living la norma loca....

Uno.
I am loving Monday night volleyball! I’m playing on a team that whips up on everyone! We are 8-1. We dropped a game early on to a team that we went on to beat twice. Really, I shouldn’t get too cocky as we are going to be losing our best hitter due to his back surgery. This kid can hit anything. As a setter there is nothing more fun than running quick sets and watching someone drill it. ( And, yes I do expect J.T and Beth to come to one of my games since you attempted to go to one of Tim’s) ; )


Dos.
It’s a good thing I enjoyed myself yesterday because today I have to glue 360 some paper toppers on to large envelopes. Oh…. the joys of PTA.

Our historian

Luke loves History so it wasn't a big surprise when he said he wanted to do his media fair project on the book On Board the Titanic. He worked very hard on it. We are so proud of him!! Although, during the making of the iceberg we had a mishap with the x-acto knife, or I should say Luke had a mishap. Don’t worry he still has 10 fingers and 10 toes but it isn’t because he wasn’t trying to amputate them. I was trying to teach him how to cut away from the body when using a knife. Well...he hadn’t quite got the hang of it before he turned the knife on himself and cut his leg. Not bad but definitely worthy of a Backyardigans band aid. Just after it happened Luke says to me “When I become a father, because I’m pretty sure I will, I think I’ll make my kids turn eight before I let them use an x-acto knife”. I’m pretty sure I got a failing grade as his parent that day. Here’s hoping we can drop our lowest grade in this class!

my new love....

So...my new thing this summer has been long boarding. I love it. It is my most favorite thing to do with my free time. My “brother from a different mother” introduced me to it. It seems to be a good fit too because I married a “traditional” skate boarder. After deciding I wanted a board of my own we started the hunt for the perfect board. One thing you need to know about Tim he is the ultimate deal finder! So with great success we found the best board for ME. I emphasis me because every long boarder that gets on my board bails on it fast…they all hate it. But, I love it. It is a bit squirrelly but it carves better than a warm knife through soft butter. I haven’t been on another board I like better. Well, it didn’t take long for Tim (maybe 2 hours) to want a long board after I had mine. I think he was even surprised with how much he enjoyed the long board after riding short boards all his life. Since then we have spent much of our summer carving it up. You know you have it bad when in your mind you are constantly scoping out roads to ride down. I might have to start keeping a note pad in my car because the list is getting long. It is kind of funny that this 35 year old, mother of two, has just bought her very first pair of vans ( pink polka dotted no less). But I guess if you know me it’s not too far of a stretch and I refuse to let my age or how I spend my day or even what I ride define me ; )

Happy Birthday Luke!!!!

We had Luke's 7th birthday party today. Good times!!!
The pinata only lasted three swings ( a new record). We gave out punching balloons in the goody bags and I believe every yahoo ( I mean boy) left with theirs already popped. I can't believe we are celebrating number 7. What an indescribable blessing it is to be his mother. If nothing else happens to me in this life I have already been given more than I deserve.

aa..aaahhh..aaahhhh...two!

1. The “9/11 mastermind” Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and I share the same alma mater. He was there (a small North Carolina college) in the mid 80’s, I came in 89’. (I transferred on to a different school to finish my degree).



2. Last night was the opening night for my fall volleyball league. I love my team! I ‘m playing with some power house guys that can just kill the ball. This should be fun!

Awwwh Snap!

Guess who is going to be a bridesmaid? Yep, me! Can you believe it? The bride is 20... so I will most definitely be the oldest one up there. That’s okay as long as she doesn’t make me wear some form fitting spaghetti strap lingerie looking thing. Oh…the things we do for the people we love!

simple pleasures

Tim and I spent a couple hours longboarding at the park yesterday. It was hot and muggy but it just seemed the thing to do between the rains. It was a good workout and just plain fun. We also made a friend. I had to force this butterfly off my hand. What can I say... Bugs love me. I can't say its mutual but I did appreciate my time with this little guy.

keeping it real....

