Monday, July 28, 2008

a painting we will go!

Today was spent helping my folks get their living room & hallway primed and ready to be painted (hopefully tomorrow!). At the end of September they will have lived in this house for 13 years & they haven't re-painted the living room from what the previous owners had painted it (a kinda light taupe-ish color).. so it's about time for a little bit of change. My Mom picked out a pretty creamy butter yellow to re-paint it.. which also means the hallway because of the layout of their ranch-style house.

My "little" brother went over to their house Saturday afternoon & painted the ceiling for them (he's 6'3" tall). That was very nice to have done.. 'cuz even with a roller that has an extender pole on it, at only 5'2" tall it is not an easy or fun task for me to do. :) Yes, I am a munchkin & proud of it! ;)

My Aunt was gracious enough to offer taking the fireflies for a playday this afternoon & my ladybug took a nice long nap with my Dad on my folk's bed while "we" worked on the living room. I say "we" in quotes because, as is a sort of tradition with all projects my Mom & I work on together, I end up doing the majority of the work(manual labor or otherwise) while she "supervises"! ;) I always tease her about it, but don't let it bother me too much anymore (well.. most of the time!). Her supervising ended up in her falling asleep in their glider rocker while I primed my little heart out. Oh well.. I can actually work faster when she isn't in my way working on "stuff".

My husband went & mowed for a widow lady from our congregation this evening and while he was gone doing his good deed, I worked on laundry & made teriyaki chicken with rice for dinner. Everyone really liked it, so I guess that means I will be working it into our menu line-up on a semi-regular basis.

Tomorrow will bring more exciting priming & painting into my life. I am hoping that my Mom was able to get some more priming done this evening so that I can get started with the painting. I can't wait to see how pretty their room will look with the creamy butter yellow on the walls.. it will really look nice with their new couch. I also promised her that I would thoroughly scrub their hardwoods in the living room & hallway before we put the room all the way back together, too. I never learn.. I always have to open my big mouth & offer stuff and it always ends up as lots of work for me! Oh well.. they do a lot for my family & I.. it's the least that I can do for them. :)

Well.. I've got some more laundry to fold & switch over, so I suppose I should close out this post for tonight. Hopefully I will post again tomorrow night after I get home from my friend's Pampered Chef party. :)

Saturday, July 26, 2008

whirlwind week!

This has been a whirlwind of a week around our household & I've been either too busy or too exhausted to post this week. I wanted to post something on Wednesday evening after we got home from Vacation Bible School, but because of an incident earlier in the day... I was in too much pain to type anything.

First of all.. VBS went really well this week.. we had an average of 160 for the week(that includes all the adults in classes & helping in general). Amy & I took care of all the crafts this year.. it went really well & we had more than enough to cover all of the kiddos. :) There were really only a couple of things that we decided we should change about the way that we did things this year, so.. although we're tired.. it's a good tired. :)

As I have mentioned on here before, I take care of yard work for my folks because of their health issues. Well, the week that my oldest firefly was at camp was super hot & humid, so I didn't mow for them.. which of course translates into their yard really needing to be mowed this week. No big deal.. I decided that I would do that on Wednesday morning since the fireflies had spent the night & were having a playday at my Aunt's house that day. Only having my ladybug in tow wouldn't be so difficult.. even with my folks having a doctor's appointment in St. Louis that morning, I decided I would just put her in the stroller with some toys & we'd be golden. ;)

So.. their evergreens needed to be trimmed and raked around, too.. so I decided to go ahead & do that and get all twigs picked up in preparation for mowing the yard. I started shaping the bushes and had gotten to the 2nd one, when all of a sudden something stung the back of my left hand. I remember thinking, "wow.. I didn't see a bee buzzing around.. & that really HURTS!!" ... about that time, I saw a big wasp fly back into the bush that I was trimming. They say that you learn something new everyday.. well, I had no clue that wasps like to build nests in evergreens.. apparently they do! I quickly unbuckled my ladybug who was just a few feet away in her stroller & grabbed her up with my good wing. I tore apart my folk's kitchen looking for the baking soda to make a compress like my Grandma always did for us when we got stung by bees as kids. After I left the compress on my hand for a while, I sucked it up and went back outside to finish trimming the rest of the bushes and clean up my mess. My hand was really swollen & red and hurt like thunder, but I worked through the pain to get the job done.

