Summer Hours

Today marks the start of summer hours
for my onetruelove.
His office will start one hour earlier
and end one hour earlier, all for
the joy of summer afternoons
filled with sunshine and sweaty
happy little boys.

Start time is early.
But he will be home soon...
I can't wait to hear the squeals of delight
and the pleading to play outside.

Water Play, Part 2, Section A

Big Brother Style

Water Play, Round 2

It was hot today.
Muggy too.
Did I tell you I felt like I might
mildew if I sat still too long?
Late afternoon water fun, again.
This time with a special guest.

Water Play

Absolute best
most fabulous
hot and muggy
afternoon in memory.

Bye Pie

Strawberry Pie

I made strawberry pie this afternoon.
It was yummy and great.
My little boys devoured it.
My husband said I made a better one last year.
No more pie for him!

Bottle Cleaning

A Graduation

The man in the blue strip cap.
Congratulations, brother.
How proud we are of this
accomplishment, added to so many
already on the list.

In Seek of a Boost

All week he has been locating
things to stand on.

Handcuffs & Barbecue

Yesterday I took my kids
to the mall and Chick-fil-a.
It was a glorious outing.

And this morning I took my
kids grocery shopping,
like we do every Thursday morning.
Miserable, horrible.
I may never take them with me again.

I probably have to take them with me, fine.
But first I’m going to handcuff them …
and I mean handcuff them to
the chain that is linked to their feet cuffed together.
Or I’ll tie them to the
front of the cart like you see stuffed animals tied
to the front of trucks.

On a serious note, I’ve always thought of
taking my kids to the grocery store as
an opportunity in training them. Training them
to obey, to have self-control and such.
So maybe it is me. Maybe I need to revamp
my strategy for my growing children.

And to add to my frazzled state,
I should have looked at the weather
before marinating chicken for my
onetruelove to grill tonight.
Early this week he grilled chicken,
it was fabulous chicken and he
has some quality time with his sidekicks.

Confidential to Cido & Tata

Wish you were here.
Hurry back.
Happy Birthday Roula!

A silly face photo.

A new tradtion for sure!

Tidbits

Cellphone images over the last few days…

Welcome & Bye-Bye

After a long winter,
our little Nolan had ear tubes
put in on Friday morning.

While we waited to check-in,
Nolan was a one man welcoming committee.
He greeted people with serious, and I mean serious,
shouts of glee.
And then yelled bye-bye at them
until he couldn’t see them anymore.

Gently Used

Navigating the world of hand me downs is tricky.
What is and is not appropriate to hand down?
Underwear? No, I think not.
What should a child have new of their very own?
Shoes? Yes, probably.
What should you do about a mom who likes to dress
her boys the same? And the oldest son who likes his
brother to wear the same thing too?
Seek intervention? Maybe.

I thought you might like to know
that I have had the same comb since eighth grade.
I remember the salon my mom bought it from, 2000 Cuts.
Still have the umbrella my mom bought me from the
Nature Store when I was a freshman in college.

And when I was a pre-teen (that is what we called them before the creepy word tween hit the market!)
I just knew I was going to be a Soap Opera Actress. I used to practice
the two most important skills a female soap opera actress needed:
crying and that awkward end of a scene look all the time. I figured I needed to be
able to cry on cue and I definitely needed a good end of scene look (I didn’t want to look awkward after all). I was going to be the missing daughter of Patch and Kayla
or Bo and Hope (Fancyface, if you will) for sure.
It was that or I was going to be the daughter of Johnny and Baby in Dirty Dancing II.

Post Music Class Slumber

Mother's Day