that's a good start

when the day starts at 5:30 with tiny taps on the shoulder and a little voice whispering, "momma, i want to snuggle you," you know it's going to be a good day.

that was the start to my day yesterday. how can you turn down baby girl snuggles? they won't last much longer after all. so i went into her room and snuggled with her for a few minutes, then tucked her back in so she could sleep for another hour and a half at least.

and if that would have been it, i would have been thankful for the start of my day. but it got even better. when i went in to wake her up at 7:30, this is what i found...

tiny toes peeking....


.... peeking out from the most giant teddy bear blanket ever


and this sweet little face, sleeping peacefully.


that was a good way to start off my day. a very good way.

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What must the teacher think? :)

Meagan's class has been doing a color focus for the first few weeks of school, focusing on one specific color each day. Yesterday was BROWN day. She wore a brown shirt, she practiced writing the word BROWN, she even did colored brown pictures.

Then her teacher asked the kids to flip over one of their workbook pages and draw a picture on the back using the color brown. Okay, so when I think of all the possibilities that a little girl might possibly draw using the color brown, a few things come to mind right away - teddy bears, horses, kitties, houses, trees...

Getting closer with the trees... HERE is what our daughter drew.


I LOVE this girl! She is a riot! She drew a deer hunter with a bow & arrow, preparing to shoot a deer (with spots AND antlers... very interesting). She drew his brown boots, and is camo pants and shirt (she told me they were his hiding tree clothes, LOL). She drew trees that he had cut down for fire wood, and the fire, and even an umbrella (???) in case it should rain I suppose.

I LOVE is bare chicken feet! And the deer - how can you not love that deer? I just wonder what her teacher thought when she got this picture? It's hard to say, but I think it's a safe bet that she is in for a year of interesting moments and surprises with our little girl.

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Gone Missing

This was maybe one of the scariest moments I've ever had as a mother. It's up there.

Tonight we were watching a movie in the living room. Because it's been nice in the evenings, and because we are 'fresh air people' we've had the air conditioner off for a few days now. Meagan, however, was not entirely into the movie, and she was uncomfortably warm. I suggested to her that she go down in the basement and play, since it's much cooler, and there's lots down there to hold her attention better than the movie was. She took me up on the suggestion, and dissappeared into the basement for the duration of the movie.

Fast forward to 10:15. Movie's over. Time to heard everyone upstairs to get in bed. The boys headed up to get their showers and pj's and all that jazz, and Lucas called down to Meagan to come upstairs for bed. A few minutes later, still no Meagan. I called down to her. No response. I went upstairs, thinking maybe I had just missed her. Not there. In the meantime, Lucas had gone down into the basement to get her, but couldn't find her down there. Empty basement. She's not on the top floor. And she's not on the main floor. The realization hits quickly that we can't find our child. We did a double check - basement, bedrooms, living room. I went in the garage, out the front, out to the back deck. No Meagan. I ran next door to see if she had gone over there to play and we just didn't hear her leave somehow. No, not there (our poor neighbors are probably wondering if they live by crazy people). When I ran back home, Sebastian met me at the front door and said they found her.

All I can say is releif flooded my whole body. Where was she? She was in the basement just as we had originally thought. Even though Lucas had tripple-checked and not seen her. She had gotten tired, and crawled under the computer desk, pulled the chair back to its original pushed-in position, and proceded to curl up and fall asleep. Sound asleep. In a rather uncomfortable looking position. But safe. Thank God, safe!

In a matter of ten minutes, I may have experienced every possible human emotion. In short, that sucked. I don't ever want to know what that feels like on a dragged out basis, and I absolutely hate that reality is that many parents have known that feeling and have not had the happy ending that we had tonight.

That was scary. That was awful. And there are no words to describe how completey and utterly relieved and thankful I am that she was safe the entire time. She is now tucked safely in her own comfy bed, completely unaware that she caused any alarm at all. As a mommy, there is nothing better than knowing she is safe right now.

