Why not?

Well... tonight on my blog reader I saw that quite a few scrapbookery types did this fun quiz on their blogs. So I figured... why not?
(coming soon though - I need to write about Ethan's birthday.......)

TODAY
June 23st, 2009

Outside my window... it is finally dark out. it is like 10:40pm! Honestly the sun is still in the dusk phase here at 10. Makes it challenging to get small ones to bed so I can somewhat unwind and have hope to hit the hay by midnight.

I am thinking.... i can't wait for Jeff to get back in the country!

I am thankful for... too many things to list.

From the kitchen... really sweet grapes and some H2O since i have a killer sore throat.

I am wearing... pj bottoms and my red shirt from the day

I am creating... a blog entry and lots of soccer data

I am going... to try to go to bed at a reasonable time. Tomorrow I am going to see a movie for $1 each, get goodie bags for Ethan's party, run to the gym, walk with a friend, and try to get healthy.

I am reading... And Then You Die by ... hmmm, can't remember. But it's a good book so I'll edit the author in later if anyone wants it.

I am hoping... to lose the final pounds to get to my goal by my next birthday. It will be a close call to pull it off... we'll see.

I am hearing... Jeff opening the garage door! Home from Canada!!! Whoo hooo!!!

Around the house... it is quiet for the first time today.

One of my favorite things... step aerobics, and how good a shower feels after a workout (really now, lately I feel like unless I am going into the shower dripping with sweat and with wet hair I really don't "deserve" that shower - crazy I know!)

A few plans for the rest of the week... birthday party, hair cut, if i'm lucky a pedicure, dinner making, soccer playing, physical therapy (abbie - foot ... is getting better), laundry, feed the masses, play a bit, organize, etc. etc. etc.

More soon - I'm off to bed!
Goodnight. :)

New Wheels!

Can you believe that tomorrow my little guy turns five???!!! I still can't believe that next school year I will have all three kids riding the bus. Seems crazy fast. Here is Ethan modeling his birthday present that we got over the weekend. He is soooo stoked for his big bike (it should last for a couple years, there is a nice amount of room to grow)! He does a great job on it too.While in the bike store getting Ethan's bike Jeff led (dragged) me over and showed me this new lavendar Trek. I am the only "trek free" member of the family so..... yep - I got it! I must admit I loooovvveee it! We took a neighborhood spin and it was the most comfortable I've been on a bike. I had been riding Jeff's or Abbie's when needed (and that was rarely) so it makes sense that having one fit for me helps. My goal is to get stronger on it and then hopefully use it in a triathalon... or a duathalon (the swimming...must work on the swimming). Then I have hopes of a family bike trip to Vermont. Someday. :)
Here I am posing ... sorry I had no lavendar or purple to wear to match the bike. It's not a big color in my wardrobe, although I like it.

In other non bike related news... these little froggies are back! We love to see them. They are not as plentiful as near my parent's house but we still get a few. Does anyone out there know anything about them? They are veeeery tiny. Adorable. {no frogs were harmed in the making of this photo shoot... photos by Max by the way}
Off to make dinner (sloppy joes made with ground turkey on whole wheat buns, cantelope, carrots, and cucumber) and break up a water fight that is getting out of control in the yard. Ethan (shown here making cookies) says "hey YOU, leave a comment!" ;)

Blast From the Past!!

Facebook.
Yep. I resisted it.
Not really sure why, mostly having to do with time or lack thereof I guess.
But now I LOVE it! It is so fun finding and catching up with people!!! So, recently I found Mario on there. Remember this Mar? We met in college and through the years have met up from time to time. This was a college wide (I think it went beyond just our dorm) Halloween party.Then... who should appear on my little blog but ERIC! Hi Eric!!! Of course I remember you! I didn't need all those clues either. Had it after the first name!!!! I hope you have been well, your facebook picture shows a lovely family! Can you guess what movie came out that year?Since we were doing the Halloween in college theme, and since after all it is my blog, here I am at that same college function. What lovely dorms huh? That was a fun Halloween. I still had that costume for so long that Abbie used to wear it for dress up and the Max played with the cape (it had superhero powers for awhile) until it disintigrated.

