Happy Sad Crazy

Two blog posts in two days. I KNOW! Please don't faint.

Some things that have made me happy lately:
:::Catching up with friends at church and school after a busy summer!
:::Walking with my neighborhood posse in the evenings
:::Picking kids up from school and seeing smiles on their faces!
:::My adorable nephew is ONE YEAR OLD today!!! Happy Birthday, J!
:::Sunshine
:::Air conditioning
:::Spending time at the (almost completely deserted) pool while the kids are in school! And evening out my funky flip flop tan.

Some things that have made me sad lately:
:::Watching people compromise who they are to be liked and fit in with a certain crowd
:::Mean girls
:::Costco no longer sells the 4lb container of strawberries. It's a 2lb container instead. It means summer is on it's way out and is taking it's bounty with it. Sigh.
:::Will got new glasses this week and they're awful. He has one eye that has basically NO vision in it and when I took him for his checkup the doctor strongly encouraged him to wear glasses to protect his one good eye. He picked out some cool frames and was finally coming to terms with the fact that he needs to wear them regularly but when he put them on for the first time, the lens in his non-seeing eye makes that eye look four times larger than the other one. Not cool for an oh-so-cool 9th grader. I've got to call the eye doctor this afternoon and see what we can do to fix this.


Some things that have made me crazy lately:
:::Autocorrect. OH. MY. GOSH. I have a love-hate relationship with this feature. I love that it catches words I misspell when texting but I hate that it changes some words I DO spell correctly. John sent me a text this afternoon sharing some exciting news. I replied with the word: Woohoo! which autocorrect subsequently changed to Elohim! Now, I happen to know from my Old Testament classes in college that Elohim is a Hebrew name for God. John knows that too and was trying like crazy to figure out why I replied back with "GOD!" in Hebrew. Autocorrect is maddening.

:::Facebook. I know I'm in the minority but I don't love Facebook. I actually deactivated my account for a few weeks earlier this month in an attempt to step away from some drama and the people who were creating it. I'm back now, but it's starting to feel too much like Twitter to me. And you might recall that I'm a Twitter quitter.

:::People who think that certain rules don't apply to them. I SO want to elaborate on this one but I don't want to put myself in a bad mood.

:::Maybe I should have ended with my list of happy things. Oh well. I'm still happy and I hope you are too! And hey, it's hump day. Elohim! Woohoo!

State of the Family: Back to School Edition

Well, I finally feel ready to blog more and as luck would have it I seriously cannot find the time! Having three kids in three different schools is pretty nuts! I'm hoping I find my bloggy groove soon!

Here's a little of what is going on with each of us!

John: He's plugging away on a manuscript that is due in early September. This is actually a freelance job so it consumes most of his nights and weekends. It's hard on all of us, but especially on him. He's told me repeatedly that after he finishes this project he's going to need a break from freelance stuff for awhile; his mind is just tired. I think that a break is a wise idea. Anyway, he has two books that he co-wrote releasing soon. This one and this one. He's gotten some advance copies of both from the printer and is very pleased! I'm really proud of him.

Me: I'm feeling like I'm in hyper-mode when it comes to organizing my family for daily survival. Everyone is going a dozen different directions and it's my job to keep things running smoothly. I do manage some down-time/self-care each day and honestly, I need/crave it. I'm getting super excited about football season and am really looking forward to a weekly hiking group that my friend has organized! I'm also hoping to jump back into Bible study at church as well as some Younglife volunteer stuff.

Will: He's enjoying high school so far! He's running cross-country this fall and it's been such a great way for him to meet some upper classmen and feel a part of a team. School begins for him around 7:30am and he doesn't usually finish practice until 5pm so his day is SUPER long. I feel sorry for him sometimes, but he's adapted really well and is getting stronger and faster almost every day. His first official meet is on Friday. I'm kinda bummed (he is too) that 90% of his meets are on Fridays. We were really jazzed about going to all of his school's football games this season. We'll still get to go, we'll just be going late!
Here's a pic from his first day of school.

Sarah: She's doing great! She loves school both for the academics AND the social interaction. She is so my child. Smile. We have about an hour alone together in the afternoons before retrieving Abbey so she usually tries to persuade me to take her to get some fro-yo and I usually say yes. I love how chatty she is when she gets in the van! She and Abbey are constantly changing the photo background on my phone--they each want it to be a solo picture of them with me. She snapped this one day last week on a fro-yo run. She's stepped into some great leadership opportunities this year and she's going to run for Student Council again too (she was on it the past two years). She's such a great kid and is always so happy and confident. I love that about her.

Abbey: She has adjusted very well to 4th grade AND to her palate expander! She had an orthodontist appointment this morning and will get her braces put on at her next appointment. She's been a champ about that whole process! She really likes her teacher this year (she got a fabulous one!) and she has some sweet girls in her class that I'm hoping she'll get to know better as the year progresses. She got her ears pierced for her birthday in March so one of the highlights of her morning is picking out earrings to match her outfit. It's really cute. She's also crazy about Jack the Beagle. Thank goodness someone in this family dotes on that dog. Smile.

That's all I've got for now! Stay tuned...

The End

Today is officially our last day of summer. School starts tomorrow and my heart is a little sad about it. I love summer and it's unstructured days so much. But I also love structure, so I have a feeling that the rhythm of the school week will probably lure me in quickly. The kids are excited about starting back; I'm just a few (reluctant) steps behind them.

Our last few weeks have been packed with as much summer fun as we could manage: swimming, spending time with friends, hiking, sleepovers, camping (in the backyard), trips to the North Pole and Elitch Gardens, and a neighborhood (outdoor) movie night. And so much more. We've tried to cross as many things off of our summer list as we could!

