What's been going on? Let me tell ya...

Busy business as usual for the Nockinbirds.  A monster truck built on Saturday...note the victim cars quaking in fear.

Then the McKinney Cousins arrived.  It's been nonstop fun...although Molly and Papa (and the dogs) are running out of steam.

Lolo senses a chance and takes it!

But Molly's reflexes are still lightning fast!

Lots of fun at the pool, as well.

Hopping over the cracks so as not to break their mothers' backs.  Such thoughtful girls.

It has actually rained the last couple of days--a litttle...occassionally.

We even got a rainbow!  Note:  that's not our house.

While rainbow hunting after cheer! practice, the girls developed a call and response game that went something like:

Little Miss:  (rolls down window)"All aboard the choo-choo express!" (rolls up window)

Lolly:  (rolls down window)"All aboard the choo-choo express!" (rolls up window)

Repeat (until Mama yells: "Enough!")

They alarmed a fair number of cows, not a few goats, and a couple of drivers.  I must brag on these pictures as well, although perhaps implicating myself for reckless driving...one hand on the steering wheel, eyes forward, camera pointed back, click click, success.

I'm glad we kept a bucket of baby toys handy.  How is babies know exactly what will choke/shock/kill them and unerringly go straight for it?

Sibling cuteness.

That's right, Trey.  Your eldest with a UT-orange cowbell, and, oh yes, she IS demonstrating her (natural) dexterity with the "hook 'em" sign there.  Put THAT on your Facebook.

In other news, Loverboy is amazed by the bounty of our garden.  Exactly one jalepeno.  There may be one tomato on the horizon.

The girls and I hit our favorite library today for mid-week show featuring a....CLOWN!!  I didn't find this one to be overly creepy.  In fact he may have been the most pleasantly entertaining clown I've ever endured.  A Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey front man, he was extolling the virtues of reading and reminding us all that the circus is a-coming next month.

Little Miss knocked children out of the way to get her picture with the juggling wonder.

This, however, is as close as Lolly was gonna get, thank you very much.  She did seem to enjoy the show--in my lap and with a death grip on my hand.

Are there cheerleader clowns?  Those seem to be her two possible career paths right now.  Thank goodness she's only five.  Neurosurgery, astro-physics, law, McDonalds...the future is wide open.

HELLo Summer...must you be so hot?

It's already hotter than....well, look again at the title.  Yesterday was the solstice and the weather forecast has settled into the north Texas norm--highs around 100, lows around 80, no chance of rain...EVERY stinkin' day. I've wanted to have solstice/equinox celebrations like this since I've been reading her blog.  I like that she keeps it simple, although, to be honest, that's not my style.  That's probably why I just decided to take our summer soltice celebration here...

My seasonal margarita.

A festive location indeed.

A good time was had by all...even though I was the only one with the margarita.  What's the Spanish word for "hams"?  (el jamón, I believe--would that be los jamones for plural?)

I think they were feeling a little sassy with all the salsa--some sort of revenge photography here.

The quote above the door says it all.

The moon hanging out, waiting for the most daylighted day of the year to give it up and let somebody else shine for a while.

Which it finally did.  anne--Little Miss just took over the keyboard to leave her calling card there.

We had errands to run in town today and you know what that means:  SNOWCONE!! We only needed one more punch on our card for a free one.  So...

Anne got banana and I tried a sugar-free Tigerblood.  Trying to  be a responsible diabetic--ick.  Snowcones without sugar--not endorsed by Mama Nockinbird.

We swung by Molly and Papa's for a quick visit (and dinner!) with Aunt Cathy.

It's been a good start to official, ridiculously hot, summer. 

And now some more words from Little Miss (this is what I get for doing this before bedtime):

jcpenneys at on bounceythings you  could bounce on them.

I don't know what that means, but it's what she had to say!  She does love Penney's...and bouncing.  And, just to be a bragging Mama, she sounded most of the words out to spell them with almost no prompting.  I did have to help her find "u" on the keyboard.  And she's only five!  Look for her blog soon!

Happy Father's Day

There was a lot of smooching on fathers today.

There was also church for all, a Molly-made lunch/dinner and pool time.

And cake after the pool.

In other news...

The ToothFairy came for tooth #2 last night.

And we have checked off coconut and cotton candy snowcone flavors.  It is the Summer of the Snowcone!

Looking for a summer routine...

at least a rountine besides trying every flavor of snowcone, one each time we go into town.  Little Miss was really campaigning for a pickle juice snowcone, but settled for ice cream flavor.  Silver fox was her last outing--I have no idea what it was supposed to taste like--vaguely sweet.  I'm a classic black cherry gal myself.

Last week, we ventured down to MawMaw's for a visit.  It rained.  And rained.  And rained.

MawMaw found some 1973 vintage fun. I love the ensemble the little girl is wearing. Knee socks. I remember wearing knee socks. Little Miss is now smitten with Pick Up Stix--it's nice to see some low tech fun being had.

The snails were also a hit.

Little Miss found "a heart-leaf-plant."

Then we headed out to "the farm" to see the creek with actual running water thanks to the rain.

We returned home to a dark house, as MawMaw's transformer had apparently fizzled, snapped, and popped out.  The possibility of a night without A/C was too much for Loverboy, so after dinner out, we packed up and came home early. 

The McKinney Crew came down for the weekend--so there was lots of cousin-lovin' and baby-playin'.

I love Lolo's expression here.

Lolo's first Cheeto--a rite of passage.  She loved them.  She's one of us now.

We had a Lowe's Build and Grow on Saturday.

And the aprons finally came in!  Now we have to get all the patches sewn on.

We actually made it to church on Sunday--four out of five weekends!--but Molly had to man the bookstore for a couple of hours.  Naturally, we stopped by after church to see the merchandise...

Quite a pose here.  I'm not sure what the dramatic pensiveness was about...ringing the bell incessantly, chomping down on her favorite clove gum, and pondering which fudge to sample.

Amen.

Funny.

I like the graphics and the pun.

I'm not sure I'd try these if someone offered them to me.

So there's more or less what the Nockinbirds have been up to.  Add some pool time, trips to the library, Price is Right watching, cheerleader practice---not much housecleaning, laundry, grocery shopping (we have managed to mooch quite a few meals from beloved grandparents) or anything constructive or socially redeeming.  Maybe next week...