Criss-Cross

Applesauce!!  Yup I made some this morning and it took forever!!!  A lot longer than I anticipated, so much so that I started doubting myself.  That I could take frozen apple pieces and make applesauce...I figured since the apples were already soft from being thawed it wouldn't take as long to cook down.  I was wrong!  Either way, I made some and it made 8 jars for my family to enjoy.  I am looking forward to this fall again and finding/getting/picking more apples and providing something wonderful and nutritious for my family.

Count Down

Well, not really.  I'm still on the fence about this school year being over.  In some respects I'm ready...ready for SO many reason and SO ready for Ian to have a fresh start next year.  I know every year I'm on the fence about them being out, but like I've said before we always seem to survive it and have a blast. 

With that said...not counting weekends we have one week left to go!!! Next school year Lee will go into Second, Ian into Fourth, and Dru will attend Preschool again.  They all had a decent year for the most part.

One week...still trying to process that!  I do have a bit of excitement coming on the last day of school.  I planned a party that I am excited about, I'm really not sure whose more excited, myself or my children.  I planned an End of the Year party for my boys and my nieces and nephews.

 I have to laugh though, and I'm going on a tangent here for a moment because this is SO me.  I sent my invites out and put all the pertinent info on there, date, time, what to bring...that kind of thing.  Well I said they should come when school gets out or when their parents will bring them.  Well of course AFTER I sent the invites out I got a piece of paper from one of the boys saying that the last day of school was a half day.  Are you kidding me!?!?!  I totally thought it would be a normal day, on Fridays' they get out an hour earlier than the rest of the week, so why do a half day?  Again, generally no one asks my opinion about these important things.  So if you haven't gathered, I wasn't expecting children until 2:30 or 3pm.  What was I thinking??  Now since school gets out at 12:15 they could all be here shortly after!!!  No, I love them all.  They'll just be here 3 hours earlier than I anticipated...hahahahahaha! (you decide what kind of laugh that is)

So back to the party, I really did just have to share that because that's so how thing have been operating of late.  I am keeping all things crossed that the weather will be nice...because I am really hoping that we can pop our new tent up and we are all going to camp out in the backyard.  OK well not all of us...I'm betting Frank will be sleeping in the house, party pooper! Or maybe he's the sane one here...time will tell.  On top of camping in the backyard we will be having pizza and soda and homemade applesauce (probably not exciting to them but I like my applesauce).  For dessert we are having ice cream sundae (who thinks we should just skip all the above and jump right to the ice cream?).  They were asked to bring their favorite ice cream topping.  Today we bought ours, we got chocolate sprinkles and Magic Shell-orange creme flavor...it was a really tough decision with tears and anger involved (seriously..mostly by the 9 and 7 year old...SO don't get that).  It will be interesting to see what the other kiddos bring, eclectic tastes all of them (SO didn't know there was a marshmallow topping until one of them had that at their house).  What I wanted to do was find an outdoor fire pit so we could do Smore's.  I didn't think it would be so hard to find but it turns out it was...some were melted thru and  some had gone through several.  One was melted from motor oil?  Don't ask...I think there was more to that story than I think I was willing to endure.

All in all I think it will be a ton of fun and I really, really hope that the kids have fun and this can be something we do every year as long as they want to do it.  I guess if the nieces and nephews don't really like it I can still do it with my kids.  You all know it's my life goal to be the coolest and most fave Auntie EVER!!

That night is going to be EPIC!

(let's just hope I live to regal you with stories and pictures!!)

Happy Birthday !!!

Happy Birthday to Charlie!!! Today Charlie turned 21 years old!  In dog years of course!  Ian was SO excited! (I think he was more excited about the fact that Charlie would get a beer on his birthday...wonder how many people/kids at school heard about this today??)   For Charlie's birthday dinner he got a hot dog (doesn't seem right I know!) and Bud Light!  What more could a dog ask for in this life besides a scratch behind his ears!

He dug the beer for a few licks but it's an acquired taste right?  Well that's what I told Ian anyway, he didn't get why Charlie didn't drink it all. 

The hot dog however didn't stand a chance once it cooled off and he could actually eat it.  He kept looking at me with this unimpressed look of "how am I suppose to eat this when it's SO hot lady???" Well, he finally took off with it into Ian and Lee's room (G-R-O-S-S!) .

 I think Charlie had a great birthday...good weather, good food, and good beer (well for a few sips at least!).  Can't imagine life with out Charlie, he just fits in so well.  A dog with UCD issues and a need for love and a personality to boot...fits right in with our house!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Useless

Useless...my boycott to sweep my floor because I live with 4 little pigs went unnoticed nor did they care.  To be fair though this boycott lasted as long as I could stand it...don't ask how long it was...too long!!!!

This is just gross...I hate sweeping and mopping my floors.  Right up there with doing laundry...sigh

List

Does the "To Do" list ever get smaller??? Honestly! I'm in the middle of doing dishes and my sink gets clogged.  We did Drain-o, but that was a few hours ago.  Poor Frank...one more thing for this guy to fix for me.  He's thrilled because now he has to take the pipes apart and well, he's not happy.  Note to self...draining taco meat in the sink apparently is NOT the way to go.  Even if I've done it several times before...what can one say...

