Tutti Frutti, the Blog (hehe)

OK, so I didn't get to blogging in the morning. It's now 7:21pm. Yeah, that's definitely not morning. BUT, I'm getting it done. hehe.

I decided not to do the run on Friday. Because I was up till midnight the night before. So yeah, being at a run at 6pm? Not so much. hehe.

I got the kids to school, their LAST day. Tom and Eme brought the cookies, and were pleased about it. I showered, and got all pretty, and Jim and I headed out to Walmart.

1st of my 3-44 oz waters for the day

I turned on the hose to top off the pool's water, and Jim and I headed out. Yeah, I forgot to turn it off... oops.

We went to Walmart, and were there for about 45 minutes. I got all the pool chemicals that I needed, and a few other things, and we headed back home.

Yeah, it was kinda full! But, it didn't overflow, so it was all good :)

Pretty looking, huh?

Check out the new water bowl/system that I got for Boxer!

I got Jim off to the bus at 11am, and sent some cookies with him for the bus driver. I hung out at home for a bit, and at 12:30, I headed to Terra's house for lunch. I brought my microwave dinner and apple, and hung with her for about a half an hour. We watched some TV, and then I headed to Tom's awards ceremony.

There was a line to get into the gym (great...) so after waiting around for a bit, we were finally seated. Dang, some of these girls had on prom style dressed. In 5th grade. They were taking this awards ceremony seriously... hehe.

Tom did super good. He had the most AR points in the school, and got a trophy for the 200+ AR points.

Trophy for A/B Honor Roll

He got Medallions for the TAKS test in Science, Math, and Reading.

I had to leave a few minutes early to go and grab Jim from his class, before he got on his bus. I got him to pose with his teacher, Ms. Villa, before he left :)

And back we went to the awards ceremony.

Is it almost over???

Jim had this photo from one of his first days of school in his bag of stuff. SO cute!

Jim found some other friends from preschool and sat with them.

Finally, it was over. hehe. I snapped a few pictures of Tom and his awards.

Tom and Mrs. Coleman

And then we headed home. Jim and I wanted to get in the pool. We swam for a little while, and had a ton of fun. I found out that I can swim laps, if I try hard. LOL.

Amanda came over around 3:15pm, and Austin and Jim swam for a bit. Then, while Amanda and I had our backs to the pool, we heard this HORRIBLE noise. Rushing sounds. We turned around, and one of the sides of the pool had collapsed! That bubble part on the top! We hurried over, and pulled it back up. But look that the FLOOD it caused!

I guess maybe it DID get too much water when I left it running while I was at Walmart. hehe. Oops. No worries, it'll dry. It's a desert.

Laurie and kids came over around 345pm, and had fun swimming until 4:40pm ish. Kids had popsicles, and Amanda brought watermelon, and we had cookies left over from school. Everyone had a great time.

We got out of the pool at 445pm, and got kids changed real fast, and headed out to the baseball games. I dropped Tom off at his game at 510 (a bit late) and got to Joe's game at 515. And they had team photos.








Jim played at the park, and Eme and I watched the game and read. I chatted with Joe's buddy Christian's mom, Louann. She's pretty cool. She confirmed that they still wanted Joe to come to the water park on Saturday. He'd be pretty excited.

Soon, the game was over, and the team did their cheer. Cute, huh?
And we loaded up, and drove on over to Tom's game. He was happy to see us. They'd just watered the trees, and there was mud EVERYWHERE. Eme and Jim both managed to step in it. Nasty. Eme took off her shoes, and spent the rest of the time in the truck reading. She didn't care to watch another game. hehe. Jim played with his buddies, and I watched the game.

After the last game, the coach got Pizza for the team, and they had a little party. And got trophies. Nice, huh?

He didn't wanna smile...

Tom and his coach :)

They had extra pizza, so Joe and Jim each got some, and we took some back for Eme. And headed out at around 7:30pm. And drove on over to the Youth Center to get Jake. And on the way home, the kids decided that they wanted to have a night swim. Hmmm, I'm sure I could use this to my advantage....

I told the kids that IF they wanted to have a night swim, that they'd have to clean out my truck first. hehe. And they didn't complain AT ALL. They got it looking pretty good, too!

At 8:00pm, I opened up the pool, and the neighbor kids got in too, and until 9:45pm, we had a pool party. Well, I sat and watched. I was done with the pool by that point.

Boxer didn't wanna get in the pool. hehe.

Once everyone was out of the pool for the night, we all grabbed blankets and sat down and watched a movie. And yeah, that's why I didn't blog yesterday. Because by the time time movie was over, I was SO sleepy.



I ended up snuggling with the kids on the couch, and had such a good time. Jake and Boxer went to bed after, and Joe and Jim and Eme and Tom had fallen asleep downstairs on the couches/floor, so they just slept there.

