June so far...

Okay, I THINK I don't hate blogging anymore. I THINK that by resetting my template format I have solved my formatting issues. Keeping my fingers crossed!

So let's try this!

Since I've been avoiding my blog like the plague, I have some catching up to do! How about a glance back at our June so far? It's been full, for sure!

June 2: We were getting bored at the house, so we made an impromptu trip to the zoo. I got us mildly lost because I sort of went the wrong way on one of the interstates (which will surprise none of you who know me well), but we made it and had a few hours in the evening to spend. It was cool and overcast, and since it was about 5:00 in the evening when we got there, it was uncrowded as well. Perfect viewing! The animals were active, and we could actually SEE them! Loved it!

The zoo has a new aviary exhibit. You can go inside the aviary where the birds are flying around... to be honest, it a little bit freaked me out. I wasn't thrilled with the ever-looming threat of getting poo'd on. And the birds were definitely not skittish enough for my liking. I had to get out. It was not my most favorite experience. However, the kids loved it!

By the time we left the zoo, it was late, and we were HUNGRY! We decided to drive until we found someplace we had never tried before. We landed at an Irish restaurant / pub. They had a live band going, and a menu that I couldn't quite decipher. I had to ask what a "rasher" was... it's like ham, apparently.

Meagan got a rootbeer and "drank it like a pirate" (she's a hoot!).

June 3: We got the kids slushies from Speedway. 

Then Lucas took the boys out on the deck and buzzed their hair off! Summer do's were definitely in order! 

Later that evening, I took Isaac to his lacrosse post-season party. They had an inter-team scrimmage then a cook out. Then played some more. 

June 4 - The start of cello for Sebastian. He has been counting down the days until he could get his cello. 

Also the start of football camp #2. Both boys went. However, we did get some info from the football league that indicated Sebastian can't do both football and gymnastics. The schedules are way to conflicting. He had to choose, and given the choice, he went with gymnastics. Bummed for sure. But still had a good time at football camp.

And if cello and football camp weren't enough, Sebastian also had his gymnastics banquet. It was at a local place that has put put and arcade games. He and some of his good buddies on team opted for put put. They didn't get to finish their game before the pizza was ready, but they had a great time anyhow. 

June 6: During football camp, Meagan and I hit the grocery. I found a grocery list app for my Kindle, and Meagan LOVES it! As we put things in the cart, she checks it off the list. Keeps her occupied and engaged, and saves me from hearing "I'm bored!!" Win, win!

June 6: Meagan got her boot off!!!!  This is like some seriously BIG news at our house! She did an honest happy dance in the doctor's office when he gave her the news. Weird thing is, the bone is still as broken as it was when she got the boot on, so I'm not sure why she is clear. But he wasn't concerned about it at all, so I guess we'll go with it. Since it has been off, she hasn't been bothered by it in the least. She's back to full go at gymnastics and is running around the house like a maniac when she's home.

June 7: Between cello and football camp, we passed the time at a park near the school.

There's a new piece of spinny equipment that is SUPER FUN. I even got on it with them. :)

Also, this day a friend of mine came over and spent the afternoon with me. She helped me nail down a definite plan for paint colors in the house. Now I'm super excited to start painting! I can't wait to see something other than white!!

June 9 - Isaac got his football equipment (pads, helmet, and mouth guard). He's ready to go!

And Sebastian had his first 4 hour gymnastics practice. He will practice every Saturday from 10:30 - 2:30. I sent him with a pack of pop tarts. Next time, I will send a small lunch... maybe peanutbutter sandwich and a piece of fruit or something. He enjoyed it! But the first thing he said was, "I'm SORE."  *lol*

Between all the running around for football equipment and gymnastics practice, the other 2 found time for good ol' summer fun... sprinklers baby!!

This is summer! 

Later that evening, friends of ours came over and hung out until late into the night. They headed home around 10:30 or so, with Meagan in tow. She went home with them and spent the night with their daughter G who is on her gymnastics team. They are buds!! 

June 10 - We met up with G and her mom and sister (and Meagan, of course) at Conner Prairie. It was a lot of fun for a while... until we all started MELTING. Hot is one word I can think of to describe the experience. But fun. 

In the Native American village, Isaac learned how to shave long pieces of wood (think small trees) to make into tools and spears. Very cool hands-on gig!

