moving....

I have moved. Here is a link to the new blog. See you over there! What's Next Again....

weekend.

They still give me goosebumps. Every single time. Just having a good night listening to lots of U2 on the computer. LOVE the original version, but found this cool live version.

Halloween

(I couldn't get many pictures. After a quick dinner of mummy hot dogs, these guys were ready to scatter and get the night started.)

Today started out with some rain, which concerned me for a minute because I didn't even realize it was supposed to rain at all today. I was hoping it wasn't going to be one of those days where it was cloudy, cold and raining off and on. That isn't good Halloween weather! - BUT rain has moved on, and it is sunny outside. It's a pretty day today. Chilly and fall like, but pretty.

This Halloween has a weirdness to it. Mike is overseas, Megan went to a Halloween party at a friend's house where the girls had pizza and then headed out to the neighborhood to trick or treat. Matthew went with his friend that he went with last year, (and made sure to stop at an old teacher's house who lives on Main Street who gives out cans of soda. Trust me, daily when we pass her house, somebody always says, "She gives out soda on Halloween!" and Trevor ended up going with a friend of his to our old neighborhood in Union. His friend's mom knows somebody out there (in the BIG houses with the full size candy bars!) So it was just me and the house. It feels strange...I love Halloween. I'm usually more into it than I have been this year. (I just pulled out the decorations yesterday!) This year though, with the kids all having plans, I don't need to be the mom walking around with them. Which I kind of miss. Although somebody needs to be here to hand out candy too.

No matter what, it was fun to see the kids all come home with their buckets full of stuff and all the excitement that happens when you dump it all on the floor and start trading. Trevor had a friend who couldn't go out tonight, so he has a huge gallon size freezer bag full of candy for him. (The less around here the better so I don't get into it!)

Wanted to add, because the differences in tastes is interesting:

Favorite candy

Megan: chocolate. She dumped out her bucket at the party she was at and picked through to get all of the chocolate stuff out. Another girl there didn't like chocolate, so they traded chocolate for fruity candy. Her favorites (especially judging by the wrappers thrown back in after eating) peanut butter cups, butterfinger, snickers, twix and hershey's.

Trevor: scored huge with full size candy bars, and is pretty protective of the several snickers ones that he got. He's pretty equal opportunity candy lover, but he really loves anything gummy, fruity and sour.

Matthew: Still is in the habit of picking out anything with peanut butter or peanuts and gives it away. Poor guy. He asked me what a snickers tasted like and I told him the closest I could think of was a milky way, without nuts. I think he's always been afraid of milky way because he ate his first one this year. - AND loved it. He loves twix, kit kat, starburst (no skittles...lol.) and suckers. Plus the one can of soda that he purposely went to the teacher's house to get.



I have been painting today. Nothing like company coming to motivate with something I have been wanting to do anyway. I have been working on the stairwell, which means that the ladder has come out. I noticed it the other day when it was out too....that this ladder is kind of a scrapbook in it's own way. We've had it for a long time. There are remnants of paint from so many places that we have moved to and tried to improve in our own little way. I always like painting. It makes things feel clean and like my own. - Plus I love tan. I know, right? Thrilling color. - But I love tan. There....I own it.

So I notice all these different colors on the ladder. There is a bit of pink and lime green from Megan's old rooms. One pink is from the house on Bosal, and the other with the green is from Spur. Along with other Spur house colors.....red from Trevor's room, Blue from Matthew's room, Orange from the bathroom. Chocolate (the prettiest color I haven't been able to duplicate) from the living room and dining room in the same house. Along with several different shades of tan from several different houses.

You know what though? I love it. In a way, it is the portable version of people charting the growth of their children on a door jamb. I can see the growth of my family in the colors that are left. I'll purposely have to paint a swatch of the new tan to add to it now.

I wish I could get a picture of how pretty the backyard looked today. At one point the contrasts were so vivid, it was gorgeous. The sky was layered with a pretty red sunset underneath a layer of dark ominous looking clouds, with kind of lighter blue on top of that. - And the trees were bright yellow, orange and red. The grass was such a pretty bright yellow green. Man, hard to describe and get in a photo, but I'll never forget it.

Today was airport day. Never one of my favorite days. Mike is on his way to Johannesburg. Every time I say that in my head, I hear Bono talking about a line in Silver & Gold from Rattle And Hum. Plus I think of U2 playing there.

