Seventh

So, I'd set my alarm for 6:45am. And I KNOW I turned it on. But at 7:40am, my kids burst thru my door, wondering why I wasn't awake. Really? You come thru at 7:40am wondering that??? Fully dressed? You couldn't have woken me up sooner? Sigh.

Tom had gotten up at 6am, and left for the bus at 7am. Eme was up at 6:30am, and the little boys got up with their alarm at 7am. I'm pretty sure Jake got up with his alarm too. But no one came to get me! I guess they were letting me sleep in?

And I don't know what happened to my alarm. It was showing that I turned it off. And Maggie tried calling from the bus stop. And she texted too. And Kim texted. And my ringer was even on! I have no idea what happened!

Anyway, since the kids were all ready, I loaded Jim and Eme and Joe up inside the car, and we drove on up to the school. They were early, at least. And Jake was ready for his bus. He'd made it, at least.

I pulled over to the side of the road by the crosswalk outside of the school, and let Jim and Eme out, and Joe said that his shoe was stuck in the seat!!! What??? So Eme and Jim left, and I parked and tried me best to free Joe's shoe. Nope. Totally stuck. I had to cut the lace out with a pocket knife. And by that point, the lace wasn't salvageable. So I had to drive back on post to get Joe new shoes... What a morning!

He hurried and got new shoes, and I dropped him off. Then hurried back home. I got a text from Kim saying that she was SUPER duper sick feeling. I don't know if it was an illness, or her back, or what, but she was having a hard time. And she and Austin had an appointment today for paperwork for their move to Germany. And she could barely drive.

I told her to take it easy, and that I'd head home, get changed and ready for the day, and be right over. I'd play chauffeur for the day :) So I did. Check out their new stool! It's Captain America!!!!
We loaded up, and headed up to the hospital. Luckily, we found a parking spot inside the parking garage so Kim didn't have to walk very far. She wasn't feeling very good. I walked them down stairs to their appointment, and because that office didn't have a waiting room, I went to the one down the hall. And after playing some Jewel game for about 30 minutes, I headed back upstairs and outside to find some WiFi connectivity. hehe. No internet in the basement :)

I played on Facebook for quite some time, then called and chatted with my mom at work. Then Captain America called and chatted with my for a bit. Every once in a while, he gets to call from a phone. Especially now that they are in tent/trailers now, and not "dorms" anymore. But those calls are limited to only a few minutes. He mostly just wanted to call to say I love you, and to have a good day. Awe, what a sweetie!!!

I was SO enjoying myself, sitting outside, soaking up the sunshine. It was a little chilly in the shade, but it was AWESOME in the direct sunshine. About 60 degrees. I was loving every minute of it. Kim finally came out, and we were on our way. She felt bad that it took so long, but really, the sunshine was JUST what I wanted and needed!

We went back to her car, and she had some more papers to fill out. It didn't take very long, then we headed over to the VA part of the hospital. She needed her doctor to fill out some paperwork. And, of course, we couldn't just leave it for her doctor. No, that would be too easy. We had to go to a different floor and have the medical records people fill out forms and have them give it to the doctor to fill out. And it would take 7-10 days.... Seriously? Sigh.

Anyway, it took a while, but we finally got it done. And then we were done with paperwork for the day. And headed back to post. We were gonna drop Austin off at school, but decided it was too late to be worth his while. So we took him with us. We swung by GameStop to pick up the PS2 for Jake. So he could earn it over the weekend. By doing jobs. And since they were only $29.99, I decided to buy and extra one for Joe and Jim to earn. And just put it away. They already have games for it. Sounded like a good plan :)

Then we headed back to my house. Austin played his DS, and Kim decided that she could help me clean the kitchen a little bit. I told her she was CRAZY, to just sit on a chair and visit with me, but she said that cleaning helped her take her mind off of the fact that she was so sick. OK, crazy lady! Not what I wanna do when I'm sick!

While we were cleaning, I decided to use my free hours for daycare for the kids on Saturday. To help keep the house clean. Cause whats the point in cleaning if the kids are just gonna mess it up, you know! Ha! I got an appointment set up for 1pm.

I cleaned the dining room. And it looked SO much better when I was done. She wiped down the cupboards and counters. And fridge and appliances. And yeah, it really did looked a lot better when she was done.

We spent the last 30 minutes before the kids got home sitting on the couch watching Austin play Wii and petting Boxer. He was loving it. hehe. Tom got home from school, then I took Kim home and got the kids from the bus. Austin stayed to play with my kids.

I headed home with the kids, and had about 2 hours before the kids games. Joe and Leo went to play at the park for a while, and Eme went to play with her friends for a bit, too. Jim and Austin played electronics in the house. Jake and Tom did their thing here, and I designed for a bit.