Meagan had a baby animal OBSESSION in the animal barn. 

And crafts. This was about the very last thing they were able to handle. We left right after crafts were done. Sometimes enough is enough. 

At home, Sebastian practiced for about an hour, and taught his dad a bit. 

June 11: Today we did almost nothing. Sebastian had cello this morning. Other than that, we were lazy blobs. I worked on Project Life (week 19). Meagan kept herself entertained with stickers from my stash. And the boys created a Lego war in Isaac's room. Total wreckage. Huge mess. Lots of fun! 

Tonight they watched Mr. Popper's Penguins, and they will be getting in bed early(ish). Tomorrow is day one of gymnastics camp. It runs for 6-ish hours. Tuesday through Friday. Long days. Must get sleep. 

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Project Life 2012: week 19

Instead of doing something most would consider to be much more productive, today I decided to do another week of my Project Life 2012. Week 19!! Lots happened... Lucas' birthday, a lacrosse tournament, Meagan's Level 3 banquet at Sky Zone, softball photos, and an injured toe (that we would later discover to be quite broken). 

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and a few close-ups.  Again this week I went with creating the inserts digitally and then printing them out. This was all done 100% digitally in 4x6 or 3x4 sections. Then I just printed them out and slid them into the photo sleeves. SO much easier and quicker for me!

Project Life 2012: week 18

I'm on to week 18 here people! This is progress! *giggle*

29 - Isaac had a lacrosse game. Also, I found this cabinet on the side of the road. Perfect!
30 - Lucas had a dentist appointment. Also today he brought home a Kindle Fire for me for my bday / early Mother's Day gift.
1 - No screens... Blockus! Our plants are growing!!
2 - Allergy shots, early dismissal, softball practice. Culvers spirit night! Yum!
3 - Lucas took Isaac to his lacrosse game while I did the gymnastics car pool. Busy night of sports!
4 - Lucas took the day off for his birthday. The drywall guy didn't show again. The kids got their new practice schedule for gymnastics ---> Bas is in the 10 hour group.
5 - Meagan's 1st softball game. She batted great and ran like a rock star. Also, we took Lucas to Logan's for his birthday dinner.

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Little Chef

Continuing in my efforts to scrap my way through 2011. I would LOVE to actually have a 2011 album by the end of 2012. We'll see...
From January 2011: We were still living in Ohio... Meagan took all of the food out of our Lazy Susan cabinet and spread it all over the floor. She then got out pots and pans and strainers and spoons and other such cooking utensils, and she played Chef for hours. Fun. But messy. Worth it.

(click here to view full credits)

Butterflies at the Zoo

I know this will seem like something totally obvious to most of you whose brains work like normal people's brains do, but I have this idea to go through a whole year of photos and finish scrapping that year so that I can actually make an album out of the layouts! Novel idea, right? I just don't ever really scrap like that. I don't go in order. I just scrap whatever I feel like... it could be from 2012 or from 2002. So for me, focusing on one specific year is actually quite a challenge. Yes, I'm still going to be scrapping 2012 because I like to scrap the stories while they're fresh in my mind. But other than that, I'll be trying to work my way through 2011 (although probably still not in much of a chronological order). 

These photos are from a zoo trip in July 2011. We met friends of ours there, and spent the day with them. I have about a zillion photos from that one zoo trip. These were just the ones from the butterfly section back in the back (actually, just SOME of the ones from that section of the zoo... *sigh*... I'm a photo-taking junkie, and I need help). 

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Summer Swing

We are in the summer swing of things around here... all the summer camps and such are just getting started... and the kids have gotten their first sunburns already.

Did I tell you that BOTH boys want to play football this year? That means we will be doing lots of schedule juggling between 2 football games, 2 sets of practices, plus gymnastics thrown in (because remember, football season coincides with the beginning of competitive gymnastics season... eeep). Should be fun! Last week was the first of 2 football camps this summer. It was 'transitional camp' for grades 3-6, which focuses on fundamentals of offense and defense. Fun! Both of the boys LOVED it! Sebastian came home after he first night of camp and said, "Mom, now I don't know WHAT to do - college gymnastics or college football!!" I told him he had plenty of time to figure that out. *giggle*

Both of the boys practiced with the receivers on offense nights, and defensive backs on defense nights. They were full of stories about catching passes and having to back up fast (which was 'really hard'). Fun stuff! This coming week is another football camp that will be a week of 5-on-5 scrimmages to teach them how to move the ball. Nice.

