Uh-oh...

So this morning as I was arriving at the school to drop off Camp and Jane, Camp started wiggin' out. Apparently he had forgotten something very important. Desperately wanting to avoid any kind of breakdown, I quickly reassured him that we would return home to grab the forgotten item(s). On the way home, I asked him what he had forgotten. He hesitated and then said it was his homework. Since he had already told me he did not have any homework to return, and because I could tell he was not wanting to tell me the truth, I asked him to try again. Finally he told me that he needed to grab three shirts and a few pieces of paper. What for? For the club he is heading. It doesn't have a name yet, but it will be a ninja club and their meeting place will be the treehouse for which he is currently drawing the plans. Remember? Today was the day that each club member would be assigned a special animal spirit (thank you, power rangers) and be instructed on how to tie a ninja mask with a tee-shirt. Oh, man. I hope he doesn't get in trouble again. That kid....

I just don't understand.

You know what I don't understand? I don't understand why so many children's Halloween costumes have an entire extra head attached to the hood of the costume. Do you know what I mean? It makes so much more sense just to have ears or something attached to the hood and just have the child's face BE the head of the animal. That little horsey costume might look cute until you put it on your kid and suddenly you have a scary two headed monster. I just don't get it... I also don't understand how anyone could prefer pancakes to waffles.

Skip is six months old today. Danin is totally swimming on her own and knows how to add. Janey was her class's first star of the week (granted, they just draw a name--but still) and Camp.....well, we fought again today...Sigh...But, man--he's such a neat kid. He's been working on treehouse plans for the last couple days...

And I added a little fall to my front door for only a couple dollars. I bought the wreath base at the dollar store, the ribbon at Goodwill, and found the other berry sprays up in my closet. And for two bucks, I really like it. Oh, and see how my shelf is transforming just a little? I think maybe I"ll spray paint those little vases white, though. What do you think?

What do you mean, you don't like it?!

Remember that part on E.T........


And isn't it amazing how extremely difficult it is when you are so excited for your daughter to wear the darling jumper you got her for school and as soon as she puts it on (without even looking in the mirror) she declares she doesn't like it and will not wear it? Oh, my heavens--I think my blood pressure spiked!....And all that hard-earned money down the drain... I didn't handle it too well, I'm afraid, even though I know exactly what the good mom thing to do is. But I apologized during breakfast and told her that she is not the only one who has ever been particular about her clothing. I was a bit the same way. So I should understand. I'm trying to understand. Maybe she'll like it when she tries it on tomorrow...

Skip's crawling forward!

So we're back to school. Camp is in Second Grade and Jane is in Kindergarden. And I'm not sure who has been more excited--me or Jane. Jane is just one of those kids that is cut out for school. I knew she would love it, and I was right.
Both of them really enjoyed their first days. I remember Sister Avina video recording her youngest boy walking to school while I was growing up and thinking, really? But I happened to have the camera with me while I was waiting for Jane to get off the bus, so I thought, what the heck. :) Notice she was the only one on the bus. Even cuter. Oh, and she finally got her cast off!! So that's that...
You know what one of the hardest things in the world for me is? Being private. It is really hard for me to not tell people the things that are on my mind and in my heart. I think I have a harder time being private than anyone else I know. And because I know that saying too much about my private business is often not a good thing, I have spent a good deal of time analyzing why I struggle with this particular quality. And I still haven't totally figured it out. But I have realized at least one thing--that I much prefer having close relationships with people to just having acquaintanceships. I like to really know people and have them really know me. You know what I mean? I cannot feel close to anyone who does not know what I struggle with, etc., and about whom I do not know the same. In fact, when I have a friendship with someone who does not know about the hard things I have experienced in my life, I almost feel like I am being dishonest. Isn't that crazy? And I just really enjoy feeling close to people. So I really struggle with using discretion with the things I disclose to people. I'm sure you can see how this can be a really bad thing. But anyway...I'm not sure why I am talking about this. Oh yes I do. Because I am struggling with upset feelings right now and my first inclination is to telephone the world and tell them all about it. Not good. Well, actually, my first inclination is to call my mom and tell her all about it. But she is in Texas and I don't want to spoil her trip with my rantings. I know. I know. I shouldn't tell my mom everything. And I don't--not everything. And my mom is really good at letting me know when I am wrong, and I really appreciate that. And I live a thousand miles from my mom, so she only hears about the things that will otherwise render me unable to cope. Anyway, so do you want to know a few things about me? Don't answer that. Here they are, regardless of whether you care to know or not:
I hate having cold/dirty feet so I wear socks almost all the time. (I also do this to help keep my carpet clean as my grandma taught me that the oils in our feet soil our carpets)
I'm very particular about my hair.
I have no real desire to travel.
I love to talk about feelings.
I am left handed, but I use scissors only with my right hand.

