ummm....BRRR!

Ok, I know that there is alot of winter weather to come yet, but yowsers, it has been really cold the last few days! I think I would rather get 20 inches of snow than have this 10 below stuff!

I can't believe Christmas is next week already. Wow, the year is almost over and I have a feeling I didn't do very well on my resolutions for the year. I will have to look back, I know I blogged about them at the time. Part of the reason I know I didn't do well is that I can't even remember what they all were. Oops.

The main reason for today's blog is to show you what our family project was last night:

Colleen had gotten this kit for us a couple of weeks ago, so we decided to build it last night. It is not a professional looking house by any means, but as Haley said " we are not entering any competition and it's more fun to just do what you want." I let all 3 kids work at the same time so there were a few "hey that doesn't go there"s but nothing too major. Now the kids thinkt hey should eat it, I am thinking who wants stale gum drops?

My homework

Ok, so I must have been too negative in my last blog post, cuz my wonderful husband has given me an assignment of writing a 5 paragraph blog of all of the wonderful positive things in my life. (does this one count as 1?)

I have a wonderful family. This starts with the one that raised me, continues to the amazing man that picked me to spend the rest of my life with him, his family that has always welcomed me with open arms and then the three beautful children that we have been blessed with. My family is my support system and my sounding board. They are the ones who see my laugh, cry, scream and puke and yet they still love me.

I have a job. Most days I love what I do. I work with a great group of strong women. Some of them intimidate me, some of them inspire me. They all are great at what they do and what they do is not easy. In today's world, just having a job with a paycheck is something to be very grateful for. It's great to also have a job where what I do helps someone make a big difference.

I know I already used my family, but I also need to say how wonderful it is to have a healthy family. With all of the sickness that I see day to day, it's great to come home to healthy smiling faces. Sure, we get runny noses and light fevers at our house, but things could be soooo much worse. I know I don't win mom of the year by taking the kids in for flu shots, but I can't bear to think of one of them getting really sick. We have been very blessed with strong immune systems and I hope to keep it that way!

We have a nice home. Although we are looking at ways to "lighten" our debt, selling our house would be very sad. I don't know yet, what we are going to do. If selling our house does turn out to be the best option, it will be heartbreaking, but necessary. We will probably get a smaller house, but as long as we are all there, it will still be a nice home. The walls can be closer together and the garage colder, but we will be together and that's what matters!

I have the most amazing best friend. My best friend can tell what kind of mood I am in by looking at my face. My best friend knows that no matter how upset I am, the right words can make me smile and, yup, my best friend always knows what those words are. My best friend has been by my side for lots of happy times and probably just as many not so happy times. When I am depressed, my best friend knows that sometimes all I need is a hug and to be able to cry for awhile. My best friend has the best shoulders to cry on. My best friend made me the happiest person alive the day he asked me to be his best friend for life. I love you my best friend, my husband.

1 swear I think about you all the time....

Really, I do! I think about blogging alot, I just never actually have time to sit down and write out my thoughts. Well, tonight I have decided to take a few minutes and get a few things out there! Ready? Hang on, here we go!

People need to just suck it up and do their jobs. Really people, is spending 20 minutes complaining about not wanting to do something ever going to be productive? You are still going to have to do it anyway!

On the other hand, when people are asking you to do something that is completely retarded and will only cause everyone else in the 5 mile radius complete and utter misery, maybe you should think twice before just saying "ok, whatever you want". Sometimes the rich one in the room isn't necessarily the smartest! Seriously, think about it before agreeing to everything they say!

Overdraft fees are the most ridiculous things ever. Oh, you don't have enough money to cover that $5 check you just wrote? How about I charge you $35 for being poor. Oh and since we know you don't have any money, we are also going to try to take your loan payment out and then we can charge you another $35 for not being able to pay. Oh, look at that- you just transferred more than enough money to cover everything you bought today. Oh well, we are still going to charge you that $70 in overdrafts cuz you went to Hy-vee before you logged on to the internet to transfer. Moohaha (that is supposed to be an evil laugh).

If you live in South Dakota, learn how to drive in the snow (and then remember from one winter to the next). Just because there are a few flakes flying thru the air does not mean that running thru stop lights and trying to take out every pedestrian you see is ok. We have like 6 months of snow around here, do you really forget that fast? I bet you have your pin number for your atm card written on the back of it, don't you????

