Photo a Day: Something you Found

I'm kind of cheating today on my photo a day thingy, because I'm feeling "blech" - achy and tired. I'm REALLY hoping that this doesn't turn into what my husband just got over. *sigh*

Anyway, for "something you found", I'm going with pics of the kids doing the Easter egg hunt that my mom does every year. Which is totally awesome, because she stuffs 'em and hides 'em, and because she does such a great job I don't have to do a hunt of my own.

Jake, the spazzy picture poser, just like his mom

sweet sweet Brock

Troy the excited hunter

Ivy, happy with just a few eggs

Are You There, Eyelashes? It's Me, Nat

Well, got my laser eye surgery done.  It's absolutely amazing.  You wanna hear all the gory details?  Okay!

So, you get a Valium, so you don't care about anything.  Then you go lay on a table and hold a teddy bear.  You look at a little green light, and then it gets dark.  They move the table to another area, then back to the green light.  You stare at the green light for about 10 seconds, and then you're done.  Rinse and repeat for the other eye.

Seriously.  It didn't hurt, it wasn't weird.  I could almost instantly see better.  (Right now everything looks as if I am still wearing my contacts.  Cool, huh?)  For a couple of hours following my eyes stung, but they told me to try and sleep.  NOOOO problem there-the Valium made me really tired.  And really, as a mom, when am I not tired?  So I slept most of the rest of the day, putting eye drops in whenever I woke up.  And they felt fine after I slept a little.

The next couple of days I had a hard time with sunlight and with headlights.  But I've been totally fine ever since.  If you're thinking about getting it done, DO IT!!!!  So, so worth it.

There is one downside: I haven't been able to wear makeup from three days before the surgery to a week after surgery.  It's a small price to pay for, you know, VISION.  But.  My eyelashes are really light, and when I don't wear mascara I feel like my eyes disappear.  My brother-in-law said I look "washed out".  Which is true.  I don't think I would want to be wearing mascara right now, anyway.  There are some eye drops you have to put in 4 times a day, and if I were to have makeup on and do that I would look like, well, her:

But in a few days I'll be good to go AND I'll be seeing 20/20.  Oh, and my eyes are a lot less bloodshot without contacts.  I even bought some new mascara to go with my new eyesight.  Fancy, huh?

In other news...well, not much going on.  Just kind of the same old.  Work, work, and more work.  Work at home, work at the office, work at teaching piano, work at keeping things, you know, working.  There are days that I feel like the hamster on the wheel-you just keep running, with no end in sight, and for what?  So you can keep running, with no end in sight.

I hit kind of a lull the last few days.  I'm very project/goal oriented, so now that I got my eyes done, I'm like, what next?  There is plenty to DO, but nothing that I'm really aiming for.  Monday and Tuesday days I felt kind of "meh".  Today I feel better.  Of course, I have all the ongoing things, but they're the hamster wheel kind of things.  Which are important as well, but... I don't feel like I have to constantly have entertainment, per se, but it IS nice to look forward to things, too, right?

Of course, Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming.  I like to do my Christmas shopping in November.  I find there are just as many sales but far less crowds.

Halloween was fun. Last year we were all matchy-matchy, which I loved doing, but this year the kids were all different things.  Ivy was "Gumpunzoh" (Rapunzel), Troy was Batman, Brock was The Count/a vampire, and Jake was a ninja.

Ivy's wig itched her a ton, so she didn't wear it all that much.  Brock's makeup, though very cool, was also very time consuming.  And there were about 20 other ninjas just like Jake.  I told him it was like a Ninja club, but I don't think he really liked that.

Next year the kids will all be different things again.  Brock already told me he wants to be Spiderman.  And today I went to the store and got some costumes for 50% off.  Even though I HATE keeping stuff around (it goes against my minimalism tendencies), I'd rather spend half the money on costumes now for next year.  Cheapness 1, Minimalism 0.

Well, that's about all for now.  I'm off to work!

The Short Version

I think I am the President of the Procrastinator's Club.  Of course, I wouldn't know, because procrastinators would just put off having their meetings, wouldn't they?