The other thought that raced through my head was "Gee, I hope that I am not allergic to wasp stings, 'cuz my folks are in St. Louis & my little ladybug isn't going to be able to help me at all!" My hand was swollen & really sore for a couple of days.. it's just now getting back to normal. I think that stupid wasp must have hit a nerve when it stung me.. I couldn't bend my fingers for a good 24 hours. The only thing that I can liken the pain to would be how horribly my hand ached every time I have had an iv in it when I had my kiddos. I sucked up the pain & got their front yard mowed for them.. the back still needs it, but it can wait a couple more days. ;) Later in the day we discovered another very active wasp nest in one of their other bushes.. all of them have been thoroughly sprayed with wasp spray!!

Yesterday & part of today has been spent working on the bottomless laundry! ;) I am one of those weird people that likes to do laundry.. but even I grow weary from time to time. My husband is mowing yards this afternoon/early evening and after he's done with that we're supposed to drop the fireflies off at his Mother's house so the two of us (with ladybug in tow) can go out to dinner together. We got some gift cards to Chili's and Applebees for our anniversary from my little brother & sister-in-law and from my sweet Secret Sister at church, too. I think Chili's sounds good to me this evening. :) My folks treated us all to dinner last Saturday(on our actual anniversary) and gave us a pretty card w/ a nice check in it, too. I don't know what is up with his Mother this year, 'cuz she always makes a huge deal out of our anniversary.. but didn't say anything at all about it & didn't give us a card or anything---kinda strange, but she's that way sometimes.

Oh well.. laundry is beckoning again. Washing our bedding and trying to get the towels all caught up again.. it's a never ending battle this time of year. :) I hope that everyone will have a wonderful weekend! Hopefully I will get a chance to post again tomorrow too & get back into the daily posting groove. ;)

Monday, July 21, 2008

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday, Everyone! :)

We had a busy weekend, but we all survived. We all enjoyed dinner with my folks, my Aunt & my "little" brother & his family Saturday evening. As usual.. we ate way too much, but the food was awesome and the leftovers are going to be very yummy, too.

Yesterday was a crazy day, but lots of fun. Vacation Bible School started last night at church and we were busy helping with all the details. We had a pretty good turn out for the first night.. 75 kids(including about 20 or so youth) and with the adults included in the count, we had about 150. It has been traditional for the kid count to rise as the week progresses as more of the kiddos invite their friends to join them.. so we'll wait and see what the week holds.

The fireflies had a good time & were worn out enough from it to sleep in for me this morning! ;) (that is always a good thing in my book!). Little ladybug, however, woke up when she heard her Daddy getting ready for work.. that's okay though, because after he brought her into our room she snuggled with me for a long time. :) She's really enjoying her recently discovered mobility, so the snuggle sessions are becoming fewer & farther between. Hey, ya take what you can get, eh?! ;)

Agenda for the day consists of some more laundry, house cleaning & taking the fireflies & ladybug to swim at my folk's house. The forecast is calling for thunderstorms here this afternoon, so I better get in gear so that they can swim before it hits!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Happy 11th Wedding Anniversary, Sweetheart!

Wow! Exactly 11 years ago today, my husband & I exchanged our wedding vows... vows that we wrote together & our minister asked if he could use in his example book in the future. :) Our ceremony wasn't extravagant, but it was perfect for us & truly a worship experience.

A lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge since we got married on July 19, 1997... three children here on earth, three babies in heaven, lots of financial ups & downs, responsibilities at church, responsibilities at our firefly's schools, etc. It's easy to get caught up in all the craziness of life sometimes, but no matter how aggravated & infuriated I get at him at times.. I still love him with all my heart and we've stuck together through thick & thin.. even when the storms have been raging all around us.

We met when I was a bridesmaid & he was a groomsman for our mutual friends.. the first time we saw each other was the night of the rehearsal--Thursday, July 11, 1996. I thought that he was funny & kinda cute and was happy to hear that he was the groomsman that I was supposed to walk arm-in-arm with during the ceremony. The next evening at the wedding, we were supposed to walk in first to "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring".. well, the person that was "in-charge" of the music messed up big time & he ended up playing the "Wedding March" as we walked up the aisle together. ;) He ended up giving me a ride home from the reception and we went on our first date on July 18, 1996-- the night before I was leaving on a Mission Trip to Memphis, TN with the church I grew up at in Kansas. We started dating seriously after that & knew by that September that we were going to get married. He gave me my engagement ring on November 7, 1996 and we went to Mesa, AZ to meet his Dad, step-Mom & his Grandma over Thanksgiving that year. I was so glad that we went over the holiday to see everyone, because his Grandma passed away around Christmas that same year. Our wedding date is pretty special, too.. not just because it's our wedding date, but because it would have been my Grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary.