At 6pm, I took Austin home, and took Joe and Jim to their games, picking up Josephine and Leo and Kari on the way. I was playing chauffeur again! hehe :) First stop, Logan gym to drop off Leo and Joe. Brian was gonna pick them up, thankfully!

Then, we went to Josephine and Jim's game. It was a short one, at least :) Kari and I had fun chatting. We made plans for the Cub Scouts to go to the Art Museum tomorrow. At 2pm. Crap. Forgot about that. I'll drop Eme and Jim off at 1pm, and Tom off at the Youth Center, and let Jake stay home and clean, then take Joe to the Art Museum, and drop him off at Child Care after. That's a good plan. ha!

After the game, I dropped Kari and Kids off at their house, and got my kids all situated for the night. They were watching TV and playing games. Looked all good and happy to me. Joe was at Leo's house for a little while.

Kim and Tim had invited me on their date night. You know, I totally should feel awkward and like the obtrusive 3rd wheel. But for some reason, I don't. Ha! I just feel like part of the family. hehe. Luckily, within the month, Captain America will be home, and I'll have my OWN date night partner!!!! I'm so flippin' excited I can hardly wait!!!

They came and picked me up, and we headed to Bassett mall. We stopped in FYE music type store, and saw they had Dr Who stuff! I was SO excited! I had to get something just on principle! hehe :) I got a Sonic Screwdriver key chain and a t-shirt! So cool!

Tim found a few Dr Who t-shirts, and Kim got a Dalek key chain, a Sonic Screwdriver, and a cardboard cutout of the Tardis! It was SO stinkin' cool!!! Yeah, we had to have Tim go and take it to the truck. Couldn't be taking that one to the movies. hehe :)

Then we headed to the movies. We were gonna see Sherlock Holmes. And since I play FourSquare, I had a check in coupon, and got a free popcorn with a soda! So for $4.25, I got a large soda and a small popcorn! It was PERFECT for me!!!

And I must say, I absolutely loved the movie. So much better than the first one. I remember being almost bored in the first movie. I had a hard time paying attention in it. And couldn't understand what they were saying. But this one was great! I'd highly recommend it!

After the movie, we loaded up, and headed back to post. I was having a hard time finding my ID in my purse, and it was funny, because I was hiding behind the GIANT cutout of the tardis. And I thought about just hiding back there from the gate guard. But I found it at the last moment, and popped out from behind it, and handed up my ID. The gate guard seemed super surprised. hehe. I know, I'm so silly :)

For some reason, we were wanting to know the Spanish word for dinner on the way home. And I was asking Siri. And she TOTALLY misunderstood what I said. I thought it was kinda funny, so I screen shot-ed it :)

They dropped me off at home, and Jake and Jim were both fast asleep on the couch. The other kids were just finishing up a movie. And I helped them all get to bed. Do you like the pig tail braids?
My key chain!
Sleepy Jim
One of my new shirts. See why I like it???
I'm totally wearing this one tomorrow!
After the kids went to bed, I sat down to blog. And watched a few episodes of X-Files. And here it is, 12:24pm. And I'm SO tired. How did it get so late? I don't understand it. hehe. I'm wanting to sleep in tomorrow, but we have the "Meet your Teacher" breakfast at church at 9am... So we gotta get up..

Then Eme has a game at 10am, Tom has one at 11am, and childcare at 1. Tom to the Youth Center, then Art Museum at 2, and Joe to childcare. And pick the kids up at 9pm. Busy, busy, busy day. Maybe I'll just come home and nap in the middle of the day. Ha! Maybe I'll go and get my hair done. That would be nice :) I know the school has a deep conditioning treatment thing. That would be super nice :)

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Sixth

OK, so I didn't get to design this week. Craziness and all, and migraines galore, and stressing and such. BUT, I did get a KILLER sale for y'all! Think of it as a best of 2011. I've never had a sale like this before!

I went through the last 6 months of my new releases, and picked out one pack per week for this bundle! And made 2 bundles. 26 WordArt packs per bundle, 2 bundles, 52 WordArt packs in all! Each only $11 a piece, in honor of 2011!! Smart, huh? That SHOULD be $64 a piece. Something like 84% off. Oh yeah, it's WAY on sale!!!

Click HERE to go to my store QUICK before this sale is gone!!!

Morning, you guys! So, I had grand plans for today. Not sure if I accomplished any of them... Ha! I was gonna take Jake to seminary. Yeah, that didn't happen. Actually, I guess I wasn't, because of the migraine last night. That's right. I did set my alarm for 6am. And felt a lot better. Less pain. I was moving with care, though. Just in case.

I was to Walgreens and back to the house by 6:30am. And Tom had time to get his project finished and catch the bus by 7am. Thank goodness! I got the other kids up and ready for the bus too! I walked Eme and Joe and Jim to the bus. Isn't Eme SO stinkin' cute!!!


