stranded...

The other day "friend Zach" was at our house playing.

Sam (& I thought Zach, too) went outside to the neighbors house.

Matt & Zach were gone.

Lizzie was asleep.

The house was quiet.

Completely quiet...

...for about 15-20 minutes.

I was in HEAVEN!

I blogged (I seriously need to think of something else to do with my "quiet time")

"Friend Zach's" mom came over.

As she was walking down the hall, past the bathroom, she heard a voice crying..."Mom!"

What??

"Freind Zach" was in the bathroom. "Friend Zach" had been in the bathroom (needing T.P.) for 15-20 min.

When we asked him why he didn't yell for me (I was just in the other room)...

...he said, "Lizzie was asleep & I didn't want to wake her up."

POOR "friend Zach"!!!

*Notice the tear in his eye...

taking a risk...

Love, love, love her!

I usually restrain myself from getting into controversial issues in this type of forum, but about every 4 years...around election time...I get a little passionate & fired up (shall we say?)

I have very few regrets...I hope this isn't one of them.

I'm digging Sarah Palin.

She is John McCain's VP choice for the upcoming election.

In my (not so) humble opinion...

HE MADE A GREAT CHOICE!!!

I am in no way shape or form a feminist.

However, I strongly admire a woman who:

a. fights for what she believes in

b. stands strong, despite any backlash

c. is a proud mom

d. is an amazing leader

I've spent the afternoon reading up on her (having only heard of her once before), and she is all of those things.

My two favorite quotes from her speech today..

"People of America expect us to serve for the right reasons."

"We are expected to govern with integrity, and good will."

Again, LOVE her.

My only qualm?

She needs a new "do"

Someone on McCain's staff needs to get a hold of her and take her to a great hairdresser.

donation tree...

At Back to School night the Fifth grade teachers had a "donation tree" displayed with leaves that were labeled with different things needed for the fifth grade classes. The idea was that you pick a leaf (or two...or TWENTY...AHEM) off and return the needed items to school with your 5th grader(s).

That night we had Matt & Zach each pick three leaves off. Done.

Well, the first day of school {my sweet} Matt came home and announced that there were still leaves on the donation tree so he picked THE REST of them off and brought them home...

I'm glad I have a thoughtful boy!

never say never...

I will NEVER...

*drive a mini van

*let my kids stay in their PJ's all day

*have children that fight in public (ahem)

*pick a pacifier up off the floor & give it back to MY baby

*buy clothes from a store that isn't located at the Mall

*allow my kids to have "crusty" noses, dirty faces, etc.

blah, blah, blah

(BTW...I've done ALL of those "nevers")

Today we needed to get out (as if errands, Kindergarten Testing, flyer delivering wasn't enough) we were bored & I was going CRAZY. Do you ever just draw a blank? You just can't come up with any ideas to kep everyone entertained? This was the BEST thing I could come up with. Seriously. We went to Smiths (a one-stop-shopping joint). We went specifically to Smiths because they have a {free} Playland. Now for all of you cute/young/first time moms out there that are thinking..."I would never..." Yea, I said that, too. My kids were thrilled to go in there, and I was thrilled to have them go in there. I was sooooo excited on the way there thinking of all of the browsing I would get to do...BY MYSELF. For an HOUR. I'm not saying that never happens (my husband is fab about me "breaking out"), it's just a rare thing in the middle of the day. Yea, I'm weird.

But, I did find this...50% off for next Summer.

Oh yea, and Sam cried when I picked him up. He missed me. Whatever. NEVER happens.

first day of school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The day has arrived...

The obligatory pictures in the front yard.

My Matt

Zachy boy

Sam the Kindergarten boy

The neighborhood Kindergarten crew

This is where I got a little choked up.

And also here..."Wave goodbye to your Moms!"

The traditional "first day of school" cake (actually it was a pan of brownies...I can NOT make a cake from scratch to save my life.)

It was a GREAT day for all!!

*I do need to mention that today was kind of a tease for the Kindergartners. They have Assessment Testing for the rest of the week, so Sam does not actually go back until next Tuesday. Try explaining that to the most excited Kindergartner ever. I don't even get it.

*Also...I didn't actually cry...I just got choked up. It happens EVERY year. Want to make something of it?

tagged...

I was tagged by one of my MOST favortite people...EVER!

3 things...

3 current goals: add to my journal & my kids journals daily; attend the 5:30am class at the gym (6:30 I can do...5:30...we'll see); have a little more patience.

3 current obsessions: organizing (I know, weird); baking (hence the 5:30am class goal); Fall wardrobe shopping (mostly for the kids {Lizzie}, but if an article of clothing slips in the mix for me...so be it!); one more for good measure...looking at the pics from my 20 year High School Reunion (that I didn't attend)...great entertainment. After ten years everyone pretty much looks the same, twenty...holy cow!

3 fears: failing...at anything; something happening to my kids; running out of diet coke

3 random facts: I blast ABBA in my car since seeing Mama Mia (I can't believe I just admitted that); I love my eyelash curler; I LOVE to mow the lawn

OK...Di, Jennie & Alison & Heather, you're it!

we're ready...

The school supplies are labeled...

The backpacks are loaded...

The clothes are laid out...

The "first day of school is tomorrow" kids are in bed...

This makes me very happy!!

things we'll remember about summer '08...

We went through LOTS of this stuff...

...and this stuff.