Oh the memories! Sorry for the trip down memory lane.. just pondering where we've been & what God may have in store for us in the future. As is my tradition.. I will be hauling our wedding album out this evening to look back through all of the pictures from our day and thinking about all the funny little anecdotes from that day, too. We are all going to dinner at Amarillo Tex's Steakhouse this evening with my family to celebrate.

So.. Happy 11th Wedding Anniversary, Sweetheart!






Friday re-cap & Saturday morning adventure

Yesterday we picked up my husband early from work(later than originally planned, because he was having issues with a big project) and we headed to Ferguson, MO to have a very late lunch. Our final destination was the Whistle Stop Depot Cafe, located next to train tracks in what used to be an operational train depot. They have soups, salad, sandwiches & yummy ice cream treats.

Since the youngest firefly is over-the-moon for all things railroad, we decided that it would be fun to end our week of him being king with a fun lunch treat there. We had been there once before back when I was pregnant with our little ladybug, so we knew what to expect. There weren't any trains going past while we were there, but he had a good time & my husband enjoyed being silly with the kids.. so it was a good time for all.

This morning we got up bright & early to make the trek an hour & a half south to pick-up our oldest firefly from Camp Ne-O-Tez. He had a blast this week! :) As soon as we got home he went in the bathtub & I made sure that he was thoroughly scrubbed!! I started tackling the camp laundry a little while ago.. some of it can walk by itself. ;) To say that our tiled entry area now smells very much like the monkey house at the zoo is not an understatement (no, seriously.. I am not kidding!).

Our firefly is hoarse.. he didn't completely lose his voice(better luck next time, eh?!). He did end up in the nurse's cabin again this year. As we were double-checking the "lost & found" table before leaving camp, the nurse came over and showed me on his back where she had removed a big tick a few days before. I am glad that she showed me where.. it looks fine, but in the process of looking at where it had been, we discovered another tiny tick on his back not far from where the other one had been. We all headed to the nurse's cabin for tweezers & the big light with the magnifier on it. She was able to get it out, we put medicine on it & I took the opportunity to scan the rest of his torso while the tweezers were still out. Good thing that I did, cuz I discovered a tiny one in his bellybutton, yes.. in his bellybutton! ;) The nurse got it out & we again applied medicine. After we got home and I was inspecting him at bath time, I found another tiny one on his ankle--it had been hidden by his sock earlier.

So.. for anyone trying to keep track.. he ended up with numerous mosquito bites(forgot to put on his bug spray!); 4 ticks total; tons of fun & he got an award for being an "Outstanding Bible Student" this week, too! :) It makes my heart smile to know that he not only had a blast at camp, but he was also a great Bible student. Evidentally, we're doing something right! :)

Thursday, July 17, 2008

amazing family time!

We had an amazing time as a family this afternoon/evening after we picked up my husband from work and headed to the St. Louis Zoo to check out "Dinoroarus" and all the critters there. Our youngest firefly & our little ladybug had a blast and it was hard not to smile watching them enjoy themselves so much.

Money is always tight at our house.. 5 people on 1 income & the cost for everything rising rapidly means that we look for family friendly activities that cost little or nothing generally. The St. Louis Zoo is one of the few "free" zoos left in the country & we partake in what it has to offer a couple of times a year usually. Dinoroarus, is of course, not a free part of the zoo (just like the train rides, the children's zoo, etc.)--well, we rarely do that stuff because by the time you shell out the dough for all of us to be able to do even 1 of the activities, there's nothing left for anything else. My folks were sweet enough to buy us a membership to the zoo for the year, so we are even more excited about going there now. With our newly renewed membership(we had one back when our oldest firefly was really young), we get 36 "anywhere" passes to stuff like the train, etc. and it was only $1.50 for the three of us to do the Dinoroarus exhibit(Ladybug is still under 2 years old.. so she is free!).

