We're Back!

Florida was awesome! Hot and humid, but so much fun. As soon as I get the laundry going, go through all 671 pictures that we took and weed out the junk mail from the 55 emails waiting in my inbox, I'll be back with pictures.

We Are Off!!!

The waiting is finally over! Everything is packed and ready to go. It's time for quick baths and early bedtimes! We'll be taking off for sunny Florida early tomorrow morning. Have a great week!

So Much To Do, So Little Time Left

I've been cleaning and getting laundry done, fast and furiously for the past two days. Today is going to be a crazy one. I've got to finish cleaning and wash bedding because the OCDish part of me won't let me leave it behind when we leave on Sunday. Then I need to pack as much as I can today because Ashley has softball tournaments tonight and all day on Saturday, which means I won't have much time to do much after today.

Then we're out of here early on Sunday morning. Sunny Florida and the Gulf Coast await us for some much needed family time. I'm looking forward to it just being the four of us with no other distractions. I've even decided to leave the laptop behind.

Ok, I'm off to get it all done!

Just One Day

It's not been a great day over here today. I've been attacked by Japanese Beetles that didn't want me to cut back their food source in the landscaping this morning. I've got two kids that don't understand that not every day is a party. Some days are just simply not always going to be fun. Yes, mom does need to actually do some laundry and clean the house if we're going to go on vacation in a few days. Heaven forbid should we get back and find a not so pleasant smell coming from the garbage can or refrigerator. And by the way, the bird's cage needs to be cleaned out as well. Any one up for that pleasant job?

I love being home with my kids this summer and it's been a blast, but I really just need one day by myself so I can get stuff done without being interrupted. Either that or a cleaning lady.

Update: My friend must have sensed from two blocks over that I was majorly stressing today. She asked if Ryan would like to come over and play with her son tomorrow after lunch while I get things done before our trip. Libby, you are the best!

Hmm, How Much Is This Going To Cost Us?

After Ryan's last baseball game of the season tonight, I went out front with the intention of cutting back my out of control landscaping. We've had a lot of rain and it's grown faster than I've been able to keep up with.



I was shocked to find that this was the case through out our landscaping. It wasn't like this a week or so ago when I had last checked it and pulled weeds. It really looks awful!

This is the son of a b**** that's to blame. Him and his swarm of friends that protested as I tried to cut back the plant.

Now, I most definately do not have much of a "green thumb" (or I wouldn't have put in plants that get so freaking big), but this landscaping has been here for almost 5 years and we're just now having this problem? From what I know, these beetles will soon turn to grubs and kill our grass next. (Little do they know that Nature Scape is already coming for them with their next application!)

They've eaten almost all of the leaves on these two purplish plants that I have. (See? Green thumb? Ha! I can't even tell you the name of the plants.) Upon closer look, they've just gotten started on the other plants. Ugh!

How do I deal with this?!?!

Improvising

The boys were so over watching their sister's play softball tonight. They decided it was their turn - only all they had was a stick and an empty soda bottle. Impressive, no?

Conversations That Leave You Baffled

Me: Pretty soon we'll be leaving for Florida, Buddy! Are you getting excited?

Ryan: Yes.

He's not acting very excited. Surely, I'm not the only one who's having a hard time controlling my excitement!

Me: We're going to get to fly in an airplane, swim in the ocean, play on the beach, spend a day or two at Busch Gardens and go to a Devil Rays baseball game!

Ryan: Cool. When do we go to Grand Bear with Brooke and Mitchell?

Me: Um, next month. About a week before school starts back up.

Ryan: YIPPEE! I CAN'T WAIT! IT'S GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN! AWESOME! I LOVE GRAND BEAR!

Hmm. Maybe we should be taking his cousins with to Florida. Then maybe he'd be as excited.

Family Picnic - 2008

We made it up here to Chicago yesterday afternoon and stopped by Jon & Em's new house on the way. They use to live behind us in Peoria and were transferred to Iowa a year ago and then transferred again just this past month to Chicago. The kids got along great, as if they had never been apart and we didn't end up leaving their house until 9:30pm.

