I Love Vacation.

I love vacation.

I love seeing family and friends.

I love California.

I love watching Joe, Lu and Max transform into summer kids.

I love getting my hair done by my sister.

But more on all of that later.

For now,

I love the pictures taken by Lisa Blake at

7 of June Photography

Lisa, you rock my world!

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

Some Snapshots of Summer

Saturday afternoon 

(after shopping garage sales)

Sunday morning

(Father's Day)

Sunday morning

(real men play Barbies)

Monday afternoon

(boys and Beyblades)

Monday afternoon

(dress-up + bff Ethan + Barbies+ playing outside = very happy Lucy)

Tuesday morning

(Joe soaks up a dose of vitamin d)

Tuesday afternoon

(vitamin d + giving the minivan some love)

2 out of 3; Our Crazy Kids

Last month my friend and fellow Stroller Strider

McKenzie

took some pictures of my babies. 

Wanna see?  I thought so!

Here are some of my favorites-

Love! Love! Love!

These pictures were taken on a school day, which is why Joe wasn't there.

And I didn't anticipate being in any of the shots, which should explain my rainy-day hair-do.  Oh, and Devon wasn't there either.

And as a side story....

Devon and I took the kids to the park a few nights ago,

and while we sat and watched them play,

Devon said, "We sure have cute kids.  I know I'm biased.  If I didn't know them, I'd probably still think they are cute, but I'd see that they are crazy and then I'd be glad that they aren't my kids.  But since they are my crazy kids, I think they are pretty awesome."

Wow, Dev!  Tell me how you really feel!

How's that for a Father's Day confession?!?!?!?

I think that Devon had a nice Father's Day.

We celebrated him a little bit in the morning, but then he had to go to work,

so we didn't spend the day with him.

And I think that my own dad had a nice Father's Day too,

but we didn't see him at all.

So,

I can only report that the kids and I had a nice Father's Day :)

But we really do have some pretty fantastic fathers to celebrate.

Dad and Devon,

we love you!

How did you celebrate Father's Day?

What Do You Know, Max, Lucy & Joe?

We've been busy around here!

With these kids, there is never a dull moment!

JOE

Today is Joe's last day of the 6th grade!

Hooray!

I'm not sure how I am going to keep him occupied for the next 10 weeks...

but I couldn't be happier about the fact that HOMEWORK will not be on the schedule!!

Our little Joe is growing up :)

LUCY

If you've seen the Disney movie Tangled,

you'll appreciate that Lucy spent the entire day yesterday dressed as Rapunzel, costume complete with frying pan.

And she even healed my (pretend) wounds with her magic hair and her special song.

MAX

So, the highchair is back in the house.

I stored it in the garage after we moved in November,

which was a premature move on my part, and I've spent too much time collecting his snacks from all over the house, as he prefers to roam while he eats.

But no more, I say!

He is trapped!

I propose a toast!

Cheers to the mamas who survived another school year!

We did it!

There Just Isn't a Proper Title for This One

I've got to tell y'all that your comments mean so much to me.  For real.  Like, I want to wallpaper my blog with this-

 

or this-

or this-

but I think I'll sum it up like this-

(cute "blog buttons", huh?  I found them here)
So, there was an additional catalyst for my tears at the baseball game on Saturday.  For now I will just ask for prayer- specifically for patience and guidance.

I believe that change and trials and storms and uncertainty
can bring all sorts of GOOD,
but,
darn,
I sure prefer the comfort of consistency and blue skies and clarity!

Don't worry- we are all okay.  Actually, we are more than okay-
we are blessed and happy and healthy and in love...

We just have a lot of changes happening all at once,
and, evidently, it causes me to cry in public.

Guess what.
The kids and I tried a new church last Sunday,
and
WE LOVED IT.

The lead pastor is a friend from way back in junior high and high school.
I remember watching him sing with the jazz choir, wishing that I could sing too,
because jazz choir was awesome.
Nope, I can't sing very well.  But I can rap :)

Anyway, I am really excited about Rain City Church,
and if you live nearby and you are looking for a place to go on Sunday mornings,
you should try it and see if you might be excited about it too!

Hey, look!

My kids are behaving!
And they are calmly watching A Bug's Life!
And no one is fighting or crying!
And they are eating healthy snacks!
And Joe has a haircut!
And he is wearing his Championship shirt for the 3rd day in a row!

Let's play a little game called
Whose Purse Is It Anyway?
My purse was feeling a bit cluttered, so I dumped it out and along with my wallet and cell phone I found...

• pebbles (yes, actual rocks)
• the dumb Woody toy from our Mickey Mouse Misadventures
• a Nerf dart
• 4 lipglosses
• a Spiderman motorcycle
• 2 Pez dispensers
• Lucy's sunglasses
• various pieces of trash
• a comb
• goldfish
• and a "diapees & wipees" bag that was empty of both diapers and wipers.

Now I ask you Whose Purse Is It Anyway?

After I did a thorough audit of the contents and restocked the diapers and wipes, I was left with this-

Ah, yes, this purse must belong to me!

Your turn!

