This,That, and the Other Thing

In the interest of desperately needing to update my blog even though I've had nothing to say for over a week, (yes, my life can be THAT uninteresting) I've decided to post this photo:

Isn't he cute? We noticed this little baby bird perched in our gardenia one day. If you look closely you still see down feathers on his head. We think he may have been resting after his maiden flight from the nest. I've really been enjoying my new digital camera. Well, maybe not that new any more, it's almost a year old! Wow, time flys! Anyway, for those who care, it is a Panasonic Lumix FZ30. It has 8 MG and 12x optical zoom. I love it! Last month I signed up for a photo challenge online. It was a lot of fun. We are given a list of pictures to take. It's like a scavenger hunt with your camera. At the end of the month we choose our favorite one and submit it to a poll. The winner gets a small prize and bragging rights. This is the photo I submitted:

The challenge was a lot of fun. We should find out in the next day or two who won. I think I'll do the September one, too.

Anywho, let's see, life update, hmmmm. Kai and Alyssa have started back up with Karate. This is Kai's 4th year, Alyssa's second. Alyssa is in an AGP class for Language Arts this year. Our church just moved to THREE services. I know, it's insane, but no-one asked me my opinion on the matter! Oh, on the issue of just replacing our new air-conditioner, now we need a new roof. And, OH YEAH, my sister, Andrea, and her beau, Jerry are coming to visit this Labor day weekend. We've not met him yet so we're looking forward to it. Roan's birthday is next Tuesday, September 5th, he's turning 4! Well, I think that's all for now. Enjoy your weekend!

First Day of School!

Well, I sent the kiddos off to school today! I know, this isn't the best picture, but it's all I have! LOL! Don't be fooled by Kai's expression either, he's actually very excited. He loves school. He was sad when it ended last year and very glad to be going back.

As an update on the AC, we are finally getting a new unit this morning! YAY! We've been without AC all week and Tuesday it was so hot that we actually stayed in a hotel for the night. But, would someone please tell me where the $4000 is going to come from? I will give 'props' to our friend Chris who referred us to a friend who will save us at least $500. All of Dean's research was coming up with the cost being at LEAST $4500. So, there is that.

Catch-up and a Challenge

This week we've been concentrating on getting ready for school. Last night we went to our 'Champion Check-in' to see who the new teachers are and get a glimpse of their new classroom plus fill out a truck load of papers, get our carpool number, browse the school store, and join the PTA. They even had a Mad Science demonstration and free food from Xaxby's, Wendy's and Ci'Ci's pizza! I was impressed. They definately did a better job this year. It was more organized and less crowded. We still have a few school supplies left to purchase. Hopefully, I'll get that done today.

This past Sunday, we had a church picnic. They went all out this year! Eastlake rented three shelters near the Saluda Splash at Saluda Shoals Park. All three shelters had food, the kids could play in the Splash, or the playground. They also rigged up a cool downhill slip-n-slide, and even had a dunking booth! But, the highlight of the afternoon was a 'FAMJAM' teaser! FamJam is a monthly one hour family extravaganza that runs on Saturday nights during the school year. The kids love it. At the park, they did a Diet Coke/Mentos demo! The kids were screaming and some of them had umbrellas! It was a lot of fun.

On a less enthusiastic note, a couple of weeks ago we had to buy a new dryer. Now, we have someone coming over this afternoon to replace our AIR CONDITIONER! Contrary to my children's personal opinions sometimes, money does NOT grow on trees! Just keep us in your prayers, please! One small blessing is, it happened now, when the weather is a bit kinder rather than a week or two ago when the whole country was about to spontaneously combust! Last but not least, I am once again responding to a 2peas challenge! I had to interview my family with the following ten questions:

1. What is the funniest thing I do?

• Roan (almost 4)-Laugh
• Kai (8) - ???
• Alyssa (10)- Tickle daddy
• Daddy- ???
• Me- As you can see, the men of my family are not cooperating! Either that, or I am just NOT funny!

2. What is my favorite TV show?

• Roan- Pirates of the Carribean
• Kai- Passions
• Alyssa-Passions, Big Brother
• Daddy-Big Brother
• Me- OK. My favorite TV show is Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Smallville, House, Bones. But, I can see why they didn't guess that! In my family's defense, none of these shows plays in the summer and Big Brother is about the only thing on, so that's all they see me watching right now. (And I hardly ever watch Passions anymore! Sheesh!)