We are now at my mom's house, which is only 15 minutes away from Jon & Em. Today was my yearly family reunion in Indiana. The kids swam all day (while I alternated between playing life guard and swimming myself) and we stuffed ourselves with so much food that it'll be a few days before any of us can eat again.

I have to tell you that I am truly proud of myself. Quite a few of the people at the reunion today were smokers. Even after 7 months, 1 week and 2 days of being a nonsmoker, today wasn't easy. At first it smelled good and many times I thought about how great just one would taste. And how easy it would be to just bum one. No one would ever have known, but I didn't. I just tried to keep my distance from those that were smoking, which wasn't easy since I was able to smell it everywhere. I hung in there and eventually the smell really started to turn me off to the point where I really did NOT want one anymore. I'm really excited that we'll be taking our first smoke free vacation to Florida a week from now. We won't have to worry about where we can and can't smoke at. Our kids will definitely appreciate that the most.

Ryan and myself before leaving for Indiana this morning.

Ashley brought her friend along with us this weekend. They watched a movie on the way to Indiana.

The kids in the back on the right side of the pool are my kids -Ryan's swim lessons are really starting to pay off - he was really starting to swim today!

Summer Review

We got the deck put back together and then grilled up some chicken and ate out back tonight. It was nice to finally have a night that didn't include ball games or some other planned activity and super duper calorie and fat drenched carry out. We have been so busy that I've hardly had time to keep up with anything else. The house is a mess and the laundry is backed up, but it just didn't matter tonight.

I do feel like I've been able to accomplish a lot so far this summer. The kids haven't had a chance to say that they're bored due to swim lessons, baseball/softball/volleyball camps and weekly planned fun days at the movies, pool or mini golf course. Our nights have been filled with watching (or for Bret, coaching) the kids' softball/baseball games. I completely redid Ryan's room and will soon redo Ashley's room. Bret, Ashley and I stained the deck and purchased some new patio furniture. In a little more than a week, we take off for the sunny Gulf side of Florida and next month we'll be spending our annual weekend at Grand Bear Lodge with Bret's brother's family. Then school starts. Can we order up a few more weeks before they have to go back? Pretty please?



Honey, those feet and ankles really need to spend some time at the beach.

Picture To Burn

This is a little meme that I copied from Tasina. Set your iPod to shuffle and answer the following questions. I've been in the process of importing all of my old, old, OLD CD's into my iPod, so this could be rather embarassing. Here we go...

1. What would describe your personality? Big Girls Don't Cry - Fergie

2. What do you like in a guy/girl? Naked - Deborah Gibson (I am so not kidding! This seriously was the second song that came up on shuffle. How embarassing. LoL.)

3. How do you feel, today? Feels Like Tonight - Daughtry

4. What’s your life’s purpose? Sexyback - Justin Timberlake (I'll be in that hole that just opened up in the ground for me...)

5. What is your motto? Goodbye To You - The Veronica's

6. What do your friends think of you? Tied Down - Colbie Caillat

7. What do you think of your parents? Finally - Fergie

8. What do you think about very often? Don't Forget To Remember Me - Carrie Underwood

9. What do you think of your best friend? Teardrops On My Guitar - Taylor Swift

10. What do you think of the person you like? How Many Words - Blake Lewis

11. What is your life story? Lost In Your Eyes - Debbie Gibson (I warned you. Remember that crazy weekend of cleaning I had?)

12. What do you want to be when you grow up? She Goes All The Way - Rascal Flatts (That hole in the ground just swallowed me whole!)

13. What do you think when you see the person you like? The Man You Used To Be - The Heights Soundtrack

14. What do your parents think of you? Take A Bow - Rihanna

15. What will be played at your funeral? We Could Be Together - Debbie Gibson (HA! Anyone?)

16.What is your hobby/interest? Little Birdie - Debbie Gibson

17. What is your biggest secret? Ordinary Day - Nick Lachey (The fact that Nick Lachey is on my iPod could very well be my biggest secret!)

