Time Keeps on Slippin' Slippin' Slippin'

The last couple weeks have been a blur of activity as the kids get settled back into school, and we adjust to getting out of bed at the crack of dawn (or before) again.  While I'm happy to have a schedule back into the day-to-day, I'm a strong believer that school should not start until after Labor Day!  I continue to struggle with the feeling that there just isn't enough time do all the stuff we want to do and that time is just slippin' right by.

I was traveling to LA again this past week.  95% of me hates to travel, especially when I'm leaving the family behind.  I don't like the worry about how to cover my absence (especially since I work from home and do the school drop off/pick up, etc), dinners, homework, bedtime.  I know it's stressful and tiring for Justin to do everything on his own. The other 5% of me loves the big fluffy King sized bed at the nice quiet hotel with yummy dinners delivered to my room :)
I really missed the kids the few days that I was gone.  I made Justin text me a picture on the walk to school Tuesday morning. I love walking them to and from school.

I was happy to get back home and into the household routine.  It was great to have a long weekend after the trip.  We decided to stay home all weekend and just putz around here, let the kids just hang out and no run a million place.  Mason had a lot going on with friends this weekend - football game, stayed with a friend, went to a party - all the fun stuff teenager so :)  Ella and Silas had friends sleep over and then mostly bummed around in their pj's a lot of the weekend (especially Silas).  I think the new school year is really taking a toll on him!
We have tomatoes out the wazoo from the garden!!  Justin spent time on Sunday learning to can and hopefully we'll get about 12 jars of salsa and also some sauce stored. 

We seemed to do a lot of cooking this weekend - Justin also made a cake for Amanda's birthday yesterday (it was a very yummy chocolate cake with cream cheese icing) and then he made chocolate chip pancakes at 10pm last night so that the kids could have them for breakfast this morning.  He's such a good dad :)

 

About the only thing I really accomplished this weekend was getting the menu and grocery shopping completed and a 9 mile run on Monday.  I finally feel like I might actually be able to complete this 13.1 mile run in October.   The cooler weather helps tremendously. 

I can't believe it's September already!!  Last night we had an amazing sunset.  It was just gorgeous - I can always catch a good one outside of my kitchen window but I wish I had a better view of it!

Now it's back to work, school, etc.  I'm hoping to have a really productive work week to get my caught up after traveling and the long weekend.  Which means I'd better go and get to it!

Memorial Day Weekend

What a BUSY and FUN long weekend - it was a great mix of fun, productive, family and friends!

Friday was Silas' last day of preschool - as you can guess, it was very emotional for me!  They had a clapout at school and it was so sweet.  He is ready and excited for Kindergarten...he wanted to start this week!

Wednesday night will be the "official graduation".

Saturday night Justin and I went to a concert (The Avett Brothers) with Sarah, Brian, Donna and Lee. It was a PERFECT evening for an outdoor concert...warm & breezy. Justin even got to to take a little mini-nap in the middle of the concert.

Sunday the garden finally got planted and we got the flowers in the front beds and baskets.  Just in time for the 90 degree heat!!

Ella is very much like her mom.  She told Justin that "she wished everyday could be like today".  When he asked why she said because she "got to lay in the hammock and read and eat watermelon" :)  My little summer girl!

Sunday afternoon we went to a family cookout and then got to spend the evening with the lovey neighbors at another cookout. Delicious food and great company at both!

Today was blazing hot and the kids got their bathing suits and sprinkler out. Si decided to try out Ella's grass skirt :)  They ran around and got the squirt guns out and had a good old time, which was much better than the morning when they were fighting like cats and dogs!

A couple weeks ago we got Si a new bike.  He was way too big for his other one and we decided to go up to an 18 inch.  Problem is, they don't have training wheels on that size, so now we are trying to teach him to ride it without them.  We went to the school and after a few wobbly minutes, he was actually getting the hang of it, except for the sharp turns he'd decide to randomly take.  I think if we practice a few times a week, he'll have it in a couple weeks!