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Sharing Time

Time for sharing more layouts. These were two quickie layouts for me. I NEVER do a page in less than an hour, but both of these came together in no time. Love that!

Over the weekend Sebastian had to put together a report about himself. One of the things he included in his report was a blurb on his favorite books and why he likes to read so much. We piled up some of his fave's and took a picture so he could put it on his board (he had to have a photo for each of the 8 sections... so we put photoshop elements to good use). I thought while I had the picture and the info fresh in my mind, I would document it for our scrapbook as well.

Journaling: "According to Sebastian... Here is a stack of my favorite books as of Aug 21, 2011... Jack Sparrow - because they're full of fun adventures; Junie B. Jones - because Junie B. is so funny and she says and does really funny things. I wish I could write as funny as Barbara Park; Ready Freddy - because Freddy always has to find a way to solve problems and get out of trouble."

(Click here to view full credits)

Another every-day inspired layout. Lately I've been having to have a LOT of conversations with my daughter about her snack habits. She constantly is asking for ice cream, cookies, fruit snacks... even if we don't have it in the house, she still asks. It drives me bonkers! I want so badly for her to start forming healthy habits early so she's not having to struggle against bad habits later in life. *sigh* Seems this will be a long, drawn-out battle with her.

Journaling: "Of all our kids, Meagan, you are by far the worst eater when it comes to choosing healthy foods. You are a junk food junkie and would snack on cookies and ice cream all day."

(Click here to view full credits)

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Making it up as I go - Spicy Sausage Tortellini Soup

Sometimes I cook off of a recipe. Sometimes I cook from memory. Sometimes I cook based on whatever random foods I have available.

My plan today was to go to the grocery as soon as some repair people came to fix our closet doors. They had given me the 'sometime between 12 and 2' deal. Had they come closer to 12:00, instead of 1:15, I would have had plenty of time to get to the grocery and get home before Sebastian got off the bus. As it was though, had I attempted a grocery trip, I highly doubt I would have been back in time.

This left me with only one option for dinner... make something up. I looked in the fridge to see what I had. A pack of whole wheat cheese-filled tortellini. A pound of bulk sausage. A pack of bacon. Some veggies. And a bit of cheese. Not a lot to work with. After scanning the pantry for on-hand options, I decided to try to make up a soup. I only had beef boullion, so I decided to try using the sausage with it to see how it went. Here's what I made:



And here's how...

Ingredients:
7 cups of water + 7 tsp beef boullion (aka 7 cups of beef broth)
1/2 lb ground sausage, cooked & drained (I cooked the whole pound and split it... I'll use the other 1/2 for pizza tomorrow...after I go to the grocery, of course!)
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 cup matchstick carrots
1 cup fresh baby spinach, washed & cut
1 package refrigerated whole wheat cheese tortellini
1 tsp garlic powder (I would have preferred fresh garlic cooked in with the sausage, but I had nothing fresh to work with really, so powder had to do)
1/2 tsp dried basil
generous dash of pepper

Instructions:
1. cook sausage, drain
2. bring beef broth to a boil
3. add carrots & seasoning, stir to combine
4. add tortellini, boil ~ 3 minutes
5. reduce heat, add sausage & spinach; cook on low until spinach is softened & soup is heated through

We served a quick pack of dinner rolls with this, as well as a plate of fresh tomatoes & mozzerella.

Results: Isaac LOVED it. The kid ate three bowls and 2 rolls, plus a slice of cheese (no tomatoes for him). Meagan loved the tortellini, sausage, & spinach. She ate around the carrots and ate some of the tomatoes. Sebastian wasn't so much of a fan. He liked the tortellini okay, but he does not like spicy anything, and this was just too spicy for him.

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I'm Watching You...

I think we have a new pet. I started staining the deck railing last week, and as the stain dried, I noticed a grasshopper who kept hanging out on the new darker wood. At first I thought absolutely nothing of it, but I noticed him (her? it? ... we'll go with him) again later on. And then again. And then he was still there the next day. And the day after that. It's like this guy has an affinity for the stain.

