S is for speedy

Uh Oh, we have one of these are our house. S got her first ticket on Sunday. And it was a biggie. Now she'll have some costs, and a trip to stand in front of the judge and hopefully then no more lead foot.

...or this will be her transportation in the future.

obsession

Old dream.....
New dream!!

It's all about the horse now. H wanted to please, please, please take more lessons. She was so sad that camp was over and bid a tearful good bye to Cinnamon.

She said she would gladly switch from dance to horse lessons please, please, please.

So we switched. She'll go twice a month for the same price as once a week of dance, which is okay. And she is very excited.

Now we talk horses, read horses and dream horses.

recap

Where does the time go? Weekends go by so fast. DH had an off Friday. We had the ward swim morning at our house and quite a few people came. Brother had a great time swimming with his friends.
H was at camp and we had her "show" in the afternoon. Friday night the big girls had a special meeting at the Petty's. They had such a fun time. They had dinner and a craft and a dating lesson/fun night. While they were there the rest of us went to Tia Rosa's for yummy Mexican food then down to Barnes and Noble. Very fun.


Saturday DH and the kids had karate. It started with E but has grown to H and DH too. They are all enjoying it a lot. DH thinks he might get his yellow belt this month, I think E and H will before Christmas.

Saturday night we had the Venturing Crew over for a meeting/swim party. S went to Sports Fest. Mom and Dad got back from their summer in CA and they came over too. We stayed up too late playing Killer Bunnies but we are excited to have them back.

Today G went happily to nursery again! Yeah!! After church we had the Roberts and mom and dad over for dinner. Julia made yummy salad, I need to get the recipe. Then we played Killer Bunnies.

After they left we had some family time, did back to school blessings and are trying to get to bed early as tomorrow is the start of a new school year. ....I can't believe it.

learning to jump

watch here

now she wants a horse of her own

running through the paces

Lucy found a good place to watch.

Horse Camp Fun

H and her faithful mount Cinnamon.

She had a great week. They learned to walk, trot, go around barrels and jump over a low bar. Today we got to go to the show and them go through the paces. H was beaming the whole time.

All the kids got a golden horseshoes as an award at the end. H got the horse shoe of caring.

what I did today.

6:30 woke up, saw that it was only 6:30 smiled and lay back down.
6:35 Lucy walked in wanting to read a "boup"
7:30ish H was up and getting ready. I was making her lunch and getting stuff together for camp.
by 8:30 we were all up, fed, stuff gathered, dressed, prayers said and out the door.
9:00 dropped H at camp
9:30 got to Mom's house: checked her messages, swept the floor, cleaned the bathroom, did some tidying.
10:30 got home and cleaned up breakfast mess and living room.
11:15 Ms Maricarol came over to do speech with Lucy.
12:15 made a quick lunch
12:45 headed to Kellar for violin stuff
2:30 done with errands and on our way to the church for J to leave on the YW trip to the museum.
3:30 home again.
checked blog, read some books, picked up a little
4:10 left to go get H at camp
4:30 got H, sat in car to watch the horses run into the corral from the back field
5:00 got home and headed to the pool for quick swim
6:00 fixed dinner and ate and cleaned up for the evening.
7:00 Julia came over to hang out while her boys were at scout stuff
made banana bread together, talked and laughed
8:00 put kids to bed
8:05 put kids to bed again
8:07 see above
8:20 let kids up to have banana bread with us.
8:30 put kids back to bed.
9:00ish DH called that he was on the way home
9:20 DH home
Julia and I had banana bread with him (just to be polite)
9:45 Julia left
H finally went to bed
10:00 blogging
as soon as I'm done it's off for scriptures and teeth brushing and bed.

Tag

My on line friend Texasblu at Becoming a Heaven on Earth tagged me.

1. Here are the rules
2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts
3. Players start with 8 random facts/ habits about themselves
4. People who are tagged need to write there own blog and need to post their 8 things and these rules.
5. At the end of your blog, you need to chose 8 people to get tagged and list their names don't forget to leave them a comment telling them to read your blog.