3. How tall am I?

• Roan- <------------This big!---------------->
• Kai- 7 feet
• Alyssa- 5 feet
• Daddy- 5'11'
• Me-5'11'

4. What is my favorite thing to do?

• Roan-play
• Kai- Scrap
• Alyssa- Read
• Dean-Read
• Me-yup!

5. What makes me sad?

• Roan- When people take toys away
• Kai- ???
• Alyssa- When I have to discipline them
• Daddy- The thought of something bad happening to the kids
• Me-All of the above!

6. What makes me laugh?

• Roan-When he makes silly faces at me
• Kai- ???
• Alyssa- TV shows
• Daddy- The kids
• Me- yes, and Dean, too!

7. How much time do I spend on the phone?

• Roan-<-----This big----->
• Kai- 3 hours
• Alyssa- If it's someone I want to talk to, 3 hrs
• Daddy- Don't know, doesn't matter anymore now that we have Vonage!
• Me-all right, in my defense, I don't like talking on the phone in general. I don't even like to answer it! However, occasionally I will talk to my sisters for an hour or two.

8. Am I a better driver than Daddy?

• Roan- yes
• Kai-no
• Alyssa-no
• Daddy-no
• Me- 'atta boy, Roan, you got my back! LOL! Here's the rundown. If you want to get somewhere fast, you want me, if you want your car to last a long time, you want Dean.

9. What do I do while the kids are at school?

• Roan- eat lunch
• Kai- take Roan to playgroup
• Alyssa-take care of Roan, go to the grocery store
• Daddy- watch Roan
• Me- I plead the 5th.

10. What should I be famous for?

• Roan-toys
• Kai- Scrapping
• Alyssa- Singing, drawing
• Daddy- artwork, photography
• Me- I'm not sure what Roan's talking about, but *blush*, I wish I was famous for those things!

That's all folks! Have a great week!

CKC Charlotte

This past Saturday, I went to Charlotte with two friends of mine, Deborah and Leanet. We went to attend the Creating Keepsakes Convention. (Scrapbooking!) We had a lot of fun! I took three classes and loved shopping the Vendor Faire. At lunch we met with other Peas! (members of our online forum) It was great being able to finally meet some of them face to face. I love the forum 'Two Peas in a Bucket'. It is fascinating talking to people from all over the world about our love of scrapbooking. We all made name tags so we could identify each other. I won a prize for the best nametag! Thanks Deborah, for the RAK! Some of the other peas also brought gifts for everybody.Two of my classes were with Donna Downey. Deborah and I took the last class together. DD was a lot of fun! She is very funny and cute. By the end of the day, were were very tired but still quite able to enjoy an excellent dinner at Outback Steakhouse on the way home!

Now, back to life, back to reality....This week will be full of preparations for school. Yesterday, we got Alyssa's glasses repaired. We also have to schedule physicals for all three kids. We still haven't gone school supply shopping or clothes shopping. Next Monday is the big 'Champion Check-in' where we find out what teachers they have and fill out papers, get another school supply list, get our car line number, etc. etc. etc. A necessary evil, I suppose. And school starts next Thursday. Another necessary evil, I suppose. Most parents are glad at this point that school is back in session. Not me. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy having a few hours to myself, but Roan is still with me most of that time, so I'm not totally alone. And the trade off is getting up at O dark thirty in the morning and dealing with homework. YUCK. I hate homework. I know, I'm supposed to be a grown up and grow up. But in this case, I think I'll be stuck at age 12 for the rest of my life! So, instead of rejoicing, I'll be mourning the end of summer! We did have a pretty good one. We started off with a trip to Connecticut to attend Aunt Terri's graduation. Then we went to the mountains for a couple days with Grandpa, Grammy, and Aunt Amy's family. We've had lots of fun family time with daddy playing board games, watching movies, going swimming, going to the zoo, going to museums, going to work with daddy, going to Frankie's Fun Park, and just last week we went to the beach for the weekend! So can you blame me? Summer is almost over, and back to the grindstone! Oh, well. Que Sara Sara! (did I spell that right?)

10 Surprises

This is in response to a 2peas blog challenge: Ten times in my life that I have been surprised!

1.) When I was in 5th grade my parents showed up at school and pulled us out of class to take us to the county fair. We never got to miss school for stuff like that, not even our birthdays! And we'd never been to the fair before, so it was a real treat!

2.) For my 16th birthday, I was in class at school and my mom walked in the door with a cake!

3.) One year I opened a gift under the tree and it was a guinea pig! They only had it wrapped on three sides so it could breath and my parents couldn't believe it stayed quiet all morning and didn't give himself away!

4.) A couple years after getting married Dean gave me an awesome Camera (Nikon 5005) for Christmas!

5.) In the early part of our marraige, we were visiting Dean's Nana. It was Sunday morning and we were getting ready for church. I had just showered, was COMPLETELY naked and Nana walked in without knocking! When she saw how embarrassed I was she said, 'Honey, you haven't got anything I've never seen before." and walked back out!

6.) For Dean's graduation from college, friends who graduated with him (a married couple) took us on a 7 day Carribean Cruise all expenses paid!

7.) I used to work in a swanky law firm. One day on my birthday, Dean showed up dressed to the nines with flowers and serenaded me!

8.) It was a really cool surprise the day Dean came home from work and announced he had been promoted to Vice President with a substantial raise! (The business was only around for about another year, but it was nice while it lasted!)

9.) I am usually a hard person to surprise. I'm nosey, inquisitive, etc. Especially when I have reason to suspect something. Nevertheless, my friend Karlene managed to COMPLETELY surprise me with a baby shower.

10.) It was a real surprise when I received my first email asking if they could publish one of my layouts in their magazine.

This was a cool challenge. I have a smile on my face as I sit here remembering all these surprises and typing them out. It was fun!

Our Fabulous Family Vacation

Wow, it's been a while since my last post, sorry! Been pretty busy. This past weekend we went to Folly Beach, near Charleston, SC. We had such a great time. This was really the only vacation we've had this year with just us. We drove down Saturday morning and went straight to the beach. We ate lunch first at a great little mexican place called 'Taco Boy'. When we first walked in we immediately loved the ambience. They had these great straw chairs and a HUGE wooden table that would seat anywhere from 16 to 22 people depending on how crowded you want to be! It belongs in some old medieval castle or something. LOVE IT! Also, the bathroom was really unique and cool. But, to the important stuff! The guacomole was the best I've ever had and the taquitos were fabulous! We've kinda come to expect to pay a lot for a mediocre meal when at the beach, but this was a wonderful surprise. I am SO going there again next time I get to Folly. As for the beach itself, Folly is a great beach! It's a large flat beach with plenty of room. We were there at the end of July and it wasn't even that crowded. It was a very windy day so the waves were huge. All the better! I had bought a body board for the kids, but the last time they went to the beach (about 2 years ago) they were still scared of the waves, so I wasn't sure if they'd like the body board. They loved it! Alyssa was fearless! Kai was amazing! Even Roan did not seem too afraid! He was all in the surf looking for shells and rolling around! He also enjoyed chasing the seagulls and of course the inevitable sand castle. In spite of our diligence with the suntan lotion, we all did get a little too much sun, but not too bad. We were there for over 4 hours! We finally packed up and went to our hotel. We cleaned ourselves up then went to dinner at a locally owned pizza place called 'Andolini's' (I think). It was New York style pizza. I had a cheeze calzone. YUM! On Sunday we went on a boat ride to Fort Sumter. That was cool. We even saw dolphins on the way back! Later we saw Ant Bully in 3D at the IMAX theatre. Finally we headed home. It was a very short vacation, but very sweet.

As an aside, though, I must mention that when we arrived home about 10:30 pm, we walked in the house and it was HOT! The thermostat was at the very top (90*) . We passed a very unpleasant night. The next morning we looked at the air conditioning unit and it was infested with ANTS! (Kind of ironic after having just seen 'The Ant Bully', a movie that wants you to view 'the kinder, gentler, ant') We've lived in this house for over 8 years, but this year, all of a sudden, they've decided they like our AC unit. They are apparently drawn to the electricity or something. They get up in there and gumm it all up and the AC stops working. We've had to clean them out at least 4 times this year! And believe me, this is NOT the week to be without AC! Anyway, we once again cleaned out all the ants, laid out poison, etc. and things are back to normal. But, for how long???