I'm In The Mood

So tomorrow is our last day of summer vacation.  Ours has been pretty good, except for Janey having had a  cast on for almost its entirety.  And that meant no swimming while everyone else was swimming and pretty much no playing in the sand--and we live in sand.  Thank goodness this broken leg thing happened to Jane because she is definitely the only one of my kids who would have been ok with sitting under a tree or something day after day while everyone else was having fun.  I mean seriously.    The other day I asked the kids if I am a mean mommy or a nice mommy.   "Mean mommy," said Camp.  "Mean mommy," shouted Danin.  "Nice mommy, " declared Janey.  "Perfect daughter," thought I.   But anyway...
At the beginning of August, we got to enjoy visits from both Brooke and Addison and Merritt and April's family.  Oh, man.  I miss all of them so much.  It was so fun having them back.  The kids had a ball, Brian and I got to go out on a triple date with Merritt and April and Jim and Deena,  I was introduced to German pancakes and Pinterest (I'm just starting my boards) and Brooke and I got to spend a whole night talking about decorating.  I'm not sure she knows what she started--or restarted, rather.  But more on that, later.
Guess what else?  I ran my first trail run yesterday.  Yep.  After a week of absolutely no exercise (well, I may have run to the mailbox a time or two) I ran a 15K trail run with Brian down near Sunset Bay.  And we stayed together.  I told Brian he didn't have to stay with me, but he decided it would be fun to do so, since he does so many races nowadays.  And that's my type of romance.  Spare me the lighted candles and lingeree (yes, I spelled that wrong on purpose).   The only thing that could have made it better  would be for us to have been laughing and tellings jokes the whole way.  Remember, Laura?  Keep  mooooooving...  But anyway...That was our first time running a race together, and it was really, really fun.  I love to feel like Brian is proud of me--you know what I mean?  And I got a new tee shirt--my new favorite tee shirt, in fact.  It's blue with yellow writing and it fits just right.  It just might make it onto my favorites list this year.  Man, I gotta start writing those down....Anyway...
Things are going really well right now.  We've experienced some little miracles that have really helped relieve some of our stress and we've been more able to just relax a little.  The kids and I have tagged along on Erin's adventures all summer long; Camp has started a duct-tape wallet business (they're three bucks a pop, if you're interested); Jane has drawn and colored a million pictures and packed a back-pack full of little dishes and stuffed animals every time we've had an outing; Danin has come to love peaches (we've been devouring peaches from the local produce stands); and Skip has just learned to crawl....backwards.  Hmmmm...I wonder what that means--developmentally speaking.  Yikes.    And me?  Well, like I mentioned previously--Brooke rekindled my decorating fire.  Not that it ever went out.  I just wasn't in the position to do much of it for a while so I made a point to kinda stay away from decorating blogs and stuff, and just kept rearranging things.   So it was soooooo fun for me to get a little of this fabric and make me some faux roman shades for the kitchen.  I even found a super easy tutorial to help me do it with almost no sewing!  And did I tell you how I picked up some chairs at an estate sale recently?   They're not the parsons chairs I dream of having custom slip-covered around my table someday, but I really like them just the same.  They're definitely better than the ugly mission-style ones I had for so long.  Yuck.    The only problem was that the seat fabric was horrendous.  A little of this fabric, though, and they're looking much better.   Oh, and then I finally got around to putting together my other driftwood wreath.  Maddie gave me that idea, and I love it!  I know, I know.  I don't have the right things to sit atop the shelf with it quite yet, but maybe I'll ask for some pretty white apothecary jars or something for Christmas.  What do you think?   And lastly, I came across this tutorial  for making a slip cover for my wing back chair  out of a painter's drop cloth!  Perfect!  So that's what will be keeping me busy next.  Ahhhhh....nothing like a little decorating to lift a girl's spirits.  I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S. One last thing about Danin.  The other day, the kids and I were going around the block before dinner and Danin had gotten ahead of us.  Before long, though, she came pedaling back and said, "Skip the drama."  They're exactly like parrots, these kids of ours.