Guess what?

The man of the house is home as of 2:20 today. The girls made a welcome home banner. The little girls made him sit and watch a movie. We should be off to the Oregon coast/ redwoods in California for the weekend. I tried to type redweeds. I don't want to see any redweeds. Anyways I am super behind for the departure and have been fighting anxiety attacks all day. We are making real food! Tacos are for dinner so I better get busy.

So everyone is happy. Happy Labor day weekend to all.

Sheesh

Crazy!! I am not the only one with car trouble. My carpool person was suppose to take the kids. She had all of them in the car and then her car wouldn't start. So I loaded everyone up, took them to school and came back and jumped her car. It started right away. By the way. I have always had bad juju when it comes to cars. This car has been the kindest to me the longest but once this stuff starts I just want a newer more reliable car because I don't enjoy getting stranded frequently.

Don't you hate this? I HAD to get gas yesterday morning, I didn't fill up completely though. In the afternoon when I went to get the kids, the price at that station dropped 5 cents a gallon. That is a big drop!

Last night we were getting Amber's senior pictures taken. We were getting ready to go to the train depot for outdoor pictures when an awful wind storm blow in. We are not in Nevada so it is not typical. The winds were gusting at about 50 miles and hour. We had to reschedule, darn it. We were so with it and getting things done. Anyways it was a terrible wind storm without the storm. No rain or clouds or lightning but a brush fire started in Southeast Boise and burned to the ground or damaged 19 homes. So it is quite sad. That is the biggest disaster to happen to Boise in many many years and it is in a part of town we have been to many times. I just saw it on the today show just now.

I got a lot done yesterday even with the kids coming home early. It is so quiet with no one to talk to periodically. I have so much more to do. But that will be the story always.

Lee Joe is packing up to come home and can't wait. He will be leaving tonight. We are still trying to head out of town this weekend but we have a glitch in Kelsea's drivers ed. Amber is trying to manipulate me into letting her catch up in the KIA on Friday. NO NO NO. Either she goes Thursday or stays and that is all it is.

I better get busy. Maybe I will get a chance to post pictures a little later.

They're gone!!!!!

It was a Monday morning. Amber used all the gas I had Saturday night. I think she was lucky she made it home. I was on very empty on Sunday. I debated all day Sunday whether to get gas. I walked back to church when I came home in between Sacrament and YW. Walking home was painful. I know why I usually drive past the 13 houses to church. Dress shoes are not kind to my heels and Autumn has some sort of bite that is swollen behind her knee that was causing her grief. So back to Monday. I put some of the lawn mowers gas in the car because I was that concerned, which meant I smelled like gas. When I started the car it sounded like it still needed gas. Amber rode her bike but I drove Kelsea. I took the time to get gas on the way to school. And then I found out the LEFT BLINKER ISN"T WORKING AGAIN!!! That ticked me off. I dropped Kelsea off and she was nervous and I felt bad for her and wished Amber was with her. So I came back home without my left blinker and supervised the other 3. Hannah was walking around the house with her backpack on at 8 and we didn't need to leave for another 30 minutes. She was soo excited. I was going to walk her to where she was to line up but she was way ahead of me. I really don't think she needed me at all. We found a family at the school that we went to church with a few years ago and she has a daughter Autumn's age and we helped her feel better. Then a little boy that was in Hannah's class last year was in tears. I asked him what grade he was in because he looked familiar and he said kindergarten I took him in and he said that the kids were different. Poor thing, he didn't understand. How scary for the little guy. I walked off the playground feeling a little lost without a kid. But I am OK now. This is my first peace and quiet in I don't know how long. Now I should stop blogging and take advantage of no mess makers.
Lee Joe can't wait to come home. He will be leaving tomorrow night. We don't know what he is doing when he gets back. He may not be home for good. Twin Falls is a possibilty but it got iffy all of a sudden. Sacramento is an option if things don't work out in Twin and Southern California is still an option again this winter if things are bad here this winter. So I could be doing this alone for awhile but I manage pretty well. I just need a car still to have that 2nd driver I need so badly.
The cat has been stalking the stove for 24 hours now so I suspect she brought in a mouse. I don't want to chase mice anymore than 2 inch spiders.

I think..