Blogs are a bit strange. I always struggle with what should I post or how much of myself do I share? I feel like I need to add a disclosure saying “in no way is this blog a full representation of me”. I wonder if I should share when my heart is heavy but do I really want to post such things on a place where anyone can have access … not really. But, I don’t want to be a fraud either. I want to be an authentic person. It’s not like on a horrible very bad day you are going to stand on a street corner announcing your hurts and disappointments to everyone that walks by. And, in someway putting those very same things on here makes me feel like I’m standing on 56th and Broad. So, there won’t be any pictures of the kids, or a story of how wonderful my life is. All I got today is this strangely vague post and my best effort to keep it real.

Happy 33 Timmy!!!

This picture always makes me laugh. He looks "special".

Happy 33!!!!!!!!!! We love you!!!!!!!!!

When Tim is gone...

1. I run out of cereal bowls, spoons and forks. I don’t cook big dinners when Tim isn’t here. I just stick to kid friendly easy stuff served on zoo pals. I can’t seem to remember to start the dishwasher when it’s practically empty. I know, I know, I should just hand wash….. NEVER!

2. The kids start to act a little weird. Luke has taken up knitting (promising to only knit boy stuff, by his own resolution ... not mine), and Libby is sleeping through the night. Typically, she calls out for us to open her door. Then about an hour later she calls out for us to get the cat off her bed. Then an hour later she wants someone to sleep with her. Kinda nice she has stopped this since I have no one to tag team with.

3. Something major happens with the house. The floor joists are going on today!!!!!!!!! Hip… hip… hoorrraaayyy!

4. The mail sits in the mail box for the week. I can’t seem to remember the mail!! I should tie some ribbon reminder around my wrist or better yet just have our mail held while he ‘s gone….hmmmmm.

5. I have no idea what is going on around the world because I forget to turn the TV on ( so if something major happens that I should know about, please let me know).

6. I get to watch all the chick flicks I want!! Seen any good ones lately? The sappier the better!

7. And, last but definitely not the least, I miss him.

Great day!!!

Well, there is no doubt that this has been a hard summer. It seems like things have been coming at us from all angles. For Luke his struggle has been loosing his most precious possession, his blue blanket. I can’t remember how or when his attachment with it started. I just know one day years ago it became a part of him. Every night before I go to bed I go into the kids rooms to cover them up and every night Luke had his blanket under his chin. And, when he is sick his blanket is the only thing that will remotely console him. Over the years I have taken his blanket to the tailor to get holes patched and the grandmas have done what they could do to repair the worn out corners and holes too. Tim and I have kept up with this thing for 6 or so years, never wanting him to lose it. I felt I had let Luke down when we came back from the beach and it was no where to be found. I called the hotel more than once and turned this house upside down. I have tried to tell Luke that his blanket was gone but never in those words. Every night for the past couple weeks he has cried and asked for us to look for it. Knowing there was no where else to look I would walk out of his room heart broken.
Well, today I picked Luke up from school and today was different as Libby is at my moms visiting with her cousins, and the neighbor kids went with their mom. So, today I just had Luke. We decided to go for a special treat, milkshakes. As we were sitting in the drive thru I leaned over and grabbed Luke’s backpack to check for homework and when I grabbed the zipper the small pocket in front opened. And, there fell his blanket. I grabbed it and held it up, Luke’s chin dropped. He has taken it to school with him everyday. On his back no less. No one thought to open up that pocket. It seems foolish really to have so much love for an object but when that object has been your source of comfort for all your life and then its gone what does foolishness matter? So, my hope is that this is just the beginning of the end of a really hard summer. And, we can find some rest in knowing that our boy will sleep much sweeter tonight.

Happy Birthday Libby!!!!!!!!!

Despite the scary storm in the beginning Libby's pool party was perfect. Actually the storm served us well, we had the pool to ourselves.
It is so hard to believe that our baby is 4!
We love you Libby lou!!!!!!!

Painted and Purtieee!

So much for being a stay at home mom. I might as well change my title to Rental property manager. I have been at our rental property all week… painting! At the moment I am a good mix of the color Kilz primer, Lindsburg gallery brown, and my natural skin color . The primer is the worst thing. You can’t scrub it off, it has to ware off. So, I look like I have some rare disease. Even my own mother in law asked me if I was “scaling”?%#@ Tonight is date night too! I just might be the only person out tonight in long pants and long sleeves. If I remember right, I think gasoline is the only thing that takes off Kilz. I suppose I have a choice of looking sickly or smelling ghastly. Lucky Tim!

