Summertime

I can pretty much sum up our summer in 3 words... popsicles, watermelons, and choo-choo trains. (OK, maybe that was 5 words)

Trace has literally eaten his weight this summer in popsicles (preferably purple or orange) and watermelon. My new coupon/ bi-lo bonus card savings fetish (thank you Claire) has been long forgotten in the produce and frozen treats department.

Jimmy informed me halfway through the summer that he didn't care if the watermelons were $10.99 each, DO NOT come home from the grocery store without one. So... I gave up my cost saving theory of "we will only eat watermelon when they are on the 'bonus card special plan' and against my better judgement, reluctantly threw one in the buggy every week.
Trace decided he wanted to eat his "Ginger style". All of you moms may notice that he is shirtless and eating it on the back deck. Yeah... learned that lesson quickly.
Love those two! I'll give you one guess what Miss Ginger is chowing down on!
He figured out real fast that mommy can't bite into her popsicles like him and daddy can, so I am much slower at eating mine. So after he gets his 3/4 of the way down, he wants to "share" and trade mine for his (even when we're eating the same flavor). He's quite the strategist!
His other great love this summer has become... trains. Boy, I wish I owned some stock in the Thomas the Train franchise. We now own Thomas pj's (footless, I am sad to say), sheets, underwear, ABC flashcards, more motorized choo-choos than K-Mart, books, puzzles, DVD's and a half dozen sippy cups.
Thomas and Rusty a.k.a. "Wusty" have races in the kitchen. Amazingly Thomas beats him everytime. (Thomas has the Duracells and Wusty has the Dollar General batteries... poor Wusty!) ha!
We have built tunnels and bridges out of shoe boxes because... honestly, one could go broke buying all the accessories. And who has that kind of money to throw around when your spending your life savings buying watermelons that aren't on sale every week?
Imagine my surprise when I walked into Nana's to get him the other day and he was using a Woodbridge wine box left over from my brother's wedding as a "station" for his choo-choos!! ha! Maybe we need to rethink the whole "homemade" accessories thing.

I'm ashamed to say, he loved it so much that when Nana offered me an extra one to bring home, I snapped it up. It is sitting in my living room right now with Thomas, Rusty, and the caboose napping peacefully inside! We kiss the choo-choos good night and put them in their station/shed before bed. Good thing he can't read yet!
We are finishing up our "flip" house and are hoping to list it this week! Then, we are heading to the beach for more popsicles, watermelons, choo-choos, and sand!! I can't wait :)