Anyway, I've been gone WWWWAAAAAYYYYYY too long from my blog.  And so much has happened!  But I'm afraid if I try to do super detailed posts of everything, then I won't get around to doing any posting at all, because I'll just fall further behind.  So, I'm going to do the highlights, and you can fill in the details in your mind.  I trust you to make up awesome things.

So, without further ado...

Pete had his birthday.  He got a computer mouse, and then some drawings done by the kiddos.  It was very chill.

I started a chore chart for my kids. Jakob had been doing bathrooms with me for forever, and the other kids didn't have any chores.  I revamped it, and now we have a rotation of several chores.  My kids have been really great about doing chores-eager, even.

I have to supervise them, but for the most part they do pretty well.  A couple of weeks ago Troy was on dusting, and I didn't know that he was trying to do it by himself.  Needless to say, I had to scrape off oodles of dust stuff off of my dresser.  But he tried, and I guess that's what counts.

I also got a laundry basket for each of my kids, and now they fold their own clothes.  I have to help Ivy a lot, but they do well folding their own clothes.  I'm not quite ready to have them try and run the washing machine by themselves, but it's helped me a lot to divvy out their clothes for them.

Brock lost his two top teeth in the last little bit.  I love the toothless smile.

We spent mother's day with my parents.  It was really fun.  My mom is a spaz.  She's so cute!

My cute friend Sara got some free tickets to a show called "Handsome Little Devils", so she invited me and our other friend Anna to go. The actors do a lot of juggling tricks-that kind of thing.  It was really impressive. And I got pulled up on the stage!  The actor next to me had me hold some roses out in front of me, and he whipped the tops of them off while balancing on a ladder!  It was really cool.

We had an Easter egg hunt at my parents' house, in the 400 mile-an-hour wind.  Idaho "spring" is very, very windy.

Ivy had her third birthday.  For some reason, I always space on the candles for cakes.  Also for some reason, I had a brand new "1" candle, but that's it-no others.  Awesome.  So that's how we ended up with two matches as the other candles.

She got some clothes, and some hair things, a Tinkerbell doll, and the movie Bambie.

I was outside on a Saturday, and Troy ran out to be with me.  His hands were in his jacket.  He tripped, and fell flat on his face on the driveway.  I saw the whole thing and couldn't do anything to stop it.  So very sad.

A few days later, Troy graduated from preschool.  He loved preschool, but he is so ready to go to kindergarten in the fall.

And speaking of graduations, Brock graduated from kindergarten.  Their program was really cute, and I thought I would cry a lot, but I didn't.

(Okay, so here is where I tried to insert a video of Jakob's piano songs, but it wouldn't load.  Good job, blogger!  So, maybe someday I'll get it to load, but until then, just pretend that you can watch that video here.)

I had my piano recital.  I've been teaching Jakob this year as well.  He did an awesome job!  He was all, "My legs were shaking a lot!"  And I don't know why he decided to stand while playing, but whatever.  He did great, as did my other students.  I played as well, and did pretty good, but botched the end of my last song.  Oh well, though.  It's not the first time I've messed up a performance, nor will it be the last, I'm sure.

Also, I look like Beaker when I play the piano: my eyes are really wide, and my mouth turns down at the corners.  It's neat.

Right after school got out, I got sick, for a week!  It was way super awesome.  I love being sick.

We took a quick jaunt to Utah for Pete's mission reunion.  I was a little bored but I think Pete enjoyed seeing some of the people from his mission.  We hung out with family, and went to Thanksgiving point, to the dinosaur museum there.  I had no idea why Ivy is crying in the above picture.

They have a digging spot at the museum, where you can uncover "bones".  All my kids enjoyed that part.

All of my boys have individually told me that they want to either study or dig up dinosaur bones.

We ate at Benihana on the way back home.  The kids' menus folded up into hats.  Troy zonked out with his hat still on.

And, this last Sunday, Ivy decided to take some scissors to her own hair.  The pile of hair she chopped off is in her hands in this pic.