Megan and Trevor had a halloween dance after school today, and much to my surprise Trevor asked about going. I guess he did go last year, but I hadn't heard him talking about it at all the past couple of weeks, so I figured he wasn't really interested in going. He was meeting some friends, and Megan had her usual group that was going to be there.

Random

I love this time of year. I have no idea why I have put off decorating for Halloween. I saw this picture with the ghosts online, and just had to post it because it makes me smile.

The leaves are so bright lately. I took a drive down one of my favorite roads the other day and there is a long row of bright red trees. They were so beautiful.




I'm feeling crafty too. I don't know what it is....but for some reason I'm feeling a bit of domestic crafting is something I need to get into. I have a cool idea for a big subway sign that I would like to do for my stairwell. I also came across this dog thing, that I thought would be kind of neat to paint and do my own version for my kitchen. Maybe more along the lines of coffee....instead of maple syrup though. Who knows, in my mind it's only in design stage. Seeing as how I still have to finish painting the rest of my chairs for my dining room set, who knows when I'll actually get to this....but the planning IS fun right?

It is cold tonight, and I plan on putting on some jammie pants, and getting out the horse blanket....and sitting down and watching The Soup.

Happy birthday Matthew!

I saw these cookies online. They made me think of Matthew....who's birthday is TODAY. Nine years old. Plus, he loves zombies AND according to the updated version of the last date of the zombie apocalypse.....when nothing happened.....the new date was supposedly today. Here I am in Kentucky, without my little zombie killer. (He loves to play some Nazi zombie game on the Xbox.) Once again this dooms day date has come and gone. Whew. We did think it was funny since the last supposed one that the new date was on Matthew's birthday.
*

He is in Phoenix today. I'm not used to not having the kids with me on their birthdays. Aside from when I had surgery on Trevor's birthday last year....I've always had them at home with me. Mike had to go to Phoenix for a funeral, and took Matthew with him since he is usually the one who misses birthdays because of work and being overseas. This was a nice opportunity for them to spend some time together and for Matthew to take a trip.

It sounds like he has had a ton of fun. I couldn't let the day go by without posting a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little guy. Pictures soon. I love you buddy!

13.

For a few years now, both Megan and Trevor's requests for birthday cake have been a bit nontraditional. That's ok. Trevor wanted pumpkin pie, and Megan asked for Paula Deen's Gooey butter pumpkin cake. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but anybody who had had it knows how good this thing is. Hello? Two sticks of butter? Cream cheese? Powdered sugar? Pumpkin filling and a cake mix? It is goooood. I made two, and we had one on standby that wouldn't come out of the pan....so this is the one that made it for candles and singing. (ha, and I just noticed how similar my photo is to hers on her site. My little pumpkins really do sit on this kitchen island this time of year....they just happened to be there.)

Most of the day I was getting things ready for tonight. Getting patties ready for grilling, blowing the leaves off of the deck so we could eat outside, cleaning, etc. Megan spent a lot of time sitting on the couch, drawing in a new sketchbook. I took a short break to land airplanes on my phone. (A mind numbing game that I am addicted to at the moment!)





At the moment there are several girls upstairs (being pretty quiet....) and so far they are all doing so well. This is a good group of girls that do everything together. No drama. They have all eaten, taken tv breaks, run outside breaks, and more eating breaks. Having a birthday fall during fall break is the best.

Last day of 12

Did I really just type that out?!? 13? My baby girl turns 13 tomorrow. An official teenager. I can't be the mother of a teenager. In my mind, she's still little Meggie Boom. - Today though, a few pictures of the last hours of 12 years old....

A few weeks ago Mike and I went out to find Megan a new bike. The one that she had (it was actually the one that she had won back in Phoenix, in 4th grade.) was getting too small. This girl is full size adult tall, and the girl's bike was not working out anymore. The brakes were difficult to adjust and it was time for it to be retired.

We started out with a super cute 7 cream, white and dark leather seat and handlebar, cruiser bike. Complete with cool chrome fenders. It was pretty. However, with the hills around here, 3 speeds were not enough. So we ended up taking it back.

We stopped at Dick's where she tried out a few bikes. She loved this one, and decided against the cruiser style. Honestly, with the hills and the few outdoorsy areas you have to ride through here occasionally, this one really is a perfect fit. Now she has the freedom of riding her bike to the library, friend's houses, and to the ice cream place on Main. Hopefully she'll get a lot of riding out of it before the weather starts to get too cold.