Also this week, Sebastian gets his cello for strings, and he starts a 2-week strings camp to learn about his instrument and start learning to play. He is beyond excited about getting his cello!! He had to get a 1/2 size instrument because it's so big, and he's so not.

Tomorrow we go back to the doctor for more x-rays on Meagan's foot to see if she gets her boot off.  Keeping my fingers crossed because she has that thing torn up!!

And then next week is gymnastics camp. (So let's hope the boot comes off!)

Tonight Isaac has his lacrosse end-of-season party. They're doing a cook-out and scrimmage at a nearby park. Should be fun!

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Eternal Summer

This is very  much not my typical style, but I've been super inspired by Amber R's layouts lately, and thought I'd try my hand at a bit of blending. It turned out to be quite fun! I most certainly have not mastered it like Amber has, but it was fun anyway, and I think I like how my layout turned out... I think. I did this layout with 98% all new goodies at One Story Down.  Go check it out... stuffs on sale!

These photos were all taken last June... sprinklers and popsicles. Love it!

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Friday Layout Dump

I've managed to do a handful of layouts in the past few weeks, but I've not so much managed to get them posted on my blog. To be honest, I'm still sort of avoiding my blog at the moment, and only giving it my attention when I have a large chunk of time available to give.... it really should not take as long as it has been to post a few pictures. *sigh*

Anyway, since mid-April I've done a few layouts that haven't made their way onto the blog... I figured this fine (somewhat cloudy and gloomy) Friday morning would be the perfect time to get caught up a bit. So brace yourself for quite a few layouts...

Using June BYOC goodies (BYOC just released today, and there's a great sale this weekend, so check it out!!). Meagan got 2 brand new boxes of sidewalk chalk for her birthday. We opened up one of the boxes and took a picture of the rainbow of fresh chalk just waiting to be put to creative use! Our driveway is now artfully covered in random drawings. :)

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I know I didn't tell you, but Meagan and I went to Chicago last weekend! We got tickets to go to the Secret Classic gymnastics meet, which means she got to see Jordyn Wieber in person!! AND she met Nastia Liukin and had a conversation with Marta Karolyi.  Are you kidding!! I think the whole time she was talking to Marta (about her boot), I was standing there trying not to let my jaw hang wide open. It was surreal!  Anyway, before the gates opened, we were standing around outside just waiting. We (well, mostly SHE) made silly faces and took pictures to keep ourselves entertained.

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On our way to one of Isaac's lacrosse games (remember the game where I went trash digging and got the cabinet for the kitchen?), we ate lunch in the van on the way to the game. Meagan wanted Burger King, and even though the boys wanted Taco Bell, they got their drinks at the BK drive through... Vanilla Sprite apparently was too big of a temptation to resist. Vanilla Sprite? Um, sounds gross to me. But they seemed to think it was fantastic! *shrug*

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Just a random layout to document life. I love that our kids are who they are, and that they give little regard to what others think. I love that they have the courage to do what they love. Sebastian, being a gymnast instead of a jock, is definitely the odd man out in his grade. I think sometimes it does get to him a bit, like in gym class when everyone else is better than him at basketball. I worry that he will eventually cave to what he thinks he SHOULD be instead of being who God has made him to be. I hope that never happens, but it is a daily struggle - not just for him, but for all of us I think. 

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2 Easter layouts that I THOUGHT I shared, but can't seem to find on the blog anywhere. If they're duplicates, sorry. 

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Of COURSE I have to document Meagan's first lost tooth! These are the major milestones of life, right?! 

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I've been meaning to scrap the pet caterpillars / butterflies for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it. I still may do another layout to capture a few other things about it. This one is all about setting them free! She was so happy that they flew out and moved into the field behind our house. 

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Some photos from last summer... on one of our trips home to Ohio, we all got together out in the back yard and played dominoes together. We laughed and had a great time until night fell and the bugs chased us away.

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And last but not least... my cake pops experiment. They were pretty, but SUPER sweet. The kids loved them, and at least I had a birthday cake!

