We love the things that Summer brings

As one of my favorite summer books, Summer, declares "we love the things that summer brings". Indeed, we do love summer and all the water activities, watermelon and popsicles that go along with the season! (sans the heat, of course)

So, here are some activites we have kept ourselves busy with this summer. Both here at our house and at Nana and Tata's house (they have the pool).

First pictures are of the kids on the slip n' slide at our house...

Christopher showing us how it's done.

*Look at Marley getting into it in the background!Marley only likes to slide on her knees. I guess she is still timid of sliding on her belly.Jaxon just loves to push his Lightening McQueen toy around the slip n' slide.Catching some rays...and saying cheese!

Now, on to the pool pictures...

From left: Christopher, Marley, Geli, Javier & Jaxon.

Christopher and his beloved Badmiton racket.

(A combo volleyball/badmiton set was bought by Carlos for the pool and it has never worked right, so the net is never up)

My love, enjoying himself with our kids in the pool :)

Javier and Christopher~catching some major air. What fun!

Christopher, Marley and Geli jumping into the pool. Marley likes to get a head start on the rest of them!

Most of the time Jaxon likes to float around in this frog the whole time!

Christopher~mid-jump!

(Half way through swimming on this day, he decided he no longer needed floaties and was proving it to us!)

Marley and Geli showing us their moves. Awesome jumping girls!

As the time flew by, Marley swam up to me and said:

"Mommy, my fingers are pruney!"

Me: "Yeah, that's because you have been in the pool for a while now"

Marley: "Yeah, it's time for me to get out. I don't like the pruney!"

What a funny girl!

Here is one of my nieces, Geli, as she gets out for more jumping.

Jaxon, still in his floatie and happy!

Swimming is so much fun!

All Girls Are My Dolls...

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to fix my 2 nieces, hair. On the same day of Marley's Curly 'Do, Mirella and Angelique (aka Geli) came over to play while Chuy (their dad) went to work. Since they live with their dad at Nana & Tata's house (none of whom have any "hair skills"), I often see their hair looking plain. It's no offense to anyone in that household because not everyone (especially 2 men or a 63 year-old mother of 3 boys) has the skills to fix hair. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and hair happens to be one of my strengths. Anyway, since my nieces were in my house I was eager to try any of the styles on the new blog-site I visit...Hair Today. I let each of them choose the style they wanted and then I got to work. Both Mirella and Geli have hair all one length, well past their shoulders. Also, the both of them have thick, strong hair, but Mirella in particular has very thick locks...I'm talking about putting your middle finger and thumb together and her ponytail is slightly thicker than that!!! I mean, this girl will never go bald! I am very proud of how darling both of their 'dos looked.

First up is Mirella, she is 9 years old and she chose the "Loopy Messy Bun". The finished product could practically be considered an Up-Do! Her hair is so thick that this 'do took me about 35 minutes! Also, this is my very fist attempt at this style, so with practice I hope to get faster.

Front view with an off-center part.

Side angle view.

Rear view with spiral curls and a white ribbon wrapped gently around base of bun. See what I am talking about with the massively thick locks?! The products I used in Mirella's hair are Biolage Leave-In Conditioner, ThickSexy Volume Gel and loads of TiGi Hairspray.

Next up is Geli, she is 5 and she picked the "Lattice Ponytails". So far, I have always done this style with the ponytails ending towards the nape of the neck. I am slightly proud to say that I came up with this style over 2 years ago, all on my own. I temporarily forgot about this style since my Princess Marley had such short hair for the last year. Then as I was browsing this wonderful site, I saw it again. About 2 years ago I fixed Mirella & Geli's hair for a church meeting and Chuy told me they received tons of compliments and the girls absolutely loved it. I think Geli may remember this style because she picked it without looking through the blog-site very much. That being said, here are her pics.

Front view with center part. I parted her hair into a total of 6 sections. I think next time I will do 8 sections and maybe try a zig-zag or off-center part to spice it up a little =].

Side angle view. I love that she is trying to look at the camera, too cute!

Rear view of the lattice ponytails. I finished off the look with cream ribbon and spiral curls. The products I used in Geli's hair are Biolage Leave-In Conditioner, ThickSexy Volume Gel and TiGi Hairspray. Again, I used my Neo Hot Tools Curling Iron which is a 1-inch barrel and it works fine for my nieces long, thick hair. However, for Marley's shorter, less thick hair, I believe I need to invest in a 1/2-inch barrel Curling Iron. So, there you have it...this was a Hair Frenzy Day! I loved it!