Below - We always need to get one photo like this....we like to make fun of the ridiculousness of that pose. - and can you tell that fall is in full swing here? Those leaves are really stressing me out. The driveway has already been cleaned of them already, and these are just from today.



I also think it's funny when I load my pictures onto the computer to find out that the boys have borrowed my camera. Sometimes there are some interesting Lego pictures on there. Below: Clone skateboarding.

Did I scare you?

lol. That one square just hurts to look at.


Yeah, I have been a bad blogger again. Life gets in the way. When it's just me I always think, "When Mike leaves again for a bit I'll catch up on blogging." Only to not, and then think, "When Mike gets home I'll have extra time to catch up on blogging." It never works out. It seems that every day is in full steam. That's not always a bad thing, but that's the way it goes. Peppered in with some down days where the only thing I wanted to do was take numerous naps on the couch and think about things, wonder how I got here, or go to work, or whatever....

Seasons are already changing around here. My driveway is a mess of leaves that makes it's own little alarm system when you hear somebody or something coming up to the house. I'll hear crunching noises. Sometimes it is a child, sometimes it is a squirrel, and mostly it seems to be deer walking around. There's nothing like having windows open (backing up to a cornfield too) and hearing sticks breaking in the dark. I wave thinking that if it is a person they think I see them. Then I close my blinds! It gets dark fast, sometimes I forget.

A million things I could write about, but every time I think I need to recap I just end up ignoring this project and before I know it another day has passed.

So I'll just jump in with today.

I have two boys. Two super cool, awesome boys. (Yes, I have a great daughter too, but she wasn't around during time the camera was out.)




Matthew and Trevor were out playing Call Of Duty with squirt guns. They hide from each other, but hiding places are starting to lose thier leaves. And let's be honest that if you are hiding up in a tree overlooking the backyard and there is a mom standing beneath it pointing a camera towards the top....your hiding place has been blown. I have to say Matthew's place is pretty creative. He has a branch he can also balance his gun out on.


And there is this one. The camera is not always their friend during this phase of 'tween-dom. But he loves me anyway and lets me get one once in awhile.

garage cleaning down memory lane.

No, this isn't my garage. Lol. But someday. Yes, someday it will look like that and it will even have the Volkswagen that is in this photo too. That was a total fluke when I was looking for an organized garage photo on the internet for this post. (Not ready to share a picture yet of ours, since it's still a work in progress.) Damn....we have A LOT of crap.

I mean A LOT. A lifetime worth. It doesn't help that we moved from a 3 car garage in Phoenix, then had a basement to store it all in, in the two houses we've lived in before moving into this one. This basement at this house is finished and is actually our bedroom. So everything has to be kept in the garage.

It was hard enough to get all of the stuff we had before into there and then Mike made room for the van about two rotations ago. So I have been able to park in there all summer.

Ugh, but wow. Where do you even start? The two biggest clusters of junk were all of Mike's aviation stuff and my scrapbook stuff. I figured once we both weeded through all of that we'd at least have a plan ahead of us. We bought plastic storage boxes last week, and started sorting.

At least now about a dozen boxes of aviation stuff (textbooks, manuals, charts, uniform stuff and chart cases) are down to about 3 boxes. Not to mention the several boxes worth of weird wires that Mike has collected and saved over the years, have finally been put into one box marked WIRES. You have no idea. This is 20 years in the making. The wires have always been one of those "when are you going to organize this?" things every time we've cleaned out ANY garage we've ever lived with. Thank you Mike! But.....I do admit that there are times when I realize this box of useless (to me) assorted wires has come in handy and saved us a lot of money. It's nice when he's setting up some electronic thing and he says, "Oh, I have that!"

Then my scrapbook stuff. I kept going through it and wishing I had the thousands of dollars that I had spent on the stuff that I was now sorting through. Most of it I am giving to a friend who does a big monthly scrap event at her church. I just don't use it anymore. I've gone digital for the most part. I also kept thinking, "Geeze, I used to have a ROOM just for this stuff. A craft room." I don't miss the room at all....but that just puts in perspective how much of this crap had and still have.