Whoever decided that Christmas should come in the winter when my photographer husband is not bringing in the amount of money that keeps us comfortable should also be the one to explain to my kids why all they are getting for Christmas is clothes. (and not much of that either)

I need to turn myself into one of those people who can't eat when they are stressed. I am really tired of being a stress eater, and always being stressed out. How on earth am I ever supposed to be a hot mom? That's right, my goal is to have my kid's friends think I'm hot! (is that weird or maybe even creepy? Whatever, I still want to be that mom!)

Whew- I feel better. I can breathe a little now that some of that is off my chest. There is still quite a backlog, but I think that is good for tonight! I think I need to get on the elliptical and sweat out some more frusterations.

Vacation Day???

I took today off of work because the girls didn't have school and I needed to get them in for some appointments. So, how does Wendy spend a "vacation" day?

1. Up at 5 am - run 4 miles in 43 minutes. (yeah, yeah, I know I'm slow)
2. Take Will to preschool at 8:30
3. Take Hannah to dentist at 9:00- no cavities, but she does have 2 really loose teeth that she needs to get out before too much food gets under them and causes cavities on the permanent teeth.
4. Quick trip to Mini Critters to get bunny supplies.
5. Take both girls to orthodontist. Haley gets to wait another year before going back. Her teeth are spacing themselves out pretty well for now. Hannah goes in Dec 10 for a fitting for partial braces. Dec 17 she gets them on. Oh joy- We will be using all of the insurance allocated money for her orthodontic and we still owe boocoo bucks!
6. Meet up with Scott and Will for lunch. We went to the Wildflower bakery and cafe downtown. Decent food, decent price.
7. Take all 3 kids to Hobby Lobby to get some "stuff" for Scott. Head home, drop off girls to play at home, head to studio with afore mentioned "stuff"
8. Take Will to Hy-vee to pick out snacks for Thursday's preschool.
9. Fold 3 loads of laundry, figure out Thanksgiving menu, clean a couple of kitchen cupboards.
10. Take kids to swimming lessons.
11. Make supper for myself and the kids. Scott is gone all evening to Imagemasters.
12. Workout #2 for the day- P90X cardio.
13. It is now 7:53 pm- typing on blog, need to get kids in bed. Desperately need a bath- sweating from P90X.

I can't imagine how many days I would need to have off before I would feel like I was "caught up". I guess I will never know, cuz tomorrow it's back to work! I did enjoy the day, though. Other than seeing the upcoming bill from the orthodontist, there was nothing stressful and I never once had to find something to do to look busy!

November- YIKES

It's November 1 today! How the heck did that happen? I am certainly not ready for winter, but it seems to be quickly approaching. We've even had snow flakes a couple of times already- EEEWW!

I just thought I would post a few quick pictures of this year's Halloween. Last Saturday we carved and painted pumpkins:

Yesterday Scott had a wedding (yup- a Halloween wedding complete with zombies and all!) I didn't go with him since he was only shooting for a couple hours. I stayed home and got our trick or treaters ready to go:

Haley has wanted to be a devil/angel since last Halloween so we found a costume she liked on the internet. We curled half of her hair and streaked the other half with red. You can't really see it in the pictures, but we did her makeup different on each side too:

Hannah pulled off the skelerocker look great:

Will was Bumblebee the Transformer. The only disappointment was when he realized that his mask wasn't the voice changing mask that you can get at the toy stores:

Scott and I recycled last year's costumes, but I think we still looked great!

Once Scott got home from the wedding, he threw on his mask and we headed over to Rob and Leah's for a Halloween party. Now that everyone has little kids, it's kind of nice to have somewhere to go without having to find a sitter!

Well, better get busy, type at ya later!

Still kickin!

Wow, it's been awhile, huh? I guess that means I am living a full life that doesn't have blank time to fill up with random computer use, right? Well, I certainly have been busy anyway. So, let's catch up. Since last time I wrote,

1. I had a birthday- yes I admit it, I had a birthday and am another year older! (whatever)

2. I got a cat - yes mom, I remember saying I was never going to get another cat, but seriously, have you seen her? She's adorable, sweet and she likes me! Meet Mazie, our newest addition. We adopted her from Second Chance and she is the most affectionate cat ever!

3. I applied for, got offered and turned down a different job at Sanford. (They changed the hours after I had my interview- idiots)

4. Hannah is still busy with soccer, Haley is busy with Lego league, both girls are in dance class and swimming starts in a couple weeks. Bored? NEVER!

