Summertime Fun

Can you believe it's almost August? AUGUST!! Us Danzes love summer because we love to keep insanely busy with traveling and super awesome summer projects. Us Danzes also despise summer because it goes waaaay too fast and we're left doing a bazillion procrastinated chores. Like 6 loads of laundry. A day. Fun.

So what on earth have we been doing that's so super awesome??

Celebrating!!

On Father's Day the kids helped me make pancakes with whipped cream from scratch (if you have not tried this, you must. bisquick + cool whip just ain't cuttin it these days)for Daddy's traditional breakfast in bed. Best dad ever right there.


We also drove out the the Rock to spend Father's Day with Eli's dad and family. As per usual I dropped the ball on getting a picture with the Danzes, but I got lots of sweet Daddy pictures playing with his fearless kids. Thank goodness there's a gate there.

The next weekend we went to Austin to celebrate Great Grandpa Leo's 80th birthday. You know those times when your toddler and preschooler skip naps? By 6pm they're rather fun to be around. I mean, seriously, throw in a fancy restaurant and relatives who actually want to converse and you've got a real party!

But we wouldn't miss this for the world. After all...we did name our firstborn son after Great-Grandpa!


My parents, sisters, and Nona came over to celebrate our 5th anniversary and my 27th birthday. Have you ever tried fondue? YUM! We broke in our new dining room table handed down from my great great aunt...if that table could talk!!


The Harkins reunion came next--in Florida! 28 hours total drive time and the kids did GREAT. I had no idea it was even *possible* to have a tolerable road trip with my kids. We survived with a couple things: movies, dramamine, junk food, and about 10 presents each from the dollar store. Then being the center of 45 Harkins' love and attention was just enough to spoil them completely rotten. Life couldn't get any better! The waves were pretty intense compared to the TX coast, but that didn't stop our sand-diving-wave-jumping-football-throwing kids.

Leo turned 2 at the beach along with his 2nd cousin Mae Rose. He was a champion candle blower-outer.


But Wait! There's More! We spent a weekend in Ft Worth to congratulate my smarty pants sister Lauren's entrance into MEDICAL SCHOOL! We're so proud of her hard work and perseverance.



We've had the best summer ever and fully intend to enjoy every last second of the 2 weeks we have left before school starts!

To Dallas and Back

Our Dallas trip was just too short! We drove in Thursday night for Eli's conference on Friday and basically still don't understand why Emily cries/whines the whole way. I guess that never stops us though and we try to make her as comfortable as possible! On Friday Emily and I snuck off to meet up with our friends Rebecca and Sophia. Rebecca was looking great, despite being 40 weeks pregnant! The girls had a lot of fun and we were able to just kind of sit back and relax while they played. That evening we had dinner with my sisters Mary Clare and Lauren at my favorite BBQ place...yes, the pregnancy cravings definitely crept in that weekend! Emily had a grand ol time running around the whole restaurant like a chicken with his head cut off. God bless Eli for chasing her, and thanks to the wait staff for humoring us. That night I enjoyed some quiet time in the hotel while Eli went out with some of his coworkers who were also there for the conference.

Reading the extended version of Emily's favorite "The Foot Book"

Obsessed with croissants!

Saturday we headed over to Eli's sister Teresa's house for a beautiful breakfast along with Eli's Aunt Joan and her family. Emily really loves her cousin Aidan, who is almost 1 year old and starting to cruise around the house. He's so funny to watch! After Emily napped at Lauren's, we went to confession at UD to take advantage of the plenary indulgences of Devine Mercy Sunday. Lazy Faire and Mallapalooza were going on too, so we hung around as long as Emily let us and then hit the road back home.

Cuddly girl after a nap

The rest of the week so far has been pretty usual. On Monday I saw my OBGYN who says that only now am I 27 weeks, and that the baby is just measuring a week or two bigger than that. I had a bad experience with the glucose test to test for gestational diabetes and have to go back on Thursday again. The test requires you to fast beforehand, and even though I got to the office early, they were too busy to test me in time for the glucose to take effect, so by the time I left at 3pm I thought I was going to faint and die. Looking back, I shouldn't have driven home, but had a huge binge as soon as I hit the front door. Thank goodness my mom could watch Emily...I think I would have lost it!!!

We tried out the pool yesterday and I'm extremely relieved to say that Emily is officially scared of the water. It was pretty cold, and she didnt want to get in, and she was terrified everytime Eli would go under. This was perfect because she's so fast that I thought she would definitely learn to open the door and run out and jump. So today I'm going out there again...just to sit and relax and have some peace of mind! :)