I know

I know it's wrong.

For so many reasons.

But I just don't care.

Every baby should get to lick the brownie batter spoon at least once.

I Feel Better

Last night was a rough one. I felt so sick I pretty much just laid on the couch and didn't move all night. If I made one false move I was sure I was going to throw up. And we all know throwing up is the worst thing ever.

This weekend was an awesome one. My mom and Stan came over on Saturday and we made philly cheesesteaks. They were so delicious. The kids played so good together. We like visitors at our house.

Then on Sunday Mike and Stan took Nathan and Marcus to the Diamondbacks game. Jason didn't go because he spent the night at my mom's house. Rick had given Mike and Stan the tickets and they were awesome seats. I hear you could even see the numbers on the players uniforms without binoculars. The boys got free fitted Diamondback hats and after the game they got to go out on the field and run the bases. They had a great time.

While they were at the game, me and James hung out at my mom's house. We spent most of our time sewing ourselves pajama pants. I have never sewn anything before so it took quite a while. Four hours, three yards of fabric, and lots of seam ripping later I had a pair of comfy pajama shorts! I was very proud of myself for making them and even wore them to bed that night.

The next morning, Nathan and Marcus were trying to build a fort. They had seen the cool fort that Jason and Brianna had made and were trying to make themselves a cool one too. I felt bad for their two foot tall fort so I enlisted the help of Mike and made them an awesome fort of their own.

See me in my fancy pajama shorts? We built their fort around the dining room table and included the tv. How cool is that? A tv in your fort?


We even filled them up a refrigerator (an ice chest) for inside. James found the pretzels and looks very comfortable.


They loved the fort so much they spent the entire day in there. They even slept in it. Well, until 3am when they all went upstairs and got into their real beds.

This is officially my 200th post! I didn't think the blog would last that long and I am glad I was wrong. Hopefully I will be celebrating again after I have bored you all with another 200.

If Dad were home

He would not approve of this.

Shhhhh.

Another Normal Friday

Sleeping,

swimming,

cooking,

lounging,

teething,

reading,

gaming,


CapriSunning,

dancing,

pillow fighting,

tattling,

laughing,


hugging,

and just savoring every day left of summer.

Today is tomorrow?

I am almost embarrassed to say that I had no clue what day it was today. It wasn't until 8pm tonight that I was informed by my 10 year old that it wasn't Tuesday. I didn't believe him that it was actually Wednesday and checked the date on my phone for confirmation. He was right. What happened to Tuesday? I felt horrified that I didn't know what day it was and I also couldn't help feeling pleased that I only have one more day to go before my weekend starts.

It's Wednesday? I'm not being April fooled or something am I?

I have been in total veg out mode for the past twenty four hours. Sharon and my dad decided to take the older boys to the lake for some more fishing (at the right lake this time), and Sharon even had the boys over to spend the night yesterday. She is a goddess. I don't remember the last time our house has been so quiet. It was just me and James. When he went down for a nap I almost didn't know what to do with myself. Should I read? Should I watch some TV? Should I blog? Should I clean? I was kidding about that last one. I decided to mostly do the first two but also found some time to get a few pictures hung up on the bare walls. As I was hanging up some pictures I realized that I don't have a single picture of James to put on the wall. Not a one. I can't put up pictures of everyone and exclude James, I would feel so guilty. I will have to fix this issue asap. For now, all the family picture frames are stacked up on the dining room table until James can be included.

I missed the boys when they were gone. It's funny how the stuff that is annoying when they are here is the same stuff I miss when they are gone. I guess I kind of like the wild loudness and the fighting. It's part of them. I wasn't the only one who missed them. Both of the cats slept ON me last night which was really annoying. Normally they bunk up with one of the kids, since they were gone I guess I was the next best option. When James woke up from his nap this afternoon and we were done doing our rock in the glider for ten minutes until he really wakes up routine, James ran from room to room looking for his brothers. He was lonely without them here. I can just imagine what it will be like when they go back to school and he no longer has them here to chase after all day long. He was squealing and running in circles when they finally did come back today.

They are tired but they had a great time. Except for the part where Marcus got stung by a bee. Nathan even caught a trout. My dad sent the ugly thing home with him. Now I have a dead trout sitting in a freezer bag with blood in my fridge. I hate seafood. I hope it is gone by the time I get done with work tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Thursday right?

Just checking.

He Likes Accessories

Hats when he swims

Socks when he plays

Oscar on his feet makes him happy.

During breakfast


At the lake

Clothing is always optional, but accessories are always welcome.

And when there are no available accessories to wear,


There's always mud.

Happy Fourth

Hope everyone had a great holiday. Don't they all look so cute in their little button up shirts? They wore these for approximately six minutes after we arrived at my mom's house. As soon as they crossed the threshold they were disrobing out of their clothes ready to ride the bull.


