Shopping Trips…

I am getting SO bad at this blogging thing.  There will, undoubtedly, be time very soon (after school starts) for me to get things up to date, but until then, you'll just have to put up with the disjointed blog updates.  Yes, we went to band camp the last week of July, but you're not going to hear about that just yet.  Someday...  And, oh, are there stories to tell...

The girlies have been having shopping trips into each others' rooms lately.  Tonight is just another grand opening event, with the advertisements of "Everything is a Penny!" being hurled around like water balloons.  Since both of the girly bedrooms have stores, Dad and I were the only ones truly eligible for the initial shopping trips.  While Dad shopped the Hannah store, I shopped the twinks' store.  I got a special treat, one for which I paid a few extra pennies, in this little beauty:

Now, for those of you who aren’t living amongst our chaos, this is a drawing of the movie “Up.”  If you are familiar with it, you can appreciate Dug (the dog), Kevin (the bird), Carl (the glasses-wearing man), and Russell (the boy with the many Wilderness badges).  Ahh…  The fun never ends! :)

One Time, At Band Camp...

It's official.  I'm back to the pre-kiddos summer staple of a week of band camp.  Well, for one year anyway.  I'll go to Pitt and chaperone, but I'm not going to Hays.  Not happening.  I've given the man in charge a year's notice, which means he'll be after me for the next year to go.  Anyway...  A week of 201 (preliminary total) high school kids.  A week of dorm life. A week of seeing midnight and 6 AM in the same day.  A week of dorm food.  Don't want to go with me yet?  Well, I will admit, it doesn't necessarily sound like fun yet.  But add to that the hilariously fun group of chaperones we have, the great kids we get to work with (who totally outnumber the ones who get in trouble for behavior/attitude problems - although I haven't forgotten about those...), and the day of the parade and pre-game/half-time performance, and it is a pretty amazing week.  I always end up in tears during the pre-game show.  It could be that I'm so utterly exhausted by Saturday evening, but by the end of the week they turn into a phenomenal band. 

So, if you happen to be in the Pittsburg area on July 31, check out the band.  Yeah, the Shrine Bowl is there too, but really,  the band is SO much better! :)

Ahhh...SUMMER!

By the looks of this blog, particularly the lack of new posts, we are enjoying our summer.  It's true.  We've had so much fun thus far and are not looking forward to the prospect of school starting soon.  It has been a busy summer with several "firsts" for all of us.  But I'll take the time to go through those in a later post.  For now, it's just the big picture. 

We have spent time in Branson, at the farm, shopping, taking piano lessons, attending meetings, and reading...lots and lots of reading.  It has been a great summer. 

So...Branson.  We had a great time.  Stayed in a condo and spent a LOT of time in the pool.  We surprised the girls on the Monday night that we were down there when we went to see The Duttons and had Meme & Papa standing inside waiting for us. The girls had no idea and were totally shocked.  We met  an old friend of Gary's (not old as in OLD, just old as in he knew Gary several years ago!) and his family and had supper with them.  Gary then took all day Monday and went golfing with Matt.  He had a great time, and the girls and I did as well.  We took out on our own and went to the fish hatchery, swam and did oodles and oodles of shopping.  We didn't buy a lot, but it was a fun day for all of us.  It was really nice to be able to get away for a couple days and just have fun. 

And the rest will just have to wait a little longer.  I have to get ready to go to piano lessons...

Happy Father’s Day!

I know, I know.  I haven't updated this blog in quite some time, but I will.  Really.  Next week.  Until then, I wanted to wish the men in my life a Happy Father's Day.  I sent

this card

to my dad and thought I'd share it here.  Crosscards.com is a fantastic site! :)

School’s Out!

I know there are many parents who view the last day of school with despair, but not me.  I am at least as excited as the girls, and maybe more, that school is out for the year.  I love having the chicklets home with all of the craziness they bring.  

They had field day Monday morning and enjoyed it in spite of the typical Kansas heat and humidity.  More than one person commented that we have some runners in the bunch.  I’ve told the twinks several times that they’d be great cross-country runners with those long thin legs and endless energy. 

Yesterday was their final day in first grade.  Their class was named “Class of the Year” in music due to their exceptional behavior, so they got to have a party of pop and Dilly Bars.  It went over well, as far as they were concerned!  They’re looking forward to trips to DQ, to say the least.  While unpacking their sacks yesterday afternoon we were looking through some of the papers their teacher had sent home for them to do over the summer.  We started talking about math and what they had learned this year.  Addie’s response?  “Well, I didn’t learn anything in math this year.  I already knew how to do it.”  She’s right.  She went into the school year last August knowing how to do two-digit addition problems, which they ended the year with last week.  I seized a teaching moment last summer when she wanted to add big numbers, and she picked it up immediately.  We don’t stop learning around here in the summer.  I want them to learn as much as they can while learning is still fun for them.  At a certain point, with the public school system so intent on testing them until they just don’t care anymore, kids lose the joy of learning.  I don’t like it.  I love that they love to learn things.  I want them to maintain that joy of learning throughout their lives.  I want the same thing for myself.

They’re going to take piano lessons this summer.  I am looking forward to it, and so are they.  I’m excited for them to get the same joy our of music that I do.  There’s always been lots of music and singing in our house, and it looks like there will be even more in the coming months.  It’s a happy sound!

True Force

Before I forget, I want to tell you how much I LOVE the new Avon fragrance True Force for men.  When I was in college I loved Fahrenheit, and this reminded me so much of that yesterday when I smelled it.  I'm trying to convince Gary that he'd wear cologne, and then I'll get him some of it.  How exactly do you go about convincing a man that smelling good goes beyond the basics of deodorant and after shave?!  I'll let you know if I figure it out! :)  When I do, you can be sure he'll be wearing True Force...

FOUR MORE DAYS!

We’re ready for school to be out.  I’d like to think the early mornings will take a hiatus for a little while, but the twinks probably won’t let that happen.  They are EARLY risers.  They are typically up around 6:00 and sometimes as late as 6:20.  I know.  What’s wrong with these two?  Hannah, on the other hand, is our little teenager.  She sleeps in during the summer – 8:30…9:00…9:30.  Who knows? 

We had their awards presentations yesterday afternoon at school.  They came home with several awards and were/are very proud.  They should be.  They work very hard (yes, I require that, but still…) and deserve to be recognized for that hard work.   I am a VERY proud mama!

We had a funny incident occur late yesterday afternoon.  When we got home from school, the Avon order had arrived and needed to be unpacked, sorted, invoiced and repackaged.  They “helped” me do that, then we delivered a few orders and came home.  After we got home, Hope decided to examine the few things that I had picked up for demos, specifically the roll-on deodorant.  She asked who needed deodorant and I replied that I just got it to have/show/use.  She then decided to put some on.  Now, I don’t remember the first time I ever applied deodorant, but I don’t think I’ll forget the first time she used it!  I had to give her a lesson in deodorant application on her left armpit, then she put it on the right armpit.  We were both laughing.  After she finished her application, she left her arm in the air and exclaimed, “Man, it is s-l-i-m-y in there!”  She eventually lowered her arm and got back to the business at hand, but I was on the floor laughing at both the comment and the image of her with one arm in the air that will be forever burned in my head.