Struggling

• struggling to keep up on the house~ every time I accomplish 1 thing I turn around to see 2 more things that need to be done.
• struggling to get thru with the landscaping project~ I've planted some perennials out front but the sides of the house that are completely overgrown and I so desperately wanted to get done remain undone. And they may just stay that way.
• struggling to figure out my new camera~specifically the creative settings and getting the photos onto the computer to share thru the blog and facebook.
• struggling with the thought of my baby turning 3 this next month. I'm missing the snuggly, chubby cheeked babe that has been replaced with this lanky little girl with beautiful slightly curled blonde hair.
• struggling with my 4 year old's diva attitude. I actually told her today that when the police ask her why she's done something even when she knows it's wrong, she's still gonna go to jail when she replies "because I wanted to". Then we had a long discussion about what you can and can't do in jail. I think I finally got her attention when I told her you can't go shopping when you're in jail. Nothing like a bit of healthy fear to help keep her straight;)
• struggling with the fact that my oldest baby will be a 1st grader this fall, gone for whole days.
• struggling with the realization that it will be August at the end of the week. Only a month left of summer and not enough time or money to do everything I wanted to do with the kids.
• struggling with relationships. Relationships I desperately want, desperately need. But it's alot like gardening, let 'em go too long and the weeds take over and suffocate out all the good. Can I ever get them back to where they need to be?
• struggling to find the time to just be me~ to run, to scrapbook, to find a good book, to enjoy girl time.

Struggling, but moving forward.

Not Me Monday: Potty Mouth

• I most certainly did NOT catch myself calling the lady in the yellow Mustang who WOULD NOT LET ME OVER in traffic last Monday an a**hole. I definitely remembered my kids were in the van with me a little too late to stop myself, but you wouldn't have caught me pretend coughing/ choking to cover the swear escaping my lips.
• After that slip, I was definitely not thankful that my kids are total tv rats and were completely engrossed in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" at the time.
• when Tom saw Lexi smelling her finger the other nite and asked her what she was smelling, she did not reply in all complete seriousness "my ba~gina". No, she didn't!
• my mouth did NOT further get me in trouble when I absentmindedly replied "stick your head in doo doo" when Audrey started singing "nana nana boo boo" at the dinner table Thursday nite. My kids totally thought that uncool and I will definitely not hear that one again!

Because I'm A Blog Slacker

...and can't think of anything else to post, here's tonite's dinner menu:

• pasta shells with tuna salad
• tomatoes and cukes
• warm italian bread
• peach shortcake with whipped cream

Yum!!!=)

Stay Tuned

Before my husband left town with the kids on Friday I made a quick stop at Best Buy to pick up a new camera. (Can I just say "finally"!?!) The last few months of my kids' accomplishments and activities have been completely unrecorded as our other camera was broken over spring break (cement floors~even those of the finished variety~ are not really gentle on digital cameras.) Anyways, all of that to say that my blog will once again be complete with pictures very, very soon! I have promised myself that I will actually take time to "learn" this new camera so that I can get some really nice shots and I will try my best how to figure out how to get the pics off of the camera and onto the computer without husbandly assistance. So stay tuned! Vacay pics to come!

My Top 10 Bestest...

Memories From A Completely Kid and Husband~Free Weekend:

1. coffee and chat time with Micah and Lindsey
2. a real attempt to scrapbook~ no kids clamoring for sticky dots, scissors, and embellishments
3. a wonderful bridal shower for a wonderful, sweet bride~to~be
4. No "kiddie" alarm clocks at 8am
5. skipping the whole dreaded bedtime routine
6. a break from being "chef mommy"
7. shopping at Target~ no distractions, no time limits, no potty breaks
8. a clean house
9. a leisurely walk with Ed
10. the WHOLE bed to myself

Alas, every good thing must come to an end. But if I'm being really honest with myself, the house was a little too quiet, too clean (who am I kidding? a house can never be too clean!), and too empty. Can't wait to hug and kiss on my kiddos!!! (Not that I wouldn't welcome a break like this again!=)

Flashback Friday

Grandpa's Little Helper

June 2006

The Good, The Bad, & The Expensive

The Good:

• splashing in the pool with the kids
• Austin finally getting brave enough to jump in and go under water all by himself
• hibiscus blooms
• a cool(er) basement
• lunch with my sisters
• Captain Morgan and vanilla Coke

The Bad:

• hot weather and no AC
• sunburn~ 3 days later my back is still crispy
• landscaping weeds that just don't give up
• neighbor's pool parties @ 1am~ the least they could do is invite me
• rejection~ a total slap in the face

The Expensive:

• dropping $1000+ on a 23 year old AC unit that has an unrepairable leak
• the alternative~ spending $3500+ on a new unit. I do believe we are between a rock and a hard place. It's 84* in my house right now~ I am at their mercy

Wow! What A Week!

