To Do

Still to come this week:
1. Haircuts for the kids
2. Haircut and color for me
3. Dinner with my side of the family from out of town
4. Baby shower
5. Two photo shoots
6. Hosting Bible Study at my house
7. Baseball practice/game for The Little Man
8. Hubs' family coming into town
9. Family portraits for The Hubs' side of the family (including us).
10. Nail appointment for The Girl with her cousins.

Already checked off for the week:
1. Pool twice
2. Thorough cleaning of house
3. Host dinner for my side of family in town
4. Coordinators meeting for church
5. Chiropractor's appointment

Things to do but I don't have time to put them on a list:
1. Working out
2. Bible Study
3. Reading a book that I have to return by today from the library with NO extensions allowed
4. Proofing client albums
5. Spending time with a very close friend who is in town due to the death of her father who was also very special to me.
6. Daily life (IE breakfast, lunch, dinner, lost sippy cups, help in the bathroom, grocery stores, breaking up wrestling matches, dishes, personal hygiene (I could so totally skip a shower here and there if we didn't have all these places to be), the children's hygiene (I do skip their showers here and there), library runs).

What's not on any of these lists:
1. Sleep
2. Sanity

Coming Up For Air

I'm busy.

Again.

But I already knew that. Right?

Right.

The good news is, despite the craziness, I can report that the pool has been fabulous.

As long as you get there before 1:00 pm. .

After that, it's up in the air as far as the weather is concerned. We are still battling severe weather pretty much every afternoon. I have come to realize how spoiled I am living here. We just don't see this kind of weather very often. However, at this point, both of my kids can spot when a thunderstorm is approaching and if it looks like it will have hail in it. They even debate with one another.

D: Looks like we're going to get a storm today.
P: Oh no, not hail again (as he looks out the window and to the West).
D: No, I don't think it will hail today. It isn't dark enough.
P: Yes, I think it will. Look at those clouds there (pointing to some ominous clouds). They are dark.
D: Maybe we will. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

This is normal lunchtime conversation around here.

Maybe sometime this week, I will get up some baseball photos.

I just hope it will be of The Little Man playing baseball and not baseball size hail.

Hoop Dreams

A new character trait has recently emerged from The Little Man. I am happy to say it is a pleasant one. We have really started seeing it just this summer with all the activities that we are able to do outside. Things like bike riding, baseball, Frisbee, basketball, swimming, etc, etc, so on and so forth. The Little Man is quite the encourager.

He has a keen sense of knowing when someone needs just that little boost of an encouraging word to try harder. If they just so happened to surprise even themselves, he's quick to let them know what an awesome job they did and give them a high five.

He doesn't just encourage others, he also is good at encouraging himself. He's quick to yell out a "Yea, baby!" when he sinks a basket or throws a Frisbee straight. Playing with him is just down-right enjoyable.

Today, when he asked if I wanted to shoot some hoop, I couldn't pass it up. He was very excited to practice up on his skills. Right away he started in, "Nice dribbling, Momma!" Next he wanted to see who could be the first one to shoot 20 hoops. He sunk one first.

(Hey, I never claimed to be any sort of baller. I guess that's another reason why I like playing with him.)

After a few more shots, I made it in the hoop. "Yea, Mom! Way to go!" was all he said. I sunk a few more before he made another basket. Each time I got a big dose of encouragement. I could tell that he was a little upset that he was behind, so I went ahead and let him have a few turns in a row. As he sunk his next shot, out came a "Yea, Baby! Way to get it goin' ".

There was something so cute about the tough guy expressions he had, as he would line up to take a granny shot. The two contrasted each other so much, I couldn't help but notice.

I sure hope this is just the beginning of what's to come with him. I know that I enjoy playing games and trying new things out with him. Even in our 30's we still need someone to tell us "You're doing so awesome Mom!"

I don't care if it is a kiddie basketball hoop.

Letting My Hair Down

So after I got a little unglued about the weather for the Fourth, things have changed. This week we have been to the pool twice, and have enjoyed some very warm days.

I am happy once again.