She did a very thorough job on both sides of her head.  It was very mullet-esque.  It's kind of hard to see in the pictures of it.  Needless to say, we needed to get it fixed up.  I figured a cute little pixie hair cut would work.  And, of course, all this happened before I got her 3-year-old picture taken.  Because I've been really on top of things lately.  (Pres. of the Procrastinator's Club, remember?)

Here it is, all fixed up.  Pete thinks it's kind of boy-ish, but I think if I keep a barrette in it then it will be feminine enough.

Well, that pretty much catches us up to speed.  Sorry it's not heavy on the details, but I just wanted to get 'er done, you know?  So that maybe, someday, I can step down as the President of the Procrastinator's Club.  You know, when I get around to it.

Knock-Knock!

Who's there?

Nat's blog!

Nat's blog who?

Exactly!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Yeah, I know that it's not a joke.  My kids like to tell knock-knock, um, "jokes".  And they sound a lot like the "joke" I just told.  For instance: Troy: Knock knock!  Me: Who's there?  Troy: Um, apple.  Me: Apple who?  Troy: Apple that is yummy.  Me: {fake laughter that's really not convincing}

I have GOT to go online and find some good knock-knock jokes.  The only ones I know are the boo/boo who/why are you crying, and the one where you say banana over and over, and then finally orange/orange who/orange you glad I didn't say banana again?

ANYWAY, I've been wanting to blog, really I have.  But I've been busy being busy, and busy with relaxing, and busy potty training.  And one of these days I'll write the adventures that we've been having around here.  But first thing, I want to write my New Year's resolutions.

Before I get to that, here is the post for my 2010 resolutions.  Let me reflect a little on how I did last year:

Learn to make freezer meals.  Um, not so much.  However, I've been doing a lot of crock pot meals, about once a week, and it ROCKS.  Throw everything in a big pot and let it cook itself?  Why can't every meal be that easy?  I'll write more on this later, in a future blog post.

Scan scrapbooks.  Nope, still haven't done that.  I keep thinking about it, and yes, it's one of my new resolutions.  I did get an external hard drive to store things that I will scan, though, so that's a step forward.

Potty train Ivy.  Yes!  I started not in March, like I had originally wanted, but she wasn't ready one bit at that time.  However, she was ready for it end of December.  Again, I'll write more on this in a future post.

Digitally scrapbook 2008-2009.  I worked on this a little bit.  On the 2011 resolution list.  I just need to set aside some time every week to work on it.

Read Book of Mormon with my family every night.  Yep!  We don't do very many verses each night, but we're in Alma, and are reading about Ammon.  I know my kids aren't absorbing a ton right now, but eventually they will, and eventually we can read more, and they will be able to read along as well.  Someday.

Getting up before my kids.  On and off for this one.  Mostly off.  It's back on the new resolution list.  Getting up early is definitely one of my weaknesses.

Build up food storage.  I've been working on this.  It helps that I've been more aware of sales, and things like Case Lot.  The last couple of months I've been a little hit and miss with couponing, too.  Just...super busy.  I haven't had the time to research, and run around to five different stores.  Maybe this summer it will be a different story.  And I went Tuesday night, and got free Halls cough drops and free yogurt!  I went to Case Lot at Smiths in September and got a bunch of canned goods, and they're having Case Lot again this week-I'm planning to go tomorrow, actually.  So that's been good to help build up our food storage.

In summary, I did...fair on my resolutions last year.  Which is better than nothing, right?

This year, I decided that my motto is going to be "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!"  From this.  And because of this. 

So without further ado, my 2011 resolutions:

Attend the temple every month.  This was one of my goals last year, too, and I think I went twice, which is pathetic.  I love going; the babysitting arranging is what's hard for me.  I just need to be more proactive, and get 'er done.

Earn my honor bee.  This is the next step in the Young Women's Personal Progress program.  You read the Book of Mormon again, and serve for 40 hours.  This will help pull me out of my comfort zone a little bit.  And yeah, I serve my children almost nonstop, but I need to reach outside of my own life and family, because I know I can help others.  Also, even though I'm great at reading scriptures with my family, my own scripture study is irregular.  So reading through again (and again and again) is a good thing for me to be doing.

