Vacation part 1.

I know, right? You are thinking - "geez, it's about time". I mean, really - what have I been doing? Well, since I could write and entire post on that, and never get pictures posted - I will skip it!


So, vacation. I have to do this in 2 parts. 1 Beach, 1 other things we did. Notice the beach takes up 1 section. That should tell you how much time we spent there, or not. I forgot to take pictures when I relaxed too much. That and boy, the beach is sandy!!! Didn't want to ruin my camera!

So, here it is...Pure bliss!

Romping in the waves

Who will go first?

It's not always who you think it will be!

Building my new castle, so I can live on the beach : )

My kids and my nieces - working on my driveway...to my new castle.

Watch out Bay Watch, you got nothing on this girl!

"I really need to clean out the handle, so much sand!"

Beach Bum.

There. There are some to tide you over until I can sit down and do some more. For now, just know we really enjoyed leaving 100 degree temps for the 60s/70s we enjoyed on the beach. Did I mention we went to the beach a lot???

That time of the year...

when school starts and everyone at the stores are fighting over the last pack of loose leaf paper (until everyone realizes that they are bringing another box).

When the lazy days of summer are replaced by alarm clocks and routine. 

I hate this time of year.

I suppose that hate is a very strong word. I really tend to dislike the end of summer. The end of any break really. I enjoy break, a LOT :- ). I mean, I have a child of the age that I can utilize for a very large array of chores - what's not to like???

But there are more changes than school starting, but why don't we start here. (OH, and friends, I am still editing the vacation photos. I use "burst" mode to try to capture at least 1 decent photo in an array of 12ish, so, let's be patient shall we?? PLUS, I STILL don't have good photo editing software on my Netbook - but let's not start with that again...)

1. ADog is my new 7th grader. He's such a nice poser. Basically every "first day photo" since Kindergarten looks like this. Some have teary eyes, but this one doesn't. Same pose, same smile, different length of hair. He's good like that!

2. Then there is my new Kindergartener Agent P. Also a nice pose - however, not necessarily 'framable'.  All 5 I took look like this, or crazier. The kid was coming out of his skin for 3 days before school started. It's a miracle he I survived.

Agent P is in afternoon Kinder - but really, it's only like 3 hours. He rides the bus home with ADog and it is the sweetest thing!.

On day 2 of Kindergarten, he asked me why I was walking him to his class AGAIN. He KNEW where it was. I told him the school requires I do this, sorry. So he says "can't I just ride the bus to school?" So, now I don't make the 15 mile round trip journey, I let the bus do it. He just loves the independence - and it's all about him. (we won't go into MY feelings of rejection tho..)

3. I now drive a minivan. We knew we needed another vehicle that held all 6 of us - my sweet husband suggested the minivan. I personally was not a fan, but it works.

Pretty sure I was boon-doggled into this one.  I didn't realize that I would be driving it until we got it home and my sweet husband says "do you want help putting the car seats in there?". I mean we did trade in his car, not my suburban. Now the twins call the minivan mine and the Suburban mine. So sweet!

4. Our twins now sleep in toddler beds.

Personally I would have kept them in their cribs until at least 2nd grade, but one of my girlfriends is having a baby and I told her I would give her one of the cribs. So, since during vacation, the twins slept on the floor and that went decent ("well" would be overstating), we decided to bite the bullet.

Mini P has been ready for this for quite some time. We were waiting for Monkey and frankly, if I could have gotten away with him in a crib still, I would have. He is the worst at nap. While she stays in bed reading and goes to sleep - he plays loudly with trucks (siren and all), drops them on the wood floor, kicks the wall and gets out of bed for more toys. Yet, somehow, she sleeps thru it all for the most part.

Notice on the photo, where he has several letters from his name missing? Those were removed a few weeks ago. They are out of reach - so he must have used a book, truck or just banged the walls so violently hard that they fell down (and he subsequently destroyed them). Now I just call him "ike" :- )

5. I applied for one of my kids to join the circus. The Freak Show specifically. I'm sure Grandma would be super proud of this kid - but it is just wrong.

The question "why is he putting crayons between his toes" will just have to remain unanswered. Sometimes, there are just no answers.

Keep hanging on to the edge of your seat - vacation pictures will be up soon!

The ending of a great vacation!

