Summer Fun

I can't believe that summer is already coming to an end and we are gearing up to start school. Obviously, I have not been good about blogging over the summer, but we've been having a great time. So, I'm just going to post some pictures of a few of the highlights. I have, unfortunately, fallen back into my old ways and also haven't been great about taking many pictures, so many of our activities won't be remembered here. Here's what I've got though...

We kicked off the summer with a visit from cousins and, as always, had a great time together. And then, as always, we were so bummed when everyone had to go.

I know that I mentioned VBS in another post, but I failed to post pictures of "Crazy Hair Day." Jake was very excited because he was officially named the winner for the craziest hair. I, however, cannot take credit for his multi-colored, balloon-tied hair. That would be my neighbor, who saw to it that he had the craziest hair for crazy hair day. Addi, on the other hand, knew exactly how she wanted her hair to be - a little pig tail on each side of her head - so that's how I did it for her. When we walked outside though, Sarah (our neighbor) gave her a splash of color. Apparently, she keeps hair dye on hand for just such occasions.

Jake has loved participating in a couple of mountain bike races this summer (Jay did one as well). Aren't they cute?

The Cheering Section

And, we've gotten in some great beach days. In my opinion, the beach is a lot of work. There's always tons to pack, long distances to walk (with the tons of stuff that you've packed), sand everywhere when you leave, etc. When we go though, we always get a full day's worth of fun out of it because the kids love it. So, it's worth it. Jake and Addi do not like to do the same things at the beach though. Jake spends almost the whole time playing in the water and boogie boarding. Jay even got him up on a surfboard and he's dying to keep learning. Addi though, prefers to play in the sand, collect shells, and run away from the waves.

So, those are a few highlights in a nutshell. We'll officially be starting school up (at home) in a couple of weeks. I'm actually really looking forward to getting started and getting some structure into our days. I'm just not sure how long that excitement will last. It will probably start to fade somewhere around week two! I always love the idea of plans and schedules, and work really hard to come up with ones that I think will work. But, I usually have far better plans than follow-through. I'm working on that though.

Spoiled

My birthday was a couple of days ago. We don't usually do many gifts or anything like that for birthdays or special days, but this year I felt quite spoiled. No one else will actually care about the details of my day, but, as I've said before, I like to record things here to remember them for myself. So, read it or skip it...but you won't find it exciting. It actually started last week when I received a present in the mail...that I had ordered for myself!

You can all laugh at me now, but you won't be laughing when I "cellercise" my cellulite away! :) I've been wanting this mini-trampoline for a while, but...1) didn't want to spend the money on it 2) Jay thought it was the dumbest idea ever, and 3) Jay reminded me that I have other exercise equipment that doesn't get used. I wore him down though and he eventually gave in and said that I could get it. So, I ordered it and called it my birthday present. Now if I don't end up using it a lot, I will NEVER hear the end of it.

Then, Jay arranged for my parents to babysit the kids one night over the weekend (their gift to me!) so that we could go out to dinner. We don't do date nights very often, and our last one a couple of months ago didn't go so well, so it was really nice to have a nice night out together. One of the best things about it was that Jay arranged it instead of me. It's just nice to have someone else plan something for you. Plus, we had a gift certificate to use at the restaurant so the night didn't cost us anything. And if you know me, you know that that automatically makes the night a hundred times better!

Then, the day before my birthday, I got a card in the mail from my in-laws with a gift for me to go "pamper myself," which I will certainly take advantage of. And finally, my actual birthday was a really nice day. I got up and went swimming in the morning and when I walked back to my car, there was coffee and a muffin waiting for me that Jay and the kids had left in there. Such a nice surprise! Then, I came home and the kids gave me their cards and presents. Presents from the kids consist of them finding things of their own around the house and wrapping them up and giving them. I made quite a haul. I think I got some silly bands, a plastic tea set, a deck of cards, a bracelet, and a few other odds and ends.

