" the Boogie got all excited.
"No, no, not next week. Maybe next year, when you are five and Pheeboo is two."
"Oh, when I will be five and Pheeboo will be two," she nodded, "and Daddy will be six, and you will be ... thirteen!"
I'm sure there is some hidden meaning in there somewhere ...

Pheeboo's interest in walking is decidedly low. She goes everywhere on her knees now, despite the fact that it's much slower than actually crawling. She is getting callouses on the tops of her feet and toes! Here is a not-too-clear cell phone video demonstrating the knee walk.

She also loves to "talk" on the phone ... or anything that she can pretend is a phone. She says "Hello? Hello? Hello!" She says several words now, and this week we've recognized a couple of tunes that she hums. So far we can make out the first lines of "Twinkle, Twinkle," "Happy Birthday to You," and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (which she also does the hand motions to.) Of course as soon as we pull out a camera or our phones to try to capture any of that, she immediately stops what she's doing and makes a beeline for us chanting "Chee'! Chee'! Chee'!" What a ham.

Here they are during the annual Kentucky Derby watching.

They are a joy to us, these girls.

A Year Of The Phebis

Brand new

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months

Ten months

Eleven months

Twelve months

*I must give credit where credit is due -- the GOOD photos are courtesy of my lovely SIL Joy who has a nice camera and a great eye! And a few others are from grandparents who are always at the ready with their iPhones.

Pheeboo Turns One

Our sweet Phebis has had her first birthday. The day itself was mostly unheralded except for singing the "Happy Birthday" song a few times, and a couple of gifts to her (and the Boogie and me!) from a coworker.

On the following Saturday we planned a cookout with lots of family and a few friends. The weather was supposed to be iffy; however, we prayed for clear skies, and borrowed a grill and some tables and chairs. It did end up raining some but we crammed people into the house and banished the kids to the garage to eat! We had a wonderful time and Phebis loved being the center of attention.

*most of the following photos are courtesy of grandparents and great-grandparents, as my own camera-wielding was sadly neglected, and the ones I did get were oddly out of focus*

I supervised the grilling (okay, not really.)

Pheeboo played with electronics ...

... had some quality great-grandparent time ...

... showed off her "I *heart* sprinkles and icing" birthday dress ...

... petted a ginormous rabbit ...

... and was generally content to be held while observing everyone around her.

 

 

 We had birthday cake for everyone to eat ...

... and a cupcake for the birthday girl to have all to herself.

Everyone surrounded her with cameras and cell phones waiting for her to tear into it, but she mostly just picked the sprinkles off one by one and ate them! 

Why is everyone singing?

What am I supposed to do with this?

My motto: "When in doubt, put it in my mouth."

Oh people are laughing! I'll laugh too!

Wow, this is pretty good.

Ugh, sugar overload

It was so funny to see her blinking in anticipation of flashes as everyone crowded around her. 

She wasn't too interested in opening gifts so I did that for her. She liked to play with her new toys and also the packaging that they came in!

She thought it was really great to squeal and laugh and make everyone else laugh, too! What a ham.

The Boogie had a wonderful day, too.

It's always fun to have cousins over.

It was just an all-around, really fun afternoon. We're so glad everyone could come help celebrate our girl's first birthday.