My 8 random things about me.....

1. I love the smell of horses. H has been going to camp this week and she loves it. She didn't even notice a smell, but brother walked up with me yesterday to pick her up and right away plugged his nose. He said he'd have to ride with one hand cuz it was so stinky! He's wrong, it's wonderful and earthy and horsey!!


2. I love string instruments. I keep trying to make a violinist out of one of my kids. J is pretty good but quit lessons before she got great. Now it's H's turn. I am thinking of switching to the cello for E and G, I love it's soulful sound too.


3. I hate the crunch a bug makes when you kill it...ick!

4. I never polish my finger nails but always do my toes. I feel nak*d with pale toes.


5. My favorite TV shows are: Amazing Race, Ace of Cakes, Survivor, and Throwdown with Bobby Flay. I am already counting down until they start their new season and I L.O.V.E. the DVR so I can watch when it's a good time for me.

6. My DH has good hygiene and is very smart, two things I think are very sexy about him.

7. I like to think of baby names. I have some favorites that I never used. Sometimes my sistah's and I, or the big girls and I will play the "if you had quad girls what would you name them" or "if you had 12 kids and had to name them in ABC order what would they be called" and other variations on the theme. All my kids have different first initials, which worked out great for blogging purposes, but some of my favorite girl names that I didn't use started with E so that was a bummer. They were: Eliza (which I would have broken the rule for but DH didn't like it), Emmaline, Eleanor and Darcy (which doesn't start with an E but I love, I also like Quinn for a girl ~ this is a random list after all :) )


8. I don't think I am a very interesting person and often feel like I don't have anything to talk about...I have stuff, it's just mundane stuff.

so, if you got this far then tag you're it.

my space....private or not.

My three older girls have my space accounts. (well, Dani did I don't know if she still does or not but S and J do) I don't look at them every day, or really very regularly at all but if they are up on the computer I will sometimes sit down and spend a few minutes looking.
I don't consider this an invasion of their privacy because a) it's on the world wide web and b) see a. I know some mom's who would not agree.
Besides that they often call me over to see a new picture or background they have on it or whatever.

For the record I would never go in their rooms and read their journals or letters or whatnot, unless I was invited. I have never had reason to think I needed to do that and if I did I would ask them. I do know mom's who do.
I do look at photo albums and web pages.

Sometimes I will read comments their friends have left, or I will look at their friends pages.

Sometimes what I see there disturbs me and I think if I were the mom I would want to know what was there.

Do I tell that mom? Do they all look and know already?

How much space is good and trustworthy and fostering independence and how much is negligence or a sign that I am too busy and not involved enough.

These are tough teen questions. Parenting when you are checking diapers, reading Brown Bear Brown Bear and looking for t ball cleats is physically hard. Parenting when you've got dating, driving, thinking, independence seeking teens.....well, that's a whole other kind of exhausting.

I don't normally solicit comments but I am interested to see what you think. Whether you have a teen yourself or if you just remember what it was like when you were a teen, or when you had a teen.

busy busy day

Mondays are going to be kind of busy for us, although today was even busier than will be typical. H started TAFA today. She loved it, and so did I. It is a big, bustling, friendly place with lots of kids taking lots of classes and meeting in the lunch room to chat and laugh together. Lots of mom's sitting in the halls waiting for kids, and lots of younger siblings everywhere.
H is taking Suzuki Violin 1. Her teacher, Ms. Kathy, is very nice. We came with a bad violin but this afternoon found the good one in her size. We need to fix her bow but with any luck will have that done before the next class.
Then she has drama and choir. She said of the three choir was her favorite. After those three she will have lunch with her friends and then we'll be done for the day. My plan is to take E and G to the museum or the zoo after violin (where we have to stay) and to get her after lunch.
Today E got to go play at his friend Jason's for the whole morning, which was great because I didn't have to drag two littles around while H and I chased down classes and tried to figure out what we were supposed to do. Next week should be better.