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Project Life: Week 17

I am SO far behind at the moment, but I'll get there... Summer break is only days away, and I can steal some free time to catch up. I figure the important thing is that I'm still here, plugging along, and I haven't given up yet. As long as I don't give up, there's still hope!

So, here's my week 17...
2-page spread

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Lunch Date

Today Isaac gets to have a special lunch... he gets to go to McDonald's and eat lunch with the principal and 2 of his classmates!

During the last semester, they learned about economics in class. They each applied for jobs they would like to do, and they earned money for doing those jobs. They lost money for fines and infractions such as bad behavior or missed assignments. Then at the beginning of this week, since it's the last week of school, they got to buy things with their money they had earned. Some of the items available were:

• Sit at the teacher's desk for a day
• Keep a toy at your desk for a day
• Have a soft drink with lunch (a VERY popular one, I must say)
• Lunch with the teacher and 2 friends
• Lunch with the principal and 2 friends

These were just a few of the things Isaac mentioned to me. I'm sure there were many more. He chose the soft drink for lunch (he had a Sprite on Tuesday, provided by his teacher) and keep a toy at your desk for a day (he took a puffer fish stuffed animal). A friend of his chose lunch with the principal, and invited Isaac has one of his 2 friends to come along!! 

This morning when I was packing Meagan's lunch, she deemed that it's 'not fair' that Isaac gets to go to McDonald's while she is stuck eating pb&j.  We had a little talk about being happy for others when they are blessed in their lives... that everyone gets blessed differently, and just because today is not her 'turn' so to speak, it doesn't mean she can't be happy for her brother because it IS his turn. 

Anyway, I hope he has a ton of fun and feels a little bit extra special today. I'm happy for him!

Project Life: Week 16

I have had week 16 done for a while now, but I've been avoiding posting it because it's a guaranteed Blogger frustration! Grrrr.

I have a minute to spare this morning, though, so I thought I'd quickly get it posted. This week I did a LOT of hybrid... made it in Photoshop Elements and then printed it to stick in the album. I was just not in the mood to mess with paper supplies and stickers and all that nonsense. I needed some good old fashioned digital creating *lol*. Seriously though, I feel SO out of my element using paper products, that sometimes going back to digital for this is like putting on my favorite pair of pj's. It's just comfortable.

Anyway.

Week 16 was a week of lacrosse games and gymnastics practices. It was a week of school field trips, softball, and house work.It was also the weekend of the Blue & Gold scrimmage (which we wanted to go to but passed due to the cost for 5 people....eeep). All in all, it was a pretty good week.

Here's the 2-page spread:

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Well, that pretty much exhausts my patience with Blogger today. I'm off to do something far less frustrating. I do think that I'll look into transferring my blog to WordPress as soon as school is out and I have a bit more time. *sigh* It makes me sad, because Blogger has been so good for so long. Now it makes me want to pull my hair out. *shrug* Oh well. These are not the major issues in life.

Have a lovely day!!

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Easy Berry Smoothies

Yesterday for Mother's Day, I treated myself to a Mt. Dew. I know that sounds funny, but I haven't had one in a while, and it just sounded good. Since we no longer keep it in the house, I made a run to Speedway (I needed gas anyway, so....). When I got back, Meagan saw my cup, and asked right away if I had gotten her a slushy. Nope, I didn't. So I decided to be nice and make them slushies.

I found this recipe in a Kraft Foods magazine and tried it out. Super easy. And YUM!  I altered it a bit... here's what I did...

Ingredients: 
1 - 6 oz. cup of light strawberry yogurt
1 cup ice
6 fresh strawberries
1 pkg. Kool-Aid Singles (I used Tropical Punch)

Directions: 
Dump it all into a blender and blend until smooth.


Kids loved it! I loved it! I might make one of these for myself today!!

Ninjago

Wednesday means the Something Old Something New Sale at The Lily Pad, and I actually had about 30 minutes this morning to put a layout together... my scrapping time is suffering as badly as my blogging time. *frowny face*

Anyway, I used a few of the sale items as well as a few goodies in my stash.