After that, my neighbor took me for a manicure and pedicure which was so thoughtful of her and a really nice treat. And THEN...when I got home, Jay had washed my car for me and he and the kids had gone and bought me a new swimsuit and goggles for swimming laps. I've been trying to swim at least a couple of times a week for exercise and the suit that I swim in is basically coming apart. It might have something to do with the fact that I have stretched it beyond it's capacity, seeing as how I'm still wearing the same swimsuit at 7 months pregnant that I was wearing pre-pregnancy. Not to mention, I couldn't really actually see out of the goggles that I had because they were so scratched up, but they did keep the water out of my eyes. There was also a card in the mail from my sister. If you know my family, you know that we don't do cards and sentiment and things like that. I don't know why, we just don't. It's not "our way." Getting the card really made my day though and actually caused me to think, "That was really nice. I should start sending cards to people." Don't hold your breath though, because it won't actually happen. I just had the thought.

We then just hung out the rest of the day and grabbed a bite to eat with the kids that night.

Great day!!

VBS

Before I tell you about VBS, let me just say quickly that I know a couple of you have given me cases to give to my little detective. Thank you! :) The reason that he has not "solved" them and gotten back to you yet is because I have not yet passed the cases on to him. We have had a very busy couple of weeks, so he hasn't been so obsessed with his business...and because he has not been obsessed with it, I haven't gotten around to giving him the assignments. I figure that I'll wait until we don't have so much going on and he's back to being obsessed with getting cases to solve. He will be very excited once I do actually tell him about them!

One of the things that has been keeping us busy is that the kids have been attending VBS (Vacation Bible School) at my parents' church this week. It goes every day from 9-12 and they love it. Since I am literally never without my kids, I was excited to have a little time to myself. In fact, I was really looking forward to it. I had visions of actually using the couple of hours to get something productive accomplished. That hasn't really happened for a couple of reasons though. First, my parents church is a half hour drive from us (the kids have been there a couple of times with them and really like it, and so they decided that they wanted to go to their VBS). So, there really would be no sense in me dropping them off and driving all the way home to get things done here, only to have to drive all the way back to pick them up a short time later. So my plan was going to be to drop them off, and then head to some quiet location nearby with my computer, and try to work on getting blog posts written (I know, I know...there have been none), weekly menus planned, grocery lists made, etc. Uh, not so much.

As it turns out, I have ended up spending a good portion of my time at the church just hanging out while they do their thing. The first day, I could hardly bring myself to leave at all. I think I ended up sneaking out for a half hour. Don't get me wrong, the kids were fine and excited to be there. But, I don't ever drop my kids off anywhere, with the exception of their own church class that lasts an hour and a half each week. Really, not anywhere. I know that it's a normal thing to do, but it is not something that I am used to doing, nor is it something that I'm comfortable doing. I could not just walk into some place where I don't know the people and my kids don't know any of the other kids and just say, "Have fun. See you in a few hours." Sorry, not gonna happen. The place was completely chaotic with all the kids, volunteers, etc. and nobody knew my kids at all. It was all a bit disorganized for me. So, instead, I sat and watched the festivities for most of the day. Jake and Addi didn't even know I was there most of the time, but once in a while they would catch a glimpse of me and were always excited when they did. (I throw that in there to let you know that my kids are still at the age where they want me around. It's not like they were wishing I would leave!)

By the second day, I was able to venture out to Costco for a quick trip...not to actually buy anything, mind you. But, I did walk around and write down the prices of a few things as I am determined to get my monthly grocery budget and shopping organized and under control. So that was a small step in the right direction. Yesterday and today, I actually left for a little bit longer and sat in a Starbucks with my computer and good intentions. Really though, I used my time marveling at how crowded Starbucks stays and wondering about the lives of these people who just sit there and hang out all morning. I mean really, where are their children? Don't they have jobs? Things to do? Things to accomplish? Or, maybe, their kids were in VBS and they were wondering at my life and what made my life so easy that I had time to just waste an hour and a half away at a coffee shop, playing on my computer with no kids in tow.

My goal for tomorrow (the last day) will be to sit at the Starbucks and actually accomplish SOMETHING. I would love to have something to show for my absolutely unheard of time away from my children. I'm not making any promises though.