I think all the school supplies are bought. Shoes for the 2 youngest were found for $7 a piece. We know who the girls teachers are and all their classmates. We will go to the school Friday and drop off their stuff and see their teachers. Pictures for 5 kids have been taken. We are almost ready for the big day.

My Olympic analysis and update. Still up too late watching Volleyball. I watched the gold medal matches for mens and womens beach volleyball and was almost like a guy going "Yes" and "AHH" at all the ball whacking. I think indoor volleyball guys like the dramatic effect of flopping on the floor when the ball is on their side of the net to make it look good and make them look tough even if the ball wasn't anywhere near them when they flopped. But really they are just polishing up the floor so it is easier to flop the next time around. We watched and Kelsea laughed pretty hard at one of the US guys throwing himself across the finish line and on the ground in a track race to take 3rd. It's a lot harder to plish up a wet track that way and you don't slide so well.
I don't like to talk on the phone much(mainly because I can't hear very well on the phone and I only have one good ear to listen with) but I talked to my sister and Lee Joe and my good friend so long tonight that my good hearing ear is in pain from phone pressure. Kind of silly huh. I had good visits on the phone though.

I told Hannah it is 6 days before her daddy comes home. I made a mistake and said Lee Joe was going home when he called me on his cell when it cut out and she thought I meant our home not the hotel home. She was sad.

You play, you pay

We spent all day at the fair yesterday. It has been 2 years since we did the rides. So everyone got a chance to do the rides. Lagoon and our other amusement park visits sure has deflated the fun of the fair rides. And the fact that 90 percent of them go around and around enough to make you sick real fast is further deflating. But the 3 youngest had a blast. The 2 oldest were finished fast. I supervised. I go in a circle once and I am sick so not a lot of fun there for me anymore. Amber met up with 3 friends. She invited the boy who likes(d) her who is recovering from heartbreak over her very brutal honesty this summer. (He asks"Do you like me at all" She says "not as much as you like me")OUCH It was probably a good thing so they could reestablish their friendship. Kelsea was in a good mood that morning and most of the fair. I was happy to see that. Then she lost 60 dollars. Somebody else had a great day at the fair. It cooled off here but the humidity went up a bunch so we were still pretty hot all day. Autumn and Kylee rode on rides I would have never ridden as a teenager. Hannah is officially too big for a few of the kiddie rides at the fair. And yet she was too small for rides she has been on at Lagoon. The little girls won a prize at the fish pond. Hannah rode the ponies and the 3 girls did spin art. We saw the Splash dogs and an acapela group. They were really good. We saw Amber's friends art in the art show and had funnel cakes, fries and cotton candy. We were so exhausted. I wore tennis shoes but they were brutal to my little toes. I have blisters on top of one of toes for proof. I think flip flop ankle ache would have been better. Autumn woke up puking in the middle of the night. Poor thing. She has been fine all day all day though. And we ticked off the neighbor with our dog shutting the screen door on himself so he barked and whined all afternoon I guess. They are grumpy old people. But my dog can be seriously obnoxious when he is left outside. We never leave him out like that. It seems like anytime outdoors give me a miserable sinus problem aftermath. Oh well. I have lots pictures to put up to get a better feel of the fun we did have. The girls did enjoy themselves.

I am exhausted today. We got up early for dentist appts on Tues for the 2 oldest. I had an allergy attack the night before that kept me up awhile. Amber has two cavities but everyone else had none. But Hannah has to get some baby teeth pulled. Kelsea is signed up for drivers ed and we got her permit lined out today. I am not wanting the kids to start school yet but I know it is just aftermath of last year still. It should be pretty nice having the school day to myself to get things done. When I went to the elementary school to sign Kelsea up for Driver's ed- The secretary there takes care of all the drivers ed sign up for city- And she told me they were looking for a temporary part time position to help a little boy in kindergarten with brittle bone syndrome. I told her I didn't know and she says still she likes having me available to be her sub. I still like subbing better I think. I have already had to book several appointments with the kids in September.

I have one kid left to get studio pictures of. We were real behind on studio pictures and I don't buy what the school puts out. I don't have all the kids school supplies or shoes for the 2 youngest yet. We have couple more days left to try and get to the pool. I need to show everyone Fabios brother. Amber is having senior pictures the first day of school. We are suppose to have a quilt made by my Young Women girls before Oct 1. We haven't started yet. It is for one of the really big conferences when the YW general president comes in October. Kylee will be 12 at the end of September so she is suppose to help too. We already know Amber has a conflict for that day. One of her big band competions is that day.