Hand held video games...kind of a thorn in my side. I'm sure what the boys will remember about them are all of the time limits their mean mom kept putting on them. However, on rainy days, days when no friends were available & the occasional lazy day..these thorns were handy to have around. The best was renting games occasionally. They thought that was a BIG treat!

There was a lot of swimming, hanging out with friends (I've said it before & I'll say it again. There really should be a revolving door on my house because friends come & go all day long & I LOVE it!!), we got a lot of use out of our Classic Fun Center passes (divey joint...lots of fun!), lots of bike/scooter riding, popsicles, movies, birthday celebrations, family gatherings, etc. We really did have a lot of FUN!!

What do I remember about this Summer???

Washing towels & swimming suits a couple of times a week. Kind of a pain, but totally worth it.

Restocking the 24 hour buffet (my pantry). Kind of a pain, but totally worth it. It feeds the "hood" & keeps 'em going (albeit on a sugar high...)

And hanging out with these guys...!!

Our days were like a roller coaster ride. We had bad moments & good moments. I will say that after giving it some thought, the good moments were really wonderful! I got to know them all a little better in different ways. I really love spending time with them (as long as no one is fighting, teasing, screaming...) My hat is off to Julie!

We are ready for a new school year!

fountain fun...

We've been packing in the fun before school starts next week...

Water Park with friends...

hanging with friends...

hanging with an awesome cousin that drove up from Provo on his ONE day off this week to take his much younger cousins to lunch & the park (Hi Evan!!! YOU ROCK!) He did this voluntarily, by the way...

The fountains...

(in all honesty, there was a sale going on at Gymboree with some MUCH needed items for the little sister & this was my ploy to get them there without complaint...)

IT WORKED!!!

She wouldn't have anything to do with the water. That's a first.

She's like her mom...splashing water is like a slap across the face to me (and her)

Zach & anonymous after a nasty collision...notice the kid on the ground. Zach had a giant mark on his cheek from Mr. Anonymous' head.

This is the part where they like everyone to stay out of the fountains for a music/water show...

Are you kidding me??? This is the BEST time to be IN the fountains.

We weren't the only rule breakers...

HAPPY END OF SUMMER!!!!

lashes...

My friend, Carin is an AMAZING photographer...

She issued a challenge (& I'm way late...) to take pictures of your kids eyelashes & post the pics.

My kids have phenomenal eyelashes.

Here goes!!

Go check out her site...she has great tips for getting this shot!! (and she has darling little girls that she takes beautiful pictures of!!)

random pics...

I'm having "bloggers block" and couldn't think of anything fabulous to post. Especially since every day for the past week has been like the movie "Groundhog Day"...we wake up & do the same thing (pretty much nothing) day after day. My kids seem to be enjoying it. They are having fun hanging out with friends & laying low. Me, on the other hand...I am going a little crazy. Anyways, in an attempt to provide a post here, I just pulled the pics off the camera & there is a pretty random assortment. Maybe I can even make something out of them...here goes...

"Family Home Evening isn't fun anymore!!!!!"

That is what Sam said Monday night when I informed the people of the house that they would ALL be getting haircuts for FHE. Exciting, I know. You know the saying about the cobbler's kids not having shoes?? Well here we had the hairdressers kids (and husband) in DESPERATE need of haircuts.

Sam wasn't happy.

John took a picture of his fingernail...
...and his keyboard.
Some of the neighbor kids hanging out with the Williams kids (The Williams kids are the only ones wearing helmets...their mom is a little neurotic about this...and happy to see it!!!) PEEK!!
Two little girls hanging out in their undies. Brooklyn is potty training and Lizzie thought she needed to put undies on, too (her mom is so NOT ready for this phase.)
Hope this wasn't too painful, and I hope your week has been a little more exciting than mine!!

trading spaces...

Zach & Sam traded beds last night. Sam wanted a turn sharing a room with a brother and Zach wanted a room to himself (for one night!)

Zach in Sam's bed...

Sam in Zach's bed...

Sam pretending to be asleep...(with a smile)

I really did not have high hopes of this going smoothly. However, everyone got to sleep at a decent hour and they even slept in!!!!!

Next up...Matt in Sam's bed and Sam in Matt's bed.

Hey, we're running out of Summer activities here. We'll take whatever entertainment we can get!

polka dots & suckers...

I LOVE polka dots (especially pink!)...she LOVES suckers (especially pink!)

A winning combination!

Little cutie pie!!!

Sammy the salesman...

Sam has been wanting to sell something...anything. He wants to sell a Gameboy game that he is tired of. We asked him who or how he would go about this. His reply "Well, I saw a kid at Target that had a Gameboy...I'll just sell it to him for $10." His {new} plan (since we talked him out of trying to find the kid from Target)...set up a table, make a sign, sell it.

Today he changed his mind and decided to sell cookies. Now, I make pretty good chocolate chip cookies, apparently Sam thinks they are AWESOME, because he could not get the $10 figure out of his head. When we asked him if it was $10 for all four cookies he looked at us like we had completely insulted him. It was $10 per cookie. DUH!

He made a sign...

He set up a table...

He sat & waited...

and waited...

and licked a cookie...

and waited...

and licked another cookie...

This went on for about 45 min.

No luck.

It probably would have been easier to track down the kid from Target.

(oh yea...and our lawn really needs to be mowed. I'll pay $10)