It is really hard to go somewhere cool like that with the kids & see how excited they are about the train, etc.. only to have to say "sorry, not this time, cuz it just costs too much". It breaks my heart, but that is life & the current financial hand we've been dealt.

Anyway.. back to our adventure, we had a blast! My husband had a great time & it was so.. good to see him enjoying our children. Once we got to the dinosaur exhibit our firefly was a little bit apprehensive when he saw how big they were & heard them making their dino sounds. He didn't want to get too close to them, but seemed to appreciate the exhibit & enjoyed the "dino dig" at the end of the trail that was lined with the robotic dinosaurs. The dig site consisted of a big sandbox with some resin "fossils" buried in it & the kids could take paintbrushes to carefully(no flinging sand at anyone) brush the "dirt" off the "fossils". He was Mr. Bigshot at the dig & actually had it all to himself, which was nice for pictures. He was so proud of himself when he was finished carefully brushing clean the T-Rex skull. :) On our way out of the zoo this evening, we stopped by the gift shop (which incidentally we get a 10% discount at w/ our membership!.. I love a deal!) and let him purchase a small plastic T-Rex figure. Firefly decided that a good name for him would be "T", so.. T the T-Rex is sleeping with our firefly tonight. :)

On the way home from the zoo, we stopped at a mexican restaurant for dinner. Again.. a special treat for us, but I had a "buy one meal/get one meal for free" coupon.. so we all ate & brought home leftovers, too for less then $25. :) It was a great end to a great adventure.. even though our little ladybug was very rambunctious and spilled my husband's soda all over his lap & the floor! ;) I believe that all of our kiddos have now spilled sodas all over their Daddy's lap... such as life!

Tomorrow will be another adventure.. a mini one, but I know that it will make our firefly smile and then bright & early Saturday morning we will pick-up the oldest firefly from his camp adventure. Well, it's off to bed for me now.. I am tired from all the fun! :)

preparing for a dinosaur hunt!

Today is the BIG day that we are taking our youngest firefly & our little ladybug on the much anticipated trip to the St. Louis Zoo to see a cool new exhibit, called "Dinoroarus", that they have there until September 1st. I am sure that both of the fireflies would get a huge kick out of going to see it, but our oldest is enjoying a week of church camp.. so the two little ones get to enjoy a zoo adventure. :)

Despite the glowing forecast that I had seen for this week online around this time last week... God had different plans about how hot & humid our area would be this week.. today in particular! It's supposed to be about 10 degrees warmer today than the original forecast prediction & with humidity I am sure that it will be sweltering on our zoo adventure. I already have a bunch of bottled water in the freezer(did that yesterday afternoon in prep!) and we always take a little cooler bag in the stroller for cold water during our zoo adventures, too. We'll just take it easy and rest in the shade.

Our firefly is crazy excited about going to the zoo & about being the "king" for a week with the older firefly off at camp until Saturday morning. We've been (within reason) letting him do a lot this week and not saying "no" too much.. that, of course, is a fine line to walk because we don't want to create a monster. I do think that he is feeling more special though.. we try our best to make each of the kids feel special & loved beyond words, but somedays that kinda gets lost in translation when life gets crazy.

Ladybug has started walking on her own now.. she can still get places much faster if she just crawls, but she is starting to cautiously explore on her own two feet without holding onto furniture. It is neat to watch her take those first timid steps & bittersweet at the same time, because she is no longer my tiny little baby anymore. She is starting to say a few more words, too & has learned to say "mo"(more) and sign it, too. :)

Well.. I better get in gear and get ladybug's diaper bag re-loaded & get ready to pack the bottled water, too. I will try to post some pictures of our zoo adventure later in the day.. if I'm not too worn out from all the fun in the sun! ;)


Monday, July 14, 2008

silence, feelin' crumby & 4 1/2 year old confidence

It has been several days since my last post.. computer problems seemed to be mostly solved, but we've been super busy with a lot of stuff the last few days.. so I have been letting my posting slide a bit.