Lee Joe will be home soon. One week to go now. He is so ready to come home, he is counting down the days. I think I am ready for a hug.

I guess this is my random informational blog where I process all my thoughts. Hopefully keeping Lee Joe informed of things I might have forgotten to tell him and what he is spared listening too in his absence. I haven't found my funny today. I must need a little more rest before the humor comes back.

I am glad everyone, with the exception of Thomas, had a good laugh with the birthday thing. I know I am easily entertained so it was great fun for me. I still can't wait to see Janika's though.

Good news

On the weight loss (not so much) and inches reduction(some of those) quest, I was able to wear a skirt comfortably today that was miserably tight a couple months ago. Hooray!

I am trying to ride 6 miles on the stationary bike everyday that I don't do a video. I did take 2 days off for recovery from exercise and some sort of mild flu. But I did swim on Saturday and I only did 3 miles today but it is Sunday. I have to go back to the pool this week and get pictures of Fabio's blonde surfer dude brother that is a lifeguard there.

Bad news is Kelsea tried out for volleyball and with all the politics and networking we did not do, she did not make a team. There were girls that missed tryouts that made it. Big high school sports stink that way. I am proud of her because she knows she is good enough and is mad about it. But now she is afraid at the moment to try out for basketball but we have done our networking there and can keep at it. But it is so stupid. She is pretty depressed. Good news about that is, less running around as soon as school starts and I might be able to get her into drivers ed right away. Two drivers! How scary is that? Good thing you aren't here. That one might be scary on the road.

One more thing

The funniest thing I heard someone say on TV-Mary Carillo the late night olympic coverage host, I guess, after the US gynastics team lost the gold. Alicia Sacramone was beating herself up over her mistakes. Mary Carillo is emotional at the beginning of the broadcast and says-"Anyone with kids, anyone that is a parent, knows what kind of pain that is to watch Alicia beat herself up. Now you know why some people just raise Chinchillas." At midnight it is even funnier to hear that come out of someone's mouth out of the blue.

Who does this?

Read previous post to explain this picture.
2am spider-


Kelsea somehow, in her state of fear, before tearfully coming to get me, had the presence of mind to take a picture of the spider and it happened to be sitting on a ruler to prove to all how big it was. Those are inches.

We found the rabbit in our neighbors yard eating the grass at 9pm and when the rabbit saw me she hopped right to me. I was kind of shocked she didn't hop away.

Dead spiders and found bunnies are a relief to us all.

rough day, good laugh

I have had a rough night and day. Kelsea woke me up at 2 am because there was a big, yes it was big, spider in her room. I don't like to kill big spiders like that so I squished it with books. It took awhile to fall asleep after that. Then I got sick with some intestinal cramps then they woke me up every hour until 6am. Then after running kids around this morning I found out our rabbit is lost. We have been looking for it all day. We spent almost 3 hours at a hair salon getting 2 haircuts but the cuts turned out really good. I am feeling stressed. So then I read this e-mail. It tells me that-I danced with a llama because my family thinks I am stupid anyway. Go ahead and try it and when you comment tell me about yourself to continue the laughter for my sake anyway.

Pick the month you were born:
January-------I kicked
February------I loved
March--------I karate chopped
April----------I licked
May----------I jumped on
June----------I smelled
July-----------I did the Macarena With
August--------I had lunch with
September----I danced with
October-------I sang to
November-----I yelled at
December-----I ran over
Pick the day (number) you were born on:
1-------a birdbath
2-------a monster
3-------a phone
4-------a fork
5-------a snowman
6-------a gangster
7-------my mobile phone
8-------my dog
9-------my best friends' boyfriend
10-------my neighbor
11-------my science teacher
12-------a banana
13-------a fireman
14-------a stuffed animal
15-------a goat
16-------a pickle
17-------your mom
18-------a spoon
19------ - a smurf
20-------a baseball bat
21-------a ninja
22-------Chuck Norris
23-------a noodle
24-------a squirrel
25-------a football player
26-------my sister
27-------my brother
28-------an ipod
29-------a surfer
30-------a llama
31-------A homeless guy
Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
White---------because I'm cool like that
Black---------because that's how I roll.
Pink -----------because I'm crazy.
Red-----------because the voices told me to.
Blue-----------because I'm sexy and I do what I want
Green---------because I think I need some serious help.
Purple---------because I'm AWESOME!
Gray----------because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.
Yellow--------because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars
Orange--------because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
Brown---------because I can..
Other----------because I'm a Ninja!
None----------because I can't control myself!