I set out with a long, long list of things I wanted to do on this vacation. We were headed to San Diego for a week - where the 10 day forecast showed some sun and some clouds, highs of 70 MAX (we were averaging 100+ at home) and plenty of nothing (ok, the forecast didn’t show that, but that’s how I saw it).


I needed relaxation. I needed no commitments. No schedule. Just a bunch of nothing.

I got it!


We stayed up late, we slept in late, we sat on beaches and built sand castles. We played in the ocean, we had sand all over and we hated to leave. Really. I had tears in my eyes as we packed up. Last time I felt that way about a vacation was when I left Maui – and my sweet husband had to drag me by my flip flops. This time, I reluctantly went willingly…if you can use those two words in the same sentence referencing the same verb, that’s how I went.

Whatever.


I came home. Or at least by the time this is posted I’ll be home. Right now I’m the passenger of a relatively quiet minivan. Everyone is occupied with a movie or game. I know what you are thinking. I shouldn’t use dvd players or hand held games to occupy my children. I should be playing I spy or some sort of ridiculous game while driving thru towns that consist of a mock palm tree that are actually cell towers, dirt, sand dunes, and dead trees. Remember, it’s summer here and it’s unreasonably hot – like 176 degrees or something awful like that. Nothing grows and nothing is green. Except the signs that keep reminding me we have a long way to go.


Plus, they should nap soon. And until then, I’m going to let them watch movies and play games. Anything to make this torturous trip home more bearable.


Anyway, back to my vacation…er, uh, I mean OUR vacation! Even the kids thought we should be packing for the beach today.


I want to post pictures of my beach bum kids but I didn’t bring the cord to download (or is it upload?) the photos to my computer, so friends, you will have to wait. Trust me when I say, I will without a doubt post my vacation photos. I will show you all the nothing we did!


Until then, I need to end. We need to get gas and I need to put a bag of ice in the cooler. I might get one to hold too, it’s just THAT hot.

These things just can't be made up...

On a daily basis, things happen in my life that certainly shouldn't be true, but are too bizarre to be made up.

For instance, the other day I needed to make a run to our local sporting goods store. I had All Star shirts, jerseys, socks, belts and other miscellaneous items to pick up for the league.   Lucky for me, I have known the owner for the last 4+ years and I tend to bring a lot of money to his store and in return, I leave with a lot of merchandise for our league. Well, yes, and sometimes for A-Dog as well. He requires plenty of merchandise.

The other day I ventured down there with all 4 kiddos. Immediately, A-Dog took off for the bats. He loves to go and dream about the $300 bats he will never own. Swinging and touching and dreaming. The other 3 stuck with me, or not so much.

We have been there before and they LOVE this place. I mean, have you ever seen what they put down on the 3 feet and under area??? There are volleyballs and footballs on wire shelves, baskets of buckles (not sure for what...), flags for flag football, baseballs and softballs - some are even weighted. It is a serious wonderland for the 5 and under sect!

As I am tossing baseball pants to A-Dog to try on, Mini P runs by with flags draped around her neck yelling "it's the BEST day ever!!!"! Over and over. Monkey is not far behind yelling "sissy, catch this ball! Sissy! Wait!!!". Yet, she continues running and yelling about the best day ever. At this point, I'm not entirely sure where Agent P is, but I'm sure he's somewhere rearranging other items in the store.

Like I said, thank goodness I am friends with the owner and we continue our conversation as though none of this chaos is even going on. I am an expert on that. I just tune it out and act like I have no clue whose kids they are. I mean really, who allows their kids to destroy a store like this??

So, as we are discussing what items I was missing and who I'd be sending back to the store to fetch them (cuz certainly 2 visits in 1 week would be over the top) - Agent P announces very loudly "I have to go POTTY!!!", grabs his shorts (you know what I'm talking about - all kids do it!) and starts dancing around.  Seriously. THEN, Monkey does the exact. same. thing.  Don't worry friends. It gets better, because then Mini P starts yelling the exact. same. thing.

Yup, it really happened. I'm praying there is no video surveillance in that store - or he's going to be a rich guy when he wins America's Funniest Video grand prize!

So, here I am with 3 little people running around in circles yelling "I have to go POTTY". Over and over and over. Getting louder and louder. Finally I have to acknowledge they are my children and find the bathroom. (Really, I sent A-Dog and Agent P).