Our congregation is having our Vacation Bible School this next week (July 20th through July 24th) and although I am going to be a helper in the nursery class(with my little ladybug).. my good friend, Amy, has enlisted my help in getting all the crafts prepped and ready to go.. so far I've traced & cut-out 64 pink craft foam pig parts for one of the projects and labeled 100 little bottles of bubbles for it, too. :)

Our oldest firefly is at camp all this week... we dropped him off yesterday afternoon & will pick him up on Saturday morning. The quiet that has settled on our house is very pleasant. ;) I am interested to see how the older one comes home this weekend.. in the past two years when he attended Pre-Camp(2 1/2 days long), he was almost hoarse when we picked him up... so, I'm thinking the quiet may continue for a few days once he's home if he has been gone to camp for an entire week!! BONUS!! ;)

My younger firefly is enjoying some more attention while big brother is at camp. He just about talked our legs off on the way home from taking his brother to camp yesterday. We've been busy doing pages in a big preschool workbook; we had lunch at my Aunt's house & played in the treehouse there.. lots of fun. We're planning a special trip to the St. Louis Zoo this week, too. I asked him what he liked best about his big brother being away at camp for a whole week & he told me "I like it cuz he can't be the boss of me when he's at camp!" :) Honest little dude, eh?!

I'm running a fever & have felt achy all day.. yippy! Hopefully I will be over this soon.. Mommy can't get sick(at least not for very long!). Despite not feeling 100% I am busy with laundry & 100 other things this evening. Well.. hopefully another post tomorrow! :)

Thursday, July 10, 2008

ridiculously huge post

So.. here it is, another ridiculously huge post... at least that is what my oldest firefly says that I am going to be doing instead of letting him get on the computer & play games on the Lego website this afternoon. Ya know.. I am just one of the mean Mommies that doesn't let there fireflies play online after they've been annoying & mouthy towards their Mommy at various times throughout the day.

He is getting ready to head off for a week of camp (we're all counting the days!) and has gotten a wee bit mouthy and very much teenage mutant attitude lately, too. I love him dearly, but he drives me crazy with the 'tude! He is a very bright and thoughtful kid.. most of the time though.

In actuality.. this is not going to be a ridiculously huge post today because I have had a headache all day long & we haven't really done anything very noteworthy either. Perhaps I will have exciting things to post about tomorrow. Better get off of here & prepare to make Breakfast for Dinner and gather up more camping stuff to be labeled and packed tonight, too.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

sorry.. i am brain dead today!

In my previous post.. I meant to say that our younger firefly (son) is too big ... or thinks he is... to do all the baby stuff with our little ladybug (daughter).

Chalk it up to my being brain dead today.. cuz I typed it out as our ladybug being a firefly & she definitely is not! :)

Ok.. now I am heading out to de-clutter the van! Wish me luck! ;)

computer issues & a busy past few days

I'm back! We've been having some computer issues here at home & have also been super busy with all sorts of different things.. so my last post was on July 4th (that was 5 whole days ago!).

Bunco went great at my house on Monday night.. I ended up making italian beef for dinner & everyone loved it. We also had a bunch left-over, so we've been enjoying some yummy sandwiches, too. Yesterday was kind of a goof-off day, because it was much needed after my marathon of cooking & cleaning the two previous days! The house looks great though (if ya don't look upstairs!) and I feel way less overwhelmed to start tackling the rest of the chaos in the coming weeks.

My oldest firefly will be leaving on Sunday afternoon for a whole week for the 3rd to 5th grade boys week at Camp Ne-O-Tez. The camp is great & run by the churches of Christ in the metro St. Louis area. My husband went to camp there as a kid & loved it.. he is now the representative for our congregation on the camp board. This week is filled with lots of exciting gathering, labeling & packing for camp. :)

We are also planning on doing some fun stuff with the younger firefly next week while the big one is away at camp... unfortunately, he's at the age where he is too little to do all the big kid stuff & too big to do the baby stuff with our little firefly, too. He is stuck in the middle & has been acting out in his state of frustration of late, too. I am a middle child with one older brother & one younger brother (the only girl!).. and I can relate to that position in the family a great deal.

I am hoping to get back in the routine of posting daily again now that our computer seems to be back on the mend.. something about windows not booting at all.. sounded not good & complicated. Good thing my husband is the computer guy! :) Well.. I am on a mission to de-clutter the mini-van now--it is quite scary in there!

Friday, July 4, 2008

Happy 232nd Birthday, United States of America!!

Happy 232nd Birthday, United States of America!!