We're home.....

Well, we’re home. We have been so busy since returning that it almost seems like we never left ;) Here are some of my favorite shots from last week. I don’t claim to be a “Kelly Michele” with the camera but I thought these were kinda creative. Tim actually took the one of us, just reaching out his arm and snapped, not bad, better of him of curse… I mean course. :)















I will miss this.

Happy Birthday to my mom and me!!!!

Yep! 35 years ago today my mom gave birth to me on her birthday. How sweet.

And, almost as sweet, she gave me her grandmother's diamond ring today. It is a family heirloom, lasting through five generations. I look forward to the day when I pass it on to Libby.

The last time my mom and I spent our birthdays together at the beach, it was 11 years ago and Tim purposed, so the way I figure it, I'm 2 for 2 for diamond rings on my birthday at this beach. Not bad! :)

Who's the crazy klepto lady from the eastern block?

Everyday I set up my little umbrella and chairs down by the water. I like to have a place for Tim and I to sit when the kids are playing in the gulf. Yesterday while I was sitting on the patio with my family I looked out and someone was sitting in my chair. I asked “who is that”? None of us knew. This lady stayed a while, made herself at home while we all just snickered about it. I didn’t care, I just thought it was kinda funny that someone would do that. Well, after a little while she gathered her things and moved on. No problem.
Well, then an hour or so later she came walking back by and the kids were building a sand castle. While their backs were turned she bent down, never breaking her stride, and picked up their purple plastic castle making thingy (looks kinda like a bucket) and kept walking. My sister says to my mom “that lady just picked up something”. My mom says “she probably just dropped her shoe”, Leslie my sister says “no I don’t think so it was purple”. I walk up and Leslie asks me if the kids have something purple they were playing with. I said “yeah”. So, Les and I went down to investigate, meanwhile this lady is just walking away. Sure enough Luke says he is missing his purple plastic castle making thingy. Leslie and I look at each other and say “let’s go”. We start running down the beach for this lady. We catch up to her and she is still holding my kids purple plastic castle making thingy along with a plastic shopping bag full of stuff (probably other people’s stuff). I said “excuse me but that’s my son’s” pointing at the purple plastic castle making thingy. And she says sorry but she just wanted something to hold her shells. I said “well, you can’t just take people’s things especially from kids”! She said she was going to return it. (Yeah, whatever)! Tell that to the police! Just kidding. I said “that wouldn’t have been a problem if you had asked” and she went into how she did but we knew that was a flat out lie and she probably wasn’t “all there” any way. So we got the purple plastic castle making thingy and headed back. We were baffled at her sense of entitlement from sitting in my beach chair to helping herself to my kid’s beach toys. This was definitely what I call a Seinfeld moment.

more on the beach....

On Monday Libby decided she didn’t want her floaty anymore and started swimming (the whole length of the pool). Peer pressure isn’t all bad ;) Luke taught himself how to back dive. And, Tim got Chris R. hooked on skim boarding. Here are some of my favorite pics so far.

We love the beach!

We are having a good time. It’s hot..hot...hot! It’s a good thing we are surrounded by water. I can’t believe I used to live here. I have become such a weather wimp since living in the mountains! The kids could stay out all day in the heat, I prefer getting started early and coming in late afternoon to avoid the hottest part of the day.
We got to hang out with Penny and family yesterday. They are staying just a few doors down. Luke and the Libster are loving having their friend Jordyn around. Well the pool is calling my name…..later.

We're off!

Well,we are off in a few hours for the beach. We are leaving before sun up hoping the kids will sleep on the way. Its a risk, I know. Libby is sporting a new do for our trip, thanks to her three year old friend Brynn. Yep, while Libby was over visiting her little friend they decided to give each other makeovers. Now, Libby has bangs and a couple of layers in the back. Nice.

First day in the first grade...

Luke is a big first grader now. He said the new kindergarteners look even smaller than he did last year. Its kinda funny how six weeks can change your perspective. It still seems a little strange to bo going back to school in mid July but we will be thankful for the big break come October.