This week is also equestrian camp. H LOVES it. Her horse is a cute little pony named Cinnamon who she wishes she "could put in my pocket and take home". On Friday there is a show. She came home dusty and tired but very happy. J took her for a swim while I fixed dinner and she went to bed after FHE without a fuss.

Brother had a pretty good day as well. He got to play all morning with Jason then when we got home our friends called to see if they could come swim and then he got to swim with his friend C. Yeah!

J baby-sat and had a student council meeting. She's baby-sitting tomorrow too, making lots of money!

S went to work. S just finished reading Eclipse and J is in the middle of New Moon so there's been a lot of vampire talk around too :)

Ratings

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whew! that's a relief to find out :)

If you want to find out your blog's rating you can go here.

a day of rest...Ha! whatever!?!

I love Sunday's. I do, really, not just sundaes but Sunday, the Sabbath, the day set apart to worship the Lord. But a day of rest?? come on, in who's universe?
It is the day that everyone has to have pressed and clean and matching and cute clothes.
Everyone needs to be bathed, teeth brushed and hair coiffed (at the same time.)
It's a day a rummage through my jewelry box and find something to wear so I look human.
It's the day I have to plan dinner in the morning and get it together or else when we walk in the door at 4:30 it's going to be ugly.
It's the day I can't send the kids outside to play when I've had it with them.
It's the day when three kids who can sit still and quiet for an hour and a half of sponge bob turn into kids who can NOT sit for even 5.4 seconds without touching each other, "whispering" something to me, laying on the pew, eating a fruit snack, whining, crying, throwing something or fighting over who is going to use which pen.
It's the day I do a song and dance in front of a dozen teenagers while protecting the Bishop's desk and taking things from them that they shouldn't have, and trying to teach something they will remember.
It's the day I drag the kiddos out of the cultural hall at least 3x and the big ones away from the group of boys hanging out in the foyer to try and go home.
It's a day of work....just different work than the other 6 days.

and today it's the day we go back to our "school schedule" which means an early bedtime and you don't even want to hear about that.

that said, today wasn't even a bad day. Church was fine, the kids were no worse than usual :), I could find both my skirt and a slip on the first try and I saw many people I love, and heard talks that touched me, and my class participated.

I'm just saying.

It's 10 pm do you know where your kids are?

S is out with friends from school. They were at the mall, now they are eating somewhere.
J is at her friend Reagan's birthday party. I drove her and Siara and Sophia there earlier, their dad will bring them all home.
We just finished watching High School Musical 2 and now the littles are tucked in bed.. but not yet sleeping.
and I don't know where D&G are, although I hardly ever do, but MSV told me they had a ward activity so maybe that's where they are.

We had book club here today. Only Joy and Nikko came. We had a good time chatting and eating. Nikko hadn't finished the book so we didn't discuss it much but it didn't matter. It takes a long time to make friends that you feel really comfortable with, that feel almost like family. I am grateful to have friends like that here.

I just finished reading a book that was really weired and I didn't really enjoy called Modern Mary. Lucky for me Joy brought a potential book club book candidate and I've been reading it this afternoon and so far I really like it (except the colorful language peppered through out.. why do they do that?)

I've been asked several times when we are moving. The answer is I don't know. DH has a plane, well technically it's not his but he's been with it since it's design (F-35) and that plane will start flight testing next year some time in the late fall. That's when he'll go. We'll go sometime after our house sells and between school years but whether that is summer of 08 or 09 I don't know and that's the biggest stinky part of it. Knowing we will move, but not knowing when, and knowing for soooooo long. It would be much easier to be told you're moving in 3 months, do what you need to do to get ready. But that's life.

HSM2 was fun. We got snacks and drinks at the store in preparation for the big event and then all went upstairs to the big TV. H grinned and sighed her way through it, brother is quite the dancer and every song he'd come grab my hand and we'd boogie. He wants to lead and is direct and forceful about it, which is so darn cute.