As we go about our day of cookouts & fireworks, it is my hope that each of us will take some time to reflect on just how sweet our freedoms are in America and about the sacrifice that so many before us have made.. as well as all those men & women who are currently serving our country right now. "And the rocket's red glare.. the bombs bursting in air".. those are very real things to so many who have marched into battlefields here & abroad.

We've been doing a lot of talking in our family of late about our ancestors (partially brought about by our recent family reunion & my cousin compiling an awesome book on our family tree, too).

 My Great-great-great-great Grandfather, Jonah Scroggins enlisted two seperate times (once as a private & later as a sergeant) and fought in the Revolutionary War to free our country from English rule. How cool to think that he was their to witness firsthand the birth of our nation. He also lived through the presidential terms of : George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren and John Tyler.  Just think about all of the history that he witnessed in his lifetime!

 I also have a Great-great-great Grandfather, Thomas Riley Gilleland fought for the Union Army during the Civil War.. and served as a guard at the penitentiary in Alton, IL.  (there is still a small portion of one wall standing here in town). We put flowers & flags on their graves every Memorial Day weekend.. to carry on the tradition of earlier generations & keep promises that we made to them to never forget about what our forefathers did for our country.   I also have many cousins who proudly served our country during World War II & Vietnam, too.

So.. today I salute all the amazing men in my family who have sacrificed for our freedoms.  May we take their lead & stand up for what our country was originally founded upon.  I pray that you will have a wonderful 4th of July & remember to take some time out to reflect on how very blessed we are to live in America!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

family day & ladybug update

Today was a good day for our household.  My husband took the day off so that he could accompany us to Ladybug's PlayPals class and our oldest firefly's Summer Science Camp's last day cookout.. also for reinforcements when I had to take ladybug to be re-checked at the pediatrician's office this afternoon, too.

Our morning went well.. everyone up, ready & out the door in plenty of time to drop of the oldest of the crew at his Science Camp, then off to PlayPals with ladybug & the other firefly in-tow.  Our class is big this session, there are 12 little ones(both fireflies & ladybugs) ranging in age from 6 months to almost 14 months(that would be our little ladybug!).

We got monsoon-ish thunderstorms in our area last night with lots of thunder, lightning & RAIN! Needless to say.. the venue changed from everyone going to the local park for the cookout to all of the parents meeting at the middle school & eating hamburgers, chips, etc. with our kiddos in the cafeteria.  We had a good time despite the plans changing though. :) 

My afternoon was quite exciting, too.  I went to 2 grocery stores all by myself! Ladybug was fast asleep and the fireflies were busy playing(my husband was working on building another model rocket to launch with the fireflies).  After I got home and put the groceries away, we loaded everyone in the mini-van and headed to my folk's house to drop the fireflies off for a little while so we could take our ladybug for her re-check appointment.

She was already totally hip to what was going on when we got to the pediatrician's office.. poor thing. I dosed her with some Tylenol before we left my folk's house so that it would hopefully be kicking in by the time she had to have the cath done.  It took what seemed like forever for the nurses(who are always awesome & super sweet with her) to get the cath in. Ladybug is trying to cut more teeth & as a result has horrible diaper rash.. everything is very sore and swollen in that area to start with, so she was none too happy with what was happening.  

On two happy notes.. her initial urine "dip" was perfectly normal!! :)  They will be sending it off to the lab for further testing, but don't anticipate any surprises.  Second happy note.. she has gained another 13oz! (we're getting closer to being able to turn her "big" girl carseat to forward facing.. little ones have to be 20lbs & a year old to be able to face forward--in case someone reading didn't know). We're getting closer, My Precious Little Ladybug! :)

We ordered pizza & started watching a movie from Netflix during our gourmet dinner this evening. Tomorrow we are getting together with some friends from church for a cookout at their house. I baked a double batch of brownies tonight & am in the process of marinating some chicken breasts to be grilled tomorrow, too.  I am going to make some homemade guacamole for tomorrow.. but it's better if you make it closer to serving, so I'll do that in the morning.