And it's only Thursday. So far, we've:

• put down a load of wood chips underneath the back bedroom windows.
• I've taken on the project of reclaiming the landscaping from the weeds. We have not done a thing to either side of the house since moving in 5 years ago. This is going to be THE project of the summer. My plan is to tear everything out, lay down wood chips and defend it from the evil weeds. Then maybe next summer if all goes well, I'll add some perennials and stone borders.
• rented the Rug Doctor and shampooed the living room, hallway, girls' room, and master bedroom. I got the upholstery attachment and did the recliner and car upholstery, floors, and mats. I am now the carpet nazi, guarding my freshly cleaned shag from grubby feet, crumby snacks, and a dog that (for whatever reason) cannot eat at his dish but instead grabs a mouthful, trots thru the dining room, and then drops it to eat off the carpet in the hallway.
• taxied Austin back and forth to Columbia all week for b~ball camp. While he practiced his skillz (which come naturally from his talented mama;P) the girls and I hung with Rona, Katy, and Andrew. We used McD's coupons for free frappes (sooo yummy), laughed and caught up from last week, and generally did crowd control.
• Audrey spent the nite with Katy; Anna joined us last nite for a sleepover with Austin.
• Austin got a summer 'do. He wanted bald, but I don't want him looking like a cancer patient. Seriously, last summer, Tom got to him with his clippers and with him being so scrawny and all, it was almost embarrassing for me to take him in public. So we went with a very short buzz cut.

Yay, for Friday!!!

I Have A Confession

I have been pressured, coerced even, to join this little online network by several friends. Perhaps you've heard of it? It's called facebook. I remained steady in my resolve that I would not ever join because I had my blog and bloggers are cooler than facebookers. Well, a few weeks ago I finally caved, the pressure just a little too great, I buckled and signed up. And you can see what that's done to my blog. Aside from a "not me Monday" post, I have been MIA. It's just too easy to share a thought or two thru facebook without having to sit and contemplate a blog post.

So I promise, I'll try to be a little more faithful to the blog. I do have my priorities after all. So while I'm trying to catch up I might as well post Austin's b~ball stats from his season this spring. I tallied up all the stats several weeks ago and the paper has been floating around in my purse waiting for me to blog about it. I figured for memory's sake I should record the action here.

Here's the run~down:

7 games

100 points~ 14.29 pts./game average

13 missed shots~ 79.4% from the floor

made 50 out of 63 attempts

12 rebounds

his team (the wolverines) won 5 (maybe 6 games) for a 5(6)-1 record

The "maybe" is because I missed that game and didn't get a final score from my sub stat taker

Austin gets in on the action again this Monday with a basketball camp at Columbia Central.

Not Me Monday: Bathroom Secrets

• In an effort to spare my carpet a parade of dirty, sunscreened, sand~boxy children, you would have never, EVER heard me tell them to be discreet and find a bush when they announce that they have to go potty while playing outside.
• This has never backfired on me and I have not ever caught my now 4 year old daughter, stripped down naked, relieving herself out in the open front lawn.
• I have absolutely not been so impressed with my offsprings, umm, bathroom successes that I have not called my husband in to get a look and/or take pictures of the, umm, accomplishments. Said accomplishments would not be so long that they would actually wrap around the toilet and leave me wondering how something so tiny could make something so big.
• I wouldn't even dream of giving my son permission to relieve himself in a KFC cup while stuck in the van during an overly long, drawn out day of errands. I had not made him hold it for so long that he more than halfway filled the 20 oz. cup. He was not so duly impressed that he didn't ask to save it to show his sisters when they woke up. I absolutely did not agree, so I did not have a cup of urine sloshing around in my cup holder for the rest of the trip around town.

What about you? What have you not done this week?