Busy weekend ahead. The girls have a temple trip tomorrow. H has a birthday party and E has karate.

Today my cute niece got baptized and we wished we could be there so much. And my dear sister Anna had a birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Baptism! Love you! Miss you, wish we were together!!

good morning, Baltimore!

Last night we went to a meeting sponsored by Lockheed all about relocating to Maryland. I thought it was very informative and all though we love it here and will miss our friends I am excited about living in a new area of the country and seeing all the history and the Eastern seaboard. I like to move. Growing up we pretty my always lived in the same town, at least from the time I was 5 on up so coming to TX was very exciting and it's been great. I expect this will be the same.

Of course they had lots of bells and whistles and go F-35 talk to get everyone excited. They also had tasty treats and we got to sit and visit with friends from work so it was a fun night. We were able to bring home a lot of literature. J was up when we got home (because she was out baby-sitting) and we looked through it with her and she is excited too, so that's nice.

on another note we had Emma baby-sit and she did well, got Lucy to bed and the kids were happily playing a game with her. It's really nice having live in sisters who can watch the kids, but sometimes it's nice to bring in someone else because I think more playing gets done.

an award

Lei nominated me for the nice matter award! Thank you Lei, I try and be nice so this one was especially fun.





More about this award: It is for "those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends & those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you've been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award."





The hard part of passing it on was limiting it to just 7 others :) but here's my list:

Joy Is My Goal

I Have A Good Life

Our Life

Three Blond Boys

Just the Six of Us

Two Brandts

Wendy's Tiki Hut

I linked the ones you can't find on my side bar.

And now, a Meme:

Five Things

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:

1. teaching 1st grade at Monte Vista Elementary
2. serving as the homemaking leader (my least favorite calling to date)
3. swimming in the apartment pool after work with my three darling girlies
4. going to "loser fests" with my single friends
5. driving a cute little Kia Sportage, my "chic car"

5 Things on my to-do list:

1.clean out the garage; one garbage day at at time!
2. go to a Maryland information meeting tonight
3. clean the upstairs
4. send Grandpa Thacker's birthday card
5. finding matching socks for DH.

5 Snacks I enjoy:

1. chocolate chip cookies, hot from the oven
2. grapes
3. Aunt Annies cinnamon pretzels
4. popcorn
5. peanut M&Ms

5 Songs I know the lyrics to:

1. hhmmm, besides kid songs I'm more of an la de dah duhology kind of singer, I know key phrases only

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Pay off all my debts
2. Fill those college, mission and wedding funds.
3. Go to Europe with my sibs on a lovely Mediterranean Cruise, courtesy of me.
4. invest
5. save

5 Bad Habits:

1. I'm kind of sloppy
2. I rarely floss.
3. I stay up too late at night.
4. I return library books late.
5. I procrastinate

5 Things I'd never wear again:

1. leg warmers
2. 501' size 0 ~ not because I don't want to.
3. painters overalls
4. the big ol' bangs of the 80s
5. Maternity clothes

5 Favorite toys:

1. my digital camera
2. My laptop
3. My Kitchenaid mixer
4. my cell phone
5. My stack of books to be read.

It's Great being Eight!!

Today was a milestone morning. H woke up and was no longer "7", a little kid, now she is "8", accountable, mature, excited about life, a big kid! Not a tween yet (thank goodness!) but not a baby either. We already had her party but still wanted to have a special day. After getting up and breakfasted and showered etc. we headed down to the stockyards.
It's always very fun to go there with lots to see and do. We needed a pair of cowboy boots and she knew just where she wanted to go to shop. I was hoping to talk her into a pair of brown ones, since these will be working boots, but she wanted pink. Lucy wanted purple ones and stomped around the store in the cutest pair. H bought a rubber band gun for brother with some of her birthday money. She is very generous. Right away when she found out she got some money she started planning on what she could buy for her family. She gets great joy from giving.