Well.. I am tired, a good tired this evening. We've had a good day together--everyone got along great today.. hopefully more of the same for the rest of the big holiday weekend!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

exhausted

I am totally exhausted tonight!  I got the fireflies & my ladybug up early today and we all quickly got ready to go to my folk's house so that I could mow their yard for them before the thunderstorms rolled in.  There was minimal feet dragging, which was most definitely a welcome thing! ;)  

As we loaded into the mini-van, I happened to look up over the trees to the west of our house & saw some pretty ominous dark gray clouds... in fact they looked kinda "angry".  I was determined to beat the storms today, so we took off for my folk's place.  As we drove we encountered some light sprinkles of rain.. then some bigger drops.. and finally a full-on rain shower.  When we got there the streets in their subdivision were most definitely wet.. GREAT!  

We parked in the driveway & I unloaded the troops... we made some muffins with my folk's and enjoyed listening to the fireflies talk all about going to see "Wall-E" at the theater with my mother-in-law last night.  (they had a great time, ran into some good friends from church & made it home safely by 8:30pm).  I decided that since the grass was barely wet under the big sweetgum tree in the frontyard, I was going to at least get it mowed for them.

I got the frontyard done quickly and headed to the back to start on it.  The weather had cleared by that time & it was sunny and super humid.  I pushed really hard to get the back done before lunch... I thought I was going to die before I was finished, but I got it done.  :)

Lunchtime & the afternoon were nice.. my sister-in-law & her two ladybugs(2 1/2 yrs old & 1 1/2 yrs old.. yes, they're just 13 months apart!) came over for a couple of hours.  My Mom and I went over to McD's drive-thru and got sandwiches, fries, etc.  for everyone and we had a nice little picnic in their backyard.

After lunch the fireflies, all 3 ladybugs and myself put on swimming suits and got in the pool.  Oh did that cool water feel good to me today! :)  I did feel a lot better(with the exception of the heat induced headache) after chilling out in the pool for a little while.  My ladybug loved hanging out in the pool in her litte ladybug(seriously.. it's a ladybug!) float... she really digs the water.

Tomorrow looks to be an exciting day... my husband took the day off and we are taking ladybug to PlayPals and then going to a local park for our oldest firefly's Summer Science Program's last day bbq.  We also have to take ladybug back to the pediatrician tomorrow for a re-check.. I am not looking forward to that because they will have to do another cath on her. :(   (it's for the best to make sure that the meds worked.. but it's no fun for her--or Mommy to have to watch).  

Well.. it's time to put my newest Netflix selection in the dvd player & chill for a while. Hopefully I won't fall asleep in the middle of it! 

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Happy July! & stuff

So... Happy July!  Geez, this year is flying by just like last year did.  ;)

Another beautiful day here weather-wise and somewhat productive, too.  I was able to get a little more done on my list, too.  The fireflies had what they call a "playday" with my Aunt(their Great Aunt), who spoils everyone in her world.  :)  She had to go to Target to get some stuff this afternoon, so of course the fireflies scored some loot while "helping" my Aunt with her list.  The oldest firefly got another lego set & the younger firefly got some cars of some kind.

It is quiet around our house this evening.. just my husband, our little ladybug & I are here. The fireflies went to see "Wall-E" with my mother-in-law this evening.  A local theater has what they call "Bargain Tuesday".. all tickets all day long to any movie they have is just $5 per person & you get a free 46oz popcorn, too.  I am always a little apprehensive when my mother-in-law has my children in her "care".. especially if she is going to be driving them anywhere.  To say that I pray fervently that they will return to me safe & sound is certainly an understatement.  Again.. my readership is basically folks who already know how she is.   (also.. I am not sharing/venting about her to purposely hurt anyone's feelings.. sometimes I just can't always hold it all in!).

The fireflies were barely home from my Aunt's house long enough to scarf down some grilled cheese sandwiches & bolt out the door for their cinematic adventure.  I had seen lots of previews for the movie & read a wonderful review about it on a site that does an awesome job of reviewing movies, music, etc. from a Christian perspective.  So we agreed that they could go with her to see the new movie this evening. 

We just got back from a nice long walk uptown with our little ladybug.  The weather is wonderful and it was fun to take a walk with my ladybug and my husband--there have been only a handful of just the three of us walks, so it made it even more special. :)  Right now ladybug is sitting on her Daddy's lap on the couch saying "Daddy-aDaddy.. wuv wuv wuv aDaddy!".  Do ya think she might like him a little?! ;)  It makes my heart smile to see them together & watching her wrap him around her adorable, chubby little ladybug fingers! :) (although he'll never admit that she has that power over him!).