Finally after three straight days of noticing this guy hanging around, I thought maybe I'd get a photograph of the newest addition to our household. So I grabbed my camera and headed outside. I took one picture... this one...


... and then Mr. Grass Hopper spun around, looked straight at me, and began to move around to try to hide from me. If I moved one way, he moved the other. If I tried to sneak up around on the other side, he quickly adjusted so that his eyes were on me and his body was concealed. Smart bug. Of course at this point it had become a challenge to get one decent (not dark and shadowy) picture of this stinking insect.

I don't know if I really call this a success, as much of him is still hidden, but I finally gave up. I think I got totally outsmarted by one of the tinier members of nature.



And in case you're wondering, I saw him out there 2 days this weekend. He apparently has taken up residency on our back deck. Maybe he'll keep me company this week if I get a chance to finish staining the railing.

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Saying Goodbye to Summer

It seems to me that around here school starts much earlier than I've ever been accustomed to, which means that we had to do summer wrap-up in the middle of August. Weird. But we did it anyway.

The last week before school always means a few things for us. First of all, it means shifting bedtime and wake-up time to more closely reflect school sleeping schedule. That's a must. Anything else is just asking for trouble.

But more fun than that, the last week before school means relaxing the reigns a bit and doing things we maybe wouldn't normally do, or maybe just doing a few special little things that don't get done as often as we might like.

Here's a look at some fo the ways we spent our last week before school...

PB&J Pizza! One thin, whole weat organic pizza crust, all-natural peanutbutter, and low sugar jelly / jam. Pretty simple stuff. Pretty tasty. Pretty out-of-the-norm for lunch around here. But yummy just the same. (In case you're wondering about cooking instructions - spread a thin layer of PB and top with a moderate layer of jelly. bake according to pizza crust instructions for about 5-6 minutes)

(okay, so this is really not the greatest picture ever, but I thought I should show you the finished product)


*****
Because we will have so many hours of gymnastics practice each week, at any given time there will be three of us who will need somewhere to go for 2 hours during said practice. Since the library is just around the corner from the gym, we decided library memberships were in order. Our trip to the library prompted a need for a wish list of books to read. So we detoured to Barnes & Noble to browse the children / youth section. We made a list about a mile long! While we were there, the kids each chose to use some of their money they had saved to buy a book. The boys each bought a Zelda book, and Meagan bought a Biscuit the Dog book. I'd say we spent a good 90 minutes in their browsing. I love that the kids thought that was a fun way to spend the day. I love that they want to spend their money on books. All good stuff.

*****
2 days before school started, we took what might very well be our last real chance of the season to head to the beach park. It was funny to me that the boys took their recently-purchased Zelda books and sat on a piece of playground equipment to read.


Meagan, however, wanted no part of sitting still at a park. She went off on her own and climbed and played. Isaac eventually ended up joining her, but Sebastian read the whole time, only looking up from his book long enough to move to the shade.




*****
This was maybe one of my most favorite little moments. The last day before school, we made a last-minute shoe shopping trip before gymnastics. When we were done, we still had about an hour before practice, so we got a 'snack' of complete and total junk and headed outside to eat. Because we wouldn't DARE eat that stuff in the van, we sat in the grass beside our van and had a curb-side picnic of sorts. Snack consisted of 7-Up and Airheads for Isaac, 7-Up and a butterfinger for Sebastian and rootbeer and gummy bears for Meagan.

Did you know there are rules for eating gummy bears? I'm not sure I remember them just right, but it's something like this: Red: Eat the heads off first; Green: Squish them before you eat them; Yellow: tear them in half... you get the picture. :)

And this was my own personal contribution to snack time... Mt. Dew and Butterfinger.


Definitely out of the norm for us, and it totally took my kids by surprise that I was actually letting them get something from the check-out line, but it was a fun last-week-of-school thing to do.

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Friday Layouts

Two layouts to share with you from today's Froggy Friday releases... All new products are 20% off through the weekend.