After boots and gun were chosen and paid for we headed to the candy store. The kids love nothing better than candy and with barrels full of every kind of sugary treat imaginable it is kid heaven in there. I told them they had a dollar each so to choose wisely. Which took a long time :)

Finally everyone had their choices and we headed outside to a bench to show and unwrap and start the sugar highs.

We left just in time to see the longhorns start their drive down the street. The kids waved and cheered and were so happy to see them.

Last on our morning's agenda was a quick trip to the mall. We came in at the food court and grabbed some pizza slices then went to JCP. JCP is having a huge sale! yea! and H got two pairs of jeans and two nice shirts for when it is cold. J left us to do some shopping of her own and found some good deals as well. Yea for back to school sales!

Our last stop was Build a Bear. H loves it there for some reason and wanted to get a stuffed friend for herself and for G. H chose a koala and G a rabbit. We stuffed and fluffed and came home with two new friends. We played on the playground for a few minutes and headed home.

Now I need to make some cupcakes for her to take with her to her first Activity days. She is very excited to go, they are having a swim party and also discussing "Mr Popper's Penguins" which all the girls were to have read over the last few weeks. We just finished it this morning and it was such a cute story.

quick news

• Saturday we went to Megan and Homer's sealing in the morning. It was so nice. They were happy and beaming! After we went to La Madeline for lunch, I had the chicken crepes which were delicious. We went to the bookstore to get some scriptures for H for her baptism. Then we came home to swim with the kids. We were going to make it an all day date, which we've never done before, but J had a venturing crew meeting and she was our baby-sitter and S had plans so while she kept the kids for a while we didn't think it was fair for her to change and since we were already on this side of the metro plex again we cut it short. The pool was refreshing and we had fun. In the evening we went out again to the reception which was at Thistle Hill Mansion and was very nice. The grooms cake was a darth vader. We left early and went to see "StarDust".
• Most importantly DH bought me a copy of Eclipse! Yea! I finished it Monday and liked it a lot. I won't say more since I don't want to spoil it. I was disappointed to find out there is a fourth book coming out next year, not that I haven't enjoyed them because I have. I just want a conclusion.
• Sunday we went to church. Lucy is going to nursery happily now. It happened suddenly two weeks ago and I am very happy about it. We have several new families in the ward and a couple of them have boys in my class. Both boys are very nice and it's a welcome addition.
• Monday H and I went to a TAFA meeting. She is very excited to start. She'll be taking violin, drama and music on Monday mornings. I was surprised to learn that they had over 500 kids enrolled in the program.
• Today we had friends over to swim this morning and then I spent the afternoon running errands for DH and myself. We went to the scout office, the bank, the library, and Wal-mart. Tonight E starts karate. I will have to borrow J's camera, if she'll let me, and take a picture of him.

i love mom

Lucy is getting to be such a big girl. Her speech is really coming along, which is so nice. We can finally have conversations that go back and forth and where she contributes ideas. Now we know what she's thinking and don't have to interpret cries and grunts! Now she can tell us she wants milk out of the purple carton and not the blue. That she wants to watch the mouse and that she wants to swim. Very fun.
This morning, like he often does, DH was leaving and he said "Lucy, I love you! Do you love me?" She answered, like she always does "I love mom!" Awhh! How cute is that :) Daddy tells her she can love more than just mommy, she can love daddy and mommy. That she has lots of love in her. And I echo yes Lucy you can love mommy and daddy....but secretly I think it's sooo sweet!

another party done

Tonight was H's birthday party. I can't believe she is almost 8!
She had several friends over and they had a good time running around while they were waiting for everyone to arrive.
After we had all the girls here H handed out new aprons to everyone and we headed to the kitchen. We made pizza, fruit salad, lemonade and for dessert cupcakes and yummy cookies that Rachel made. Everyone had a great time and ate it all up. Emmaline said it was like going to an all you can eat buffet!
When we were done eating we opened presents, then played mother elephant and went swimming. The girls had a fabulous time splashing in the pool and playing categories. Finally the bugs drove us in again and we sang to H and had dessert.