The thing is, only Agent P actually had to pee. I had already taken the other two...they just couldn't resist joining in on the Potty Dance.

Dear Hair Dresser Connie,

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long (10 months) to come back to you for a haircut. Thanks for only pointing it out 2 5 times that I shouldn't cut it myself. I am perfectly aware that it is near impossible for me to see the back of my head. Thanks for admitting that it wasn't all that crooked tho, I appreciate the support!

I do own hair dresser scissors - I refuse to use the butcher block ones. These are far easier. And really, how hard is it to just "do a trim" real quick :- )

But, I am a very busy girl. With 2.5 yr old twins, a 5 year old and a very active, baseball playin' 12 year old...squeezin' in ME time is quite the challenge! Plus, when I have any spare moments (and have someone to watch the little kids) I end up doing things like getting groceries. Ridiculous right?

Ok, ok...I promise, I will work harder to set aside some time for ME...to do things like - get a hair cut. Thanks for the reminder! And thanks for the last minute haircut! :-)

(and if you see my gyno. or dentist, let them know I'm thinking of them!)

Peeing in public

I'm not talking about peeing in public restrooms necessarily, I'm talking about peeing in public - for all to see. If you are reading this and you know my kids, you already have a visual picture in your mind. (Go ahead and giggle, it's ok). If you are just completely appalled that people allow their children to pee anywhere but a toilet, you should go ahead and move onto reading something else....for me, I have 3 kids that constantly need to pee (and A-Dog is not one of them) - so sometimes, you have to bend some rules of society in order to survive!

Where we live, we capitalize on using the back yard as frequently as possible. Boys and girl. None (most) of our neighbors can see (not really anyway) and frankly, I'm pretty sure the little boy next door does it too!  We have saved at least $5 on water usage, perhaps more!  Not bad in this economy!

However, sometimes this can backfire. Agent P has dropped his drawers and provided entertainment more than once. It's now a standing joke at my cousin's house. But, I HAVE been working with him and attempting to curb his desire to just drop and go.  I mean, he does start kindergarten in 6 weeks. He should be housebroken by then right?

Well unfortunately, about a month ago I learned I had a wee bit more work to do (get it? WEE??).

We were at the baseball field for something - I don't think it was a game, I just can't remember it was so traumatizing. I do know it was A-Dog, Agent P and me. There was a game  or 2 going on - and of course I knew at least 75% of the people in attendance and throughtout the entire complex. I looked over, saw some kid's tush with his shorts at his ankles peeing in the rocks - right behind the scoring table, 2 feet from the drinking fountain. Then realized I recognized that tush.

Hindsight dictates I should have remained silent and acted as tho I had NO CLUE whose kid that was. Sadly, my reaction was to loudly say "NNNOOOOO". That unfortunate action prompted many, many people to look around to see what was so urgent that I would yell. Then of course, everyone saw.

I tried to stop him before he started the act. I failed.

I know what I will be doing the next 6 weeks... :- ) Wasting water!

What is he trying to say??

This year for Mother's Day my husband got me:

• Body wash called "Energy"...the bottle states it will 'Boost your energy...uplifts to relieve tension...stimulates the soul and sharpens the senses.'
• Body lotion called "Stress Relief"...it says it will help me 'Think clearly...clears the mind to improve concentration...uplifting and helps the mind to focus.'

Why these 2 particular products???

Because I need help in the morning with my energy level?

I am actually more of a morning person than a person who can stay up all night. It's possible that I start yawning at 9pm tho (ok, it might be earlier than that, but that's what I'm admitting to). I do drag myself to the shower in the morning,  but with only 1 or 2 grumbles.

Perhaps he got them because last week I stepped in a puddle of pee that Mini P tried to blame on someone else. Or that Mini P had a worse accident in her undies and I stuck my thumb in it when trying to get them off.

Maybe it was that I had to deal with the septic company - and what was supposed to be a simple maintenance call turned into a 2 day ordeal.

Or could it be that he thinks that I am a 'stressed out lethargic space cadet' that needs some energy and focus?

Pretty sure he would just say that the lady at the store told him to buy these :- )

Thanks babe, either way, they are yummy!