I can't wait to see what you get stuck with.................
Janika's is going to be hilarious, I hope you comment with yours.
Melissa sent me this- Melissa I kicked a surfer because I'm cool like that. Kailyn said I sang to a smurf because my family thinks I am stupid anyway. Dylan's said I smelled a fork because I'm sexy and I do what I want. David's said I did the Macarena with my science teacher because I'm cool like that. If my brother would do it his would start-I did the macarena with a snowman--that is funny enough on its own without the rest. My mom sent me-I Loved A Smurf Because I'm Awesome. OK I am done for the moment.

humph

I don't feel so good today. I mowed last night and today it is the sinus headache thing. It is finally going away. Back to the neti pot again. I guess I need to do that when ever I am outside. I need to stop watching the olympics until 1 and 2 am and that might help too.

Good news!

I have been exercising off and on, not as consistently as I would like, but kick my butt workouts when they happen. I have been riding the stationary bike too. Unfortunately my butt still measures the same-that really sucks. But the rest of the parts of me that I have measured are down 1/2 inch to an inch already. I have not changed my diet much. If I cut out soda that would probably be the significant difference between minor weight loss and major weight dropping. I have an allergy or something to diet soda and most zero calorie drinks. I haven't been able to part with the soda completely yet. Dr Pepper is my weakness and only Dr Pepper. So anyways I am happy.

There is a bicyclist from Boise that just won a Gold medal at the Olympics. We watched her at a bike race here a couple years ago and Amber's friend is her neighbor. That is pretty cool.

Kylee got her glasses and they are the wrong ones. Wrong color and wrong frame. They are getting the right color in and we have to wait for those but I don't know which frame it was we picked out but I recall ruling the pair out that she got. They are too big and with our insurance we are not likely to get another pair. But she sure enjoys seeing things clearly. I might have to buy her a pair that fits.

Autumn won a t-shirt at the library for reading this summer. We picked up the girls ceramics today and they were so excited. They turned out really cute.

The run is on trying to cram everything in before school starts. I made a bunch of appointments today. Amber has band camp and Kelsea has volleyball conditioning and they are riding their bikes to the high school. Spares me 4 trips to the high school. They are on a get fit kick too so they don't mind the bike riding too much. They have been doing the same workout I have been doing. We are trying to get as much pool time in as we can since the pools will be closing as well. We are planning a trip over Labor day weekend when Lee Joe gets back to the Redwood forest and the Oregon coast. The Oregon coast has been one of my very favorite vacations. Next to last summers trip to California. We are going to camp and all our camping gear is either hammered or doesn't accomodate a family of 7 so I need to update our stuff before we go. So I am busy getting things together for that too.

unloading something

Since I bellyache about the lack of my ability to unload the pounds I took it upon myself to unload more crap. I went to a metal recycle place with an old swingset that has been in the garage for 8 YEARS now. I said 8 YEARS, Lee Joe. He has been mourning the loss of the swingset since I told him. He has had grand intentions of who knows what for that thing everytime I tell him it needs to go away. It went away. And the old screen door went to DI with some other stuff. I cleaned the van out since I had to take the seats out to take two big panes of glass from the sliding glass doors that use to be inside the house, to the glass recycle place. There are 3 recycle places here that I have visited this past week and they don't all recycle the same things. I THEN I took a dead moniter, dead batteries and dead flourescent light and a neighbors TV and another neighbors microwave and other similar stuff as mine to the land fill to the hazardous waste drop off place. A few things left by way of leaving it out on the curb with "free" on it. I had hoped it would seem like more things have left. There is a much better path in the garage now. There is a little less junk around the house but it does not seem huge. Oh well. But everytime these reminders of neglect left, I felt a little better. I might be motivated enough to attempt a yard sale! That would be big news if I could pull that off. I hate dealing with the people.

