Catch up thru some pics!

I finally got my camera, the card reader for the computer and some time all available in the same night! Here are a few pics of the last 6 weeks or so that I have been neglecting on the blog!

This is the last day of school. Can you believe it? I feel like I just blogged about the first day of school. Except that Lainey didn't have a cast, I wasn't pregnant (actually about to do a triathlon) and Lainey didn't know how much she would come to LOVE Mrs. Barnes! We had a great year!

The week after school got out, the storm hit our neighborhood and the trees hit our house! Here are a couple of better shots with a real camera--not an iPhone. What you are looking at is our backyard. There wasn't a square inch without fallen tree branches on it!
Here is the tree and the actual damage done to the roof. We found water damage inside about a week later. It's not all fixed just yet!

We came home a few days ago and Rhody asked as we pulled into the garage, "Where are our trees in the backyard?" Where the heck has he been? It was kind of funny actually.

We celebrated Lainey's 6 year old birthday--a week or so late because of the cast. Lainey has been planning her swim party for about 10 months! Gobby made another awesome cake and Lainey and friends had a great time!

The boys (Sam on left) all got buzz cuts at the beginning of the summer! Uncle Blair did all of them in one day! I wasn't sure about cutting Bo's hair off but I actually like it a lot. They all look great and it's nice for this HOT summer!

All the kids were dying to take my camera and take a few shots. Here is Rhody's picture! 

Here is Bo's shot. Lainey was trying to help him out!

A cute pic of Ridge and Bo from church on Sunday. These two are adorable, stubborn and should keep us on our toes for years to come! Precious!

All three--pre buzz cuts!

Have a great day!

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

I love kids. I think they are so funny. They can say things adults could never get away with saying.

Here are a couple of examples from my precious children!

Yesterday, Lainey and I were out somewhere together. (I have already forgotten where!) Anyway, she looked at my tummy and said, "Mommy! Your tummy is so big that it looks like you could have the baby tomorrow!"

Yeah, I'm due in OCTOBER!

Just deleted part of this post that my husband said might not be very nice. Yes, I have a husband that can be more sensitive to other's feelings than I am. No surprise. Just know that Rhody said something very funny and inappropriate. 

OK. I got permission to print the following story about Rhody.

Warning:  Dad, I am about to throw you under the bus. Don't worry, I have been there plenty of times--it's not so bad. 

So we went swimming yesterday at my parent's house. My kids were pumped that my dad (Poppy) was going to get in the pool with them! We were all in the pool when Poppy joined us.

Rhody welcomed him by saying very enthusiastically, "Poppy! You have boobies!"

We all laughed. Poppy laughed the hardest. 

They only way this is funny is because my Dad is 68 years old and looks better than most people who are 20 years younger! 

Bo woke up the other day and immediately started talking. The norm for him. He started saying names, "Nana, Poppy, Mommy, Daddy, Lainey, Rhody, Jack Jack, Sambo, Nic, etc." He named a few more and then said, "Those are my People." 

Since when does he have "people?"

Then today Lainey came down while I was watching a Michael Jackson biography. She watched a few minutes of the early part. She said, "I like the littlest one. He is a good singer." Even a six year old could recognize that Michael was the star of his family.

Then they showed a picture of Michael from the cover of Bad. Remember that album?

Lainey looked at it and said, "Bad. He looks bad. Like a mom."

I waited a second and said, "Did you say 'like a mom?' What do you mean my precious child?" Or something like that!

She said he has long hair that is curly and some makeup--like a mom. 

Everytime they showed a picture a Michael at different ages, she asked who it was. He looks so different each time.

Have a great week!

Everybody's doin' the locomotion!

I have mixed emotions tonight. 

Love that it is summer. Hate that it is so freakin' hot. In June.

Love air-conditioners. Hate that the upstairs stopped working for a while tonight. Love that it did come back on. (I hesitate to say anything because I don't want to jinx it.)

Love that I have an ice cream treat waiting for me. Hate that I still feel full from dinner--my stomach is shrinking while my belly is getting HUGE!

Love P-Y-T and Billie Jean. Hate that Michael Jackson died--living a strange, confused life. Still love me some Thriller. (I did see Michael and the rest of the Jackson's in concert during the victory tour. I was in 6th grade and it was my first concert. It was awesome! I might have worn a rolled up bandana as a headband to be cool.)

