Already?!?

Should we already be having orthodontic appointments?!?

And should my kids already be beating me in Monopoly?!?

And really, is it already time for Santa lists?!?

If someone could please slow down time just a wee bit, I'd be very appreciative

Oh, and while you're at it, please tell my daughter that Santa will NOT be bringing her either (1) a motorized car or (2) a playhouse. Thank you for your assistance.

Now THAT'S a fort

It's summertime, which of course means it's FORT TIME. Over the weekend the kids decided to build a fort. Dad lent one of his tarps for them to use, and it was pretty darn good.

The kids loved sleeping in it that night, but I was getting pretty sick of all the strings attached to every inanimate object. Having to crawl through your family room gets old after a while.

But thank goodness I married me a military man, who knows how to build a shelter.

Now that's a shelter, my friends. Throw some tarps over the sides, and we've got ourselves a fort.

Jack and Ellie added some secret passageways, and we were good to. They've got an awesome sleeping fort (and home base for their secret agent activities), and I can walk upright through my family room. Win win.

Great. Just Great.

This whole teaching-Ellie-to-ride-without-training-wheels thing is going great.

Really great.

Couldn't be better.

Do they make training-wheel bikes for adults? We may need to look into that

P.S. - it's really hard to take pictures while riding a bike

I can't confirm, but I MAY have run over a child or two in the process

P.P.S. - ice cream makes everything better. Write that down.

An Apology

An apology to my mother

For all the times that I said "I'm BORED! So BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDD!"

Because now I'm the mother

And all day Sunday I heard "I'm BORED! So BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!"

And it's very, very annoying

So AAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"

Summer Camp

We started summer camp this week. We decided to take the summer off from taekwondo and try something a little different. We'll return to taekwondo in the fall, but for the summer, we're trying a summer camp called C3 Cyber Club. It's your typical summer camp - field trips to the water park, sports, arts and crafts. But it's 'thing' - as you can probably guess from the 'cyber' in the title - is computers. They have a ton of video games that the kids can play during free time, and they offer computer classes where the kids can learn video game design, cartoon animation, and cool stuff like that. Jack is signed up for those classes, while Ellie decided against that (or in her words, "that's SOOOO boring!") and is taking a gymnastics class. So far, so good - Ellie tackles change a bit more quickly than Jack does, but they're both starting to meet friends (including Ellie's new friend Anaka, who Ellie insists on calling Angelina because 'Angelina's a prettier name'), and Jack's starting to get into the computer thing a bit. So cheers to a fun time at summer camp!


My two little cyber buddies, heading off to camp

Next Step ... Rapunzel

I've always kept Ellie's hair cut short - it tends to be quite tangly, I'm really not good at doing hair, and let's face it, she can be a filthy beast, and I just picture food and twigs and other debris getting caught up in it. But she's been asking to grow it out, so I figure it's time we give it a try. So we're at the point where we normally get her hair cut (we typically do it every 2 months), but ... we're not doing it. So we agreed we'd snap a picture every month to mark our hair-growing progress. My goal? To see if we can get it to just touch the shoulders. Ellie's goal? Rapunzel, but hopefully I've managed her expectations that that's NOT going to happen for many, many reasons. So bye bye short haircut, hello, long-ish hair!

What's Worse?

What's worse?

That while at a nice restaurant tonight, Jared spilled a lemonade all over the table and all over Ellie?
Or that Ellie then spilled the replacement lemonade all over the table and all over herself?
Or that Ellie (while eating salad with her hands) declared loudly that her butt now smelled fruity?
Or that this is not all that an unusual evening for us?

For the Record

A few things for the record....

1. The kids started summer camp this week. I'm hoping by week 2 that I won't feel like the guy who left Hansel and Gretel to fend for themselves in the forest. And yes, I feel this way at the beginning of every school year, and at the beginning of any new activity. But if you tell me to be logical about it, I just may punch you in the face.

2. But not until I've killed this pesky fly, which has been buzzing around me all frickin' day. At first it was just amusing - ah, the circle of life, and what-not - and then it got annoying, and now I want to hunt it down and kill it, then eradicate its species from the planet. Perhaps that means I need some chocolate.

3. Ellie: "Mom, I want you to start calling me a new name"
Mom: "OK, what would you like me to call you?"
Ellie: "Apple Pants"

4. Jared has spent a few hours every night helping out stinkin' neighbor move out of his house. I'm trying not to think about all the work he could have done around MY house in all those hours, but that's not very charitable of me, is it.

5. Jack: "You know what would really be bad? If you were born with 10,000 butts. That would be bad."
Ellie: "Yea, it'd really STINK! Get it?!? STINK! BUTTS!"

