The kiddos

It has been a stinkin' hot August. We've had some really good monsoons, but there was a week or two of no rain and no relief from the 105-110 temperatures. We are thankful for air conditioning. Particularly this weekend because we don't have it in our house. We got a new unit last year in March and in July the compressor had to be replaced, and now the coil is busted and leaking any freon you put in all the way out within half a day. Fortunately it's all under warranty, so completely free. But it has made for some hot days. But we are lucky enough to have my parents close by, so we just crash their house when it gets too hot at our place. Yesterday we got the news that because the coil in this model has been going out all over the place because of a manufacturer's defect it would be 2 weeks before it could be fixed. So our repair guy worked his magic arts of persuasion on the higher ups in the company and today we got the news that we're getting a completely new A/C unit on Monday so we don't have to wait 2 weeks to be cool again. Thank goodness. So yeah, we're thankful for air conditioning.

Anyway, back to our August. With all the heat here, we usually stay inside most of the day, except for those lovely occasions when the temperature drops 20 degrees in an hour thanks to a storm moving in, which needs to happen a few more times before monsoon season calls it quits.

Rachel spends quite a bit of her time during the day in her pajamas. She likes them a little too much sometimes. Even her fuzzy warm winter PJs are fair game for her. She often tells me "I don't care the weather," which I guess means she has no internal temperature gauge.

Last Saturday it was pleasant enough (ie. not quite blisteringly hot) to spend a little time outside. The girls had some popsicles.

Then the real fun began.

This little garden plot had peas in the spring (which the heat had long ago killed) and sunflowers, which died, and the seedlings we keep planting to replace them keep getting eaten. So for now it's fair game for playing in. I showed the girls how to use dirt, water, and a bucket to make a sand castle--something they had never done in their apparently deprived childhoods.

Just the fact that they had access to the hose to fill their play watering cans over and over and over made for some happy kids.

It also made for some very messy kids, as is to be expected when water and dirt (and therefore mud) are involved. I also had to show them how to make mud pies.

Eventually Annie got tired of her dripping wet clothes. "Osss!" (Off!) And so they came off.

Then we had to hose them down before baths. Which may have been the funnest part of the whole adventure.

Then when everyone was clean and dressed, we had some fun together:
Watching funny videos on the computer:

Taking turns holding Ryan:

I love how the girls love Ryan and like holding him and making him smile. And they love how much Ryan responds to them these days. Especially when they put their faces within his reach and he tries to gouge out their eyes or rip out their hair. I don't know why they think it's so funny when Ryan does it, but if they pull each other's hair, it's the end of the world and they cry and scream. Baby magic, I guess.

The last picture is Annie's favorite activity: mess making.

I'm not sure if this is the second or third full box of rice cereal that she has emptied completely. You'd think we would learn not to leave it within reach. And maybe one day we will...