I was supposed to go hiking with Kiim and Kari and Liz today. But, since I wasn't sure if the headache was gonna return or not (I could feel it trying to...), I decided to skip. Kari and Liz were still gonna go. Kim texted and said that she was SO sick and was staying in bed all day. Poor thing. And here I was just complaining about a stupid headache...

Captain America was online, and we chatted for a few minutes, then decided to meet on Skype in about an hour. He had to go and eat dinner, and I needed to blog. Plus I wanted to get some designing done.

Well, I did get the blogging done, but the designing? Not so much. It was taking too much brain power. ha! I tried. I got 2 WordArts done. I decided to just have a SUPER duper sale. That works, right???

Then, Captain America and I talked for like 3 hours!!! So much for cleaning my house. I had such grand plans, too... There's still time. It's not like he comes home tomorrow... Maybe it'll clean itself if I leave it long enough... ROLF!

We had a really good chat, and I even painted my nails while we talked. hehe. Too bad things don't dry well here, and they ended up smudging really bad before the day was over...
We were finished up talking around 1:30... or was it 12:30 (can't remember now), and I did get some cleaning done in my room. I had a few boxes of Christmas stuff that never got put away. And all of the Christmas stuff in the trunk of the Saturn. I brought it in, and I put away the stuff that needed boxed up, and "wrapped" 2nd Christmas. We sound like Hobbits, huh? hehe.

Doesn't it look festive! I wanna put them under the tree, but I'm afraid the kids will look inside/unwrap them! I don't trust them at all! ha!
I made sure that the living room stayed clean, and organized in my room a bit more. It was starting to look pretty good!

And then I realized that we were out of bread. Well, I remembered Jake yelling at me last night, saying "Why don't we have any bread. Don't you love us enough to buy us things like Bread and apples?" Freakin' kids. Whatever. I totally shouldn't have bought any, just to spite him... sigh.

So, I decided to go to the Dollar Tree. But as I headed off post, decided that bread at Big Lots is only $0.30 more expensive. And it's SO much closer. And it's Big Lots. I like it more.

I walked around forever. Because I didn't wanna go home and clean. Or design. Or do anything that I was supposed to do. I wanted to just aimlessly wander the store. hehe. I found some brooms, and some big gift bags, and a few other things that we "needed". And the bread. Then paid, and headed back home.

And my Miche came!!! I'd earned a Hostess shell, AND ordered the Vault collection!!! And they were both on my doorstep! I rushed inside, and opened it up! I was SO excited!!! Here's what I got!

This one was the only Big bag "Prima" shell offered for the Hostess reward. I thought there was a brown one, but I was mistaken. I really do like it, though!
And these 3 were in the Vault. For $25, I got all 3. I didn't get to pick them, they were randomly choosen. I've had my eye on this one for a while. Light cream color with black, and it's an ostrich pattern (and bumpy)


This one is a pinky salmon color with black accents, and has a flap over top. LOVE it!
This one is super cool, but I totally already have the gray one! And it looks SO similar... I was a little bummed about it. There were no exchanges or refunds... So I wasn't sure what to do...
I went to get the kids from the bus, and Kari and I decided to take the kids ice skating. It was Military kid "learn to skate" night. Joe rode with Kari, and I took Tom and Eme and Jim.

Check out Tom pointing and the Gum on the Rhino's buttocks outside the ice rink... Nice...

We got inside, and the dudes informed us that it's NEXT week that it starts. Oops. Not this week. Oh well. We drove home.

And I decided that I wanted to try and exchange my Miche shell for a different one at the PX. Outside of it, there's a vendor that sells Miche. I've bought from her in the past. It was worth a shot to see if she'd do a straight up exchange. What would it hurt, right?

So I left Tom in charge, and headed over. She was like, Um, where did you get this one? I said it was from the Vault promotion, and that I'd JUST got it in the mail today. That it was brand new, never before used or opened. She traded it with me. I REALLY liked this one that I picked. She didn't have much selection, though. I had more than 1/2 of what she had. hehe.
I got home, and it was almost time to send Eme to basketball. I texted Rebecca, and asked if Em could mooch a ride. Thank goodness we know the coach! hehe :)

Jake and I worked on organizing my purses. And I discovered that we were gonna need more shelves.... ha! They weren't all gonna fit! I'd gotten the racks from Big Lots. Dang, I'd just been there! Luckily, it's close to the house :)

The kids had done chores, and were playing PS2. Jake decided that he wanted to earn money to buy his own PS2. And, since Game Stop is gonna "retire" them from their store in Feb/Mar timeframe of this year, they are WAY on sale. Like $32. I told him that he could do some jobs to earn it.