Swab the Deck
Remember the pics of the kids out spraying down the deck... and each other? *lol*

Journaling: "I sent the kids outside with a job to do... spray the deck off. I guess it's safe to say they did exactly what I asked them to do. But the deck most certainly was not the only thing to get wet. I stopped cleaning in the kitchen and grabbed my camera. I just couldn't pass up such a priceless moment - I love the way they were laughing and playing together."

(Click here to view full credits)

Lookin' Good

Journaling: 'A shopping spree for shades at Meijer ended in Meagan dancing through the isles of the store wearing the pair she picked.'

(Click here to view full credits)


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As Promised... Let's Get This Party Started!

I'm not usually a 'woot'-er, but this is cause for celebration! School's back, baby!!! Seriously, I LOVE my children. I also love it when the house is quiet and peaceful and stays clean for a solid ten minutes after I clean it. It's the little things in life, ya know? So Wednesday's back-to-school festivities were welcome by all! The kids were super exctied to get back, and I was super excited to get back to normal (although now that I think about it, it's been a LOOOONNNGGG time since I've had anything that actually resembles 'normal'... but anyway).

Sebastian is in 5th grade this year, which means he has officially graduated from elementary school and is now in intermediate school. The school he is in this year houses fifth & sixth grade for the whole community. I think there are about 1500 students in his grade alone, if I remember correctly. Gaah! I graduated with 200-ish. 1500 is a LOT of kids!

Anyway, his bus comes somewhere around sunrise, otherwise known as "early o'clock".
This was the scene out my window as I watched him walk to the bus stop...


See, early. So 6:15 wake-up time proved to be a bit harder for him than he was expecting. As for me, although I have never been known as a morning person, I'd have to say that I quite enjoyed the early start to the day. Collapsing in bed at 10:00 that night is another story... it's safe to say that it will take some time to get our sleeping patterns adjusted.

Wow, I'm rambling (this is what happens when I don't blog for a while!) Okay, pictures of Sebastian...here we go...

The "I'm too grown up to smile" face:


The "Dang it! Mom made me laugh" face:


The new kicks:


And the walk to the bus stop:


To spare him the utter embarrassment of his mother standing outside in pj's with a camera, I skipped the picture of him actually getting on the bus. The sacrifices I make as a mom. :)

After Sebastian left on the bus, I had about 20 minutes of quiet time all to myself before waking up the other 2 minions. With all of the super excitement about school, and two kids in action instead of one, round 2 of getting ready was a little bit crazier. I would expect nothing less where Meagan is involved, though, really.

And the pics... Unfortunately, I forgot to change my distance settings after I got Sebastian's bus stop pic, so some of these were a bit blurry on the faces... oh well. It is what it is.



My Cheez-ball!


and her new shoes... Twinkle Toes by Sketchers... The girl loves her shoes!


Showing off her big giant pink bookbag (we went away from cutesie character bookbags to slightly more expensive, but hopefully better made ones this year. I'm hoping to actually finish a whole school year without having to replace one!)


And Isaac:




(I totally forgot to take a picture of Isaac's new school shoes... oops)

And the bookbag shot:


I just thought they looked so cute together walking to the bus stop. As you can see, the sun has made it all the way up past the horizon by the time they get on the bus...



As for how it went... Everyone had great reports after their first day! Everyone knew at least one person in their class. The teachers were good. The schools were good. The bus was good. All good. They all seem to have a pretty positive outlook on it all so far. That's a good place to start!

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Warp Speed

Seems time is moving at warp speed lately and I just can't find good quality time to sit down and blog. Tomorrow I will do my very very best to make time to post some pictures from today - the 1st day of school! See you tomorrow.

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Buh Buh Buh Buh

Ever seen this? This was just about the point I had reached by bed time tonight. Let's just say bedtime could not come soon enough, and HOORAY for school tomorrow!!



On the plus side, EARLY this morning I did get a compliment from someone about how well behaved my children always are. Yes, if it weren't for that single solitary compliment this day would be wildly out of balance, with the scales being tipped heavily toward parental insanity. Thank God for night time and fresh starts and new days. We would all be nutso without such things.