Be more financially fit.  I'm embarrassed to say, we have more debt than I would like.  Ideally, I would love to be completely debt-free, but at this point in life it's not necessarily possible.  The debt I'm okay with having (for now) is our mortgage, our car payment, and our student loans.  And all three of those are at really low rates, so even though it sucks to have them at all, someday they'll get paid off, and they aren't the worst thing in the universe right now.  However, we had an expensive summer/fall, which we weren't financially ready for.  Which is so dumb, because hi-I graduated in finance, for crying out loud!  So a few days ago, I hid our credit cards, and today....drum roll please....I paid off Pete's hospital bills!  YAY!  We also should be getting a decent tax return, so that should help get rid of some debt.

In college, we did mock investing in one of my classes.  And I LOVED it.  It was so interesting to me.  And in my class of 40 students, I was the 2nd or 3rd highest earner (it changed back and forth, depending on the day/market).  Of course, when I was taking that class the stock market was bubbling, so it may not be as fun in today's market, or with real money.  Still, though, I think it would be fun to try for real.

Also, I want to get a bunch of money in the bank.  Paying off the debt will help with this goal, obviously.

Get my eyes lasered.  No, not getting burning eye beam things like Superman.  I'm talking about getting laser eye surgery.  Where I would be able to see first thing in the morning, instead of having my alarm clock 8 inches from my face in order for it to be clear enough for me to see the time.  It's an expensive procedure, but oh!-life without glasses or contacts!  I got glasses in 2nd grade, my friends.  I've been blind for way too long.  So I'll need to save for a long time to get this, but I'm hoping that I can get this done this year.

Exercise.  Pete and I have been sporadic with exercising this year.  We'll do really great for a while, then miss, and then fall out of habit.  Then get really good again...and the cycle continues.  We're back out of the habit.  So Tuesday night while at the store I got a jump rope, and a yoga tape that has 20-minute workouts.  Pete and I were doing P90X, which I love, but every session is an hour or so, except for ab ripper, which is still, like 30 minutes or something.  20 minutes in the morning, though?  I can handle that.  Or jump rope for 20 minutes.  Just...something.  I don't want to lose weight, but I care about having a healthy heart.

Lastly, I want to learn to play a new instrument.  I've always been drawn to the violin, the guitar, the harp, and the cello.  I might wait until the summer or fall to do this one.  And I'm not sure if it is even conceivable while I teach piano because of time constraints, but I don't want to quit teaching...hmmm.  So maybe the summer would be best, since I don't teach piano during the summer.  But that's if I can find a class or a teacher willing to do summer, and have me drag my kids along with me.  All good questions and/or challenges.

Oh, and the digital scrapbook thing and the getting up early thing that I continually try to accomplish.

So there you have it.

And I really will try to be better at regular blogging.  Just as soon as I learn some knock-knock jokes...

Amazing, Awesome, and Addicting

1. Last week it snowed.  A bunch.  Then the snow decided to drift all over the place, meaning, my driveway.  And I was out shoveling Wednesday morning while pies were cooking in my oven.  I'd have to shovel one little area about three times, because I couldn't lift a 2 1/2-foot layer of snow with the shovel in one fell swoop.  Then, to my utter surprise and delight, a big huge blue tractor drives up.  At first, it looked like my neighbor, but then it kind of didn't.  He asked if he could clear the snow for me.  In less than two minutes, he had cleared my entire driveway.  Like I said, I couldn't tell who it was for sure, because he was all bundled up, and I had my glasses on that were getting all foggy with tears of frustration, then tears of relief because he came to help me.  So, if anyone knows who this kind fellow is, please let me know so I can thank him (I gave him a thank-you wave, but that doesn't seem sufficient enough), or let him know that I'm so grateful.