But in between the stacks of paper (some I still saved because it is too awesome to get rid of. I still LOVE pretty paper.) all of the chipboard pieces, rub on letters, Prima flowers, etc....I would find things. Photos that I tucked into places. Little mementos that I picked up here and there. Like finding an In & Out sticker, Mike's first pilot license, photos of my grandparents, our dog Katie, and pictures of my kids when they were babies, or when there was a time before each one was born. It's so strange to look back at a photo of just Mike, me and Megan...and think that Trevor or Matthew weren't here yet.

So, I did get some work done, but I admit both of us would stop every now and then and reminise about something we were holding. There are so many stories to things that we hold on to. Even recipts, or take out menus from places on the west coast. It's all a reminder of how fast life really does go by. Light speed.

While I am thinking about how fast time has gone by and the changes made over the past FOUR decades....(ugh) I meant to post this photo that I had been keeping in a folder in my computer since last year. I planned on saving it to use as a photo for a post about our anniversary. I never posted about it on the actual day (September 1st) but then was kind of mad at myself for not posting it after saving it for so long. Happy anniversary...21 years!! <3

Somehow what we were doing today kind of seemed relative to the photo below. How fast time has gone by....

21 years ago Mike and I were married. We've had our ups, downs, struggles and all that. Lots of good times and traveling to a lot of great places together. Three awesome kids. Everything that comes with life. It has all shaped who we are and made our love for each other unstoppable.

I remember this photo was taken in a photo booth just outside Memorial Colosseum at the AZ State Fair in 1988. (I think I still part my hair on that same side. Maybe time for an update.) and man, how I loved that 80's acid washed denim jacket.

Love you Mike!

Introducing video......

I love my smart phone. I don't know what I'd do without it. It makes my life so much easier on so many levels, but was originally bought for being able to keep in constant contact with Mike when he's overseas. I can get emails as quickly as a text. Real time. It's nice. It makes our worlds not so far apart.

I also use it for a million other things. Days that I don't want to carry around my big camera, my favorite apps of sticky notes for the store, calorie counter, GPS on my walks, use as an ipod with all my music on it, a GPS for the car to replace my clunky box, among other things and games, and video camera. I need to utilize this much more. As much as I have always loved taking photos of the kids through the years, it always felt like it was an either/or type thing. If I was taking photos, I never took video. Now it's all in one small little thing. I love it.

So once I learn how to edit and post on here, there will more than likely be more video to come.

If you look in the lower right corner, in the grass but near the plant sort of....you can see one of the turtles. All of us were out front enjoying the weather the other day. Piper catches the ball in her mouth. She's running up the hill to our neighbor's house. That's what I love about the location of our house.....their yard is huge. - And super nice for us to look at. ;)

You can hear the kids out playing, birds chirping and the stupid cicadas that make it feel hotter than it really is. I hate those things.

With that, it's getting late and I'm going to bed.

random

Last night we had an amazing storm. Lots of thunder, lightning and rain. This morning when I was sitting out front with Matthew and waiting for the bus, I was sitting next to this grass plant that we have near the steps of the house. From where I was sitting, the drops left over from the night were catching the sunlight so pretty. I swear, I need to save for a macro lense, because the photo above does not catch what I could actually see. It was so pretty. Hey, but I tried and got a picture just to remember.

It was misty this morning too. Not ugly humid misty, but pretty. There is a very slight hint of fall lately. The mornings and night time can almost be chilly. - This is the view out from the front of my house. Across the street right there is a creek where you can see the darker green bushes and trees. Usually that patch of grass in front of it is kept mowed. It's a pretty view really. The creek runs under the road and comes out into a bigger creek area a few houses down.

So the bus passes our house and goes up that street to the left before it turns around in a culdesac up there and then comes back down to pick up Matthew before leaving the subdivision. I watched Matthew and took some pictures as the camera sat on my lap (so as to not embarrass him with me out obviously taking pictures of him....he's in fourth grade now....not cool to have mom take your picture as you get on the bus.) But I loved how he looked. He has a routine. He always smuggles a few Lego guys in his backpack to take to school. He plays with them as soon as the bus is out of sight....then pulls them out until he sees the bus come back down the hill.





Then when the bus is in sight, he puts them back in and it looks like he's been standing there waiting the whole time.

Happy birthday T!

11 years old today. I'm speechless. I mean, for real. I don't know how time is going by as fast as it is.