It was a great weekend with a lot of cherished time just being together.  Perfect. But what I didn't get much of this weekend was REST...I need to go get that now!

Random update #129

So, it's finally been nice enough weather to get out and do some gardening, planting, hang out outside...it's a super busy time of year with the spring sports for the kids, finishing up school / end of year activities, outside yard work, busy times at work for both of us and sick kids...Si and Ella have both recently had a pookie bug.

Last weekend was my lovely book group and it was our first gathering of the season in the gardens at Susan's.  I could go over there weekly and never tire of taking pictures of her wonderful garden.

I'm finding that May is routinely becoming a very busy month.  This year I did the Race for the Cure again and it was an incredibly beautiful morning.  We had SO much fun. And we stopped afterward and had a yummy breakfast at great little cafe in the Arena district.

(Sarah's - I would never eat such an atrocity of calories! ;)

Emma Lou (Beth's mom) and Margie at the walk

Cool video clip of the race here

This week started some of the final count down stuff at schools.  Ella had crazy hat day on Monday.  She pulled out the perfect hat.  Tuesday was mismatch/backwards day and she wore striped pants and flowered shirt - both backwards. But i forgot to take a picture of that.

This week has also been "first corn on the cob eating" week.  Yay for Florida corn!  It was yummy and made Silas very happy (something that has been very hard to do these days...)!

And speaking of corn, we also planted our own this year.  When we first plant the garden it's so disappointing - how barren it looks. But I know within a month it will be absolutely bursting.  We planted some corn, 3 kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, beets, snap peas, lettuce, some herbs...and we have a rhubarb plant the size of Texas. Looks like a big weed!

I was able to sneak out last week and take a few pictures - lilies, a bull frog hiding in the grass at Tara's, 

we have a nest and eggs in our shrub, some gorgeous roses have been blooming and I finally planted some pots and hanging baskets.

I'm ready for summer - bring it on!!

Random updates

Not so much an update...but a funny thing happened the other day...the first one of my kids to do this...I was sitting in the kitchen and Si was on the john. He yelled to me that he was done (he can go #1 by himself but needs help with the follow up on #2). I said "okay be right there!"
Apparently I didn't get "right there" quite fast enough because the next thing I hear is a big THUD and him with a scream and crying. I run in and find him headfirst off the toilet and on the floor and (sorry) butt up in the air. No idea which thought came first - "grab him!" or "grab the camera!" The motherly instinct kicked in and hygiene came first...so I got him back on the pot...poor kid. He got right back on the horse though with no issues so apparently he's not scarred for life.

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2nd update - you saw a few weeks back at tool club time that Justin had started working on our new garden area. He took advantage of the decently nice weather yesterday and here is the result!

We've got a garden area that we can keep the rabbits out of (but probably not the kids). We are going to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes (so we can make our radish butter :) snap peas, possibly sweet corn, the kids want more sunflowers, peppers (all the fixings for good salsa!).

Have I mentioned that I love my handy-manny-man?!

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Another update (#3) I said that I'd share...Indian Lake...the girls (me, Beth, Jen, Jodi, Jill, Becky, Brenda and Heather - recipe for trouble?) all went for a girls' get-a-way recently - Thanks to Jill and her family's willingness to let us trash the place! It was a fantastic weekend. We had a great time, the weather was perfect. Some of us sat by the lake and built a bonfire. It was divine.

While the masking tape served us well that evening, I'm on the lookout for a great set of wine charms as a thank you gift! :-)


More updates to come....

A Last Fall Hurrah...

While Fall technically doesn't end for quite awhile...we all know in Ohio, this is about as good as it gets. Next week we'll probably get snow.

A few pictures...as usual.

Once again, my fruit bowl has been corrupted. One guess who the culprit is

All That Remains - of my garden. A very sad day.

But what beautiful shrubbery we have

The wacko-jackos will be put to rest tonight as well, tomorrow is garbage day.