The two oldest came back from camp exhausted but did enjoy their girls camp week. The boys on their high adventure camp called the girls camp a girls retreat. They were in cabins with beds. I guess they had a nasty thunderstorm and rained really hard too. They were glad for cabins. The boys were not as lucky 20 miles away in their tents. The girls went to the SND on Saturday and it was a great turnout for our stake. They said everyone was there. The little girls enjoyed their time with mom for those 3 days we did stuff.

This is the week I dread. The indication of what is to come. Amber has band camp and Kelsea has volleyball conditioning. We have no spare car. And their registration is this week too. They will be riding bikes so I can keep up the purging momentum. Amber can register herself but Kelsea will need me. Hey-2 schools and 2 school schedules. What a novelty! I have had kids at the jr high for 6 years and I will have one year off before we do it again. I don't want school to start about as much as they don't want it to start. I have enjoyed our down time. It will be my last summer of all my kids being mine for sure. It was Amber's last girls camp. Who knows what Amber will be doing after high school. She is a Senior!!!

We have been watching the olympics off and on. Tonight's mens swim relay was the most incredibly awesome thing to see! It is worth looking up and watching it again. I can't get enough of the replay. It was unbelievable.

Lee Joe is ready to come home. He will be back in the middle of the week that school starts. The guy he is working for offered to keep him working until October. He has work in Sacramento after these jobs he is doing now. He doesn't want to keep doing this much longer. His other buddy has steady work that starts in September and it is in Twin Falls. He is going to go after that. And this winter when things really slow down, the guy in California will be busy still and Lee Joe could do that still if he needs to. It sounds like I will be doing what I am doing for awhile the only thing that makes it a real pain when school starts is we really need another car.

Cure the hoarder!! That is the motto for this summer. Lee Joe's departure has helped in the accumulation department-there has been a lot less of that. I am afraid when he gets back he will find ways to fill the empty spaces again.

So I am doing the midnight ramble again. Thanks for listening. Even though there seems to be not so many out there lately.

It is late but yet I must speak

I must"speak" since no one is here. This is not a "here is a day in my life" update but more contemplative on a personal thing. I have exercised 3 times in the past two weeks. Not a great track record but if you can count mowing the lawn in 98 degree heat that seemed to take hours and left me drenched in sweat we can add another day to that quota. So we all envy Janika's ability to drop weight but she has admitted that is due to hyperthyroidism that helps contribute to her ability to drop weight easily. She is also just one of THOSE people. My mom and my sister have always been light weights. They are 2 of THOSE people too. But not so for me. I have always had a muscular build. My sister has said she was jealous of me because my body changes a lot(so she says) with not so much effort. I think my body's problem is-being female it is a problem, if I were male I would be envied-is I build muscle very easily. Lee Joe somewhat envies me. I am overweight and yet there is a lot of muscle in there. I have thought that even though I don't want to be muscle bound at all I could probably do very well as a female bodybuilder-I would still have along way to go to be one, but I would look pretty buff without any performance enhacing supplements of any kind. When I have been working out with weights, the ones I have are 10 pounders and I can lift them fine and I get pretty fatigued at the end of a set-and that is at the END of the set. I guess it would be like 3-5 pounds for most women. I have been using these weights off and on for some time now as my weight has also gone up this past year due to stress and how I react to it. But I noticed even with my not very frequent exercising is that I am getting a body builder look to my upper back. Hmm, maybe if I don't want to look like that I should invest in some lighter weights. But maybe secretly I do. I will never be skinny even if I lost all the extra weight I have. So I might as well look strong. I can pull the trampoline across the lawn without any help and it is a piece of cake for me. But I could be using my weight to my advantage in that one. I look at my oldest two daughters. They are not fragile either. I joke and say we are just descendants of Amazon women. In June Amber had 4 weeks of PE 3 hours a day. She toned up and trimmed down a little. She looked really good and still has broad shoulders and really muscular legs. People who see Kelsea's abs are so jealous because at 15 she has six pack abs. Ok, even I am jealous. Once upon a time I had great abs too. I could do 50 situps in a minute in high school. But now I call my abs my 5 baby trophy. As much as I am proud of my 5 babies I am not that proud of that trophy. We will see what happens. I will keep working on working out and we will see if I lose weight, stay the same or maybe I will just look like one of the female gladiators when I get done.