Megan was home sick today (cold) so after getting Trevor ready for school I took him to McDonald's for his favorite hotcakes and sausage breakfast. We drove around a little bit while he ate. (Really, there are buildings in Kentucky....I just noticed how vacant the area looks behind him in this photo. This was taken right behind McDonalds.)

I have said it before, that I think the day the child is born is actually easier than the birthdays. So far we haven't even had a party (planning on one in the next week.) but last night I was actually wrapping two remaining presents in the back of my van because he was still awake in the house, this morning I went to Party City to get a few more things, then the grocery store to pick up a pie. By the time I came home, it was time to pick him up from school. Then Matthew got home, then Trevor had birthday money burning a hole in his wallet so we went to Target, then it was time to start making dinner. We had T bones (Get it? For T's birthday?) and Ceasar salad. That was the dinner he wanted more than anything....well, other than "toast" when I asked him a week ago what he wanted me to make for his birthday dinner and I said, "Something I am capable of making....." Toast was his smarmy answer. haha.

Then dinner clean up, then pie, then go outside and play with new toy...then inside to clean up and get ready for school tomorrow. It's been a busy day. But he's worth it. He's such a good kid.

below: playing with a remote control car, fresh from Target. That little thing is CRAZY fast, and rights itself when it falls over. He loves it. He's still saving the rest of his birthday money for a trip up to Kenwood next week with daddy. He plans on going to the Lego store and a game store.

below: one of his lego kits he got today.

Below: birthday pie. He loves pumpkin pie. There are a few pieces missing though. When he got home from school he couldn't wait for a piece, so we cheated and had a few small pieces out of it.


He also got an ipod touch today. Only I feel bad because I am so non electronic, I was able to get it registered but am having a hard time loading some things from the internet on it. Ugh, and usually Trevor is the one who can figure these things out! But.....Mike will be home on Monday if I can't get it worked out through step by step emails tomorrow.

Happy birthday Trevor!

Also, today marks one year uterine free. Yay.

Back to school....

Today was the first day of school. Kind of weird to start on a Thursday, but the bright side is that the kids all came home today really tired. We can make it another day and then it's already time for a weekend. It's like just getting our feet wet getting back into a new schedule.

Nobody slept well last night. They were all nervous, and even though Megan was the most excited about going back.....I think she still had a hard time getting used to going to bed before midnight.

Trevor - 6th grade this year. He is pretty excited that his homeroom is advanced math, and he has a top locker this year. He wasn't thrilled about returning to school, but it was nice to see him get out of the car and walk up to the door with some confidence this year. He knew exactly where to go and what to expect, so no middle school anxiety like last year. Plus he's just happy that his birthday didn't fall on the first day like has happened many times in the past.

Megan's new shoes. I love Converse. I had to get a photo of them.

Megan doing that heart thing that drives me crazy. She knows it, hence the sarcastic look on her face.

Accessory of the year is a pair of headphones. She had them with her everywhere this summer. Of course before getting into the car to leave for school she had to get in one more song while she could. She also was busy texting friends about where they were going to meet once they got there. I wish I was able to grow up with that kind of technology! This girl is in 8th grade this year. Last year of middle school. Ugh, I'm not too happy about that.

We got to school and I dropped them off. They both walked in together and I'm sure found friends soon after that.

Matthew....wow. Fourth grade this year. The oldest grade in his elementary school. Top dog. As if it didn't hit me hard enough realizing that by the end of this school year, I will have a freshman in high school....I was thinking about how this little guy is going to be in his first year of middle school. I think he is going to love this year because he has one of the greatest teachers. I can't wait to hear about what he thought of her when he gets home.

Below: the "I'm nervous, but I'm too cool to show it" smile.

I drove Matthew to school today even though he's going to be taking the bus. I do enjoy our time together in the car when it's just me and him. He said that he didn't want me to walk in with him, and that he'd be fine finding his classroom. He's trying to be so grown up....and it's breaking my heart!

Last year he also decided that he was going to go by Matt at school. He's still Matthew to me, but even this morning the principal opened the door for him and said, "Good morning Matt!"

Happy birthday Edge. Yeah, you may not be reading my blog....but we're celebrating with some U2 around here.

Is he really 50? Huh? This man has been a part of my life for a long time. I once got to touch him. *heart!*

I loved this article too. Happy birthday Edge.