Tutti Frutti

OK, don't worry. Today was a SUPER FANTASTIC day. Just really busy. And long. And I'm super tired. It took HUNDREDS of pictures (ok, only about 60, but still), and had tons of activities and fun, and I have lots to blog about, but I'll do it in the morning when I wake up.

It's now 11:30pm, and I'm most of the way through a movie with the kids. Well, just Jake and I are still awake. I got to snuggle with Boxer, and Joe, and Jake, and Jim. I'm gonna go finish up the movie, then go to bed. Night, all!!!

Click on the link below to go to my acount to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Sharon, hon, these colors together are marvelous! Love the layout :)

Good Vibrations

Got some fabulous new releases for you guys this week! Click HERE to go and give it a look. 20% off, or $2.00 per pack the first week, like always :) Enjoy!











Holy cow, SUPER busy day today. But it was a good day :) So I can't complain :) But I AM extremely tired now...

Woke up a few times in the night to pee. Yeah, the downside with hydrating yourself. Usually I NEVER do that... hehe. I woke up at 6am and went out and turned the hose back on the pool, and checked on the kids. And tired to sleep until the my alarm went off at 645am, but I was awake. I checked Facebook and played on my phone in my bed for a bit, then went out and joined the kids when the alarm finally went off.

I sat in the back yard in my lovely jammies, and read my scriptures. It was SO peaceful and quite out there. And not too hot, not too cold. Just PERFECT! I absolutely loved it.

Jake left for school at 7am, and Tom and Eme and Joe left at 7:30am. And I got myself ready, and hung out in the backyard for a while longer. Because I liked it out there :) I made sure that the portable DVD/TV was charged for Jim to use during the awards ceremony for Eme, and got my stuff together.

My first of 2- 64 oz waters for the day!

He liked hanging out outside too!

ALMOST there...

Jim and I got to the awards ceremony at 8:32. 2 minutes after time to start. hehe. Not bad considering I woke Jim up from a DEAD sleep at 8:20. Pretty dang good, in fact. hehe. Poor kid. I'd packed him a sack breakfast, so he was good :)

Eme did SO well in 3rd grade this year. She got tons of awards on a classroom level, got 100% on her Math TAKS assessment test, only missed 1 on her Reading TAKS test (got medalions for both), got a trophy for being on the A Honor roll all year long, and got the 2nd biggest trophy in her grade for getting the 2nd highest AR (accelerated reader) score in 3rd grade. She had 248 points. Well done, Emeline!








We were home at 10am, and I had to pee SO bad I almost didn't make it. Seriously. I'd drank the entire 64 oz at the awards ceremony, and yeah, it wasn't good. I was literally dancing in my seat. It was a close one...

We got home, and the pool was ALMOST done!
I figured out that the filter's intake/output valves were wrong, so I figured out how to switch them around. Kind of. At least it pumps now. hehe. I still think I did it a bit wrong.

I turned off the water right before taking Jim to the bus. It was FINALLY full. I needed to go and get some pool chemicals. I dropped Jim off at the bus and headed to Big Lots. Surely they'd have something there. They sell pools, after all.

Yeah, not so much. Lots of pools, lots of toys, no chemicals. Drat! I did find a few other fun things, though.

I went home, grabbed my microwave steamer dinner thingy, and an apple, and my 2nd 64 oz water, and headed to Terra's house. I ate over there, then she and I and the twins loaded up, and headed to Costco. Amanda came too! It was a good time. Surely Costco sells pool chemicals.

TONS of samples out today, and I resisted each and every one of them. Well, I take that back. I asked if they were sugar free, and if they said yes, then I'd take them. I had some vitamin water that was HORRID. And some fizzy flavored water that was do-able. Barely... I'll stick with what I have already, thanks :)

I think this is my twin. Right, Terra?

My kids were gonna be SO excited to see that Mom got the new book!!!

We dropped Amanda off at her house, and Terra and I and the twins continued on to the commissary. I didn't need anything, but the social time is all good :) LOL.

She grabbed a few necessities, and I ended up with some cheap steaks and a can of re-fried beans. ha!

We headed home, and I had enough time to go and grab Jim from the bus. The pool was DONE! Hip Hip HORRAY! Jim SO wanted to go inside of it and play. And what did I do? No pool until your room is clean and your chores are done. He cried and cried and cried.

So I went into his room with him, and helped him separate his stuff from Joe's, get the shoes, and the dirty clothes, and the clean clothes, and the trash, and everything cleaned and sorted. He left Joe's for him to clean when he got home. And the room looked SO much better when he was done. Good job, Jim! I'm proud of you :)

And then, the pool was open! Jim and I went and played inside of it! And I SUPER DUPER loved it!!!!

Check out the freaky double exposed arms in this picture! Creepy!

Eme and Tom and Joe got home at 3:30pm, and I told them that after chores and rooms were done, they could get in too. I think I was out of the pool by this point. I was FREEZING. Crazy, considering it was 100 today. THAT'S why I got the pool. hehe. To beat the heat this summer :)

They hurried and did their chores and cleaned their rooms, then all went to play in the pool. And we came up with a few simple rules. NO leaning on the blue ring part. NO hanging on the stairs unless you're jumping from them. NO complaining that someone is splashing you (we're in a pool...).




