1D!

(1) I feel very, very old, as I could have quite easily have birthed these scrawny little youngsters
(2) Jared was a very brave man for sitting through this movie as the ONLY MALE in the whole theater
(3) I don't think Ellie and Gracie stopped dancing and giggling the whole time
(4) And I really don't think, with the prevalence of all those skinny skinny pants, those boys are going to be able to have kids - just be warned, young ladies

Three Things

Three things that are making me happy today:

(1) Ellie is a good friend
Ellie loves to play with her good friend Gracie from across the street. But sometimes Ellie can be a bit, um, bossy. (No, she doesn't get that from me, I'm not sure why you'd think that.) So I've been talking with her about making sure that she does things that Gracie likes, and takes her opinions into account. So the past few days, I must say surprisingly, Ellie has been doing just that - asking Gracie what she'd like to do, making sure she's having a good time, etc. So hey, sometimes, not very often, but sometimes, kids listen. Who knew!


(2) Jack is a good brother.
Jack and his buddies on the street love to skateboard, so they created a skateboarding 'club' (yes, like the zillions of 'clubs' you create throughout your childhood that mean nothing). Well, yesterday, one of the boys was telling Ellie that she couldn't be in the club. I think it had something to do with the fact that, well, she doesn't skateboard, but still, her feelings were hurt. So she went inside the house and told Jack. So I see Jack coming outside looking very determined, and he walked up to this boy and said, "Are you being mean to my sister? She says you won't let her into the club. Well, then you'd better kick me out of the club, too, because I'm not going to be in it if you won't let her in." (And yes, they then let her in.) It made me so proud I wanted to go up and give him a big ol' sloppy embarrassing Mom hug, but somehow I refrained myself. Just barely.


(3) Reese's peanut butter pumpkins are BACK. Isn't that reason enough to be happy?

We must interrupt this last week of summer....

...to assure Jared that we're watering his lawn. Here, photographic proof.

Of course we didn't say we'd water it EXACTLY how Jared would, but hey, beggars can't be choosers!

Last Week of Summer (Still!)

Summer's not QUITE over yet - we're going to wring every bit of it out first!

Last Week of Summer

Only one week left before school starts - to be honest, we're all kinda ready for it now, but still, we'll miss the long sunny days, and the late nights out on the street with our buddies. The other night all the kids gathered for an impromptu late-night glow stick party. They were out eons past their bedtime, but that's what summer is all about. At least for the next week...


I'm not sure exactly the message they're trying to send - it looks vaguely zombie-like to me

Zombie princess supermodels?

Mr. Steve From Across the Street even joined in, doing his best impression of Shrek's wife Fiona

Daddy Day

Jared was home for exactly 22 hours this weekend - sandwiched between a two-week trip and two one-week trips. So we really wanted to make sure we got the most out of those 22 hours. Jack had already accepted an invitation to a sleepover birthday party for his good friend Matthew, so we decided it'd be a Daddy Date Night with Ellie, and then Jack wanted a family day (more exactly, a 5-hour-part-of-a-day) once he got back from his sleepover and before Dad headed out.

Unfortunately for Jared, Ellie got to choose the activities for her Daddy Date Night. And fortunately for me, she had no interest in me, so I got to sit back, read a book, and think 'better you than me.'

The evening started out fairly pain-free for Jared, with a few games of Wii and some cereal with chocolate milk in it (because we were out of his milk, and he refused to use my 'dishwater' skim milk).

But then Ellie brought out the Disney Dance game

And the nail polish

Um.....luckily they don't make you remove your socks in the airport security line

Oh, and did I mention the glitter tattoos? Personally, I think the pink sparkly hearts bring out the hairiness of his hobbit feet

Then Ellie wanted to do some exercise - after which Jared was thoroughly exhausted and ready for bed

The next morning, we picked Jack up from his sleepover and did some iHop before heading for the local miniature golf place (the kids' choice for Dad Day)

Jared tried his best to teach the kids proper golf techniques before giving up around the 3rd hole

Ellie's technique can best be described as Brute Force Attack - it involved some chopping, kicking, pushing, and then claiming a hole-in-one when we weren't looking

Jack's technique was a wee bit more subtle (no one was injured at least), but none of us will be quitting our day jobs to join the Tour

All in all, not a bad 22 hours - but next time, we're hoping for a few more, please!

Tired

Friday night - neighbors out playing corn hole (who named that game anyway?) until 2am; my dog decides to bark every time a bleepin' bean bag hits
Saturday night - spending the night at my sister's in Richmond - despite her providing plenty of beds for all three of us, kids insist that we must sleep together - and then steal the covers from me all night long
Sunday night - oh, Mom, but we're too excited still from our Richmond trip to sleep!
Monday night - Mom, are you sure all the doors are locked? How about the garage door? Could you check again? I just heard the dog bark - better check again - and what do you plan to do if a bad guy climbs the wall and breaks in through my window?
Tuesday night - Ellie wakes up with a 'sore neck and a sore head' at 2am - not clear how one addresses that, so I'm up rubbing her back and head and hoping she'll fall back asleep
Wednesday morning - so very TIRED



My pesky bedmates - warning, they both kick and elbow during the night