Yesterday was my fed up day. I was fed up with a messy play room. I was fed up with bananas smeared on the carpet. And all of that fed upness led me to deep thankfulness.

Yes, I am deeply thankful for high chairs today. I went to Walmart and purchased their cheapest high chair: just a basic, plastic affair with a plastic seat cushion all done in blue elephants and ivory. I am amazed at how much joy a piece of plastic can bring to me. The wonder of being able to put Georgie in the high chair and give her a banana. I didn't have to watch her waving hand to make sure that she didn't smear it on the couch or on my pants or hair. She sat in the chair and smeared her banana all over the tray AND it was so easy to clean. Just a little water and it all slid off. No scrubbing. No cleaning solution. Isn't it great to live in the USA, to have a Walmart close by, to be able to buy a high chair?

Of course, today was a very hot day. But our trip to the pool today confirmed that we are indeed acclimatizing. I went with a friend and her kids. We've done this before, but the first time we went, the girls only lasted about an hour, and then it was just too hot for them. Well this time they splashed and played, and when I began to feel like Georgie was done, I felt a little guilty. After all, we hadn't been there that long. Imagine my delight when I discovered that we'd been at the pool for almost 4 hours.

Reagan is getting very daring in the pool. Today she learned how to jump off the side of the pool and into the water. She was so excited when she first figured it out. Just imagine her high pitched voice, very loud and resonant, saying, "Mommy! I'm a big girl! I did it. Watch me again!" She also swam the entire length of the pool, courtesy of her life jacket, but she did kick the whole way.

Kate is learning to embroider. I found one of those plastic grids that come with a plastic needle. Hers has a butterfly on it, and she is working very diligently to fill in all the correct holes so that her "square" turns out just right.

Georgie is going from walking to running. She really wants to keep up with her big sisters, so instead of tottering about and pausing to figure out how to do the thing correctly, she is moving headlong into running. The ladies at the church nursery were laughing at her full tilt run. They just couldn't believe it. But, run, run, run, seems to be Georgianna's motto.

Tanner worked on the shed early this morning. He came inside at about 10:30 because it was just too hot to do much more. When he took off his clothes, we were able to wring them out in the bathtub. I was going to go outside to help him, but I only made it as far as the threshold. I only made it that far because the door swung open, a blast of hot air swept past me, so I closed the door and made lemonade and caramel popcorn.

I'm on this caramel popcorn kick. You see, the other day, when I was at Albertsons, I passed by the aisle with the Poppycock. Oh, it sounded so delicious to me, but it was almost $5 a bag. Well! I knew I could make it for a fraction of the cost, but I wasn't sure if I could make the sauce, since my Windsor pan is broken. The greatest part of the whole thing is that a found a microwave version of the recipe. Micro-popcorn, mico-caramel sauce. It makes it easier and a lot cooler to cook.