I think she had a very fun time. I know DH and I did. The kids are fun to have over and it's fun to watch our gang play with friends.
E dived off the rock and Lucy wanted to do everything the big kids did :)

We signed H up for a week of equestrian camp at the beginning of summer. All summer I've had to wait to tell her the fun news. She is excited to go! She also got some cute dresses from Nana, a Webkin, littlest pet shop somethings, a Hannah Montana CD and several other fun gifts. The girls loved their aprons and we sent them home with cookies and a cute flower pen too.

H's birthday

sewing and singing and sushi

Today was "big girl day". My friend Good Life kept the three littles and S, J and I went of to play. We went to see Hairspray, which J had been dying to see. It was cute. The music was catchy and John Travolta was Hysterical! Very funny. I knew the story since I had seen the old version but it was still fun.

After the movie S left and J and I went to lunch. We had a fun time talking about the movie and high school and stuff.

The kids had a great time playing with their friends so it was a good day for all.

I am about done with the aprons and am pleased with how they have turned out. Tomorrow will be busy as we clean up, shop and prepare for the party and I have an appointment for my ankle in the afternoon. J is baby-sitting all day for the Grays and is happily saving up money for back to school shopping.

I wonder how D is doing at camp? Hopefully she is having so much fun.

scrappy little apron wearers!

Last night after we tucked the kids in bed DH and I each headed for a project. I guess we were in the mood. Well he was anyway, I am under a deadline :) He headed out to the porch to repaint our old rocker. I saw it this morning and it looks great. (picture to be added later)
I headed to the sewing machine to start on the 10 aprons I need to make for H's party. I am half way done now.
This morning when the girls got up they had to try them on.
I ran to wake up J so I could borrow her camera (my battery charger is still MIA) and took a quick picture. Then I decided to take some pictures of our new stuff then......

stuff ~ literally

Yesterday DH took the day off of work. The moving van was coming to deliver some things that we had inherited from Grandma B. We had a very productive day and got lots done, which I was so happy about. Brother got this new bed. It looks so great in his room and he has a lot more room to play now too.
He also got this nice dresser. His old one is now in the garage and we're using it to hold paper and art supplies. Yeah. Speaking of the garage now that we have the door fixed we've been cleaning in there and it's looking much better. It's been funny to watch stuff find new homes. We put it on the curb and then wait. It's always gone within a few hours and the kids come running "mom, someone's taking _______" We always duck because we don't want to scare them off :) A few more weeks and hopefully all the boxes will be gone and we will have an organized garage!

This china cabinet was made by DH's Grandpa B. It came with a couple pieces broken off but he was able to fix it and it looks so pretty. I am thinking about taking a china painting class and filling it with lovely things. My BFF growing up's mom (Mom2)painted and her plates and stuff were so beautiful. When each of the three big girls were born she painted them china shoes (which are now in the cabinet). I love them. I wish she could have made some for the littles...maybe I'll make some myself.

Tuesday in the summer.

this happy orange has to take the place of any pictures I might have taken but I have lost my camera's battery charger. It has mysteriously walked away, which is very frustrating. I am hoping it will walk back, however that is kind of unlikely.

We went to the central library this morning. It is SO fun, I love it. I got a book DH had been looking for, sadly eclipse had a waiting list of 79 people and every copy was already checked out. So now I am number 80 but I may have to buy it before 80 people read it. Problem is we are "on a budget" and it's back to school time and almost Christmas. Don't laugh, I start thinking about Christmas in August. It takes half the year to figure out what to buy and where to get the money to buy it, and to convince DH that buying presents is not optional. Cheap-o (said with the greatest of love, and actually being married to a budget conscious saver is a good thing. And in my defense I am not a huge spendy shopper however we don't always agree on what/where/how to best spend money and what is a necessity.