Dump out your purse and tell me what you find!

Does your purse belong to you,

or do its contents suggest otherwise??

That is all the time we have for today folks!

Tune in next time for either

details of tonight's hot date

or

my predictions about The Bachelorette

or

the hair plans I'm developing for my visit to my sister at the salon

(No, Katie, I'm not going for this look!)

We are the Champions; An Emotional Day at the Ballpark

Sometimes I begin to write a blog post but I get distracted or too busy to finish, and by the time that I come around to work on it again, either the topic feels irrelevant or the inspiration has dwindled, so my little blog sits unupdated for several days.  Is "unupdated" a word?

Anyway, I am sitting here now- laptop on my lap, children asleep, glass of wine on the table beside me- and I vow to not put down my computer until a blog post is complete.

So, do you ever have one of those days when you are just plain weepy, and even the slightest emotion, whether happy or sad, makes you cry, and once you begin to cry you just can't seem to stop?  Of course, I am speaking to my female audience.  My male audience can't personally relate, I'm sure, but you two men know what I'm talking about (Hi Dad and Devon!), right?

Saturday was one of those weepy days for me.  Devon was at work, and I had a full afternoon of driving my minivan/taxi-cab to various destinations.  Fred Meyer for a poster board (for Joe's extra credit science project).  Drop Devon off at work.  Back home.  Fred Meyer for a black ink cartridge (also for Joe's extra credit science project).  Back home.  Fred Meyer for cyan, yellow and fuchsia ink cartridges (I knew I should have just bought them all during my first trip to the store!).  Back home.  Three separate hair salons in hopes of getting Joe a haircut within 25 20 15 minutes.  Drop Joe off at his coach's house without a haircut.  Back home.  And finally, it was time for me and Max and Lucy to make our way to the little league fields to watch Joe's team play for the Championship.

The activity at the fields caught me off guard. I guess that I wasn't really focused on the fact that this game was sort of a big deal, but I'm talking about balloons, banners, flags, a hot dog cart, an announcer, packed bleachers, and two teams of boys who were beyond excited to be at the big game.  The players were each announced as they ran out of the dugout and a six year old girl sang the national anthem.

Okay, so, these non-exciting photos of Max and Lucy give absolutely no visual depiction of how exciting this event was, but I'm using them anyway because they are the only pictures I've got-  see, I was a total mess.  I could not stop crying.  I stood in the back with sunglasses on, wiping my tears, trying to control my facial muscles, while people avoided me because no one knew why I was crying.  It was rough.  If you were there, you might have offered me a hug, and then you might have thought to yourself, Pull it together, girl!

And the mama within me was so proud of Joe and all the other boys, so some of my tears were happy.

But mostly I think that I was sad because Devon was missing the hoopla.

And I missed my family.  My brothers' little league games were such a big part of my childhood, so I was feeling nostalgic...

Whatever.  I cried.  A lot.

Grandma Donna and I were constantly texting Devon, reporting the game and the score.

And just as I was beginning to feel composed, a group of our friends arrived unexpectedly to cheer for Joe.  More (happy) tears!

Joe's fan club had doubled!  And then you won't believe who managed to take a lunch break and borrow a car and show up during the 4th inning!!!  Happy happy!

Aside from my unbalanced emotional state, there was a game happening, and it was a battle.  This league only plays 6 inning games, and going into the 6th the Rangers (Joe's team) were down 1-4 to the Giants.  The Rangers were batting, and they were able to get a few hits and earn a couple more runs, making the score 3-4.  With two outs and with a runner on first, the batter had 2 strikes.  Our chances of a victory were slipping away...  BUT then- the pitch- the hit- the cheers- the ball-  going, going, GONE!  HOME RUN!!!  The entire Rangers team exited the dugout and crowded home plate waiting for their MVP to make his way around!!!  Two runs scored, the Rangers lead 5-4!  Oh! My! Gosh!  Do I even need to mention the tears???  I wasn't the only one crying- the Giants' pitcher had big tears streaming down his face.  Emotions were high, I'm telling you!  The Giants had another chance to get ahead, but their efforts were futile, and the Rangers were named THE CHAMPIONS.  Oh yeah, "We are the Champions" played on the speakers.

I stopped crying.  Devon went back to work.  Joe got a haircut.  My taxi-cab service made its final stops for the evening.  Joe deemed it "the best day of his life."  And he eventually finished his extra credit poster.

I suppose it is "all in a day's work," as it is said.  Being a mama is no joke!

Tidbits

A collection of random information from our home front:

Joseph's baseball team won their playoff game last night, so they are moving on to the CHAMPIONSHIP game on Saturday!  (Although, Devon is praying for a rain-out because he has to work on Saturday and does not want to miss the game!)  It has been a really fun baseball season for all of us.

We are now a one-vehicle-family.  Should be an adventure!  God bless the Bugs Bunny minivan!

At the end of each season of The Bachelor, I vow that I am done watching that show.  But who am I kidding?  It is completely entertaining!  So, the current season of The Bachelorette has aired 3 episodes, and I already have opinions. 

Who else is watching???