Love So You Think You Can Dance. Love the DVR even more!

Love that we have a home to live in. Hate the way home owner's insurance works. Hate deductibles that are extremely high. But did I mention, grateful to have a house and insurance?

Love the casual style of summer--no makeup, easy, comfy clothes. Hate that I go too many days without showering and looking in the mirror only to find some major eye brow issues and other skin issues.

Love that my children all finished swim lessons and loved them. Hate that my 6 year old daughter was discouraged because she knew most of the other girls swim faster than her. (it felt like a real "parenting" moment to hear her disappointment and frustration when talking about "losing" the relay swim. I didn't even think she noticed that part. She doesn't like failing at things and I can see that I will have to re-frame her definition of failing. She wasn't interested in that little life lesson tonight. The whole thing left me a little sad for her.)

Love that we had our first dinner guests tonight. I have no conflicting feelings about that!

Off to eat and watch tv. 

Yea, the title had nothing to do with the post. I like any 80's or Tiffany references.

I am so popular

Think of the song from Wicked. Pop-u-lar.

Seriously, I am so popular right now. Well, actually not me--more like us and our house. Really, it is just our house but since I live in it--that sort of makes me popular too.

Every neighbor has come by to see us (it). I have had phone calls all day.

But not for the reasons I would pick. Take a look at what happened this morning during the storm.

We lost almost every tree in our backyard.

This picture is actually during the clean up but I can't figure out how to move it to the bottom of this post. We are at my folks using their computer. Because we don't have power--and won't for a while.


It must have been straight line winds at very high speeds or something. It literally uprooted one big ol' tree and knocked down two others.

It did hit our house. See the poor gutter? And the edge of the roof?

I was home with the kids when it happened. We were actually in the boy's room--right where the trees fell--when the power went out and the winds took out the trees. I heard loud, cracking and popping sounds and thought it might be really big hail hitting the house.

I got the kids quickly down stairs and immediately saw a huge tree right outside of our backdoor. That's all I could see out of the back door--tree, branches and more tree.

Then I got the kids set up with a movie on the laptop and sort of freaked out. It was actually a bit scary. But then Kyle, my folks, our tree guy (who happened to be in our neighborhood), followed by the roof guy, then the fire department, and then OnCor all were at our house. Plus, lots of concerned friends and neighbors.

The power is out. The yard is a mess with all the carnage from our trees. It will be a few days before it is all cleaned up. We have a 5ft mound of tree branches on our front sidewalk.

But we are safe. And have family close that can put us up for a night or two.

Oh yeah, my car that is sitting in our garage--has a completely flat tire.

oh well.

We are in "New House"

I am pumped and feeling rather brilliant because I totally hooked up our internet (including wireless access) all by myself tonight! (only one slight phone call to Rob). I am so back online! I have been living on internet access strictly from my iPhone for the last two weeks. 

I still believe the iPhone is awesome but it's not easy to search for denim bedding or search for anything for that matter on an iPhone. I got to keep up with my email and occasionally check some blogs. Of course, it took 15 times longer to read those blogs, but I didn't want to totally lose touch.

So, we moved! We are in our new house! We love it. Except for Bo who has multiple times said he "didn't want to live in new house. I want to live at we house." He means our old house when he says, "we house." But we are thrilled to be in this house, out of the other house and slowing down a lot. 

I have thought of so many things that I wanted to blog about when I didn't have internet access. Like how Home Warranties are bogus. They cover some things and not others. They covered some of the plumbing issues but not the plumber having to get on the roof. You know the story.

Or how nothing is on tv right now. Except for So You Think You Can Dance!!!

Or how I never want to move again. 

Or how I was told by the doctor that I need to eat more of that yogurt--the probiotic something or another. You know, the one Jamie Lee Curtis advertises. Just more proof that I am getting older.

Or how I still love warm glazed donuts.

Or how my youngest child is the most independent kid I know. I think he said, "I do it myself!" before he said "mommy."

Or how we are having another boy!!! Thought it was a girl after a couple of early sonograms but clearly it was a boy in my 20 week sonogram! We were definitely surprised. I love having boys so we are thrilled. Just don't have any names just yet.

See, I guess my blog didn't miss much. I didn't have a whole lot to say. 

Glad to be back online.