Because I have been hanging out at the church watching the kids though, I have gotten to see them in action, which I love. They are having a great time, and today, I managed to get a couple short clips of them singing the songs. Perhaps I'm biased, but I think they're pretty cute! Oh, there is a cowboy/western theme to the VBS, so Addi went decked out in her cowgirl gear today. She's in her cowboy boots about 90% of the time anyway, so it wasn't much of a stretch.

Neighborhood Detective - Part 2

I posted recently that our son had decided to become a detective. He has been "hired" for a few cases here and there, such as a missing soccer ball, missing jacket, etc. My sister even came up with a plan to hire him all the way from Tennessee to have him find a missing lipstick (non-existent, of course, that needed to be planted by me) that must have accidentally come home in our luggage after the last time we saw them. These few cases, however, have not satisfied his desire to be a detective, and he has been disappointed in the lack of business he's been receiving. He often complains that he's just not getting enough work.

So, he decided that he needed to change things up a little and do a little more advertising. First, he moved his "office" to the garage. He felt like nobody was coming to see him because they probably didn't realize that he was available. So, he set up shop in the garage so that he could keep the garage door open and people would see him there and think to hire him. He also printed some forms for customers to fill out stating their name, phone number, problem, etc. That way, if he wasn't around, they could let him know that they required his services. He also posted signs on the garage door (the one that has been broken for a couple of years so it can't be opened...which works well for him) stating what his business is and what his hours are. He is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 5:30, closed Saturdays and Sundays. He informed me that I should only plan on him coming in for lunch. He also let me know that if I was ever looking for him and couldn't find him, not to worry because he might be off solving a case somewhere. He has an "Open" and "Closed" sign which he posts on the door so that people know when he's around. I also found him the other morning busily working on signs to advertise his business. He printed out a sign for his business pointing people in the direction of our house, glued it to some cardboard, and then nailed it into a post that he could put in the ground. That is currently at the top of our street, pointing people this way.

So, if there is ANYBODY out there who can think of a case that needs solved, PLEASE PLEASE, for the sanity of our family, let him know! He charges a very reasonable rate of 25 cents per case. Remember though, he is closed on the weekend. Addi tried to hire him on Saturday to find something she was missing, and he turned the job down because it was outside of his regular business hours.

Birthdays

We've been busy celebrating around here since Jake and Addi both just had a birthday. The big news is that they finally saved up enough money to get their Disneyland passes. Jake earns money by recycling bottles and cans, and has been saving for over a year for passes. We told him that if he saved enough for two passes for them (Addi had to pitch in any money that she happened to get), we would buy the two additional passes for us...since, afterall, they do need somebody to take them. They had gotten up to about $250 or so, and then Jay's parents gave them each cash for their birthdays that got them where they needed to be. We bought the least expensive passes we could get, which blocks out all weekends and the entire summer, but really, who wants to go to Disneyland when it's at its most crowded anyway? (If you asked Jay, he would say, really, who wants to go to Disneyland at all?!) We were able to go once last week for their birthday celebration, and then we are going again once this week before the passes are blacked out for the summer. Jay is thrilled.

Jake is definitely a thrill-seeker. He was just barely big enough for the California Screamin' roller coaster at California Adventure and couldn't get enough of it. He was very nervous at first because it goes upside down, and he was just not understanding how it could possibly stay on the tracks. After one time though, he was hooked. He would have just done that ride the rest of the day if he could have.

We waited in line for 45 minutes for Addi to meet the princesses. She was very excited, but then she was almost too nervous to talk to them...as evidenced by her nervous habit of rolling her hands up in her clothes. She could hardly let go of me long enough for me to get a couple of pictures, but she managed to do it.

After having Addi just borrow an extra scooter of our neighbor's for the past year, we decided it was probably time for her to have her own...a pink one, with a bell and streamers.

Jake picked out these clip on earrings for Addi all by himself. He was very excited to give them to her.

We took the kids for ice cream for their birthdays and Addi did not like when they sang Happy Birthday to her. Jake, on the other hand, stood up on the booth bench and was loving it.