Play that "funky" music....

I have been in a funk these last couple of days.

I am not sure why. Nothing is really wrong. I have a fun week to look forward to with my sister and her family coming to visit. I should be pumped full of entertaining adrenaline. I don't know what it is. I just feel a bit down.


I know one of the things that is weighing on my mind that I won't get into right now. I don't have the time or the finger strength to type out the whole messed up, sordid saga.

Maybe it's because even though our painting is finished (and looks fabulous by the way - my husband is a rockstar!) our house is still in shambles.

Maybe because at my doctor appointment two days ago the scale told me I was ten pounds heavier than my at home scale tells me I am.


Maybe it's because my summertime goal to get in better shape is basically non existent at this point in time.

Maybe it's because I haven't seen Edward's new movie yet and it has been out for almost twenty four hours now.

Maybe because tomorrow is July first and I feel like the summer is flying by and I feel like we haven't done much at all with our kids yet.


Maybe it's because I had to have a mammogram yesterday and even though it was purely routine and my doctor found nothing to be concerned about, I still worry that something will show up.

Maybe because the kid's came home from school on the last day with folders full of summer "homework" activities to keep their minds sharp and we haven't even opened them in the last three weeks.

That is a little snippet of what has been going on in my head for the last couple of days.

It helped a lot this afternoon when the kids and I decided to take a walk to the beach. It was really windy and not super warm. The only one that braved the water was Evan. It was just nice to sit in the sand and put my feet into the water. We sat on the shore and built castles and buried our bodies in the sand. It really is an amazing (and therapeutic) place.

Hopefully tomorrow when I wake up I will find that the funk has lifted!

Photo note: I didn't feel like bringing my camera to the beach today. (Also proof of the "funk"!) These photos are from the other night when we decided to ride our bikes down there to watch the sunset. Evan is not in any of the photos because he was spending the night with Grama. We were about forty five minutes or so early for the sunset and couldn't stay to actually watch it because of a diaper emergency with Hailey. (She was already for bed and in her pull up - that is why she is pantless in the photos. Spencer happened to still be wearing his suit and dove right into the water even though it was after nine o'clock.) I absolutely love the light in these photos.

Where the wild things are....

I came downstairs this morning and the first thing I saw was this....

Evan sitting at the bar in the kitchen wearing his "goodnight" and the hat from his bat costume.

Evan acting like his chosen head attire was the most natural thing in the world.

He told us that he woke up that morning and wanted to spend the day wearing his bat costume. He was just having a hard time putting the costume on. (Maybe because it is a size 4T?)

He totally made my morning.

There is not enough conditioner on Earth...

...to tame this rats nest.

I am posting this because I never want to forget how your almost three and a half year old self wakes up from her nap.

Your hair in a worse sort of disarray than it normally is. The summer heat makes it super curly and you wake up with a mass of sweaty ringlets matted to your scalp. The curls make it even harder to get a comb through (that is when you allow me to get within two feet of you with a comb or brush in my hand).

Your naked little body walking down the stairs to tell me that you woke up. You like to sleep with your pants and underpants off - "free butt" is what you call it. These days the shirt sometimes comes off as well. I pick my battles - sleep however you want, as long as you SLEEP!

I am sure that someday you are going to care a lot (maybe too much) about how your hair looks. I am not going to say that I am not looking forward to the day a little bit - but right now I feel like I always want to remember the time when you didn't.

Paint and fireworks

My poor kids. This summer has been kind of a dud for them so far. They have been spending a lot of time in the basement playing Wii and Trent and I (mostly Trent) have been doing a lot of this....

After years of talking about it and years of putting it off, we are finally painting our great room, kitchen and hallways. It is a big project, and so far it is going extremely well.


The sophisticated painter with his glass of white wine. When I saw that I just had to laugh and take a picture. Of course Hailey had to show her smiling face as well. She has been a little harder to keep out of the paint than the boys. She has watched Trent's school production of Beauty and the Beast about thirty seven times in the last few days. I think maybe she is identifying with Belle a little "Is this home? Is this where I should learn to be happy?" Where the boys are thrilled to see the furniture all in disarray and to make forts and hiding spots, I think it is throwing her off a bit.

All three want to help paint so badly!

Spencer on the ladder that he isn't supposed to be on. When I came around the corner and could only see his legs, I grabbed a shot before I yelled at him to get down.

We are not totally being neglectful. Last night we made both boys dreams come true by letting them do some sparklers and light off some fireworks. These two cannot wait until the fourth of July.

I hear it supposed to be nice out tomorrow so our plan is to paint in the morning while the boys have swimming lessons and then in the afternoon we might venture out for the first time as a family on the bike path. And then we will come home and paint some more.....

Photo note: I did not edit any of these photos. I just don't have the time or energy. I have not been very happy with the photos I have been taking the last couple of days - I don't know if a setting is screwed up on my camera or what the deal is. I really need to get some downtime so I can study the manual and learn about that baby!

School's out for summer!

The Last Day of School

I'm so glad it is finally over!
I've waited so long for this day!
It's ended, concluded and finished!
The one word for that is hooray!

So why am I getting this feeling
that maybe I'll miss everyone?
And why is there always some sadness
when everything is over and done?
-Jeff Moss

My boys had their last days of school today. Spencer still has a half day tomorrow, but I am not counting it because all they really do is clean out their desks and lockers and make elaborate plans for sleepovers and beach trips with their friends. I think it has been a pretty good school year - and holy cow did it go by fast!

Random facts about this school year:

-Spencer only missed one half day of school this year.

-Evan missed four days of school.

-They both made it to school on time every day they were there. No tardies!

-They never missed the bus.

-I only forgot one day to pack a snack for Evan.

-Spencer's lunch account ran low about five or six times. He had to have the "marker slash" reminder on his hand.

-Evan left his baseball hat on the bus one time and his winter hat about four times.

-Spencer lost his winter coat for a short time, but then later found it.

-All in all we did not lose any items of clothing this year!

-Spencer collected more discarded things (junk) on the bus than anyone could ever count. And I am sure that plenty more "treasures" await in his backpack.

The boys on the last day of school and the first day. I am unimaginably horrendous at Photoshop collages. This is the best I could do. I think they look older and wiser.

They both ended the year with different tennis shoes than they started with. Evan grew out of his old ones and Spencer's beloved Sketchers developed some faulty velcro. The shoes were in perfect shape but the velcro wouldn't stay fastened. Unbelievably frustrating! This is also the second pair of laces on his new shoes. The first ones were knotted so many times that they just frayed apart. I bought these sweet looking purple and black checked ones at the Dollar Store. He was fine with them. He could care less about how he looks.

Get ready for a crazy, fun filled summer boys!

Someday he will be grateful

Last week at Evan's baseball game, Spencer got his first taste of what it is like to have a stalker admirer.


During the game, I sit in my fold out chair and try to watch Evan either playing baseball or picking up dirt on the field and also keep tabs of my other two kids. Spencer and Hailey think that the baseball games are their own personal trips to the snack food aisle at a convenience store. Before we leave they stuff their pockets full of change and while we are there, make numerous trips to the snack hut to spend said change. They also think it is amazing fun to walk around the field to the port a potties and pass by the adjacent field and try to spot friends that may be wanting to play.


On this particular day the adjacent field was empty except for two kids that were playing on it. Spencer thought he recognized the boy so he and Hailey ran over to play with them. They must have been over there for fifteen or twenty minutes - from what I could tell, they seemed to be having a fun time. A few minutes later Spencer and Hailey came running back with the "other" kids a few yards behind. Spencer started digging in the cup holder of my chair telling me that he needed the car keys because he wanted to go sit in the car. I told him that the game was going to be over in about five minutes and there was no way he was going to sit in the car. He had a look on his face that was sort of a mix of urgency, terror and almost like he was ready to cry. He begged for the car keys as the two "other" kids - a boy and a girl - got closer.


When the "other" kids got to my chair, Spencer hopped up onto my lap. My first thought was that the boy "other" wanted to beat him up or something. When the girl started talking, I realized that it was something completely different. The girl kept kind of grabbing at him so he jumped off my lap and started running circles around with her following him. She kept saying that she wanted to kiss him because his name was Spencer and he was Spencer from the show iCarly. She said she loved Spencer from iCarly. If you have ever seen the show iCarly you know that the Spencer on the show is probably about twenty years old. This girl is a shoo in for a season of the Bachelor in about ten years. I told her to back off because Spencer is not allowed to kiss any girls except for his Mom. She persisted. She was one smitten kitten. Since I already referenced the Bachelor, I figure I could get away with that one. Seriously one of my favorite lines from that show and just not appropriate to say in real life without causing major buttcheeks. Spence continued to beg to go to the car and I was about to cave when Gramma Bonnie stepped up and beep beeped her car from a far and he ran to safety and away from the pursuit of the crazy girl. As he was running away I told him that he better get used to it because he comes from a long line of lady killers. His Dad was a lady killer and so was his Grampa Dan. Grampa Dan witnessed the whole spectacle himself and could not catch his breath from laughing.


That night when we got home he asked me if I would not tell Dad what had happened. I told him that he didn't do anything wrong. Dad wasn't going to get mad or anything. I said the girl just thought that you were cute - Dad will be able to give you tips on how to deal with all the hot messes that are going to be fawning over you in the years to come. OK - maybe I didn't phrase it exactly like that. He still didn't want Dad to know. I have no idea why, but I told him that I would not tell him. And I haven't told him much about it - just this last part.


A couple days later Evan had another game and Spencer asked if he could go to his friend's house instead of coming to the game. His buddy asked his Mom and everything was arranged. While Spencer and his friend were upstairs getting LEGO's or something I heard him say. "I am glad I can come to your house and not go to the ball game. Last time I went there was a girl there that kept trying to kiss me. I don't want to see her again. Hey, do you know that my Dad and my Grampa were lady killers? You know that doesn't mean that they really kill ladies. It just means that the girls think that they are really cute!"


But really, look at those huge brown eyes. That tousled hair. The cute little freckle on his nose. Can you really blame the girl?

She rarely wears them in the rain.

One day this past winter, I found an internet deal that I couldn't refuse. Croc rain boots. Six dollars a pair on clearance and a code for free shipping. I ordered Evan a blue pair and Hailey a hot pink pair. Twelve dollars later - one of the best purchases that I have ever made. The kids love their rain boots. Hailey wears hers all the time. She has recently discovered that not only are they cute for her feet, they also provide hours of entertainment and give new meaning to the words "water shoes".

She loves to fill them up with water from the hose and walk around with water sloshing out of her boots and around her feet. She is goofy.

By the way, the dress she is wearing in these photos is a 3T. That is her first time wearing that dress, it is not old and shrunken. That girl is a tall drink of water.

Yes, she is tall. She can be goofy. She finds strange ways to keep herself entertained. But man oh man is she gorgeous!