18. What do you think of your friends? Wannabe - Spice Girls (Ok, do I even have any friends left after this?)

19. What should you post this as? Picture To Burn - Taylor Swift

Ok, I've had my little fun. Now that it's 2pm and I've gotten NOTHING done today, it's time to get busy since the kids and I are going to Chicago tomorrow for my family reunion.

Done

Done. Tired. Sore. Never doing this again! All showered and cleaned up. Going to bed...

Breaktime

It's been 4 long hours of deck staining and we still have a long way to go. Even Ashley has been helping. I'm not sure I have enough juice left to keep going though. It's 88 degrees of pure, hot sun outside. Hopefully a nice yummy bowl of Ramen noodles and a super cold can of diet coke will recharge me.

The cardboard below pretty much sums up the way I look right now. I'm covered from head to toe in deck stain and as soon as Bret gets back from getting more sponge brushes, it's back to work.

Holiday Weekend Review

It was definitely a busy one this past weekend.

It all started with a little league game. Ryan waits for his chance at first base.

Next on the weekend agenda, were the July 4th fireworks downtown. It's said that Peoria/East Peoria's combined display were expected to be in the top 3 percent of the nation's best fireworks.

Look closely to see what had us laughing. Can you guess?
Ashley waits for the fireworks to start with her friends.
Bret and Ryan wait, too.
It was the best show yet.
The two cities spent $77,000 on the display.
Yesterday we spent time with family. We met up with Bret's brother's family over at his dad's house for lunch. The kids tested out the in ground sprinkler system for Grandpa.
When did this kid grow up? And who the heck said that she could?
Thinking about it...
And we have lift off...

Chilling out.

We followed up the afternoon over at Bret's brother's house where the kids swam...
...and the mom's hung out.

How was your holiday weekend?

(Sunday's pictures courtesy of my brother in law.)

Coveting

I *must* have this!

However after lots of searching, we've decided on this since our deck is so high off the ground:

Now maybe we'll be able to actually see the kids when they are down below playing. Of course, this awarded me the job of staining the deck during the day this week.

Storm Watch

If anyone needs me tonight, I'll probably be riding out these storms with blankets and pillows in the bathtub downstairs.

Go

I declare it to be "go the pool and get rid of your weekend softball game (times 6) induced farmer's tan lines" day. And take a million other kids that are not your own and only one other adult with you. Will be back later for a sanity check.

Now What?

This is the life. Sitting outside in the warm sun watching my daughter play countless numbers of softball games all weekend. Nothing else mattered. They played their hearts out, but ultimately came in at second place. It was a bit of a bitter loss as the team that beat us in today's Championship Game was the only other team to beat us over the course of the whole weekend. It may have been the most competitive game we have ever played. I kept jumping out of my seat, screaming at the top of my lungs along with almost every other parent there.

Now that this tournament is over, I'm not sure exactly how to return to normal life.

All Star Weekend

We're more than half way through Ashley's All Star Softball team's weekend tournament. She played two games last night, two more today and the team is currently in first place. She and her team play again tomorrow afternoon. If they win their first game tomorrow, they'll play one final game for the championship!

Ashley and her teammates warm up between games today.

Ashley and one of her best friends.

The heat and sun must have been the cause for this side track during warm ups. Whatever works to keep you motivated.


Ashley's friend almost got rolled over!

Ryan had to be part of the action, too. He was the only boy up there with them.

Kid almost ran me over here.

Rolling, rolling, rolling....

"Umph," says Ashley as she tries to get up while her head is still rolling.

Back to business. Ashley is definately one of the best players on both of her teams this year. (And that's not just a proud mom talking.) She must have gotten it from Bret, because I always dreaded when it was time to play softball during gym class in school.

"Just try to get past me!"

Dunlap All Stars - 2008