I am trying to announce I am really setting forth on putting in an effort to make a change for the better for myself. I already have been, but here is THE announcement so that means I had better make good on it. My goal is not really in pounds as it is a size since muscle weighs more that fat. I would be happy as a skinny size 12. Not a stretchy pants 12, but a real size 12.

I must face the music and post this picture of myself with my skinny sister. I can say I have lost a smidgen of weight since May when this picture was taken.

August so far

Pictures the day that they happen!
Discovery Center

Kylee and the giant spirograph

Autumn's turn


The pretend store ---------Hannah hammin it up

Autumn playing with the register and putting stuff away.

The swing on a pulley is a favorite

More science fun

More tie dye -my shirts-one for Lee Joe if he wants it--- And Kylee's shirt(looking at the past post I don't think this is a round two shirt I need to find hers still I guess)

Amber's marching band shirt-their music is Toro ----Autumn's shirt

The rest of Kelsea's are at camp and the girls tie dyed their old undershirt tank tops and I think they have gone along too. Amber did a couple at a friends house we have yet to see.

Hannah's shirts

Thank goodness

I saved Lee Joe's life, he saves mine in the course of one week. Lee Joe called his buddy he works with. He has good buddies. He asked his friend if he would come by and check out my van. For a big clunking scary breakdown it was an easy fix. He came by at about 4:30 and at 5:30 he picked me up and took me to the van. He replaced the pulley with a new one and had the belt back on. He wouldn't tell Lee Joe how much the pulley cost. So my van is up and running. HOORAY HOORAY!!! The 3 girls and I got to go to the pool last night since it was super hot. I mowed all afternoon it seemed like. Sitting in the water was great. I was able to take them to the Discovery Center today like we planned and have dinner at Sizzler. Autumn almost ate herself sick. We came home and they swam in the neighbors pool for an hour. They have really enjoyed this week. I will post pictures.

It happened

The one big thing I can't handle myself when Lee Joe is gone is car trouble. I got a great dose of it a couple of hours ago. I thought the last two issues I had were slightly troublesome. This one left parts on the road. I was pulling out into a usually very busy road after finally depositing an already very late pay check that was overnighted to us. I pulled out and clunk -no power steering at all. I was trying to get out before a pick-up pulling a trailer. I could barely steer and managed to get myself into the middle lane out of the way since I had no clue what just happened but the car was still running. I had to wait for all the traffic to clear coming the other direction so I could pull into that parking lot. As soon as I came in there parts were on the ground inthe parking lot. I called Lee Joe and tried to tell him what happened. It was a tensioner pulley that came off and its spring. I was shaking so bad but it was just me in the car. I had to take the belt off the engine. I could walk but it was a little far. He told me I could try to drive it. Just watch for all these lights and the temperature. I drove it through a neighborhood to the next busy street I had to cross and the temp was really high. I crossed that super busy street in time to pull over and turn the car off. I called Lee Joe again and he told to me to wait awhile to drive it again. I waited about 10 minutes and got it to another corner and turned and had it almost to the church before I had to turn it off again. I sat there long enough to get it into the church parking lot and walked the rest of the way home. He is having his buddy come check it out but it was a bolt that held the tensioner pulley onto the car that decided it was done so I am hoping that really it was just that bolt. It could be minor repair but a big headache to fix but boy it gave out in dramatic fashion. I am hoping I am only carless today. We will see.

We had some friend drama last night with Kylee. One if her "friends" called at 10:30 and told her she didn't want to be friends with her anymore and than asked her how she felt about a bunch of other girls. I need to take care of that today but Kylee is very depressed. How sad is that?

Just the 4 of us

Well 4 is still a big number but in this house it feels like half of us are gone. As the 7th one looking at 6 I suppose it is true. OK Whatever.

The difference in Amber and Kelsea getting ready to go somewhere at 6 am is so funnily different. Amber must have been up at 4 or 5 am and she was up and down the stairs for an hour. She woke most of us up but she is independent enough to get herself up and get through her routines and I can wait around until I am needed. Then a friend came over at 6:15 confused about the departure time so Amber got a ride with her. Yay for me. But when they leave I always get sad.

Kelsea tells me the night before that she is getting up 5 minutes before we have to leave. She had all her stuff together the night before, somehow found her sunglasses at 1:30 am by accident. They were between her bed and nightstand. I woke her up for about 10 minutes before she got up she was ready in about 10 minutes and she groggily got out of the car at the church and tried to find the nearest spot to deposit her still half asleep self. Barely a smile to be seen. Again sadness as I drove away.