Another thing that has made me happy is that the pool water is extremely nice. I'm not a human thermometer, but I would put the temp at about 87 degrees. Give or take. Whatever it is, I am just going to call it splendid.

It is so splendid, in fact, that I have been in the water frolicking around with the kids. And, here's a bonus, (that my hair dresser would not approve of, sorry!) I have been getting the hair wet and swimming laps. I know. My kids can barely recognize me. And it's not because my roots are grown out approximately four inches with a smattering of grey, or because my mascara is streaked down my face.

No, it's because I need very warm weather and very warm water in order to get into a pool. You usually don't get both of those together. There was a lady who entered the pool today, looked at me, and said, "Wow, it's like bath water in here. That's not too refreshing, now is it?"

I hardly had a response.

I smiled sweetly to her and said, "I don't know, it feels like heaven to me." And it was.

I was considering not getting my hair colored for the rest of the summer just so I feel like I am allowed to swim around and not worry about ruining the color with the chlorine. Unfortunately, upcoming family pictures will be stopping that. Somehow, even though my kids could careless, I have a feeling I would regret having a family portrait taken with the newest additions to the family: My roots and greys. So alas, I will have to get in all the swimming and frolicking I can this next week or so.

Then I might be investing in one of those rubber caps.

I'm sure the kids can hardly wait to hang around with that!

Gone Part Deux

OK, yesterday was ugly. I am over it.

For now.

In fact, we did get to see fireworks last night, even though we were bundled up under blankets. At least the rain had stopped. Now onto Part Deux of the Family Vacay '09.

After a quick stop home, we headed back out to the hills again. This time we stayed with my Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law in their cabin. This was the part of the vacay that I really started to feel rested. We played games, ate yummy food, had a camp fire for s'mores, four-wheeled, ran, hiked, zip lined, and tried to fish. After writing all that stuff down, and realizing that we did, in fact, do much more, it's hard to understand why I would have felt so much more rested, but I just did. It was just a really great time.

On one of the days we were there, we tried to go fishing and have a picnic. It lasted all of ten minutes. No joke. After just a minute or two after getting there and setting up food, we realized that there were quite a bit of mosquitoes. We had seen and been bitten quite a bit up to this point, so we weren't detoured (see previous post about all the rain we've been having as an answer to why we were so buggy). However, after another minute or two we realized that the problem was getting bigger and might be more than we could handle. After receiving a few bites despite the thick layer of bug spray, and THROUGH OUR CLOTHING, we realized we must get out of there. By the time we wrangled up everyone, and got stuff packed away, we were completely swarmed by more mosquitoes than I have ever seen in my life.

Some were the size of small birds.

OK, that was a bit dramatic, but they were large, and did I mention, they were biting us THROUGH OUR CLOTHING!

Thankfully, we hadn't unpacked our picnic too much, so it was very easy to serve everything back up again once we reached the safety of the cabin. The Little Man had so many bites on his legs that they were actually starting to look deformed.

That doesn't include the bites on his forehead that caused him to look like he was growing a horn.

By the end of the trip, The Girl and her cousin had decided that they had found a secret recipe for keeping mosquitoes at bay. It included almost an entire bottle of bug spray mixed with a nice layer of sand. They insisted that it worked.

By far one of my most favorite parts of this trip, besides watching the kids thoroughly enjoy themselves with their cousins and all things outdoors, was a run that I did with my Sister-in-Law.

She told me that there was this loop in the forest that she loves to run. It sounded fun and beautiful. Also, the term "loop" sounded kind of small and do-able. I imagined some sort of nice flat trail that looped around an open field/meadow type place.

Um. Not so much.

Don't get me wrong, like I said, this was my favorite part of the trip, but it was the hardest run I have ever been on. I realize that this isn't saying much, but I am just sayin'. First off, that "little" loop ended up being about five-ish miles. I do run further than that at home, but home isn't a little over 10,000 feet above sea level. Also, "the loop" is very hilly (Imagine that? Hilly in the mountains? Who would've thought?). Lastly, I am pretty sure the run was up-hill both ways. I made it, though. It was difficult, but totally worth it. I loved the scenery, the quietness, the solitude, and the challenge. I loved that when I was done, I felt like I gave all that I had. I can hardly wait to do it again.