5. I am trying to fall clean the house since I didn't do any spring cleaning. I have all 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms upstairs finished, but every room I clean adds to the pile of crap that I need to find a place for.

6. It snowed! Yup, it's October 11 today and yesterday morning we woke up to this:

Well, I know that doesn't begin to cover the reasons why I haven't had time to blog, but it's a start!

Long holiday weekend = wedding, state fair, lazy day

We started out the long weekend with a 12 hour wedding day in Worthington, MN. We had a great couple to work with so the day actually went pretty fast and we were home in time to tuck the kids in bed!

Sunday we took our kids and Kirby and Kyler to the state fair. Yup- 5 kids to a fair! Crazy? Yes! Fun? Absolutely! The kids were all great, the ride both there and back was pretty quiet thanks to the portable dvd player and we only lost 1 child for less than 2 minutes. (longest 2 fricken minutes of my life!) I suppose I should explain that one, huh? I was getting slushies for Kirby, Ky and Hannah. Scott, Haley and Will were just hanging out behind us. I turn around and immediately notice that Will is missing. As soon as I asked Scott where Will was, the look on his face sent me into panic mode! We are at the state fair and I can't find my 3 year old! Oh My God! A frantic 60 seconds (seriously, it might not have even been that long) later I see Will 50 feet down the midway sobbing and talking to a very nice lady. She said he told her he was with his mommy and daddy and now didn't know where they were. As soon as I picked him up I thought I was going to puke, all the panic just turned into "what could have been" Talking to Will about it later he said "I didn't walk away, I was just in the same spot and couldn't see you anymore so I went to find you" Oh my poor baby! Needless to say, next year he will have a leash! (just kidding- don't send me hate mail for wanting to put my kid on a leash)

Anyway, the rest of the day was great- here are some pics

Kirby told me that one of his goals for the day was to see a donkey- mission accomplished!
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Kirby, Haley and Hannah on Pharoah's Fury

I don't think Ky is really enjoying the ride...

Hannah was nice enough to go on some rides with Will..

Even Kirby took Will on a ride- almost looks like he's having more fun than Will!

Bubba got to check out some tractors too!

Today was spent being way more lazy than I had hoped. I had a list of things that I was hoping we could get accomplished today, but no one else was very motivated. I did go for a long run this morning. I think I ran a total of 6 miles and walked maybe 1/4 mile. Pretty darn proud of myself for that! Well, I'd better get to reading bedtime books, it's back to routine tomorrow!

My new preschooler.....

Isn't he just too cute? Will has been very excited to start preschool. When we went for his orientation he kept asking my why I was staying with him. He was ready to go by himself. When he woke up yesterday morning, he was asking how long he was going to have to be there by himself. Almost brought me to tears right then and there!

But, of course, being the "big boy" that he is, he did awesome! He was pretty talkative on the way to school, but as soon as we got there he got really quiet. He started to look really concerned while we were waiting to line up. I thought he might lose it when they finally got in line so I told Scott to give him "knuckles". That got a smirk from him so I knew he would be just fine. I didn't cry getting him ready, I didn't cry waiting for him to line up, I didn't even cry when he looked super nervous standing in line. As the whole line of little backpacks was walking away with the teacher, I started to cry. I held it together pretty well, no meltdown or anything. Just a few tears as I watched by baby turn into a little boy.

Relaxing Sunday, aggravating Monday

This past weekend was a mixed bag. Saturday Scott and I shot a wedding in Westbrook, MN. 3 hours total of driving, 7 hours of shooting. All in all, a long day!

Sunday we had a family fishing outing. We just went to Lake Alvin which is only about 10 minutes from home. I don't have a fishing license, but I don't think I would have had time to have my own pole in the water anyway! Instead of typing a lot of what happened, here are some pics. I will try to explain them as I go:

Haley caught the first fish of the day, in fact, her pole was the only one that was in the water yet! She was just a little freaked out by the "floppy thing". But, she got over it quickly and became quite proud:

Poor Will, still hasn't caught a fish, but really he just likes the pop and snack part of fishing anyway:


Hannah was soooo excited to finally catch a fish!