There's something about that bull. If you master it you become a legend in the pool. Marcus is close to mastering it. He is only 42lbs soaking wet so when he jumps on there isn't a whole lot of water displacement to knock him off. It's like a bird landing on a telephone line.


Here is my feeble attempt at a patriotic dessert. Very one of a kind I know. Really my dessert was overshadowed by my mom's cinnamon rolls that tasted just like the ones from Cinnabon. They were spot on and gut wrenchingly good. I think I could have eaten three of them even though they were each the size of a small cantaloupe.

For dinner, Mike grilled up his delicious steaks and I got to eat my mom's special mashed potatoes. We also had salad and watermelon but someone "forgot" to get those out of the fridge so we had the cinnamon rolls instead.


We love poker. We played again last night while James was taking a nap.

This summer has been so great so far. I have spent far more time with my family (my mom, my dad, and my aunts and uncles) than I have in a long time, and that makes me happy.

The highlight of the night was when everyone got to shoot off party poppers and confetti sticks. The confetti sticks were my favorite and made it look just like Times Square on New year's. James was fine with the loud noise but he was terrified of all the confetti raining down. He would scream the most blood curdling scream if we set him down. Go figure, confetti is scary.

Sadly, this is Mike and I's last day of vacation. It always goes by so fast. It was a lot of fun though and we got to do some fun stuff with the kids. Today we plan on just relaxing and hanging out together. It will be the first non planned day of vacation we have.

The Wrong Lake

We had high hopes for hanging out at a nice cool lake today. Maybe explore a little in the pine trees or something. We set off early this morning with my dad and aunt Sharon to go to Lynx Lake and about halfway up we realized that the rain that was falling was only going to get worse in the direction we were going. Our choices were to go fish at a lake where the rain was most likely pouring, go home, or go to a different lake. Home was not an option since the boys really wanted to fish and fishing in the rain with no umbrella didn't sound like much fun so we opted for plan C. We decided to go to Lake Pleasant instead, which is like deciding to go to Reno, Nevada instead of Las Vegas. One is much more alluring than the other, and one lake is much cooler than the other.

We didn't let that get us down, we were there to have a good time. The boys were eager to start fishing as soon as we got there so Mike and my dad helped them with their poles while I helped James with his shoes. Those shoes ended up being an impossible task. James has the fattest little feet and they weren't going in those shoes. We ended up cutting them and putting in ghetto shoelaces to make them work.

The kids got all set up and started fishing.







And that's when James got bored.


There really wasn't a whole lot to entertain him. It was really rocky and the ground wasn't level at all so we couldn't let him walk without someone holding his hand. He started off dry and fully clothed.


Then he was just dry.


You see where this is going.


He loves the lake.

He is such a little ham. He spent quite a while in the water throwing rocks and jumping around.

Everyone else fished and had a little luck.





We caught some bait for grandpa's huge hook.

We only stayed for a few hours before it got way too hot for everyone. There was no shade and the sunscreen wasn't offering much protection. Next time before we go to the lake we will have to double check the forecast to make sure rain isn't in the immediate future. Never the less, we did get to fish and we had a good time.

Vacation!

Tomorrow we are off to the lake. We are leaving bright and early, actually I don't think it will be bright at 4am but it will definitely be early. Marcus is flipping out he is so excited about going fishing. We are just making it a day trip since we aren't sure how much James is going to enjoy all day outdoors.

Mike has been on vacation all week and I started my vacation today. I have been busy playing with my new toy. A computer. And my new computer desk. If you ask my mom she would tell you I was not your typical child when I was little. Forget the toy aisle, I was not into that. I wanted to go check out the school supply aisle (and the medical supply aisle but we can discuss my love for gauze and crutches at a different time). My love for school supplies has blossomed into a love for office stuff. Desks, computers, pencils, keyboards, I love it all. My new desk takes up a large percentage of the office. Think I am joking?

It takes up two whole walls. It is just what I wanted though. I had been searching for a desk that would comfortably hold the computer, my work computer, the printer, and still have room for other stuff. This desk fit the bill! There is just enough space left in the room for the futon. I love Ikea.

Today we took the boys to go ice skating for the first time. My dad and Brianna came with us although my dad refused to step on the ice. Baby! He kept giving me lame excuses about not wanting to miss work from an injury.



The kids all got the hang of it really fast and loved it! Marcus could do even do spins. I skated for approximately twenty minutes and then my legs were screaming at me to stop. My skates were so tight they were squeezing my leg fat and cutting off my circulation.



Jason and Nathan were speed skaters, and Brianna was the careful one. James hung out with me and grandpa drinking Pepsi from a cup with a straw. He was happy.

Well I am off to pack the van for tomorrow morning. Hopefully we'll be having a fish fry tomorrow for dinner!