We all kept busy today doing weeding and the likes, our lawn even got mowed thanks to Frank.  My hips still isn't up to that kind of work.  We all got a lot done today, even the boys helped out begrudgingly.  I am a bad mom though, I didn't put sun tan lotion on the kids.  Well, Dru was the one who managed to get his arms burned, no one else though.  I don't get that...so tomorrow dont' forget to apply the lotion!!!!   Honestly, how does just one kid get burned???

Whoopeee!!!

Believe it or not there is a park at the campsite we were at!! Heaven really is a place on earth...for a bunch of boys!!!!

The boys of course had a blast and Eli LOVED it! 

Here is Dru...I'm so glad he didn't give me one of those bad cheesy grins that seem to come with 4 year olds!

Lee climbing like the monkey he is!  He actually complied with me when I asked him to get back on so I could take a picture!  Shocking I know...sit down if you need to!

My baby! he had so much fun here and camping in general.  He really does love being outside, I can't wait for the weather to get nicer (this weekend and even tomorrow!! Finally!). He's going to have SO much fun playing at his "Park"!

My dear nephew "C".  After camping that weekend I don't think I'm the cool Auntie anymore but I love him...he's also 4...between him and Dru...these two were a force to be reckoned with...good and bad!  I sorta dread the day these guys get bigger and form an alliance together...his parents and Frank and I don NOT have a chance.

 Do we dare look ahead and wonder what they will be like when they are 16? 

Are you still sitting down??? Look another picture of Lee AND it's a nice one!  Don't mind the chocolate mustache he's got going (that's from a baggie full of peanut M&M's his Grandparents provided while Frank and I were away, nice right?...Oh well out of my control that one was).

Well I think those pictures pretty much sum up our camping trip.  Usually I have so much more, I don't really know what was different this time but it was what it was. 

I am so looking forward to some nice weather tomorrow and the weekend.  I was so mad I had to turn the heat on this afternoon.  I have been miserable since yesterday.  My hip went out again...and this time it is bad.  Bad like when I was pregnant with Eli...bad that I was planning on making it a pain pill kind of day.  Then I decided to take a chance and see if my Chiro was open today...I was so sure they were closed on Thursday.  Turns out I was wrong, they aren't there on Wednesday!  God must love me!  So I got adjusted and I go back in on Monday...I am in less pain but still pretty sore...thankfully there is something called Excedrin!!

I do hope I feel much better and more flexible tomorrow...it is really bugging me that I can't workout...I just want to walk...that's all! Is that asking for too much?? Is it??

Stuck

Is it a Monkey? Is it a Plane? Is it Superman???

Nope...it's just Uncle Ted stuck in a tree...sort of. 

He did eventually get himself down but he was up there because someone tossed a toy up in the tree and it got stuck.  Well he did too for a minute or two.

Poor guys arms were scratched to heck, but what's a camping trip with out a few bruises and scrapes and minor injuries...right???

I mean Ian and my nephew already proved that on my earlier posts.  It was a heck of an event just to get to camping for us...that's where our 'injuries' were sustained.  Literally as I was heading out to do my last minute errands before picking up the big boys from school, my battery died...it was D-E-A-D!! Unbelievable!  Thankfully my BIL (brother in law) came to my rescue as Frank was on his way home and tried to jump my car.  I want to say after about 45 minutes and several tries later we finally got it started.  (secretly I am now wigged out about this and am dreading my drive to Wenatchee with this 'issue').  So the car starts and off we go, I have now left in a HUGE hurry to get the boys and I get home (I do NOT turn the car off for fear it won't start again) have the boys throw their bags in their room and run out the door.  I did not get to leave and finish packing in an orderly fashion...that just means I forgot a ton of stuff and I feel rushed.  I HATE leaving like that...sigh.

  (It's not over yet...I know you thought it was but it's not)  So because of my car I decide to caravan with my in-laws who are leaving the same day/time as I am.  I am not big on caravaning...I find it annoying.  Now don't read that wrong...it's not the people I find annoying it's caravaning in general.  Anyway, I get to the in-laws and yes I've left the car running.  I get everyone out for one last potty stop and my FIL (Father in law) wants to test my battery with some gizmo-gadget thing to test if it's good or not.  To do that it meant I had to turn my car off...RISKY! A risk that didn't pay off...it didn't start back up.  The battery was no good.  By this time I'm pretty sure my FIL is going to blow a gasket...his time of departure has been delayed...by me and I'm almost sure he's not been fed recently! I wonder if he knows all his boys are like him in that respect?  Anyway,  I am glad that he checked my car however...I would have been one hot mess had I broke down with 5 children on the Pass...well either pass at this point.  So, $100+ dollars later and one new battery, we got on the road 2 hours later than any of us EVER planned.  We (my MIL and I) did eventually stop and feed my FIL and the kids...they are much more happier and complacent when fed properly.

So that was the start of my camping weekend, thankfully we had the cabin because of the rain, and we all made it in one piece there and no one had to be one hot mess!

Whew!