Shortly after her first catch, Hannah hooked a huge carp! The carp was not very excited about the prospect of being pulled to shore. Daddy had to grab the pole and fight for a bit. The carp won and took part of Hannah's line with him! If you look closely you can see the fish in the water and Haley's freaked out expression says it best!

Haley had the record for most fish caught (6) and she also took the record for smallest fish caught. Believe it or not, she caught one even smaller than this one!

Ummm....well it's Scott- no explanation needed......

Waiting for the fish to eat the last of the worms....

Today while at work Scott texted me. I believe the text was "uh- oh, can you call?" Nice, that doesn't worry me at all......So I call and ask "what's uh-oh?" Turns out my kitchen had flooded thanks to our dishwasher! Great, so here is where my dishwasher is siting right now....

Hopefully everything will dry up ok. Right now the cabinet is discolored along the floor. I am hoping once it dries it will go back to it's normal color. I guess dishpan hands are in my future......

First day of school

The girls went back to school today. Yes today, August 17. I know it seems like summer just started. Believe me, Haley would gladly have taken a few more weeks off, but alas, back to school it was. Haley was up at 5:20 am, she had Scott out of bed at 5:30 to make french toast and eggs. Hannah was up at 5:45 to join them. For maybe the 3rd time in her life, Haley asked me to help her with her hair- she even wanted it curled! So what do I do? I burn her forehead with the curling iron- great- she wanted to be girly and I had to go and ruin it!

Hannah had probably the best day she has ever had at school. I don't think she has ever told me that school was "so much fun!" She made 3 friends today- all in her class. She walked home all by herself after school and wants to walk to school by herself tomorrow morning! I think changing schools will be a wonderful thing!

Haley is too preteen to have had a good day at school- that just wouldn't be cool! She is still bummed about not getting the teacher she wanted, but I think that's just an excuse to be moody. She did fall asleep at the studio this afternoon- I wonder if she will be able to get up as early tomorrow????

Did you notice it's Monday night and I am at home? I quit my cleaning job! YAY!! I think Scott is even happier than I am about it. I applied for a part time job at Target and they emailed me to tell me I didn't get a position. Dumbheads! Oh well, I guess I will just keep looking and if I am meant to have another job, one will work out. For now, Scott is busy enough that it is better for me to be able to be home in the evenings anyway.

Well, I am going to sit in the tub and then watch Monday night tv - Weeds and Nurse Jackie - hopefully Scott gets home from the studio in time to hang out with me!

vacation= test in patience & stess management ( I think we passed!)

We just got home from a quick 2 day, 1 night trip to Minneapolis. I think this was probably the most stressful, patience trying trip we have ever taken (and we've been on vacation with sick kids before!)

We left Saturday morning around 7:00 am. I drove so that Scott could try to get a little nap in after his late night shooting a wedding on Friday. Since we were going straight to the Albertville outlets, I took highways instead of the interstate. There were a couple of weird detours, but nothing major. We were about 15 miles from Albertvile (on the interstate at this point) when we saw an interstate sign telling us that there was a crash ahead and to expect delays. Well, about 8 miles from our destination the traffic came to a halt- all 3 lanes. We crept very slowly ahead for about a mile and came up to an accident. Nope, not the one that was causing the issue, one caused by the congestion due to the issue. The next 2 miles took us almost an hour. At this point we saw an exit and escaped! This is when we discovered our new best friend on vacation- VZ Navigator on our cell phone! What a wonderful little application! It got us to the outlet malls without having to get back on the interstate- I think we might still be there otherwise! We had a great afternoon wandering around the outlet malls, the kids were even really good!

We went to our hotel- no major issues on that trip- thank goodness. We spent a couple hours in the hotel waterpark. They had a couple of waterslides. The girls and I went running up the stairs very excited to go down the slides. The girls each took a slide so I had to wait at the top. When it was my turn, I get in the slide and as soon as I started down the slide I started to panic. It was an enclosed slide and had I been 10 pounds heavier I think I would have gotten stuck it was soooooo small. Add to that the fact that it was pitch dark and the water was constatly rushing over my face- for a kid or even most adults that might be a great rush- for me who is claustrophobic- not fun at all! I was swearing within the first 2 seconds, praying by the next 2 and wishing to pass out by the end. Needless to say,I only went down the slides once. The girls loved them! Go figure!

Tucked the kids in about 8:45. At 9:00 the hotel staff was ushering people to the ground floor hallway. There was a tornado headed right for Maple Grove- yippee! Will and Hannah were already dead to the world, so it was great fun getting them up. The hotel was still standing 15 minutes later and we were all able to go back to bed!