J had an orthodontist appointment today. The kids love to go because the waiting room is decked out with video games. I sat by a very interesting and talkative couple. People like to talk to me, I guess I have one of those "tell my your life story" faces. I get to hear fun and odd stories quite often.

Our garage door got fixed today. Yeah! It's been broken for a long time. Now that it's fixed we are very excited. We spent about an hour in it today hauling stuff out to the curb for trash day tomorrow. Hopefully the garbage man will take it all. Two or three more weeks of that and it will be clean.

D is off to girls camp. Hope she has fun! Greg is off on a survival man vs wild trip. Hopefully he'll come back alive:)

DH has been on a diet. He has been skipping his second dessert for almost a week and has already lost 10lbs. I "hate" him. I, on the other hand have been on a diet (on and off) for the last 20 years and I lost 2.5 lbs.

of books and vampires

Waiting anxiously for this to be out in stores. One more day and we find out if the very delicious Edward finally bites Bella. (don't laugh unless you've read it!)
in the meantime I just finished this. I liked it. I wasn't sure if I would. I wanted to but you know, it was iffy. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a fun quick breezy and somewhat predictable read but it kept me interested and invested in the characters and I wanted Octavia to keep her fortune and snag Lord Rutherford so I kept turning the pages and hoping for the best. I like the language of that genre it's so proper and at the same time whimsical. Very fun. It's a great beach book :)

we missed this one...

J is back from her adventures. She had a wonderful time!!!!
This was the report:
times going to In-n-Out 3
minutes waited between getting off the airplane and going to In-n-Out the first time about 9
showers taken outside 5
trips to Jamba Juice many
rattle snake encounters 1
shark encounters 0
days at the beach not enough
mornings spent sleeping in every
books read 1 (Deathly Hallows)
episodes of Hannah Montana watched many
tans improved 3
girls taught to surf 2
hours spent with best friend 192ish

When she got back she said it was so much fun she would have happily stayed another week! Sounds like a great vacation.

the stuff we do

Recently my very good friend Joy had the wonderful idea of combining our efforts for visiting teaching this month and having a luncheon for our ladies. Yesterday we all went to her home and had a fun visit and yummy lunch. Now it's only the 4th I am have all my visiting done! woo hoo!

When I got home we invited some of the neighbor boys over to swim. Teri and her three boys from across the street came and we had a great splashy time!

Last night DH and I went on a date to Olive Garden and then home depot to buy stuff to fix various stuff around the house. Our lovely kiddos are tough on stuff and our brave canine is as well. And I guess we are too.

Today is going to be busy. This morning we are going to Zach's baptism. H's will be next month and we've enjoyed going to different friend's baptisms this year.
Then I am going to Megan's bridal shower.
Tonight I'll go to to the airport and pick up J and Emma and Tori, back from their CA beach fun.

Lupin?? really?

Your Score: Remus Lupin

You scored 60% Maturity, 77% Goodness, and 73% Abilities!

In my opinion, you're the best teacher that ever came to Hogwarts. You're talented and kind and see the best in all people, except yourself. You're a bit of a loner, since all your friends are either dead or betrayed you, but at least you've got a little love in your life now.

Link: The In-Depth HP Personality Test

swim fun

It's been raining what feels like all summer. We decided to take a chance on having a sunny morning and invited some friends over to swim and have lunch.

They came at 11 and we grilled hot dogs and everyone else brought the rest of the fixins! We had a very fun time eating and splashing. The boys loved the raft and could fit a lot of their small bodies onto it.

We lucked out and it didn't start to rain until 2:30.

After swimming brother got invited to go play at Jason's and H got to have Amanda stay here so the fun continues :)

getting ready for H's birthday

H is getting ready for her birthday party. We made invitations this morning. She's having a "cooking party". We got spatulas for her invitation then she and I will make aprons for all the guests. On the night of the party we will make pizzas, and desserts, play games and swim. It'll be so fun.