But I recovered quick. I would like to say it is quiet but the 3 little girls are getting short tempered with each other lately. Tuesday is great day to find deals. I decided we would got to the matinee to see Wall-E. Amber and Kelsea have been to many movies lately and it was the little girls turn to see something that wasn't in the dollar theatre. There is a ceramic painting place outside the movie theatre and it was 2 for 1 day. I have been wanting to take them there during the summer for years now. They loved it. We were there for over 2 hours. And we had free dinners for all three girls at Applebees so we went there for dinner and had a really good dinner. So they feel pretty special. They have not complained about all their home time. Amber is the worst at thinking she has to do something all the time. So we had a great day of great deals. They were just amazed at how long we were gone doing stuff. Apparantly they have been very house bound this summer. We have free passes for the Discovery Center so we will be doing that this week too.

My poor hubby

Lee Joe wanted to go check out the Ocean on Sunday since it is so much cooler than where he is and it was a nice and relaxing place to be after 6 days of work. He didn't take off his glasses so the ocean decided it wanted them so it swiped his glasses with one giant wave and they were gone. He was so frustrated and upset. He already had to replace $500 worth of tools after he borrowed some and they were stolen out of the car. So today I was trying to find him an exam and a place that will get him glasses as soon as possible. The closest place is an hour from where he is working. He did need a new pair anyway but that was not the way we would have chosen to go about it of course. He is a little discouraged right now.

Amber was off to camp at 6:15 this morning. Kelsea is off tomorrow. So it will only be 4 of us for the rest of the week.

So here's the update(4:02 my time-3:02 Lee Joe)-Thanks for the offer Thomas. Lee Joe will have his new glasses in a few minutes. You gotta love the internet and cell phones!! Lee Joe was working and unable to figure out where to get glasses. He called me and let me know what town to look for an eyeglass place. I researched on the internet. Found one place in that town that did glasses quick. No lenscrafters for 70 miles. Called them, made an appointment, researched on mapquest where it was, told him how long it would take him to get there, told him how to get there, and he called me on the way in to ask me where it was again. Told him, he found it, and he will have glasses today. 10 years ago nothing like that would have been possible. So cool! He still can't live without me. So there you go!

This week-

I tried to get this as fast as I could. The evidence that Byron was here.

Our first family tie-dye experience

Colorful blobs and whoops-we tie dyed our hands too.

Kelsea's hand. Autumn with her shirts.

Hannah's shirt. Kylee's shirts.

Amber's shirt Kelsea's two

We tie dyed and had fun with that. All the girls have had endless rounds of water balloon fights. There are little balloons all over and they have had to clean that up numerous times.

I did not have so much fun getting our paint sprayer in working order so I could help out Amber's friend with his Eagle scout project. I got it working and then one of the fittings broke right after I was so happy. I chased the thing around. Had a nice guy at the paint sprayer repair place take the broken part out of the sprayer and the hose and tell me where to find it because he couldn't find any. I found the part for one dollar! I love cheap repair jobs. So I got it together. The next day after rinsing the shirts I decided I should check it to see if it was going to work with the hoses and sprayer attached. The hose was leaking and the sprayer was leaking. I found an O ring and fixed the sprayer but couldn't find one for the hose. I took it down to the service project shed, I was already a half hour late. I thought I should try turning the hose around and it worked. I took care of painting the shed in 2 hours. He helped too. The big work is always getting the sprayer working and tearing it down afterwards. So YAY I did some service-the thing worked and they were so happy to make quick work of getting it painted. I have still been cleaning house. I need to get at my unfinished projects. I found it ironic that I could help paint a shed but my kitchen has been unfinished for over a year now. I need to get at it.

The girls start leaving for girls camp Monday. Amber leaves Monday, Kelsea leaves Tuesday. It is Amber's last year of camp!

By the way, I tried twice to get a link to other blogs going, I did it twice but my computer or internet connection has been stupid and ridiculous. I thought I needed an update but it sounds like from some research I did that our provider is doing so well at getting people on their plan that the connection gets sluggish due to so much traffic. I can't fix that unless I change providers. Go figure.