This morning we used our favorite new application to get to Minnehaha park in Minneapolis. I did another feeble attempt at getting a picture of all 3 kids- some day it might work! I did get a picture of the sweetest little boy on earth, though! He was such a trooper- lots of walking this weekend but he did great!

I took this picture cuz Scott was making fun of Hannah for having a statue of herself at the park!

We went to the Mall of America for a couple hours. Will was so amazed by all of the rides in the park. We didn't go on any of them, but I think he could have just sat and watched them all day!

Hoping for an easy, uneventful ride home proved pointless. We were no more than 15 minutes down the road and we were at a standstill. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Turns out this one was due to road construction and one lane traffic. Once again we found a random exit and escaped. Seems MN likes their detours, cuz the highway we took had about 4 of them. We lost about an hour on the interstate waiting to find an exit so poor Scott was not taking any detour that did not head in the correct general direction.

Then we get to I90 headed west and we see this:

Now, I am sure it was just a "water spout" but after the 2 days we have had I was just sure we were headed towards a tornado!

We found our way home, the kids were all great all weekend. We had some trivia question books that kept the car ride entertaining and we are now home and happy!

Sometimes vacations seem like more work than they are worth, but we spent 2 whole days together as a family, no work interferences, no laundry, no cleaning, no errands. I don't care if we had been stranded on the interstate for hours, it was worth it!

2 weeks til school starts???

Seriously, the girls go back to school in 2 weeks. I feel like I completely missed summer. I think the strange weather is partly to blame, but we have just been so busy and never home to relax that I feel like we missed out on something this summer. Working 2 jobs has definitely caused extra time constraints, but thanks to the 2nd job we will be taking cash to Minneapolis next weekend and using that to buy some school clothes. Thank goodness the kids don't need much for clothes as of yet. I am sure by the middle of winter everything will be too small- guess they will get clothes for Christmas then!

So, what has happened since the last time I had a chance to post? Hannah started summer soccer- every Tuesday night for 9 weeks- Yikes! Especially difficult since we have to get her to Harrisburg by 5:45. Kind of a rat race, but we make it! Hopefully fall soccer will be a little closer to home with more reasonable start times! Haley went to a week of Lego League camp - she was one of two girls there! I think she had fun and she still wants to be a part of a Lego League team this year so hopefully she learned something too! Other than that, the kids have just been hanging out with Grandma during the day and with either Scott or I at night- depending on who isn't at work.

I did get my cleaning hours changed a little so that I clean Monday and Wednesday night and then I have to clean the bank sometime between Friday night and Monday morning. That gives us a little more flexibility. I am actually looking for a different part time job though. This cleaning thing is really hard to get motivated for. I applied at Target- they are opening a new store on our end of town. The cleaning company was the only place that called me after all the applications I put in, so I guess they are it until someone else calls. If Scott can stay this busy all winter maybe I can quit working part time and just help him more. His part time employee found a new full time job so he is back to being on his own. At least if I worked for Scott I might get to see him once in a while.......

Well, I should probably put my quiet morning to better use. Scott, Hannah and Will are out fishing, Haley is doing her Haley thing and hiding in her room reading a book. I have some laundry to do, a check book to balance and I really should put on some makeup. I think the pool will be calling our names this afternoon, so better get to it this morning!

Being a good mom is so exhausting!

Even just trying to be a good mom for an afternoon can take a lot out of a girl! We had Haley's friend b-day party this afternoon. WOW! Total of 13 kids for 2 hours. We had a luau theme. We did sand art bottles, had a limbo contest and a hula hoop contest. Haley opened gifts and for food we had fruit kabobs, chips and trail mix. I also made some "really awesome" (Haley's description) punch.

The kids all seemed to have a really good time so all the work and frusteration seems to have paid off. Haley was happy and that was my only real goal for the day. I am glad that we had the party outside and in the garage- 10 year olds have no concept of keeping things neat and clean. I guess it's not just that Haley is a slob- it's all kids her age! Good to know you are normal in that area Boppers!

Here are a couple pics from the afternoon.

Time for me to go collapse on the couch with the man of my dreams.....or whoever happens to be there........

Happy Birthday Boppers!

