POST EDIT:
Yikes. When one waits so long between visiting Blogger, one realizes that they are waaaay behind. Then one has to go eat a snack to gear up for catching up because it's a big job.
One is a really nice person, you should get to know her.
PS Can I PS in a post edit? All this business about the dog is going to be happy and then get real sad and then happy again, so just stick with it.
OK, Go ahead. Read.
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So we have become those people. We take pictures of our dog. I can't help it. He's cute. He does adorable things and sometimes weird things. I also take pictures of my kids pretending to be dogs which I find especially funny now that we actually have a real live dog in the house for them to play with.
Speaking of the dog, we are pretty sure there is something wrong with him. He is way to calm for a puppy. {Foreshadowing much?}
Do I ever tire of my kids writing notes? No, I do not. Even when they are entirely inappropriate and uncalled for.
Sometimes you just feel the kick in the pants to get on a project or two. I have wanted to change a few big things since we moved in and finally this week felt all geared up to do it. I finally painted the turquoise ceiling in the little girls room, painted the mirror in the adjoining bathroom, and then completely switched the little girls' room with Jonah's room. His new room is gray, very exciting.
We then moved on to paint Haley and Abby's room which was the most boring taupe ever picked. This was all done while Clark was away at Philmont with the scouts. He was gone for two whole weeks. That was a lot of time for me to buy and decorate as I felt necessary without having to consult with the other adult in the house.
The Texas sky. Need I say more? It still makes me stop in my tracks on a regular basis.
Some of the girls in the ward made signs to welcome home all those stinky boys from their two week hiking trip to Philmont. They all came home tan, tired and little skinnier than when they left.
There is not a whole lot of sightseeing stuff to do around here, at least not the kind we are used to having lived in the Northeast. But one day we decided to have a family adventure away from our house so we got in the car to drive to Kemah. As we were driving to Kemah we recognized that we probably wouldn't make the drive all the way out to the San Jacinto Monument or Battleship Texas just to see those things so we decided to make a detour. They turned out to be a pretty fun visit. It kind of felt like the good old days of exploring DC and Connecticut.
You wanna know something surprising? The San Jacinto monument is taller than the Washington monument by 12 whole feet. You learn something new every day.
The Battleship Texas is right next to the monument so we hopped on over and explored, after making the girls swab the poop deck nice and clean.
The ship was smelly and very hot, but very interesting. A throw back to the Navy days.
You would have thought we spent the weekend at the gun show.
(Thank you, thank you very much. I'll be here all week.)
Then we finally made it to Kemah. It's a small little waterside town with a boardwalk and some fun things to see and do.
We wandered the boardwalk and tried to imagine we were looking at the ocean and not the Gulf of Mexico. I realize that in all my reporting I sound a little hard on Texas. It has lots of redeeming qualities, most of which happen NOT in the summer months. The heat made me very, very grumpy this year.
We were starving so we ate a delicious meal with an amazing view and got a compliment about our lovely children from the old lady named Hazel sitting at the table next to us. She was confused because she thought she kept hearing us say her name, which we were, in reference to our own little Hazel, of course.
On our way out we stepped into the little aquarium and played in the gift shop, I mean, pet the sting rays. Though I do wish we had purchased the squid hat. It just seems like something that I should be wearing to the bus stop.
It was a fun day. It's been a while since we have had good family time away from the normal Saturday stuff.
I love days like that.
They are my favorite.
And then we jumped back into the school stuff. Each of the girls had turns to go see their schools, meet their teachers and practice their locker combinations.
I can't believe that I have an 8th grader this year. That's like a real, live person! Not only that, but I also have a 6th grader, 4th grader and a 1st grader. Four kids in three different schools - which is better than the four kids in FOUR schools that I will have next year.
I'm glad I still have Jonah at home to keep me company for a while.
This month was a good one for lots of reasons but also because I was able to make it to the temple several times. It can be so difficult to find time to go in the hustle and bustle of our day to day but for whatever reason, this month lent itself to lots of visits which provided me with a lot of time for filling my bucket with faith, answers, perspective and peace.
