sugar

don't you just LURVE 7 year old teeth?

today Miss O invited me to paint her nails.

with 3 daughters one must keep a "two-year-food-storage" size supply of nail polish in the house. (among other things)


to begin with, we had to remove the old nail polish. or what we lovingly refer to as "nail pollies" around here.


i had the honor of removing yellow with black dots, resembling 10 small bumblebees on the ends of each of her fingers.


we were moving on to a shade of blue. (thank goodness)


i poured some nail polish remover (extra strength) on a cotton ball to begin the removal process.


Olivia looked at me, and in all seriousness declared, "mom i always used to think that clouds were just like these cotton balls, but now that i'm 7 i know they're not really."


me, waiting for further enlightenment.
(cuz 7 year olds know a lot!--take it from a 7 year old.)


"now i know that they are REALLY like giant sugar crystals in the sky."


isn't that sweet?

just like sugar....and just like her.

sometimes i STILL just want to gobble her up.

Father

" WOW!!!!!"

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

Keep on keepin' on...

We were glad to spend the day

with you yesterday!

Thanks for being my dad.

Love,

Dor & the Nielson Clan

storm

The other night a storm was rolling across our beautiful valley. The sun was getting eclipsed by giant thunder heads. The sounds of thunder rumbled across the valley, and the wind was blowing as my family stood out front watching, with awe, as the beauty of mother nature filled the evening sky.


During all of this my (insane) husband decided to climb up onto the roof (in a lightening storm!!) to snap a few shots. (With me quietly muttering under my breath it would serve him right if he were struck by lightening--ON.THE.ROOF! people!! in a lightening storm!) I may have even yelled it up to him once..."IT WOULD SERVE YOU RIGHT, YOU FOOL!"


Well, he lived to tell his tale and snapped a few great photo's
(this is ONE) in the meantime.


Rolling thunder, lots of lightening, and a double rainbow were our rewards that night, as we all stood and watched mother nature in all her majesty. The storm was echoing off of "our" lovely mountains. I always look at "my mountain" ("it" would be Mt. Olympus, right out my kitchen window) and sigh--they are a lovely sight to behold.


How do people live without mountains?



And who really needs the fireworks you buy in a box when you can have this instead?

redemption

...a day at the neighborhood pool solves everything! continue on summer! and who is that good looking lifeguard by the way?

(wink wink)

is summer over yet?

i hate to even type this out...


we are only on the 2nd monday of the 2nd week of summer vacation.


i used to love summer...LOVE IT!


lazy days, spending time w/my kids. LOTS of time.


i'm not sure what happened.


they got older and i got grumpier?


now it seems to be constant bickering and "i'm bored!"


here is an example of one small moment from my day today...


the kids came on an errand with me. (my first mistake)


i was dropping a HUGE box of "old things" off at the D.I. (thrift store)


they wanted to go in and "look around"--i gave in. (my second mistake)


they proceeded to beg for even more "old things". i held firm and refused.


after all, what was the point of what i had just done? (the dropping off of the old things)


on the way home i hear Olivia from the back seat whining, "STOP IT LIZZIE! Maddie
would NOT do that do me!!" (Maddie is her DOLL by the way)


"I SAID STOP IT!! Maddie would not punch me!" (apparently the doll --held by Lizzie--
had just "punched" her.)


tears....followed by "lizzie if you do that to me again i will hit you with my flip flop!"


at which point i see a raised pink flip flop in my mirror hoovering
precariously close to her sisters head.


seriously people, where did i go wrong?


and how many days left til school starts?

guilty as charged...

we admit it, we chug--right out of the milk jug~

we are guilty, as charged!

do your children ever just take your breath away??

No, I mean LITERALLY ...do they ever just take your breath away?

(As in "scarethefreakin'crapoutofyoufornoreasonatall"...?)

Like when you are out front watering your flowers and your 16 yr. old son and his friends are on the roof and start shooting (illegal) fireworks off? Really.Loud.Fireworks. In June, not July. I am grateful for neighbors who didn't call the police.

Or like when a counter-attack group of terrorists--I mean a wandering group of 16 yr. old boys-from up the road sneak up with airsoft guns and masks on? Behind you, while you are peacefully still watering flowers in your front yard. OH! and one of them is dressed up like a banana. (Yup! you read that right, a B.A.N.A.N.A.) I am grateful for neighbors that laugh at bananas in my yard.

Or like when the same afore-mentioned group of 16 yr. old boys show up at your house, unannounced, and ring your doorbell. And you, the afore-mentioned mother, are home alone and answer the door unaware that there are 4 boys armed (airsoft guns again) and masked. And in the center of your lawn is a human being dressed up like a gorilla (yup! you read that right a G.O.R.I.L.L.A.) doing a little dance? I am grateful for neighbors that clap at dancing gorillas, and let me know I am never alone!

It's amazing how 16 yr. old boys can revert to the age of 5 without a moments hesitation, on any given day of any given week.

And they just take my breath away....literally.

burning question

Can someone kindly explain to me the answer to the following question?

WHY during the school year do my children have to be bribed, begged, cajoled, and threatened with death and other forms of torture to get out of bed each morning by 7:30 --and now that summer has set in, guess what time they will hoist their hiney's out of bed each morning ALL BY THEMSELVES?!?!?!?

WHY?

WHY?

WHY?

the facts of life...

Miss O said to me today, "Mom, I know how to tell boy dogs and girl dogs apart."


Me (thinking we were about to delve into some profound discussion about the birds and bees and variations on body parts) ..."OH really, how?"


Olivia "Well it's by how they go to the bathroom, of course!" (OF COURSE!)
"Girl dogs have to sit down and boy dogs..."
(at which point she raises her left leg off of the ground in a perfect imitation of a boy dog going pee) "...DO THIS!" (she scrunched up her face and then said...) "That seems like a REALLY hard way to go pee!"


Yes, take it from me--sitting is much easier!

********************

And on the subject of aging ...Eliza said over the weekend how much she loved the old T.V. show 'The Brady Bunch'. Adding as a post edit to me, "You know Mom? That show you used to watch when you were a kid growing up in the 1800's?"

Why yes, of course! Me and Laura Ingalls Wilder did share a few wagon rides on the prairie.

I'm old, but not THAT OLD! (yet)