(Click here to view full credits)

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Stories to tell

**Before I start... can I just say that Blogger is being horrible and awful and rotten! If this post looks wonky to you, will you please let me know. You wouldn't even believe how long it took me to get my preview to not have overlapping photos and text. There are a million giant spaces in my actual post, and I'm hoping they don't show up for you... does it look okay??**

Good morning!! I SHOULD be cleaning my house right now, and I'm fairly sure that the time will come (sooner than later) that I will regret NOT using this time to do what needs to get done. But I'm just so sad about how pitiful my blog has been lately. I MISS telling our stories... I find that I do it as much (if not more) for me as for you. I love to be able to look back on our daily lives - it's why I started blogging to begin with. So here I sit, sacrificing responsibilities for the sake of memory keeping.... fair trade I think.

So let's jump right into the stories.

Sunday Isaac had a lacrosse game (which I told you already), which they won 9-6. Did I tell you though, that the game was 40 minutes away from here, and that when we got there (3 minutes before he was supposed to be there, thank you!) he decided THAT would be the best time to tell me he forgot his cleats. *grr* I was not pleased. I dropped him off so he could warm up with his team, and we headed back home to get his shoes. Yes, an extra 80-minutes of driving for the sake of some cleats. Not cool.

BUT.

This story has a happy ending. Because apparently it was large-item pick-up day in the town we were in, and lots of people were putting big pieces of furniture and other random junk out on the curbs. Well, there was one particular pile of junk that had caught my eye on our first trip to the lacrosse field. And lucky me, I had 2 extra chances to drive by it before I ever even sat down to watch the game. Each time I drove by, I felt this particular pile of junk calling out to me, although I couldn't figure out why.

Now, let me digress...

When you walk into our house through the front door, you're greeted by a big long pretty hallway. And currently, at the end of said big long pretty hallway sits our ugly eye-sore of a trash can. But really, it's the only place to put the trash can with the way the kitchen is laid out. And me, being a very asthetically-driven person (I like things to look pretty. All the time. And when it doesn't, I feel crabby.), I HATE - no, LOATHE the trash can being the first thing you see when you walk into our home. My idea to remedy this is a set up like this:

A cabinet with doors... doors perfect for hiding trash cans in. Problem... all of the cabinets I've found have been not great quality, but have cost anywhere from $250 to $500. That's a lot of money for something that's not even solid wood. And wobbly. And junkity. No thanks. So I've kept looking. And hoping. And praying (yes, really, I pray about cabinets). And waiting.

So now back to the pile of trash... After Isaac's team won their game (yay!)...


 ... on our last and final trip past the junk pile, I saw it. Wedged between a bright yellow shelf (very cute, and also solid wood, and quite tempting, although too big to fit in the van with 3 kids, folding chairs, and lacrosse equipment) and a ratty old recliner, sat the very piece of furniture I've been looking for. A solid wood cabinet with doors to hide a trash can. Just sitting there. Waiting for me. For free. There's no better price than free, right? So, to the slight embarrassment of my oldest, I pulled over, and made him help me lift this thing into the back hatch of the van. And now my new free cabinet sits in my garage, waiting to be sanded and painted and made beautiful (so it can hold our trash... poor cabinet).

 

I'm thinking I'm going to paint it black and then stencil a pattern on the doors and top. I'm not totally sold on that idea yet, though, so I'm giving my brain time to storm up a plan. Hopefully soon, on one of my not-so-crazy-busy weekends (do we have those anymore?) I'll get down to the sanding! I am super excited to see this guy done!!

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Have you tried this stuff yet (and no, this is NOT a paid advertisement)?

We've used it three times now, I think. Once on fish (the lime blend), once on chicken breast, and this week to make chicken tenders. Yum! I did not set high expectations for these chicken tenders, as baked chicken tenders (vs. deep fried) never really turn out quite as yummy. Until now. This is my new favorite way to make tenders for sure! I just cut the chicken breast down to strips (about 4 per breast I'd say?), coated them with this stuff, and baked them at 350 for about 20 minutes. Then I turned the oven off and let them sit in there until I had the salad and everything else ready (twice baked potatoes, mmmmm), and they were SO crispy and YUM! Next time I will most definitely have to make more chicken because my kids hogged them down and wanted more.

Here's how they turned out:

So good. Sebastian said this is his new favorite meal. And for HIM to claim anything involving chicken to be his favorite is saying something.

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The rest of what I have to share is just the random that is our lives.