Trevor

I was going to post photos daily as part of my project thingie, but I think I am going to finish the layouts first and then post those. It takes a long time to post a bunch of photos in one post.

I have to mention today. I may be the only one who is amused by this. Trevor. The kid cracks me up. Lately both boys have been trying to outdo each other with "Your mom" jokes. I know, they are childish and dorky...but I love a good timed one. It's all in the timing. You can't just throw out "your mom" all willy nilly.

Megan is at King's Island with a friend today, so I took the boys to Hot Heads for an early dinner. (A version of Chipotle, only it's closer to our house.) On the way there, they were doing their usual back and forth. A couple of times they each got out a your mom joke that made me laugh.

Then I tuned out. Like all parents do. Especially as conversation between them turned into a debate on legos.

Then for some reason, I heard Matthew asking Trevor about Christmas, and why is it his favorite time of year, besides the obvious being because of the presents.....

Trevor answers, totally deadpan: I don't know, the Christmas themed worksheets?

That one was totally deserving of a literal snort from me and snapped me right back into listening to them. That kid is funny. It's his delivery that always gets me too.

Day 2

Above: That is not my photo, but something I had seen online somewhere and saved on my computer. I came across it again earlier today. I figured I might as well post it with my daily stuff since I love it.


Not a whole heck of a lot going on here, but still trying to keep up with my little project. I took a few photos from today, and will make my pages on them later this week. These are just a few of my favorites from the day.



Last night I promised Megan that she could sleep downstairs with me. The boys went to bed and both fell asleep really fast. Megan and I stayed downstairs and I finished up my laundry (I had to wash a pair of pants I planned on wearing to work this morning, and of course waited until it was too late. So I had to wait up for the washing machine so I could put them in the dryer before going to bed.) She played her DS while I emailed Mike so he could have an email waiting for him when he woke up. There is a five hour time difference, so we usually plan to have an email to each other to wake up to.

I know it may seem odd, and my kids will probably someday need therapy because you never know when I'll show up with a camera....but it was sitting on my desk, and while I was getting ready for work I noticed how Megan was sleeping. She used to sleep exactly like that when she was an infant, and all through being a little girl. As big as she's grown, seeing her face like that reminded me that little girl is still in there. Or is it that the big girl was always there and her expressions haven't changed at all? Which ever it is, it is very familiar to me and I love it when I see these little things that have not changed over the years as my kids have grown. She's also laying with her head on top of Bear Bear. She was given that bear by Mike's dad when she was a baby. I remember when it used to be bigger than she was. She sleeps with him every night, and the poor thing looks like it has been well loved with it's stuffing all smushed down to one end of it, and it's eyes not as shiny as they used to be. I love that she still loves this bear. It's funny how each child has attached themselves to one animal in particular that they can't do without.

A week ago, Piper ran underneath the deck for some odd reason and came back out with a big gash on her back. We've been giving her regular baths to clean the wound which is about the size of an egg, and putting antibiotic medication on it. She got another bath tonight. She's getting smart, and ignores me no matter where I am when I call her for a bath. I do it at different times a day, offer treats or try to trick her in thinking we are going out and I catch her by her collar. How can a dog whose breed loves water, and she used to love her baby pool on the porch, hate water as much as she does now? She's never been traumatized by it....but you wouldn't know that by that sad face. "I reeeally hate this."



It is sweltering. I am not fond of that word, but honestly.....it is just that, in the truest sense of the word. Damn sweltering. We are in the middle of a heat wave, and when I talked to my sister the other day she said something that made me laugh because I had noticed it but hadn't really thought about it....the big red area that has been making the weather on the news lately that covers most of the eastern part of the US? We are right in the middle of it. Usually we have some hot days and our weather changes so fast that we know some relief can happen in a day or two. Not this time. I don't know when this is supposed to end, but it is awful.

I was sending a text yesterday while I was waiting for Piper in the yard. My screen was fogging up while I was trying to swipe the letters with my finger. Today when I opened my car door to walk into Kohl's, my sunglasses fogged up. That is something I'm not used to since I have never had to endure wearing glasses.

The thing is, it LOOKS so nice outside. It looks like it should be nice and happy, and when the sun goes down you should be sitting outside on your deck. Only it is HOT. (Still makes for some pretty sunsets though.)