2. I've seen two terrific movies and a play this last week.  Movie one: Harry Potter.  A-MAZ-ING.  I heart Harry Potter.  End of story.  Movie two: Tangled.  I just about bawled during one of the scenes, when the two main characters are on a lake.  It was just... so beautiful!  I had to keep swallowing really hard to stop myself from crying.  WONDERFUL movie.  The play: the people from Playmill put on "White Christmas" at a local theater here.  They did a great job.

3. We had Thanksgiving Wednesday night because my sister and her fiance had to jet out of town unexpectedly Thursday.  It was actually really nice to have Thanksgiving dinner the night before.  And then we went to the movie Thursday and had leftovers afterwards, so it's like we still had Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving.

4.  These little Heath bars are like crack!  I should just buy the big bar of Heath, because I think I would consume fewer calories that way.  These bad boys are so addicting, and I could probably eat 20 or so of them without batting an eyelash.

5. Another thing I'm addicted to: these amazing pants!  I wish I could give a pair to everyone I know.  And then we could start a fashion trend of soft cozy fleece pants, and then I wouldn't have to change out of them to go places to look acceptable-ish.  They are $9, at Walmart.  You will not be sorry if you run out and grab some!  I have pink, and purple, and polka-dot now.  They can get a little static cling in them, which usually I hate, but with these I feel like it's an extra warm hug for my legs.

6. And if that wasn't enough, I'm addicted to another thing: the Hunger Games books.  I CANNOT put them down.  I read nonstop Saturday and Sunday, and finished today.  And now I'm having withdrawals.  LOVE them.  Read them!

7. Monday I finally got my snowblower to run!  I hate that things like lawn mowers and other outside machinery have a pull-string starter thingy.  I have to pull the string with all my might to get these items started.  I had tried two or three times (at like, a hundred pulls each) before yesterday, without success.  Then Pete suggested I bring it in the house, thinking that getting the machine warm would help it.  So I hauled it into my kitchen, cleaned it off with baby wipes (seriously, who knew those things could be so handy in wiping things other than baby bottoms?), and then a couple of hours later took it out.  It started after about 5 pulls, which is amazing for me.  Once it was going, I wasn't about to stop until my whole driveway was cleared again.  I even got all fancy and cleared my sidewalk.

What has been amazing, awesome, or addicting in your life lately?

Hallo-Weeeeee!!!

This year's Halloween festivities turned out so much better than last year's for the Nat Pack.  Well, maybe it was the same for the kids, but it was definitely better for me.

It started out with going to the pumpkin patch with Troy and Ivy for Troy's preschool class.  It was so nice that day!  Hence the sunglasses on Troy.

Troy's teacher, Miss Karla, had the kids try to find the biggest pumpkin they could, then the smallest.

Ivy found this little round thing.  I think it's a watermelon instead of a pumpkin, but whatever.  She's all about "baby" things.

Later on, Ivy and I went back and got pumpkins for everyone else.  I hate carving pumpkins, because it's super messy, and I've never liked roasting the seeds or whatever it is that you're supposed to do with them.  So we decided to do fingerpaints instead.

I think Brock's turned out the best.  He's so very artsy.  I should have taken a picture of the completed pumpkins, but...I was ashamed of my own pumpkin.  I'm NOT crafty.  At ALL.  All my kids' pumpkins turned out way better than mine did.  I didn't want to document mine.  Though, retrospectively, I should have just omitted my pumpkin and taken the picture.  Oh well.

Even though I'm not crafty, I can sew a little bit.  So this year, I convinced the kids to have costumes that all fit together, and I made their costumes.  So they were characters from Peter Pan.  Jake was Captain Hook, Brock was the Crocodile, Troy was Peter Pan, Ivy was Tinkerbell, and I was Smee.  I was going to have Pete be Smee and I was going to be the Second Star to the Right, but Pete pooped out.

The kids all got to dress up for their class parties.  We went to a trunk-or-treat for Pete's work on Friday, then a trunk-or-treat at the elementary school on Saturday.  Which, trunk-or-treats are so much better than the old school house-to-house: you get to see everyone, it takes way less time, and you get more candy.  Wins all around.