Haley Jae has hit the double digits! On July 3, 1999 Scott and I became parents for the first time at 11:54 pm. That's right- I was bound and determined I was not going to have a "firecracker baby" like everyone kept saying. Luckily Haley agreed with me and didn't take her time joining us! Weighing in at 6 lbs 15 oz, she was so tiny that I was more scared about holding her than I ever thought possible. Fast forward to July 3, 2009:

Just Haley and I went shopping to find her b-day outfit. I love getting to spend one-on-one time with the kids. It doesn't happen very often, especially with the girls, but we have a good time when it does! This is the outfit she chose ( I knew she was going to pick this one the moment she put the hat on!):

Then we went out for lunch. We went to Johnny Carinos cuz Haley is the carb queen and they definitely have that going on! Too bad we had bought jelly beans earlier in the day and weren't even hungry for lunch! At least they had take home boxes!

This year we ordered Haley's cake from "The Cake Lady" here in town. Haley picked French vanilla cake with chocolate mousse filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. Nope -wasn't good at all.........

We had her b-day party in our usual fashion. Grilled burgers and hot dogs, had cake and ice cream and then we were hoping to do some fireworks but mother nature decided that this year we needed rain instead. This is the first year that it has rained on Haley's b-day. The kids still did some poppers by standing in the garage and shooting them outside. Scott did light a few fireworks but with the rain I don't think they lived up to their full potential. Haley did make sure that everyone looked pretty by giving them some flowers from her cake. She even did grandpa Bakker's hair for him....

It is still raining this morning. We were hoping to go to lake Vermillion and hang out with one of Scott's photographer frients and his family. They have a boat and a camper. We were hoping to spend some time on the water and around a campfire. Maybe the day will dry up soon. Here's hoping!

Thank goodness it's Monday!

Bet you don't hear that very often! I am actually glad to be back to routine today. This past weekend was super busy! Scott's family was all in town for a reunion so we started out the weekend with going to Grandpa's for supper. We were home by 9:00 that night- not too bad.

We had a full day wedding on Saturday. I started at the salon at 9 am. We left the dance at 10:30. 2 of my cousins also got married on Saturday and we were able to make it to one of the dances after we were done shooting. The girls and I danced until midnight then we decided we should let Will sleep in his bed instead of just sleeping on daddy.

I was up at 6 on Sunday and went to the bank quick to do my cleaning. We went back to Grandpa Meyer's for lunch and then spent the afternoon taking pics of some of the newer additions to the family at the studio. To Royal Fork for supper and home at 7 for baths and showers. I think we were all asleep before 8:30. What a weekend!

I had given Haley my camera Friday night to take some pictures. Looking thru them this morning, I think I should have taken some more myself, but that's ok. I know there were at least a couple of other cameras there! Here are a couple she got:

Who is that little boy????

Scott took Will in for a haircut yesterday morning. I had been debating about just taking the razor to it myself but chickened out. I had told them to get it cut "a little shorter than usual". Well, this is definitely shorter than usual! He looks like a totally different kid! I guess since it's summer and he's a boy, it's only natural for him to have a buzz cut, right????

The girls had a summer singers concert last night at Terrace Park. Holy Hot! It's really fun to watch how into the songs Haley gets. She had actions for all the songs- even when no one else did! I love it when she actually looks like she is enjoying something!

Well, I gave myself a 5 minute time limit on the computer this morning so I would have enough time to get ready for work- I am already way over that time so I'd best be moving along!

Finally a summer-like day!

This week it is finally starting to feel like summer. Yesterday was warm and super humid. I had to work all day and in the evening so I didn't really pay too much attention to what it was like outside- too depressing. Today I only worked until 1, so I did what I could to make the most of another warm day. I went to the studio for about 1/2 hour to pay a couple bills for Scott, then I changed into my swimsuit and headed to get the kids. We spent about 2 1/2 hours at the pool. Scott joined us for the last hour or so. The kids all had fun, Will is getting braver and keeps wandering to water that is almost too deep for him to touch in. I remembered to put sunscreen on the kids AND myself today. It seems I missed a few spots on me, cuz I have random burned spots and the backs of my arms are pretty red, but that's nothing compared to my usual first of the summer burn! We came home and had supper and Scott headed back to the studio for an evening session. I mowed the front yard and most of the backyard- until I ran out of gas. Sure, I could go get more gas, but I was dripping with sweat and covered in dirt and grass. Mower out of gas? WOO HOO!
I've got Will in the tub and Haley in the shower. I am exhausted from all the fresh air and sweating. Scott was talking about us biking to the falls tonight when he gets home. Oy, as much as I need the exercise and really enjoy going with him, I don't know if I have it in me today! I guess we will see what happens......wish me luck....I barely kept up with him last time (I think he was taking it easy on me too- Yikes!)