I especially love when I get a date to go to the temple with me. And I REALLY love it when that date ends with a delicious hamburger and salted caramel milkshake.
This is a good man. And I absolutely love him.
Birthday time!! I'm not sure why, but months ago I thought it would be a fun idea to sign up for a race on my birthday. It was something different and fun and I got to do it with Clark and a bunch of fun friends. I've never done a color run before and thought, why not?
It was warm. Really warm. But really fun until I realized that dumping water on myself to cool off wasn't good choices because it made my shirt really see through, as in, see through enough to see my post-5-baby stomach...no matter! A little rearranging of my running number fixed the problem, hopefully before I convinced the youngins of the race to refrain from childbirthing.
It was fun to do with Clark and the view of the skyline was neat. Plus, it opened my eyes to the benefits of wearing a sweat band while running in Texas. No sweat in the eyes is a good thing.
Birthdays with a plan are the best. Here was my plan presented to Clark.
I wanted to get up and run our race. Then I wanted to come home, shower, put on comfy clothes and spend the entire day on the couch. I wanted my requested lunch to be brought to me while I watched whatever I wanted to watch and then when Jonah goes down for a nap I wanted Clark to take the girls and an approved budget and go to the store of my choice to buy me presents while I nap. Then they were to come home, wrap the presents and bring them to me while singing Happy Birthday. Then I would eventually get off the couch, get dressed and eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant.
All a birthday Mom needs to do is lay out some clear expectations, with a little room for creativity on the givers part, then sit back and enjoy her plan of excellence.
It was a perfectly awesome birthday. Clark executed the plan brilliantly.
The day ended with a sombrero and chocolate cake.
Happy Birthday indeed!
Yikes. When one waits so long between visiting Blogger, one realizes that they are waaaay behind. Then one has to go eat a snack to gear up for catching up because it's a big job.
One is a really nice person, you should get to know her.
PS Can I PS in a post edit? All this business about the dog is going to be happy and then get real sad and then happy again, so just stick with it.
OK, Go ahead. Read.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of the dog, we are pretty sure there is something wrong with him. He is way to calm for a puppy. {Foreshadowing much?}
We then moved on to paint Haley and Abby's room which was the most boring taupe ever picked. This was all done while Clark was away at Philmont with the scouts. He was gone for two whole weeks. That was a lot of time for me to buy and decorate as I felt necessary without having to consult with the other adult in the house.
You wanna know something surprising? The San Jacinto monument is taller than the Washington monument by 12 whole feet. You learn something new every day.
(Thank you, thank you very much. I'll be here all week.)
I love days like that.
They are my favorite.
And then we jumped back into the school stuff. Each of the girls had turns to go see their schools, meet their teachers and practice their locker combinations.
I can't believe that I have an 8th grader this year. That's like a real, live person! Not only that, but I also have a 6th grader, 4th grader and a 1st grader. Four kids in three different schools - which is better than the four kids in FOUR schools that I will have next year.
I'm glad I still have Jonah at home to keep me company for a while.
I especially love when I get a date to go to the temple with me. And I REALLY love it when that date ends with a delicious hamburger and salted caramel milkshake.
This is a good man. And I absolutely love him.
It was warm. Really warm. But really fun until I realized that dumping water on myself to cool off wasn't good choices because it made my shirt really see through, as in, see through enough to see my post-5-baby stomach...no matter! A little rearranging of my running number fixed the problem, hopefully before I convinced the youngins of the race to refrain from childbirthing.
I wanted to get up and run our race. Then I wanted to come home, shower, put on comfy clothes and spend the entire day on the couch. I wanted my requested lunch to be brought to me while I watched whatever I wanted to watch and then when Jonah goes down for a nap I wanted Clark to take the girls and an approved budget and go to the store of my choice to buy me presents while I nap. Then they were to come home, wrap the presents and bring them to me while singing Happy Birthday. Then I would eventually get off the couch, get dressed and eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant.
Happy Birthday indeed!