Now Eric also referenced high school so I dug up this old pic. Sorry for the grainy nature of it all. Here is me with my two favorite Erics (although the other one spelled his name differently). I remember when we took this picture! That is weird for me since memory is not my strong suit these days. Pregnancy kills brain cells - I'm convinced of it! (and NO (becky!) I am not pregnant now, I meant in the PAST (becky!)). So, lest you wonder just what type of funky high school we all attended, we were in a play together. If I remember correctly Eric (the one on the right) and I were in the show and Erik (left) was either in the band or on the crew??? Eric maybe you remember? Or maybe Kris will pop on and remind us.
Since Eric found me via Mario (I think???) I figured I'd share this one too. Here is Kristy, Mario and I (if you don't know which one is me... I think I'll claim to be the blonde...). I am still in touch with Kristy and expect she remembers this apartment of hers. For one semester I didn't live with Gina Wina and stayed with Kristy in her place. This pic was taken after our Christmas party if I remember correctly (remember afformentioned poor memory skills...).

Sorry for the grainy nature of the photos, they're old!

Hope that all of you are enjoying your summers - write in and if you're on facebook too give me a shout out there as well!!

edited to add: Hi! Kris reminded me the title of the play we were in. It was called, "Once Upon A Mattress." Of all the plays I was in that was one of my favorites (perhaps because I was a kitchen wench???) and I can't believe I forgot its' title! I was correct that Erik was in the crew, the other Eric, Kris and I were all in the cast (Kris was, as always, one of the leads of course!). Happy Friday!

School's Out!!!

Well, I guesst the kiddos are pretty happy that school is out for the summer! (ya think?) No, they did NOT pose... it was joy - really. Additionally after this post call me about a bridge I am selling....Hard to believe Max is going to be in fourth grade! He wound up having a great year, a little rocky start - but overall wonderful.
And his "whoo hoo" shot is so very him.
Here's the Princessa's "whoo hoo" shot. Please note even when she is jumping in the air she is able to strike the smile and pose. She's a natural I tell ya... scary.
And Miss Ab was very proud to have continued to make her goal of all A's all during middle school. Yep - so far in sixth and seventh there hasn't even been an A-. Great, great job Abbie! We are very proud of how all three kids did in school this year. I feel VERY lucky and blessed to be able to say that!

Now... Tamara mentioned on her blog that we should all do a summer fun ideas posting. And perhaps I will do that (along with starting so many of my sentences with prepositional phrases). Still, I think there could be other - more instructional - summer related posts. These include, but are not limited to, "Hiding from your offspring 101", "Pulling the Plug on Bickering BEFORE your Insane", "How to sleep in so nobody Notices", "Taking a Shower without Interruption...the Fifth most Impossible Summer Task", and the ever so important, "Mojitos, Margueritas, and Mimosas Or as it's better known... How To Survive Summer Break!"

(relax... all just kidding... maybe...) ;)

Yah... So What's New With You?

Hello!

Do I even need to say how bad I feel that this poor blog has gone by the wayside? Even my "reminding" friends have given up trying to get me kickstarted. What happens, you see, is I feel very behind on it - and then don't know where to begin. In this case I wondered... Christmas? Valentine's parties? Abbie turns 13? Spring sports? Weight loss? Scrapbooking? etc. etc. etc.

So - I am finally diving in. And what, you may wonder, is the ever so exciting topic I start with??? My plants!!! (admit it, you wouldn't have guessed that one). In fact, as I "speak" I am attempting to upload multiple pictures to share with you.

I have been very excited to see how my front yard perennial garden is coming back this year. Really. Unusually excited. I have taken a page out of Spincerely's book and have had fun with nature photos. She's onto something I must say - plants pose much more cooperatively then children do!

Along with my perennials we have attempted some veggies. We are starting out small to see how it goes (one day I'll have to post pictures of my REALLY big garden I had on Rock Road). We got these wiskey barrels (although Meredith - yes around here I am known as "Oh Your Meredith's Neighbor!" ... says they could be wine barrels too - I think she is saying that longingly - but that's just my take on it ;) ) from the tractor supply store (more fun stuff then I realized is in there) and they seem to be working so far. Here are my baby tomatoes (big and cherry type) three types of peppers, cukes, onions, and marigolds (being used as natures bug deterrent).

Here is my tomato bucket:

Here is my new arch enemy!!! Can someone PLEASE tell me a good way to keep these munchers off my plants???? Every day it's like I go 'pillar hunting to attempt to save at least some of my plants. They are especially fond of a yellow bush I have in the front and have almost killed it. Grrumph!!!
Here is the trio of veggies in booze pots.
Warning TAMARA: DO NOT LOOK CLOSELY AT THIS PIC. Okay, I warned her. Now to the rest of ya... here is our new pet Fred. Fred has startled me once or twice (I screamed, I admit it, but not in fear - just in shock when a three foot long black thing comes out of nowhere it can be, um, disconcerting).And so, there ends the tale of Two Gardens. Well, these are just the pictures of one - I am working with photobucket to get a slide show of the other one which I will edit to add later as at the moment I must run to soccer practice.