Back at it, wishing for more vacation....

Well I am back at work this week and it seems I really didn't miss it at all! No big surprise to know that I would rather spend the days hanging out with the kids and Scott than go to work. I think work missed me at least a little so that is good. Wouldn't want to go back only to find out that I wasn't really needed anyway.
At least the weather hasn't been any nicer this week than it was while I was home. In fact, it's looking like we might get a good storm tonight. Too bad Scott just rode his bike to the studio. I may end up going to get him later.....
I was doing really well on dieting and running, but going back to work this week has got me all out of wack. Working hours and money stress and all I want to do is snack all the time. ARGH! I hope I don't undo all that I accomplished in the past couple of weeks. That would be really depressing.
If all of the brides Scott has been meeting with would just sign contracts and pay deposits, the stress eating part might get better. Stupid economy has everyone price shopping everything so it takes forever for them to sign a contract!
Well, I'd better get to giving Mr Will a bath. He has had bed wetting incidents two nights in a row, so he is on strict liquid restriction tonight!
Maybe I'll even try to get some time in on the elliptical tonight......maybe?

Week of vacation...Day 5

Well today is the last day of my vacation week. Tomorrow we have a wedding and it's back to work on Monday. I hope to squeeze a little more relaxation in on Sunday if at all possible. The weather may even cooperate enough for a pool outing. I'll keep my fingers crossed on that one. So here is today's rundown:
1. Up at 6:45- see, vacation is over and I am finally getting better at sleeping in!
2. 3 mile run- I must say, I prefer running at 5 am when there are a lot less people out and about.
3. Spent some time on the computer, checking email, reading Facebook, etc.
4. Trip to Hy-Vee. Will got to talk to some Firefighters that were there shopping. Boy did he think they were cool!
5. Leftovers for lunch- real exciting, huh?
6. 3 hours of board games with the girls. Spongebob Life, Bratz scavenger hunt, about 20 games of Rumikub. Scott came home in time to play a couple rounds with us.
7. Turkey Taco Pie for supper.
8. Quick blog update and off to part time job.
I may not have been able to take the kids to the park or swimming as much as I had hoped, but we did spend a lot of time together and that was the main reason for taking the week off. I suppose I'd better get moving, nobody likes a tardy cleaning lady!

Week of vacation...Day 4

Day 4 of my vacation turned out to actually feel a little bit like a vacation day. The weather even sort of cooperated.

1. Up at 6:30- I know, I am almost figuring out how to really sleep in!

2. 2 1/2 mile run- was going to be 3 miles, but it started raining so I turned toward home a little early, I know, I know- WUSS!

3. Transported the girls back and forth to summer singers. In between travels, stopped at the studio and helped clean a little.

4. The girls and I worked on getting some senior postcards out for Scott. They love helping with that! (read in sarcastic tone)

5. The sun was shining, but the temp wasn't quite warm enough for swimming so we decided to head to Sertoma Park.

First we stopped in the Outdoor Campus building and learned how to tie knots. I had never gone in there before, there were a few interesting things to look at.

Then, we headed out to walk some trails.

Along one of the trails, we found an Emerson. What is an Emerson? One of Haley's friends from school...

I wanted a picture of the kids and they thought it was cool that they could get inside of this tree. There must be some weird forcefield in the tree or something. Look at Will's eyes.....

Daddy even stopped by to throw Will around for a minute before heading to a shoot.

Of course, we had to stop at the playground too.


6. Stopped at Lewis and picked up some flowers. A little late to plant now, but what the hey! Who says your flower pots have to be filled by a certian day? And why would we listen to them anyway?

7. Brought Scott some supper cuz he had evening appointments and couldn't be home to eat.

8. Mowed the lawn and cut down some nasty plants in front of the house.

9. Took a nice warm bath to get rid of all the nasty plant itchiness.

All in all, a really great day. Looks like the weather isn't going to be as nice for the final day of my vacation. Maybe today will be the day that I sit on the couch.....doubtful!