Bentley is unbelievable.  What a creep.

And I don't really think that William is dumb, but the poor kid...  oh, the poor kid.

And perhaps Ryan is too perfect.

Thoughts?

Moving on,

Lucy and Max tried cotton candy for the first time last week at a Mariners game.  The verdict: "yum" and "sticky."

My verdict: I don't plan to take Lucy and Max to another Mariners game this season :)  "Sit and watch" isn't really their idea of a good time!

This nerdy guy and his "rally cap"-  classic Dev.

And this was Lucy during the final innings of the game.  Not sure what she is doing.

Summer vacation countdown: 7 school days!  I am, like, sooooo done with the 6th grade.  I am ready for summer and for more of this-

Today is the anniversary of my first kiss/second date with my honey :)

Want to see something funny?  I went to Clairol.com yesterday to use their Try On Studio.  What do you think?

What is that hair color? 

That's all I've got for now.

Have a happy Wednesday :)

Mickey Mouse Misadventures

Today was the most beautiful day in the history of the world.  Seriously.  It was so nice to wake up and see blue sky- oh happy day!

Devon went to work, and the kids and I had nothing planned for the whole entire day.

I had a brilliant idea.  The Disney Store was having a Grand Opening event at the mall, and Mickey Mouse was going to be there taking pictures.  Max and Lucy and I would be in line when the mall opens (Joe opted to stay home), and we would get to see Mickey Mouse.  What a treat, right?

We arrived at Bellevue Square right on time, 10am, and we found the Disney employee who was handing out the "special gift" to the first 200 guests.  We each received a reusable shopping bag.

  There was an extremely long line of people who were waiting to enter the Disney Store, and there was a separate area with a stage where only a few people were beginning to line up to meet Mickey at noon.  I thought that we could just get in line to meet Mickey and wait a couple of hours...  but that plan only lasted about 20 minutes.  This was the first of Lucy's many breakdowns.

So, we left our really great spot in line and went to play at the boats to kill some time.

When we returned to the line at 11am, we were quite a bit further back than before.  The crowd was growing.  Radio Disney took over the stage and promised fun, games, and prizes.  But from where we were standing in line, my kids couldn't see the stage.  I held Lucy for a few minutes, but then Max wanted to be held too.  We left our spot in line again to move to the side of the stage for a better view of the dance routine choreographed to Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA."

The first game asked for volunteers, and Lucy jumped up on the stage.  The game was similar to hot potato, except that the kids were passing a basketball, and once the music stopped, whoever was holding the ball would be out of the game.  Of course, Lucy was the first contestant to exit the game.  "We have our first winner!  What is your name?  Okay Lucy, here is your prize!"  She won a Beauty & The Beast magnet, and she was so proud!

Now we had less than an hour until Mickey Mouse would make his appearance, and the line to enter the Disney Store had shrunk, so I thought we'd kill more time looking around the store.  While waiting for our turn to enter, Lucy answered a Disney trivia question and won a Minnie Mouse key chain!  "What was the name of Rapunzel's pet chameleon?"  Do you know the answer?

I wasn't allowed to bring the stroller into the store, and that should have been my big fat clue to not enter at all!  Once inside, Lucy freaked out over the princess displays and merchandise.  Of course she did- what did I expect?  And Max-  Well, without the restraints of the stroller, he ran around, dodging through the crowds, grabbing toys, tossing them over this shoulder, sucking on various straws on sippy cups, pulling t-shirts off of shelves.  He was a whirling dervish.  Lucy began to panic because I wasn't letting her have a moment to take in the overwhelming abundance of princess paraphernalia because we had to keep track of Max.  Finally, Lucy threw back her arms in protest and said, "Max!  Stop escaping!  You are ruining everything!"

With Max clutched between my hip and my arm, Lucy got a chance to ogle a whole bunch of stuff that I had no intention of purchasing.  Why did I think this outing was a good idea?  She cried again.  Real tears.

We left the store with two very inexpensive prizes-  Rapunzel sunglasses for Lucy and a Woody figurine for Max. 

The toy that Max chose was a really dumb purchase.  It had sticky limbs that stuck to the wall like this-

I immediately hated this toy.  Fortunately, Max ripped off one of the sticky balls and then discarded this toy altogether because it was "too sticky, Mama."  Woody was tossed in the bag with the rest of our loot.

Lucy cried again.  I don't remember why.

We returned to the Mickey Mouse line for the third time.  Now we were much farther back.  We couldn't even see the stage from where we stood.  My stomach growled.  Max looked up at me from his stroller restraints and whined, "Out!".

We left the line again.  My next brilliant idea was to just watch Mickey from the second floor.

And here's Mickey!

Now, if I angle the camera just right, I can technically get a picture of the kids with Mickey!

We never did get any closer to Mickey.  My brilliant idea turned out to be a horrendous idea. 

Oh well.  I was just trying to fill the day- do something different. 

I reminded Lucy several times on the drive home that she has already met Mickey Mouse...

and she assured me that she will never go to the mall with me ever, ever again.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the heat and the cloudless sky :)

No lines.  No crowds.  No tantrums.