Success! School shopping

I'm going to do a project this week that involves taking photos of random things throughout my week. Most people are starting their project on a Monday, but with summer, we really have no idea what day of the week it is anyway. Add to that, we are in a transition from one type of schedule to another when Mike is away....which comes before a big transition of the first week of school. Right now, this is our normal.

Megan had been asking me about a girl day since last week. I figured the day after Mike left would be a good one since I had the day off and knew I'd still be in full blown anxiety weirdness. (It always takes me awhile to level out.) and I figured a day out shopping would be a good thing to keep my mind busy since I didn't have to work. Plus the bonus of a paycheck that fell on this day with the added sweetness of some holiday pay in there too!

The boys stayed home - trust me, they wanted to - a few hours of uninterrupted video game playing? Why not? I did end up bringing them each a little Lego treat for being so good. Megan and I walked around the mall and stopped in a few stores. We found some perfect jeans at Aeropostale, and a few shirts. The man that rang us up noticed that when I put the non fitting jeans back into the display that I put them in folded and sized. He gave me an extra $10 coupon since we were brothers and sisters of retail.

Then we went to another of Megan's favorite stores. Abercrombie. Or AberZOMBIE as Trevor and Matthew call it. . We found a dress, and two shirts that she LOVES. So we have a small amount of things to start the new school year off with in a few weeks. Plus she knows that mom brings home some goodies once in awhile from my job so they are never out of clothing!

Afterwards we went to Panera Bread for lunch. I had a salad and Megan had a bowl of soup and a ceasar salad. It was too hot for something big. This was perfect. We love chick food.

Then we went over to Target and picked up the things I still needed to pick up for Matthew that were on his school supply list. All three kids are shopped for and done. The only thing left is getting fees paid next week and getting new schedules.

We found out Matthew's teacher just the other day. We couldn't have been happier. She's the one we had requested since she was Trevor's teacher in 4th grade. Matthew had had a rough year last year. His teacher should have retired last year. Her heart wasn't in to the class at all. I've since found out from parents from other children that have felt the same way. But we felt like Matthew was a bit lost last year. He would try to be good, be funny, be a part of things. He wanted nothing but to be a part of the classroom and have his teacher proud of him. I feel he fell through the cracks a bit. He came home sad a lot. Mike had gone to bat for him with the principal a number of times. Long story short, we made sure we could have a better year for him this year. It's so hard once you lose a child to feeling like "what is the point?" and they start to not enjoy school to help them find the way back again. Not this early....that shouldn't be happening in 3rd grade. So we are very optimistic. This new one is so sweet. She can be strict, but I already know I like her.

Megan is looking forward to school starting again. Trevor is cautious about it, and Matthew could not care less. I think that will change once he gets back in the swing of things again. Plus he's top dog fourth grader when the school only goes up to 4th! That's pretty cool.

catching up....again.

It's hot. Plus I'm trying to avoid going upstairs because that means we will be leaving to take Mike to the airport. I didn't think that he'd be able to come home this rotation, so each week that passed was a bonus. - But I really hate departure airport day.

We did have a nice mini vacation that was MUCH needed. It started one night when I said something to Mike about U2. I was bummed that they were going to be in Chicago, but at that time it was scheduled for when Mike was probably going to be gone already. I figured my chances of seeing them on this tour were pretty slim.

He surprised me and found a way for us to go see them in Detroit. Plus a road trip, plus take the kids to Cedar Point. We were all happy! (click on image to enlarge.)




The road trip was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I love road trips. Seeing Detroit was pretty neat. Where we stayed was beautiful. I would have liked to have spent a few days there. However we had one night. Driving through was neat, I love industrial stuff. I loved seeing the car manufacturers. Those places are huge. Hard to describe HUGE.

Where Mustangs are born:




The concert was, of course, awesome. Love.



The next day we headed back towards Ohio and up to San Dusky. We got to the hotel and I kind of wanted to drive over to see the lake, and walk along the waterfront.

We found an area to park and walked out towards the water. We walked around, and the boys jumped all over rocks. We found a park that had things for the kids to play on and get out some road trip energy.







Pretty flowers:



Graffitti that I thought was actually kind of cute. Nom nom nom.



Pretty boats:




These geese were walking across a parking lot, all in a row. You can't tell from this photo. It looked like mom geese and their awkward preteen geese babies following them. They still had baby fuzz on them.


That's about it from here. Off to fold.