More soon!!! (really - now why would you doubt me???) ;)

A Week in the Life - Page Headers

Hello!

Well, since I last wrote I have gotten soooooooooooooo sick. Again. Or still. Depends on your point of view. After writing yesterday I wound up with a fever, stomach issues, chest pain, sore sinuses - yick. Today I am keeping myself well dosed with some meds and while I don't feel "better" at least it's more manageable.

Now, I'm sure you're thrilled that I shared aren't you?!

As mentioned in the last post, here are some pictures from our week. What I am doing here is putting the pictures I am using enlarged on the same side as I do the writing. In some cases I'm between two choices ~ I'd love your opinion on those. Oh and if you do this project one thing to keep in mind is to make some kind of reminder to yourself so that you don't go a whole day with only a picture of the washer and dryer and the back yard. Yep. One day two pictures. I ran around like a lunatic that day so I should have lots to write about (luckily) and I may sneak in some pics that are just of around the house. Crimey.

Here's Sunday - our family tradition of blueberry pancakes.

Monday - kids off school and pictures in the park.Tuesday - gorgeous warm weather, overview pic of neighborhood, Max and Pasha playing.OR I may do the vote picture since that was an important thing that happened on Tuesday. Which do you think?Wednesday - errands day and lots of laundry. Picture of the twins.Need your opinion for Thursday's picture. I was trying to show Abbie getting on the bus before the sun is up. There was some strange glare from the flash on this first picture, but the second picture is very dark. Which do you think better shows the early morning bus call???This is a tentative Friday opener - my "Christmas Cactus" always seems to open for Thanksgiving. It is a confused plant. This may change though because I am hoping to carve pumpkins tonight and so one of those pictures will most likely trump the cactus. We'll see if Jeff is up for carving as he just got home from Texas about 30 minutes ago.So, what do you think?

I know Becky is interested but time crunched... any other takers?

More later ~ have a great weekend and STAY WELL!!! ;)

A Week in the Life

Good Morning! (really, it's only just after 5am at the moment..)
Can you believe the week is almost over?
It has flown by for me pretty much. I have a sleep deprivation thing going on at the moment, but at least the earlier part flew.

So, I am behind in writing about this to all of you but this week I had decided to do Ali Edward's a Week in the Life project. I'll write a little about it (remember when we did her "One Word" project, I love her blog!!!) but also if you want to play along you should DEFINITELY go to her blog to read her instructions and see all the samples. When I am done with this week I am going to do her "December Daily" project as well. I haven't scrapbooked since August and i think these projects are a good way to get me going. Very do-able.

So, for my Week in the Life I started this Sunday. It just so happens this Monday the kids were off school, we had conferences, and it was a fun day. There are some cool things that have been going on this week that I am grateful will be documented. The election is a big one. Then the wacky weather we've been having (70's here). Also Jeff joined an adult soccer league and I hang at the gym a lot. I think I'd love to do this project every year starting the day after Halloween. (that sentence is a reminder to myself by the way)

Basically all I have done so far is take pictures, some days tons (Monday) some days less (yesterday). Whenever I don't have something exciting to take I try to take something around the house. Also I am collecting stuff (but RATS accidentally threw out my grocery receipt). I have movie stubs, a "I voted" sticker, stuff like that. Then each day I write some notes about the day.

Now what I want to do today is find the album I want to use for this. I am trying to find an 8.5x11 since I think it will fit how I want to do the daily opener. I have actually been looking for this album for awhile (I have been trying to find time to do this, she wrote about it awhile ago) without success. Today i am just going to force myself to pick one. Hobby Lobby field trip for Ethan and I!

So, that's it in a nutshell. Anyone interested in playing along? It really doesn't matter if you start the same day I do/did. I'd love to post what you do, just like we did with the "one word" and just like Ali does on her blog if you follow the "week in the life" links. There are a few of you who I think might play. It would be interesting for a certain someone to document one week of the end of being a family of three (soon to be four!!!) don't you think???? Another someone could document her exercise goals and dedication. There are a couple of you (three December babies) who could document one of your last weeks in your thirties!!! Someone could document her successes with reducing her family's carbon footprint. How about the person who moved recently... she could document a week in the new state she is in. There are other readers who don't comment too much who could use this as a springboard to join in!!! What do you think? Any takers? Please note though, this will be your interpretation of how to do the project - I won't be trying to take everyone along like with One Word.

Since I am behind already (posting wise) tomorrow I will just show some pictures for each day so far - or maybe later today... but I am on that album hunt....

Have a good one!!!