We had a parking lot in our floor for several days this week, courtesy of Meagan. Finally I think Isaac got tired of it, so he scooped up all the cars, threw them back in the bin, and took it back down to the basement. She didn't seem very upset by this, so I'm guessing she was done with the cars but didn't feel like cleaning them up. Nice.

Our plants are growing! It's almost transplant time, which means I'm going to have to get to work on getting our garden area ready.

This week was "No Screens" week at Isaac & Meagan's school. They have little slips to fill out that tells what they did INSTEAD of watching tv or playing video games. Each day they turn in their slip and it gets put into a drawing for a daily prize. Good stuff right there!  While this is not a challenge for Meagan (she never sits still long enough to need a screen to keep her entertained), it has been a real commitment for Isaac. He has read books, played board games, gone on bike rides... all kinds of good stuff! I like that the school promotes this, and it's not just us at home telling them they need to limit screen time. The other day, the boys and I sat down and played Blockus while dinner was cooking. I lost. Badly.

And yesterday was Culver's spirit night for their school... which means the school gets a % of sales. We have not been doing fast food lately, and have been eating much healthier meals at home, so the fact that we got Culver's was a big deal for the kids! Before going, I checked out their menu online, and found that their grilled chicken sandwich is only 310 calories and 4 grams of fat! Sweet! So Lucas and I each had a grilled chicken sandwich... and can I just say, it was TASTY!

It might just be (honestly... and again, not a paid advertisement *lol*) my new favorite fast food sandwich. It was GOOD!

Finally, thought I'd share this sweetness with you. This is how I found Meagan this morning when I went in to wake her up.

She was laying in front of her wide-open window, winter pj's on, with the legs shoved up (must have been a bit too warm? *lol*) looking super sweet. Days like this, I hate to wake her because she looks so peaceful.  But wake her I did. She actually woke up in a really good mood and had a great morning before school!

Now, I'm off to shower and get ready (and hopefully get SOMETHING done before I have to go to work).

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random post of the day

This is attempt #2 at this post. If it doesn't work, I might quit blogger. Wordpress is looking better and better every day. This 'new and improved' blogger is a big piece of junk so far. The end.

 Anyway, as i was TRYING to say but the post came out all WONKY and impossible to read.... We're still running around crazy with very little free time. Still running to gymnastics and lacrosse and softball and back to gymnastics again. I am thankful that two of the sports will fall away in about another month. Life can return to some semblance of normal. I hope. In sports... Isaac's team won their first game this weekend! They won 9-6 and were SUPER excited to be on the winning side of things for a change! Meagan can now do her back handspring all by herself on trampoline / tumble track. She hasn't been instructed to attempt it on the floor yet, but they look really good on trampoline! And Sebastian is bouncing back from his elbow injury. He keeps hurting his left wrist, so he's now wearing a wrist support at practice, which seems to be helping. He's also progressing quite nicely in his elements... yesterday at practice he did his long-hang kip (which is a thing on high bar that is a TOUGH skill to get the hang of but that serves as a building block for lots of other skills). So all is well on the sports front. Meagan lost her first tooth!!
She was beginning to think she was going to have her baby teeth forever, so she was super excited when this guy finally popped out! The adult tooth to replace this one is already up and through, but it's hanging out behind her baby teeth. Could wreak havoc on her poor little mouth if this keeps happening, but what's childhood, really without a few years of gawky looking wonky teeth? It's a right of passage really. Don't you agree? Last week was Young Author week at the elementary school. I haven't seen Isaac's book yet, so I can't share that with you. But I've seen Meagan's. And I cracked up! It is a book about Lilly. Written and illustrated by the one and only, Meagan.
This might be my very favorite page... because it wouldn't be an accurate depiction of Lilly without a whole page dedicated to her daily puking activities.
"Every day she peukes. It is descusting! 'Meow'" *HAAA*

And besides all of this going on with the kids, I have my own tiny bit of fun to share. Lucas surprised me on Sunday with a Kindle Fire for no apparent reason! I was super excited and felt completely loved and spoiled! Besides being a way awesome e-reader, there's an added bonus to all of this... I can finally use my google calendar again! I have been missing it terribly since the loss of my 'smart' phone, and I'm super happy to have a portable electronic calendar back in my possession! Sweeeeeet! Okay, I'm off to do a million things before work. Have a lovely day! Hopefully I don't totally melt down at blogger and quit altogether. I'll try to keep you posted.

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