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Split Personality

We've been having some issues with Meagan keeping her room clean lately. The other day it took her the better part of 3 hours to half-way pick up her mess. I finally ended up throwing all of her out-of-place items into an over sized laundry basket, and told her to put away everything in the basket. I warned her that if it wasn't put away properly, it would come back out and she would start over. In the end, her room was clean - very clean. Looked great!

Tonight when I went in to tuck her into bed, I found yet another disaster brewing on her bedroom floor. The basket of CLEAN clothes was dumped and strewn all over (because she was looking for pj's, of course), and her marbles (for who-knows-what reason) were all dumped out and spread around. Before I would tuck her in, I told her she needed to put the clothes back in the basket and pick up the marbles. I left to tuck the boys in, giving her a few minutes to work.

When I returned to her room, she was just finishing up the last few marbles, so I bent down to help her finish. While we were cleaning, we had this little conversation...

Me: Do you remember how clean your room was the other day after you put all your things away?
Meagan: Yes.
Me: It needs to be that clean all the time.
Meagan: It's just hard.
Me: Well tell messy-room Meagan to stop making giant messes and leaving her things out everywhere. Clean-room Meagan needs to be in charge and tell her to pick up after herself. Then you won't have to be doing this all the time.
Meagan: (with a sigh) Yeah, but the thing is, Clean-room Meagan doesn't really visit that often.

Really, how can you not love this girl?!

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Up and running (well, walking) again!

Great news! Isaac is up and moving wonderfully! Friday was really the last rough day. Friday morning he was pretty slow moving. Friday evening, he was much better. Saturday, he was basically back to normal, although he missed his first game of the season - better to be safe since he could barely walk the day before. Today he is outside playing in the yard. Walking great, and I just glimpsed him out the window a moment ago running through the yard in the midst of a sword fight with his sister. I think we're good to go. He will try practice tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed!

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Quick Update on Isaac

As of right now, it is not looking so good for Isaac to make his first game. He is still hobbling rather than walking. It would require a miraculous turnaround before tomorrow that would enable him to run and block and tackle. Hmmm... He did tell me though that he still wants to go and watch the game with his team even if he can't play. What an awesome kid. I like him. I hope he heals quickly.

Lunch Date. Zoo Date. Tree Date?

After having been in a total scrapping slump for about a month, I am finally finding my may out of the dark. I managed this week to make several layouts, and I don't hate any of them. Some of them I actually LIKE. Seems I'm heading in the right direction. Baby steps.

It's Friday, which always means a few things... (1) It's a great day for new releases at TLP and (2) it's time for a new Digi Dare. I have layouts for both of them today!

First, the Digi Dare... It's my week to host the dare, and since I had a lot of catching up to do for 2011, I kept it sweet and simple. This week is all about scrapping a group of photos and getting caught up. Please stop by the blog & check out the dare. Play along - there are $40 worth of digi goodies up for grabs this week!

Here's my layout for it...

Journaling: While in Urbana, Meagan played with B & A outside in the yard. The boys told Meagan they didn't know how to climb a tree. My tree-climbing girl thought that was unacceptable, so she taught them. Step-by-step until they were all in the tree together.
(Click here to view full credits)

And I have two layouts to share using new releases for Froggy Friday. Check out the Store at TLP to see what's new!
First, a layout using Sahlin Studio's new kit, word art, and alpha. (Can I just say this is one of my favorite layouts I've done in a while. I LOVE it when layouts of good pictures turn out good. And I love these pictures of Isaac and his friend together.)


Journaling: It had been way too long since you had seen or talked to C, so the moms arranged a meet-up date. We decided to meet at the Toledo Zoo since our membership had not expired yet & it was close for them. It worked out great! We met C and her family at the gate, and the 2 of you fell right back in stride like you never missed a beat. You still laughed and talked and played like you did every day when you were together. I'm so thankful for this day we got to spend with your best friend in the whole world. It was so good to see you laugh again.
(Click here to view full credits)

And another layout using Valorie Wibbens' new kit.