I'm sad to see summer end but new beginnings are exciting too. Farewell Summer 2011. Here's to a fabulous fall.

Needed to hear this today...

I think I've shared this video already (maybe just a link?) but I just watched it again and realized how very much I needed to hear the words at the end...good, good stuff.

Nine on the Ninth (Except it's the 8th!)

Stephanie caught my date snafu. It's the 8th not the 9th. I'm such a dork.

1. I'm taking Abbey to the orthodontist today. She's getting fitted for her palate expander which will be put in on Thursday. It sounds like a torturous device and I think we're both a little nervous about it. The poor girl has absolutely NO room in her upper mouth so it must be done.

2. We have two weeks of summer left. And they're already feeling full. Ugh. We've checked lots of stuff off of our summer list and have a couple more fun things we're looking forward to.

3. The kids had their first "campoline" experience of the summer last night. I stole the term campoline from my brilliant friend, Gretchen! Gravity really doesn't allow for spacious sleep while on the trampoline, but in this case, that big blob of bodies, blankets, and sleeping bags is probably a good thing since it's been dipping down to around 50 degrees at night!

4. I've been craving chicken salad lately. I've made it twice and it was okay but I really don't have a good recipe. Anyone have one that they want to share?

5. I keep meaning to write this down so I won't forget. A couple of weeks ago, Abbey got up from the table, looked at me and said, "BRB". That's texting lingo for "be right back". Realizing what BRB meant made me laugh out loud. LOL. I have my hands full staying on top of things these days. OMG.

6. I think Sarah and I are going to see "The Help" this week. I hope it's good! I typically tend to like a book much more than the movie. It looks like it comes out on Wednesday. That seems weird to me. Don't movies usually open on Fridays?

7. I can barely contain my excitement about football season. Football is consolation for the end of summer.

8. John is planning to take the kids to Elitch Gardens before school starts. I told him he could just drop me off at IKEA on the way. IKEA opened in Denver the week we were in Arkansas. I've been trying to find a time to go (sans family) and that sounds like the perfect arrangement to me.

9. Have a lovely Monday.

Fill in the Blank Friday

I've been wanting to do this meme for awhile and today is the day!

{photo by Caroline of Coeur de La Photography}

1. My go to outfit for a dress up occasion like a wedding is a black dress that I bought at Target a couple of years ago. Interestingly, I bought it for a wedding and have only worn it once (Christmas Eve) since then. I don't dress up very often and I'd truly rather wear pants when I do.

2. This week has been full of appointments and meetings and shopping for back to school supplies/clothes and catching up on things around the house after being gone for two weeks. Yesterday was a completely down day and we didn't leave the house. I even took a short nap. It was bliss. 

3. When it's dinnertime and I'm feeling lazy, I'll usually eat spaghetti or sandwiches or scrambled eggs. I actually like to cook and find it relaxing so I typically don't balk at dinner preparation. Having a flexible meal plan helps tremendously too.

4. My favorite pair of shoes is this fun pair that I bought in Arkansas last week. I love them. I don't love that my stinkin' flip flop tan is so obvious when I wear them though. Guess I need to work on evening that out. Or quit wearing flip flops. Can you say DORKY? 

5. A random item that I own that is completely unnecessary but that I could never part with is a foosball that is signed by some friends that I consistently defeated at the foosball table back in the early 90s. Betcha didn't know that I was a fierce foosball player back in the day.

6. My favorite person is my husband. I'd be lost without him.

7. If I were going to write a blank to be filled in, it would say: This weekend I want to spend some time outdoors! 

Want to link up too? Fill in your own blanks and link up here.

Gotta Start Somewhere...

I'm having the hardest time finding my blogging groove this summer. I think part of my issue is that I like to blog chronologically so when I get behind on events that I want to write about here then I have a hard time blogging at all.

The other day I started a post about our 4000 mile summer road trip but it got so long that I lost interest and therefore it's not finished yet.

So how about some randomness instead? This is really just stream of consciousness stuff. Because I've gotta start somewhere...

:::I've never loved Colorado more than I've loved it this week. The temps all over the nation are INSANE! I think everyone is having record-breaking heat but us. I'm tempted to talk about our weather but that would just be cruel.

:::The kids and I knocked out most of our school supply shopping this week. I'm not completely finished because my son doesn't find out what he needs until the first day of class. I'm sure it will be loads of fun to search for specific things with thousands of others trying to round up the same items AFTER school begins.

:::I always take some time at the end of summer to evaluate what I want on my plate for the fall semester. I've added a few things this fall and am dropping some stuff too. I like how my schedule is shaping up.

:::I watched Toddlers and Tiaras tonight for the first time. OH MY GOSH. I found it quite disturbing. Makes me wonder what kind of message those young girls are getting about self-image when every aspect of their appearance "needs" to be altered to be pageant worthy. Actually, I don't have to wonder at all. It's pretty evident.

:::I'm definitely trying to milk all the fun out of our last few weeks of summer. Our school calendar got shifted around this year and the result is that we start school later than I can ever remember. I am NOT complaining!

:::I cleared my google reader today. I had over 400 unread posts when we got back from our trip last weekend. I wanted to read them all but that number just kept increasing every day and it overwhelmed me, so I took a deep break and hit the "mark all as read" tab. Serenity ensued. Seriously.

:::It's WAY past my bedtime, so I'm signing off and I'm not even going to go back and edit this post because I'm too tired. 

Peace out, peeps.