The Weekend Marathon

We have survived the weekend marathon - unpacking (kind of), the 4 Saturday parties, more unpacking and the Clippers game this evening. Justin and I are beyond exhausted, the kids are wiped out and will hopefully get back on schedule this week. School starts on Tuesday for Mason and Wednesday (I think) for Ella.

A weekend overview:

Saturday morning Silas decided he was still on vacation and took his oatmeal and juice out on the deck to eat (in his pj's of course).

This is how the sunflower looked upon our return. We did miss the peak bloom but it's still cool looking.
Today Justin and I both went into the garden and picked. We ended up with 6 HUGE cucumbers and 2 massive salad bowls full of Cherry tomatoes. YUM!
Ella and Jaden at their cousin Aliyah's 2nd birthday party (party #1 of the day) - they are the best of friends!

We then rushed over to party #2 - Kelly's 6th birthday party. Great fun!

Party #3 was a pool party for Abbi and Alli - they have a January birthday and decided it's be fun to celebrate it (as well as going back to school) with an end of summer pool party. (Thanks Beth for the picture!)
Birthday party #4 was great fun - we helped Sam celebrate his 1st birthday!! As you can tell, he had a great time!

We ended the weekend with a Sunday evening Clipper's baseball game. We lost but it was a great game with loads of stadium junk food (hot dogs, cotton candy, ice cream...yum!)And now I am going to bed early, before I turn into a pumpkin. Looking around at the house and at the week ahead, I've got that stressed out feeling that only a good night's sleep can repair!

Weekend Update

We spent a low key evening at home on Friday, anticipating a jam-packed Saturday of events. Well, Saturday morning I woke up at 6am - sicker than a dog. Stomach pain, diarrhea (or my butt pee-peed as Silas says - sorry to be gross!) and I was miserable. I laid in bed as long as I could but then had to take the kids to get their pictures taken for Melissa's Fresh Face contest. (To see the contestants and vote, click here )
We were there for only about 20-25 minutes but I barely made it home alive...
Here is one of Melissa's pictures of Silas - man, he looks like such a big boy here!

The real bummer from Saturday is that we had plans to go out with all our friends for Jodi's 40th (I mean 30th) birthday celebration - we were going to dinner and a little bar hopping out at Easton and then we had rooms at the Hilton for the night. Well...I tried to be a trooper - I showered - crawled back in bed - got up and put make-up on...crawled back into bed. We never made it and I'm so sorry that we missed all the fun :(

While I was sick in bed, Justin was bored (or trying to make me feel guilty) and cleaned out the atrocious mess of a toy box in the living room, and did some decluttering of the house - it was almost worth being sick just for that. He also took one of the crib sides off of Si's bed and put the rail up - so now Si has a "big boy bed" that he is very proud of.

Today I woke up feeling better, but didn't feel "normal" until about mid-afternoon. It was a gorgeous day out so we took the kids to the school to play and then played outside for awhile. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Mason and Ella - this is Ella's rock star face. She makes this face when she plays air guitar too.


Zoe enjoyed laying around in the grass while the kids weren't tormenting her. And Ella again - she decided she didn't need a shirt since Silas didn't have one on...or it could have been the other way around.


This tree is in our backyard. It's a Canadian Cherry and I love it. It gets beautiful, fragrant flowers in the spring and then the leaves turn this deep red by summer. Here is Miss Boo going down the slide backwards.


We had our own little Fresh Face contest...Fresh Full of Mosquito Bites - Ella got eaten up AGAIN! This picture is the epitome of summer - bug bites, dirty face, rosy cheeks, mangy hair




Siley J. being his rotten little self...with the smile that typically gets him his way.


We checked out the garden while we were out. The snap peas are climbing like crazy and we've got a million flowers on the cucumber vines. We picked some of the cherry tomatoes- they are juicy and sweet!

Here's a snap pea shooting up

And Ella inspecting the tomato plants

This is a random picture of Ella and Silas in their new flip flops. Silas is completely obsessed with flip flops so I went to the dollar store and this is all I could find. At least his are the blue ones...

And that wraps up the Weekend Update...have a great week!