Journaling: We went to McDonald's for lunch today while our house was being shown. It was most definitely nothing extraordinary as far as food goes, But this turned out to be one of those days I will cherish as one of my favorite memories. We just had a really good time enjoying each other and laughing and talking. Life should be filled with more days like this one.
(Click here to view full credits)

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Eyes on the Prize

What a night! So much happened in such a short time. Tonight was our football / gymnastics combo night. We had eaten dinner, and had everyone heading in the right direction to get in the right vehicle with the right parent to go to the right practice. And then... Isaac ran across the yard for who-knows-what reason, and rolled his ankle AGAIN. Lucas took him to practice hoping he could shake it off and get going once practice started. But when they got there and started to get out of the truck, Isaac couldn't/wouldn't put weight on it. So they turned around and came back home. He plopped on the couch with some ice and a PS3 game. The good news is, by 8:30 he was walking on it... gingerly, but walking. I think that by tomorrow he will be good to go.

Meagan had her last practice in her current class tonight. She has been invited to move up to team starting next week. Can I just say that she is super excited about this! Super excited! And being the little rock star that she is, she earned another medal tonight at practice. This time, her medal was for doing 7 pull-ups in a row. Now she only needs the medal for splits all the way down on two sides... she is oh so close! Plus there is a t-shirt for holding a 20-second headstand. She has a ways to go on that still *lol*.

*****
Keeping in the same train of thought, I thought I'd share a layout I did this week. I did it for the August Formula Challenge at TLP... 1 photo, 1 paper, 1 alpha, 1 element, and 1 font. Sounds easy. It was not. I am a 'dump everything on the page' kind of scrapper. being limited to one of anything - especially one picture and one alpha - was NOT easy. But it was fun to do, and quite the challenge!


Journaling: 'At Deveau's you get a medal for making it to the top of the rope for the 1st time. It took you three months of trying at nearly every single practice. Every time you tried you made it about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up, and then climbed back down. Who knows what was different on this day, but I could see the determination on your face. You got to your usual stopping point, looked up at the top of the rope, at the bell waiting there to be rung, & you kept going. I am certain that you made it on sheer determination alone. I could tell it was hard, but you did it! Today you got your medal! And it was GREAT to see the excitement and pride on your face as you ran to show me!"

(Click here to view full credits.)

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a good day despite the junk

so let's see what kind of fun i can share with you today...

well, we took the cat to the vet. she won't stop throwing up all over. all over. all the time. it's awful. so we took her to the vet. blood work and a urine sample. we should get the results back tomorrow to see if they show anything. but i basically told the vet, 'our goal is to keep her as comfortable as we can for as long as we can, but we are not paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars for all kinds of surgeries and whatnot. it is what it is. if we can treat her with something simple and inexpensive, fine. if not, we'll talk.' he had said one of the next things might be biopsies... like $800 - $1,000. um, no. no that will NOT be happening. i will not spend a thousand dollars to cut a cat open, test her tissue, and maybe be able to help her, maybe not. no thank you. so that was a fun conversation. blah.

i went to the bank today to make a deposit. i also asked for $25 cash back. when i got home i realized she had only given me $20. so we went back to the bank, only to find that she had gone to lunch and no one else could help me because she had to reconcile her drawer, blah blah blah. she eventually ended up calling me and saying that she found her mistake. she credited $5 back to our account. no harm in the end. just annoying.

i made an eye appointment for sebastian. his eyes have been bothering him, so it's time to get this taken care of as well. i'm hoping the appointment will be productive and he'll get some relief. let's hope.

also had the fun of calling four different people to try to get some home warranty repairs going on our house. the floor boards by our back door have swollen up from water intrusion. we've already had the floor & door people out. and then nothing happened. well, miracle of miracles, it rained yesterday after a month & a half of no rain. and we had the joy of discovering a puddle on our kitchen floor where the rain was rolling right down the door and right into our house. oh joy.

on top of that, i'm trying to get the kids to participate in cleaning up their rooms and the basement. those days are always interesting.

so there's the kind of fun day i'm having so far. it's still a good day. we're all in a good mood. feeling very blessed by all the wonderful things we have around us. we're all getting along relatively well (isaac and meagan are always a bit iffy in that department). it's a good day - despite all the yucky junk that's been involved.

time to start planning for dinner and getting things rounded up for football practice tonight.

later.

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Pool*Side

It's the first Friday of the month, which always means it's time for a new BYOC at the Lilypad! Check out the new August BYOC. It's on sale all weekend! And it's GORGEOUS!


Here's my layout using some of the BYOC goodies. These pictures are from our first trip to the pool at the park near our home. It was super hot, and therefore super crowded! Every time Sebastian went under water, he got stepped on or got a butt in his face. But it still felt great to get in the water and cool off.

(Click here to view full credits)

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Randomness is my life

I can't really put together a focused blog post that centers on one event or idea... because my life is going in about 20 directions at once. So you get what I have to give. Randomness.

Sunday on the way home from an extra football practice, we saw a hot air balloon (which is really common). What was different about this hot air balloon was that it looked REALLY BIG, as in, it was VERY close to the ground. The closer we drove to it, the more it looked like it was going to land in the field behind our house. We hurried home, and as we were pulling in to our neighborhood, we actually saw the chaser vehicle pulling out of said neighborhood. So, what else was there to do but bust a U-ee. We chased the chaser trailer. Yup. We're that cool.

It ended up being in a field just north of 'our' field. When we got to it, it was JUST starting to disappear behind the houses. We were right under it at one point. This picture doesn't even begin to do it justice really, but this is what happens when photography takes place out a moving van window.


*****

Football is going well. Much better than day 1. He likes it enough to actually endure the heat to go out in the yard and play with Daddy. For Isaac, my child who is self-proclaimed allergic to hot, this is a major thing.




And they are learning tackling at practice. After eight years of telling our children not to hit others, we now do a complete 180 and tell them to hit them at full speed as hard as they can. It is one funny observation in cultural barriers. They run at each other and then stop just before impact. It will definitely take a bit of coaching to make them willing to hit and be hit at full speed.

(Isaac's in the center... he's the medium-length white sock kid... don't know a better way to tell them apart, since they all seem to dress in all black).


Do you see? It's a smile. He is having fun. Makes me happy when he enjoys himself.


high knees... sort of.




(He's holding the yellow pad... the one about to fall flat on his butt... he quickly learned to stay low in his stance so as to avoid being smashed to the ground.)


*****

Yesterday, on the pretense of cleaning the deck off to get ready to stain it, I sent my kids outside and turned them loose with the hose. They had a fabulous time. I got the kitchen floor cleaned and mopped. And beleive it or not, my deck actually got mostly cleaned off. Win Win.




Spraying each other in the face and then cracking up. What are brothers for?

See, a clean deck.


*****

We got caterpillars in the mail yesterday. They have yet to move. I think they were boiled. But we'll give them a few days... the instructions do say that they may not move much for the first few days. So we'll see.

Speaking of pets... anyone want a cat? She's great. She is litter trained and sweet and loving and all those things. Her only major flaw is that she pukes up food piles all over the house about 5 times a day. Grrrr. I am seriously getting tired of cleaning up hair balls and regurgitated turkey piles. Blech. This cat's got to figure out her issues or I may lose my mind!

So there you have my random bits and pieces. Oh, I ran tonight. And actually didn't hate it. In fact, I sort of liked it other than the occassional leg cramps. And then I came home and ate a brownie, but only because Meagan and I had made them earlier tonight (she wanted to have a cooking session, and it was a choice between brownies and cupcakes. I'll take brownies every time), and I didn't want to break a bitty heart by not tasting her masterpiece. Okay for real now, I'm ending the randomness. I need to go to bed.


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