My kids are already talking about what they want to be for next Halloween.  This is definitely one of our favorite holidays.

Pleasantly Surprised

My Valentines Day turned out to be pretty good. Despite our strep, both Pete and I felt fairly good (though confined to our house).

Pete gave me a pink Snuggie. It's super awesome. Oh, and Coke and chocolate. Does my man love me or what?


I gave him some candy, too.

Saturday night we ordered Chili's to go, and ate it after the kids were in bed. We got Molten Chocolate Cake for dessert (YUM!!!!), which incidentally we'd order all the time when we were friends in college and split it. We also watched "Miss Congeniality".

So our V-day weekend ended up being really nice. I really liked eating food late, just me and Pete. Maybe next year we'll do it again, but without the germs.

A "Cheer"

Nat: I've got strep, yes I do!
I've got strep, how 'bout you?

Pete: I've got strep, yes I do!
I've got strep, that makes two!

...My aches and chills turned into super awful throat pain; I went to the doc and it turns out it was strep. (My apologies to anyone I came in contact with when I didn't know I was contagious.)

And just as I'm starting to get better, Pete goes in today and gets the same verdict.

So our Valentine's Day will include a lot of drug-induced staring at one another. Soooo romantic.

So who has good plans for V-day?

Just a Few

I taught a lesson in Young Women's this last Sunday that I think resonated more with me than with the girls I was trying to teach. It was about setting goals, and how the things that we do now in life can get us to some of the more major goals we have for the future. For example, what do these girls want in their lives in one year? What about in 5 years, or 10 years? (They were all freaking out about that: "In 10 years I'll be 24! WEIRD!") And it is pretty weird to think about-in 10 years I'm going to have 3 teenagers, one of which will be dating and driving!

I loved this quote: No plan. No objective. No goal. The road to anywhere is the road to nowhere, and the road to nowhere leads to dreams sacrificed, opportunities squandered, and a life unfulfilled. -Thomas S. Monson

Anyway, some years I've made New Year's Resolutions, and some years I have not. When I was younger, I'd always have a huge list of things that I would be better at or would want to be doing, and of course January 1st I'd try to do all of them, and fail miserably. Sunday after my lesson, I sat down and wrote the things that I want to do this coming year, whether it's a habit I want to implement in my life, or a project that I want to get done. I also wrote down specific things that I want to do in order to accomplish my goals (a point my lesson made). And hopefully, as I implement some of these things now, it will help me as I get into what I want in 5 or 10 years from now.

So without further ado, some of my goals/resolutions:

Learn how to make freezer meals. I never know what will freeze well, or what to do when I want to actually use that meal (thaw it out for a couple of days? just put it in the oven for longer?) So I want to learn this fine art, and implement it in my life. That way, on the days I don't want to cook, we won't be tempted to eat out at yucky overly-salty McD's.

I want to scan in all my old scrapbooks into my computer. I don't know if at that point I'll make CDs of them, or if I'll keep my scrapbooks or get rid of them, or what, but I'll figure that out as I go along, I think.

I want to have Ivy potty trained some time in 2010. My friend told me about this book, of potty training when your child is 22 months old, and in 3 days. She did it with her triplets, and she said it was literally 3 days and they were all trained. If I train Ivy when she's 22 months old, that means March. (I get little flurries of excitement just thinking about how awesome it will be to NEVER change a diaper again!)

Scrapbook-digitally-the years 2008 and 2009. When I had done some of 2008 before my computer died, it didn't take me all that long to do. So hopefully...

Reading the Book of Mormon with my kids every night. We're really good about saying prayers every night, so adding reading to that shouldn't be too big of an adjustment.

Getting up before my kids do. I was doing awesome at this before my surgery, but after it was all I could do to get up with enough time to get Jake out the door.

Build up food storage. We have a bunch of "store and ignore" (food that's sealed and will stay good for at least 30 years), but I want to build up a supply for meals that we eat regularly. I have a little bit, but sometimes it's only part of the meal.

I could go on and on, but I don't need to re-write all my goals that I've already written down.

