gracie goes to girls camp...

Gracie went to her very first Girls Camp! She did it, survived, and LOVED IT! Her parents love-LOVE- love all her leaders for making it so fun. No words necessary, really...just a few pictures! They had a little rain, one really cool storm roll in and Kyle got to be "Man in Camp" on friday night (after doing the math, with 3 girls each 3ish years apart, he will get that "honor" for 14 more years!) Mostly it was good old fashioned dirty fun!

creeper

My son...he called me a "creeper."


and not as in "virginia" or some other kind of vine growing along my back fence.


now, when i imagine a "creeper"...the image posted below is kinda what comes to my mind.
(she's CREEPY, huh?)


certainly NOT me. (while i may be a "creeper", i'm certainly not THAT creepy!)

.




















On the other hand, he did hang out with me, his dad, and his 3 little sisters last night.


We listened to some Bob Marley, gazed at the stars, and named animal shapes in the clouds
(at 10 PM mind you--we've got that summer solstice thing going on ...lots of light at night).


i guess if i have to be a "creeper", i will take it---as long as he will still hang out with us now and again.

Ode to Sam....

Dear Sam...

...Would it be too much to say we love you?

...Or that you are our newest B.F.F.??

...or that after listening to me complain relentlessly for months, you finally decided to shut me up and bring us some of these darn donuts?

...Or that you are just a great guy? (this is for sure the *MOST TRUE* ...in addition to the BFF and love thing!)

The thing is, Sam has gone on and on (and on and on) about how GREAT Banbury Cross donuts are. We keep saying how we have never tasted this supreme bit of deliciousness.

And just because he is such an awesome person, he showed up on our porch this morning with a box of these delectable treats for us to share.

Here is how we rated them in no particular order:

#1. Pink Banbury's
#1. Glazed Banbury's
#1. Chocolate Banbury's

As you can see, it's a tie.

Thank you for introducing our taste buds to a new treat! They are as sweet as you!

the BEST summer ever and the DUMBEST thing ever...

The girls have a list.

It is entitled "the BEST summer EVER!"

It includes all the things they want to do this summer.

I have included a picture of it so you may read it.

My favorite thing on the list (which ALSO happens to be at
the VERY BOTTOM--as in LAST ON THE LIST--is: "don't talk for 24 hours")

Here's the thing, THEY thought up all the things on the list, who am I to try and stop their creativity??

I may need to find a way to bump that one up to #5 though!


NOT on the list would be "my dumb mom breaking her toe!"

(have included a picture of this as well, please forgive the need for a pedicure on my ugly toes)

That would be ME! How dumb is that? What a great way to start out MY summer. I knew it was "bad" when I looked down and my 3rd toe was no longer pointing up straight, but rather leaning and pointing at an awkward angle TOWARD my 4th toe. (not exactly the way you want to see a toe point!)

Grace informed me how proud she was of me. (I only swore once when it happened!) *i hate to say it, but MAYBE some of the credit also goes to the Williams boys (Sam & Spencer) who happened to be in my basement with Josh--need I say more?

A HUGE shout out to Dr. Brian Seagle for 4 hours of his time and a double "date" (his term, not mine, and we used it loosely) with his wife, and my husband, to get my toe fixed and dinner--I can't think of a better way to spend 4 hours, can you?

Well, I probably can, but it was at least spent in good company (and Ange got her update on the whole Jon & Kate plus 8 situation via "PEOPLE" magazine while she waited for us). Plus you just can't beat Rhumbi's at 8 p.m., right?

If you ever need a good foot person, I have one I can now PERSONALLY recommend!

THANKS DR. S!!!! (we're on a nickname basis now!)

Even though I have been condemmed to a "boot" and taped toes for 3 weeks (he wants my toe to heal pointing UP and not sideways. Gosh! what a novel idea!) He is still "OK" in my book. (Although I gave it a valient effort in trying to dissuade him on the boot part--the man has no clue how much I LOATHE shoes of any kind! sigh.)


Off to work on some of the FUN stuff on the girls list...

to nap or not to nap?

here's the thing.

If you KNOW me, you already know what the answer to the question is.

But still I HAD TO try it.

I just HAD TO!

I have been dead dog tired the past 2 days, as in I really, REALLY, really, really wanted to lay down for 1/2 hour and sleep.

So, today I tried.

Tried being the operative word here.

I lay in my bed, the breeze was quietly blowing through the trees outside my window,
my comforter was nestled up to my chin, I could feel myself starting to drift....

toward my fleeting desire...

my goal of a 30 minute nap.

JUST as I was letting go of all my thoughts and leaving this waking world for that of the world of dreams, I heard...


*The phone ring...12 times to be exact! (and before anyone thinks we are really popular I have a confession to make. Apparently our telephone number used to be
a fax number at some point in the not so distant past. We know when we are getting an old "fax" call when the phone rings 12 or so times all in a row with the caller id displaying the mysterious words "unknown caller" with NO telephone number AND does the annoying "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" fax sound, over and over and over and over. Well, you get the point. We have tried to rectify the situation with Qwest to no avail.....)

So anyway, yup 12 calls!

*One Lizzie yelling, "SHHHHHHHHH!!! Mom is trying to take a nap!"

*Olivia poking her head in my door, "Mom, I know you're sleeping, but can I roast a mallow?" (as in a marshmallow, as in -on the stove in the kitchen--yup that's how we do it here. Hey! YOU may say "desperate times call for desperate measures", we prefer to call it "creative roasting " at our house.)

Grace "singing" LA LA LA LA LA LA LA! (in her best Opera voice--which truth be told is not all that good-- at the top of her lungs. Did I mention: AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS????)

Josh was in the basement, so he is exempt from this blog post. Because I am pretty sure IF he had been UPSTAIRS, he would've done something to annoy.

Kyle was at work, although I think he DID call on my cell phone once.

This was all in the first 5 minutes of my imaginary "nap".

I sat up, threw back the covers and said, "Ah forget it!" (although the words MAY HAVE been a bit more colorful, but I will never tell!)


The answer than to the question is... NOT to nap!

Maybe someday in 12 more years I will try again, in the meantime I have learned to function quite nicely on not nearly enough sleep....and I will keep dreaming of naps in my night time hours of sleep.

Hey, a gal can always dream, right?

life lessons....

Let's just say that yesterday was NOT the best day of my life. To take my mind off of grown up matters, I took my daughter to the park, where I sat silently behind my sunglasses as she played with complete strangers, albeit little kid strangers. In the world behind my sunglasses I watched her playing with other people's children....and this is what she taught me.

#1. Help other people out.
...a 2 year old boy was on the slides and dropped his stuffed dinosaur, she slid down, grabbed it and quickly handed it back. No thought as to whether she should or not, she just did it. We should ALL just reach in and lend a hand. As in: hand back life's figurative dinosaurs...most of the time people really appreciate our help. EVEN IF, it is just a listening, non judgemental ear!


#2. Give a little push when needed.
...Olivia spent 20 minutes helping to push another little girl on the swings who could not get herself going...darn short legs. Don't we all need a little "push" sometimes?


#3. Take turns!
...only 4 swings and LOTS of kids, I watched as they all waited their turn (I know this is not always the case, but it worked out quite nicely yesterday)


#4. Make a new friend.
...After less than 5 minutes, Olivia was holding hands and laughing with a complete stranger. No judgements (see next lesson) just a new person to enjoy the moment with.

#5. Don't Judge!
There was a little down syndrome girl on the playground. She was acting a bit different than the other kids---after a while I watched her walk up to Olivia and talk with her, just about "kid stuff". Olivia did not notice one thing different about this girl, she was just a kid like anyone else. How do we REALLY know everything about everyone else?
Maybe we should just accept others as they are. Does that mean we have to like everything about them? Probably not, but I am pretty sure that *I* am not perfect--so isn't it just easier to leave the unkind things left unsaid and try and concentrate on the good stuff? Pretty much EVERYONE has SOME "good stuff".

#6. Have Fun!
After a fall and a scratched knee, she still had fun. TRY and focus on the swinging and sliding, and not the scratches, along the way.


I REALLY needed that lesson yesterday...
Maybe on all my "bad" days I should just hang out at the playground!

moment of silence please....

It is officially official.

Josh has finished Jr. High.

3 years spent frolicking the halls of Oly Jr., playing sports, teasing girls, making good grades (so far), hanging out with friends.

All done.

now we are on to Olympus High....


...which makes me OFFICIALLY the mother of a high school kid. (or just OLD as my kids like to say!)

...let the fun begin.