6. It's been raining like crazy around these parts. Just for the record.

7. Yes, I know that 6 doesn't constitute 'a few'


Yes, indeedy, those weeds in our neighbor's lawn ARE as tall as Jack. Now you know what has been keeping my lawn-obsessed husband up at night. But no more! Thanks to Jared, the lawn is mowed, the critters are banished, and we can all move on with our lives without living next to the Jungle of Darkness

The boys, not letting a little rain get in the way of a good frisbee game

Blue Boy

Yes, another taekwondo belt. They really start to blend in after a while - really, I could just take one picture and then photoshop the appropriate color belt. But the kids sure have fun, and are proud of their accomplishments, and I do like seeing how happy they are when they get their new belts. So it was Jack's turn yesterday - he earned his blue belt. I actually think this was his best test so far - he had the form routine spot-on, broke both his boards the first time out, and did well in his sparring. And besides, the blue belt brings out his pretty eyes. That'd probably embarrass him for me to say that, huh. Too bad - Mom's prerogative.


Rockin' his form

Ellie was the photographer this time around, which means that I found about a 100 photos of the walls, the ceiling, random people I don't know, my chin, and of course Ellie.

Setting up to break his board

Boo-ya - first time out

Congrats, Jack!

Milestones

Well, today we hit two important milestones. First, it was the kids' last day of school for the year. As much as they both enjoyed school this year (well, Ellie enjoyed school and Jack enjoyed art class and playing with his friends at recess), we're all ready for the summer. The second milestone is that Ellie finished kindergarten, and is on to 'big kids' school' (full-day school to Lydia's ears) next year. Ellie's excited for 'real' school and real homework (she likes homework, go figure), and Lydia is excited for the beautiful simplicity of one morning drop-off and one afternoon drop-off. So here's to a great year of school! Congratulations, Jack and Ellie!


I've never seen my kids get ready for school as fast as they did this morning, knowing it was the last day of school. And if you're wondering why Ellie appears to be looking somewhere different, it's because I'm standing near a mirror. Ellie and mirrors are good friends.

Getting ready for the big show

Here, they're singing a song about putting me in a little red box, taking me out, kissing me, and putting me back in again. It's really kinda creepy. Please don't shove me in a little red box.

We've got a big group of kindergarteners - 4 classes in the a.m., 4 in the p.m. So, we'll have a big ol' first grade next year.

Ellie getting her award for 'graduating' kindergarten. Those are her teachers, Mrs. Little and Barnes. Best. Teachers. Ever.

After the awards ceremony, the kindergarteners enjoyed some ice cream. For the record, I did NOT steal Ellie's ice cream. I think I deserve some kudos for that.

FFF

Jared is back home, and there is much rejoicing throughout the land. We always want him around. But...there are a few benefits to him being gone. For example, we make more frequent trips to the bookstore without the inevitable eyebrow-raising "really? another book?" I also don't have to camouflage my incredible consumption of chocolate. And, of course, sweatpants. EVERY DAY. But really, that's all about me. (Wait, isn't it all about me? No? We really must change that. Someone get right on that, please.) What the kids like about when Jared is on travel is ... Finger Food Friday. Lydia knows that as Mom-is-too-lazy-to-cook-so-let's-come-up-with-a-cool-name-for-me-tearing-open-a-bunch-of-bags-of-food, but to Ellie and Jack, it's the beloved Finger Food Friday.

So we lay out a bunch of towels picnic-style on the family room floor. Then come the finger food - nuggets, meatballs, cut-up veggies and fruit, chips, and lots o' dips - ranch, hummus, ketchup, salsa, queso, guac, whatever we can find. Then we plop ourselves in front of the boob tube and go to town. When all is said and done, the towels go in the laundry, the leftovers go in the trash ('cause we TOTALLY double-dip), and we are feeling fat and happy. Of course, we're way happier to have Dad around, but since he's not a fan of eating on the floor OR eating bite-sized kid food, we're all about taking advantage of his absence with Finger Food Friday. Well, until it's time for Taste Test Tuesday, of course.

Dancing Queen

There's a great deal of dedication needed to excel in dance - long hours of practice, difficult routines, and I don't know, sitting in a crowded auditorium for THREE HOURS to watch your kid dance. Oh, I guess that's me, huh. But let's not downplay my dedication, please. It was THREE HOURS. And 38 separate performances, only one of which my kid was in. I should really get some kind of medal or something. No? Well, it was worth a try. And, if pushed, I'd probably agree that it was worth all the fun Ellie had.

This was her end-of-year recital. She was really, really excited, and kept practicing the night before to make sure she had the routine just right. And when it came time for her performance, the practicing paid off - she did great, and was a real natural on stage. She's looking forward to her next dance class - but fortunately we'll have a summer break before we have to deal with that!


Heading out for the recital

Meet my handsome date. Although he was quite bored after the first hour or so, he was still a gentleman, and even went and got me much-needed sustenance during the intermission

They didn't allow any photographs or recordings during the recital itself, so I snapped a few photos at the rehearsal

Please note that they're pretty much doing the same move - or close enough at least

Ellie was particularly good at this move - I have no clue what it's called

This move is probably called standing with your hands up

Our little star after her performance