Happy New Year, everyone, and may you reach your goals and live the life you want to be living!

Hallow-yawn

Halloween came. Halloween went. And I really didn't do anything for it, because a) I've been feeling awesome, and b) two of the kids got swine flu the Tuesday before, so we were all kind of quarantined to our house for a couple of days. (By the way, Tamiflu rocks!) We didn't carve pumpkins, Brock didn't get to go to his preschool party, and I have zero Halloween decorations to put out in the first place. Just call me the Halloween Scrooge.

But, my kids were well enough by Thursday, so they got to go trick-or-treating with Pete on Saturday. Troy was "Optimus Plime" (according to him: most "r"s in words he replaces with "l"s), Ivy was a chubby butterfly, Jakob was Bumblebee, and Brock was Spiderman.

I'm glad that we got costumes over a month in advance, but I was kind of sad that I wasn't able to dress them up in something where they all fit together. Example: last year my friend and I dressed up our families as all the characters from "The Wizard of Oz", and it was so cute! It's just that every year my kids end up being super heroes, and I know that Brock has been Spiderman before. But I need to remember that to them the characters are so totally different, even if it's not to me. I kept trying to convince my boys to be a group, like the 3 Musketeers, or Blue Man Group, or the 3 Amigos. But they weren't going to have it. Maybe next year? But if not, oh well, because when I was a kid, I dressed up as Annie for at least two Halloweens.

Note to self for next year: don't be a Downer Dan about Halloween!

Things I Haven't Done in a While. Or Ever, for That Matter. And, Why I Should be Famous.

Blogged. (Which is obvious.) As my excuse, I've been reading Harry Potter books. I've also been doing really exciting, bloggable stuff, like laundry, and scrubbing bathrooms. Yes, I live a life of constant entertainment. I'm surprised the paparazzi hasn't found me by now.

I let my two-year-old play with sparklers.

Look at that sweet little face.

And then, while we were trying to see the fireworks by the river from my front porch, I pulled a super great parenting moment and wasn't paying attention, and he grabbed the sparkler and burned his hand. The best part: as we were running him inside to get his finger under some cold water, an ember or something landed in his hair, and singed his hair off, and blistered his head. He'll have a sweet bald spot the size of a quarter for quite some time.

Sigh.

My kids are spazzy. Oh wait, that's a constant.

Jake, doing some kind of karate move.

Brock with his aunt Lex.

We went to the 4th of July parade. I go every year, yet it's really not my favorite thing to do. But the kids got candy, so who am I to complain?

Me, my boys, and Dylan.

I ran in a 5K. My first, and most likely my last. I'm a super wuss, and so out of shape. I didn't even run the whole time, either. My macho dad pushed my gimpy sister in a stroller thingy the whole way, too, and he was still outrunning me. On Sunday I swore that my legs were going to suddenly detach from my body, they hurt so bad. Good times.

My sisters, mom, and I got a pedicure. I should seriously do this once a month (I've only gotten a pedi maybe three times). They have seat massagers that massage your back while you're getting your feet pampered. Love it.

Kar and me, feeling the massage love.

I ate a Tootsie roll.

A Tootsie with my cute tootsies! I'm so clever.

Went to the zoo, with my cute sister Beej and her hubby Spencer (they visited this last week from New York).

Uncle Spencer with Troy boy.

My kids were being little lazy butts at the zoo, so they rode on Lexi's lap with her healing knee while my mom pushed them all.

Brock, who wouldn't smile for a picture with his new favorite aunt Beej until her back was turned.

Brock and Brianna.

Trying some new little hair ideas with Ivy's hair. She's a constant mover, so it's pretty hard. But we're trying.

The 'do.

Ivy from the front. The hairdo looked great from the back, but made her look bald from the front. Oh well-live and learn.

I also went to a drive-in movie, went up for an evening of girls' camp, and swam at Heise Hot Springs. But you would know all that if the paparazzi were following me.

Here's to new experiences, and fun summer things that I don't get to do very often!

And a slide show for those that want to steal pics: