'S Hot

204/365

This is what happens when we get hot.



That is a Hot Fuss. Poor Sam, he takes after me I think, when he gets hot, he gets miserable. Too miserable to make much sense. (Yeah he could be my child.) He didn't want to drink, or swim, or move from touching me. Which, I gotta tell you, it was too hot for that. I didn't want him sticking to my lap. He didn't perk up until there were popsicles. But again, this may be my child IF, he likes popsicles...and he does. Chris likes to drink the juice, and Sam just wants it all, even the little plastic papers afterward.

But Sam didn't want to join in the pool unlike Big brother and the other kids at the festivities when we went to Amy's for a MOPS friends playdate.



At first Chris wasn't too interested in getting very wet, but we talked him into it, OK the other kids talked him into it. And he joined in, and he got wet, and he joined the assembly line taking cones, filling them with pool water, and cleaning off the picnic table. Why?



I don't know. But they were cute.



Somehow there was a black hole of time, all of a sudden, it was lunchtime, and we went inside. Ever notice how the kids don't care it's 90 million degrees and 99% humidity? Nope, they must still be retaining their gills, because I just get so hot and gross, sweating in places I didn't even know I had places. And I'm going to Florida next week, in the most hot time of the year, I'm going to central Florida. Even Eric thinks I'm Crazy. God Bless Air Conditioning. That's all I have to say about that.

Mommy Gets Out

203/365

Today was a great day to escape with the girls. For lunch the boys and I escaped to Chick Fil-A Clearwater to meet my sister and her (our) friend Jenni. It was Li's first time INSIDE Chick Fil-A. She's a Fan. We had a good long visit, while the boys went bonkers in the play area. I came away really Counting my Blessings as I drove home in a torrential downpour.



As if I wasn't blessed enough being able to get away with my gals and boys for lunch, I was able to escape a bit after supper too. Got to go see Eclipse with my MOPS moms. (Too funny, I initially typed the movie title Escape - haha) After which we headed over to Cold Stone for some ice cream and almost book clubby discussion. Talk about having a lovely day of quality girl time. Just what I needed!

Now I gotta start planning for next week!

The Village

202/365

Ever have one of those days where you wake up feeling a bit like this?



Yeah, me too. Today was that day. When that happens, it probably would be best for me to get a giant squirtgun. Mommy was woken up on the wrong side of the bed, by Daddy's alarm clock which in turn woke the kids and the dog, and though they all went back to sleep, (or work) it wasn't all at the same time, so I only got another 20 minutes or so of sleep in spite of trying for 3 mor hours. I finally got up Grumpy.

Well, the boys and I were all on the edge. So we got dressed, and headed to the library for our Sign Language class. It was all Chris could do to pay attention and that was barely. We had been invited on a playdate with our Mom2Mom group, and I'd debated going because I wanted to make sure we got an early nap. But in the car, I got to the point where I was like, I Don't Care, we're going, I need some grownups.
Probably so I didn't beat anyone to a pulp. But also, Chris is better in a public, and I'm a better parent around others.
This turned out to be BRILLIANT! They were doing water balloons in the backyard when I arrived. Just happened to have a couple 'emergency' swim diapers in the diaper bag. I hadn't planned on coming, hadn't packed drinks, or food, or anything. We just showed up. But the boys had a great time, the lept right in to the water balloon fight. OK, Sam got on the grass to watch the other kids have water balloon fights.



But the Chris brought a balloon over, tossed at Sam's belly, where it promptly bounced right off his belly and splashed in the grass.



Back to the balloon bin for Chris. Can you spot him, he's the Really Pale one in a swim diaper. Nice look. Not quite white-trash-baby, but close.
Sam just watched.



But it was even more awesome when the giant squirtguns were brought out. Chris and his friend Bryn had quite the battle going for a bit. Both of them toting guns almost as big as themselves, but when Sam got a hold of one, we all laughed. Of course, he didn't quite figure out how to use it, just got water all over himself when he undid the cap, and he got mad when he got wet.



But going outside, and letting the boys get as crazy as they wanted to with friends did a lot for my mental health. Sure it was hot, but I didn't care much. It felt better to just sit with other parents, equal opportunity yelling, and all looking out for everyone's kids. It was nice. Nice to have a group of mom's to just Be with for a bit. I'm lucky I've got a lot of friends like that, my two mom groups, and I'm so blessed with great friends. Made even greater when they appear when I need them most.

They say it takes a Village to raise a child. I've got a Really Great Village!

Practice Sharing

201/365

Sam's friend, Nathanael, and his mommy came over to visit today. Nathanael is Mobile, totally surprising me for a 6 month old. So toys on the floor were up for grabs. So were toys that Sam had, that he tempted Nathanael with, like this telephone, which the baby stuck in his mouth and chewed on. When Sam realized he wasn't getting it right back, he flopped down in full tantrum. It was pretty funny.



I know it's funny that a 15 month old and a 6 month old were having experiments in sharing, since neither really gets the concept, but it was sweet. And on some level, I think these two got it better than big brother does sometimes.

Grownup Girl Time

200/365

God Bless my Mother in Law! She took the boys this morning so I could go to the eye doctor. As if letting me have the peace and quite to peruse a People Magazine wasn't privilege enough, she also let me stay out and play with my friend Colleen. Colleen lives in Dublin, (Ireland not Indiana) but she gets to come home periodically. On a rare occasion, she's able to pencil me into her very busy calendar. It just turned out she had some availability this morning. It's sad, they don't do Coffee in Ireland, tea breaks mostly, so really, I HAVE to help her stock up while she's here. So Mom kept the boys after my appt, so that I could go have a nice Cuppa Cuppa with Colleen. We had grown up girl talk, without the boys. Even though they are often the subject of discussion, how refreshing to just be able to rattle on about girly stuff without interruption. After the last week of insanity this morning was such a refreshing break.



It so happens the nearest Starbucks to the eye doctor just happens to be inside a Target. Oh well, HAD to do a little shopping too. I picked up my third pair of sandals for Sam this summer...we keep losing them, I suspect he keeps throwing them out the car door, and some other Cute sneaks for the boys. I'm super pumped! So I got to do coffee, shoe shopping, and see the Eye doctor, All By Myself. What a Treat!

I Stink at Saying Goodbye

199/365

Today was the Going Away Party for Eric's brother Ryan. He and the girls are moving to Spain next week...Barcelona! Most likely while we'll be in Florida. It occurred to me too late that this was probably the last time I'll see them until Christmas. I debated even going to this wingding. But I Needed to see them one more time, and I wanted the boys to play with Alexis and Kaylee. Sam and Alexis were playing on the stairs together. Sam won't say Alexis or Kaylee, we tried to get him to say their names, but he just won't even try. He just looks at me, like really woman, how about something easy like Go? It makes me sad that by the time they see him again he'll be saying their names. And Chris just runs wild, he was all over the place, but he LOVES to play with his cousins, today he was having a great time with his cousins and their friends pretending he was a knight running wild with a sword. Aren't the cousins so Sweet together?!



I hate Goodbyes.

I hate saying them, I hate what they mean, just hate them. I mean, I'm excited for them and all, they've been dangling on a string for 6 months as Ryan has been doing rotations in Spain, leaving the girls here. It's been Icky for all parties, so I'm happy that at last they'll all be together. But there's a major Selfish factor in that I think I'd rather have them here. I try to keep my heart and eyes on the positives, of which there are many, on one hand I'm So Excited for them, but today,tonight, I just feel sad. I didn't even know what I was going to say when presented with saying goodbye. The party was so busy, I didn't hear many sad sappy goodbyes being said. I suppose if I'd even started to try, I'd have burst into tears. Luckily, or unluckily, depending on how you look at it, I had to high tail it out of the party with boys that were melting down in need of sleep, so my goodbyes were waved. I didn't even get to sit and chill with Ryan and Amy today, and that makes me feel bad, not that I would've known much what to say. I've just been leaky eyed all evening. Did I mention I hate goodbyes? And the words just haven't been coming to me.

But sometimes in just the act of a wave and a blown kiss goodbye to someone you love, perhaps words don't even need to be said.

Stormy Sunset

198/365

Nice weather all day. And as we're wrapping up a simple little cookout celebration after the VBS service tonight with friends, a nice storm started rolling in.



This was the end of my street. It's so dark around us, the lights were coming on, yet we could still see snips of blue sky. Cool.