Here are some pictures of this trip:

The kids favorite thing to do: The zip-line:













Watching Cars:


Enjoying some tire swing action:


Hunting for pine cones:


Geared up for four-wheeling:


Yummy S'mores:




Cousins are fun:


Part Deux was a great time.

Patriotic Irritation

I know that I am supposed to be blogging about Part Deux of the family vacay today, but I am posting this instead. Generally speaking, I try not to get irritated on this blog. I try really hard to see the bright side of things or take a trying situation and laugh at it. Sometimes, I will share how I am working through a difficult situation or trial, but I do try really hard to not be grouchy or irritated on this blog. It's not what this blog is about.

However.

I can't take it anymore.

The weather this summer is on my last nerve.

Maybe because today was a holiday, it helped me to put where we are as far as a day on the calendar more clearly. We are HALF WAY done with summer. To help you understand where my irritation lies more clearly, we have just left a Fourth of July picnic due to an unrelenting rain and a such significant temperature drop that it allowed for us to SEE OUR BREATH, I am now at home in FLEECE pajamas and footies, and am drinking HOT tea to stay warm.

On the Fourth of July.

Really?

There will be no fireworks this year, no cute tank tops, flip flops, watermelon seed spitting contests, Popsicles, or fun that takes us into a warm summer night. Instead, I am drinking tea, watching a movie, and trying to stay warm.

It just seems so wrong, doesn't it?

WHERE ARE YOU SUMMER?!?

Part Deux will come tomorrow.

Along with a happier attitude.

Gone Part 1

I am back.

We were on vacation.

A much needed vacation.

It had two parts.

Here's part 1:

For Part 1 of our family vacay '09, we headed to the hills for some R&R with my side of the family. I guess you could call it a family reunion of sorts. Not all of my side attended, but the bulk of them were there.

We had a great time, and I was relaxing and enjoying the down time so much so, I didn't even photograph the first 2 days! I know. I am kind of kicking myself now. But whatcha gonna do? However, the last day, I TOTALLY made up for it.

On the last day of Part 1, as we headed back into town, we stopped at a Family Fun center. I think this was THE best part of the entire trip. We had a ton of fun there, and the kids never stopped smiling the whole time. We rode slides, drove bumper cars, and raced in go carts.

Fun, fun, and more fun.

I took some pictures, but I handed my camera off to others for the bulk of the pictures because, well, I didn't want to miss out.

Here we are


I have to say, these slides are tall. I really am surprised that The Little Man rode this all by himself.

Off they go:


If you could really blow this up, you would see the terror on the faces of my children:


Now that it's over, happiness and glee:


And they rode it again so they could say they did it with their mother too:



The bumper cars were a BLAST! There was this saying on the back wall that said, "We sell happiness". I wanted so badly to get a picture of the four of us underneath all cheery in our bumper cars, but we were too busy crushing one another that it never happened. Oh well, here's some happiness without the sign:




Next up, racing go carts.




It was so fun we did them twice.

Two times the fun!

At the end, we all got to do the slides again, together as a group because of some sort of ticket miscalculation that benefited us all (except for one preggo sister who took the pics. Thanks!):


And we're off!




I have to admit, it wasn't all fun and games. On our final run of the slide, I had an unfortunate incident occur. Take a look:


Do you see it?

Here. Here is a closer look:


FYI: When you ride a plastic/fiberglass type slide, really fast, on a warmer sunny day, that slide? It's HOT. And the speed? Well, it creates friction, my friends. The size of the burn marks on my hand tell it all. I don't know what degree burn it was, so I'll just say it was a HOLYCOWIJUSTBURNEDTHELIVINGDAYLIGHTSOUTOFMYHAND degree burn, and call it. I thought about photographing them, but it would just ruin everything. All the fun, the smiles, and laughter would be ruined I tell you, just rurnt . So just try not to think about it, and most importantly no matter how fast you are going, and how much you are tipping over never, ever, reach out with your hand to correct yourself.

Just don't.

Part Deux tomorrow.