Austin and Amanda came over at 4pm to play. They had to go to a t-ball game at 5, but could play for a bit! Amanda and I sat in the chairs and chatted, and the boys had a TON of fun playing (and Eme... poor only girl. hehe).

I tried my hardest to get a photo of everyone together, but Joe kept ducking his head underwater. And Tom didn't wanna do it. Sigh.


Amanda and Austin left at 4:50ish, and headed home. I got the kids out of the pool, and Tom helped me remove the ladder, and put on the cover. I'm gonna need to top it off with some water tomorrow, and get the chemicals. I love my pool. hehe.

We all got dried off and changed, and it was time to go and get Jake from the youth center. We were eating at Laurie's tonight, so if Jake was gonna get dinner, I needed to get him now. LOL. We started to drive over there, and the wind started to pick up, and it was SUPER nasty out. Where did this come from???

By the time we got to the Youth Center (10 minutes across post), the wind was SO windy, I was afraid I was gonna blow away when I went inside! Good thing I've picked up a few lbs, right? hehe.

Jake had asked to take snacks to his family, so he came out with little bags of chips. SO sweet :) And we headed home. And it was SO windy, and dusty, and nasty, that we couldn't even see the mountains. Usually, you can see them perfectly.

We drove to Laurie's house, and it started to rain. Well, sprinkle. Big drops of sprinkle? I don't even know how to explain it. HUGE drops, but not very many of them. And it was still 90 degrees. Not enough to fully get the pavement wet, but big drips. I did turn on the wipers. It kinda made mud. ROFL!

We made it to Laurie's, and ran inside to avoid the moisture. hehe. Jake wasn't sure about being in a house with 8 kids, and he didn't end up staying long. I let him walk back home. Better than having him be there and be grouchy. He recognized that it wasn't a situation that he was gonna be comfortable with, and asked to be removed from it. Good job, Jake, for self-regulating the environment :)

Laurie and family are moving next week to California. Her hubby is going to Grad School with the Army. So, they had perishable foods that they wanted to cook and get rid of. So we were having a buffet of foods. LOL. My kids had lasagna and ramen and stir fry with rice and smoothies and banana bread. And they were all happy. hehe.

He's got my manners....

They kids played for about an hour after dinner, and Laurie and I chatted. It was a very nice evening. Eme found these sand shovels, and thought they looked like feet. Isn't that funny!
We were home by 7:30pm, and I worked to get the kids to bed. They were a little wound up. hehe. But eventually they went to bed. Jake and Tom and Eme and I sat down on the couches to watch a movie, and I loaded my store and uploaded my facebook pictures. No rest for the wicked...
Oh yeah, Eme told me this morning that she'd volunteered me to bake cookies for her classroom party tomorrow. Really? Well, at least I knew about it a day in advance. So when we'd gone to Laurie's house, we'd left butter sitting in a big bowl on the counter to get to room temperature.

Yeah, we got home, and it was gone. Boxer was out of his kennel, and I thought I'd put away anything he could get into. Forgot about the butter. He likes butter, but not margarine. He ate the 3 cubes of butter, and didn't touch the margarine. That poor dog is gonna have a HUGE tummy ache. Any suggestions??? Can you tell that I'm still not used to having a dog around?

I finally got my store loaded, and pictures uploaded, and blog started, and I went to snuggle with Jake and Boxer on the couch for the last 15 minutes of the movie. Then, I sent the big kids to bed at 9:30pm, and I started on the cookies. It's my banana oatmeal chocolate chip recipe. My most favorite cookies to make EVER.
I baked 10 dozen. 4 dozen for Eme's class, and 4 dozen for Tom's class (because they thought it sounded like a WONDERFUL idea to bring treats tomorrow), and I had 2 dozen left over. For the kids, and for the bus drive. hehe. Gotta keep the bus driver happy, you know :)

It's now 11:44pm. And I'm supposed to be up early for the Post Fun Run. Um, yeah, I'm SO tired. I think I'm gonna skip it. Does the fact that I baked 10 dozen cookies and didn't taste a single bit count? Isn't that exercise by default? Can I count that?

Tomorrow, I'm going with Amanda grocery shopping in the morning (I need some popsicles and a watermelon for our Pool party), helping Shelly, the Autism Support Group Leader design a new flyer at 10am, getting Jim to the bus, Tom's award ceremony at 1:15pm, Jim's bus at 2:30pm, other kids at 3:30, Pool Party from 3:30-4:30 at my house, baseball game for tom at 5, and for Joe at 5:30... Yeah, I think my day is full. Maybe I don't wanna start it off at 6am with a 5K....

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. thanks!

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Super cool, my dear! Love the music theme! Thanks, Sharon!