And then I made a list of all of the ICKY jobs that I didn't wanna do to get ready for Captain America to come home (trucks, cars, sheds, garage, etc), and assigned money to each one. Oh yeah! He's highly motivated. And now I don't have to do it! I'm gonna go and pre-buy the system tomorrow while he's at school to make sure it doesn't get bought out from under him. That's SO something that would happen to that poor kid. He's electronically jinxed. ROFL!

Tom and Joe were playing a game on the PS2, and Jim was on the Wii. Eme was at practice. Which left Jake the odd man out. I had him come with me to Big Lots to get the extra rack :) He was happy about it. And he helped me come up with the list.

We grabbed them, hurried home, and he helped me put them up. What do you think?


Still cheaper than Captain America's guitar and car addiction! LOL :) Anyway, soon it was time for Tom to go to Basketball practice. So I drove him up there, and then Eme came home from practice.

I cooked up one of those Bear Creek soup mixes of Minestrone soup, and discovered that the kids LOVED it. I don't know if they liked it this much last time I made it, but they all LOVED it this time. And I made some Grands biscuits. They were the SUPER big ones. Oh yeah, SUPER big hit. Jake asked if we could have it for dinner every night. hehe.

I started working on my bundle (which took FOREVER), and the kids played. And then it was time to go and get Tom. Time was zooming by. I got Tom, and at 8pm, I worked to get the kids to bed. But it seemed to take forever.

And I spent the next few hours working on my bundle. 26 WordArt Packs per bundle. Yeah, there's usually not quite so many per pack! And for only $11 a pack? I'm practically giving them away! Better pick them up fast, because I'm either gonna raise the price, or I'm just gonna disable it... But I wanted it to be $11 for 2011. Maybe I'll raise it to $20 next....

Anyway, it's 11:20. The only thing on the plan for tomorrow is lunch with the kids. And more cleaning. Cause that's what you get when you don't clean for a year - hehe. You have to clean the whole month before your spouse comes home. ROFL! Especially if you only clean for 2 hours a day :) I oughta be done by Feb 1st at this rate...

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Fifth

Hey there :) Yes, I'm late...... With the WordArt! Silly people. Sheesh! Anyway, I woke up with my early alarm for Seminary, but because I was having SUCH a hard time falling asleep, and couldn't seem to fall asleep until after 2am, I re-set it for regular school time. Sorry, Jake. And Sorry Seminary leader. I just can't right night... I have the best of intentions. I really do.

I woke up with the new alarm, and crawled out of bed, still tired. I roused the little boys, and got them going for school. Tom and Eme were already up and getting ready. The little boys were SO sleepy! Tom left at 7, and we continued getting ready. But eventually, everyone was ready.
I walked them to the bus at 7:15am, and caught a ride home with Maggie. It was good chatting with her for a few minutes, since she'd been gone the entire Christmas break!

I got Jake up, and he got ready for school. Slowly. He's kinda a slow guy when it comes to getting ready, I've decided... I'm surprised he didn't miss the bus. He just sat on the couch with his dog for the longest time. I made sure he knew that if he missed the bus, to WALK to school. Don't be coming back here. Cause it would have been his own fault he missed it! He didn't think that was quite fair, and hustled a little bit.

He left for school, and didn't come back, so I assume he made the bus ok. hehe. I noticed that Captain America was on Messenger, so I tried to chat for a bit. But he wasn't responding. I missed him by like 10 minutes! Crap!

Kari texted and asked if I wanted to walk, and I did! I said to give me a few minutes to make sure that Captain America really wasn't there, and I laid on the couch for a few waiting. I was pretty sleepy still, I realized. Eventually, Captain America did come back on. He was doing laundry. We made plans to chat after the walk, and Kari and I did our normal walk path. It was a good walk :) I always enjoy exercising with Kari! She's a great friend!

After the walk, I came back home, and sat on the couch some more, and waited for Captain America to get back on Messenger. And rested. And texted. And Facebooked. And messed around with the phone for a bit. I should have napped. Ha!

Eventually, he was on there, and we got on Skype and chatted for about an hour and a half. It was a good talk. We talked about plans we had for when he got back, and things we'd like to see changed. What tasks I'd like for him to take over, and stuff like that. The time is fast approaching that my family will be whole again!!! I can hardly wait! It's SO exciting, but scary at the same time. I've been on my own for a year, and now I have to learn to work with someone else again. hehe. But I think I'm ready for the challenge!

I called Kim after Captain America and I tied up our conversation, and she was busy. I was craving Rainbow something or another cafe Shrimp cocktail. Dang. Oh well. Maybe that was the universes' way of saying "clean your house"... hehe.

And I started cleaning. We'd talked about Boxer a lot in our conversation. How the kids (read:Jake) haven't been taking care of him enough. Not walking him enough, bathing him enough, cleaning up after him enough. Things need to change when Dad comes home. Or else...

Anyway, Captain America wanted the closet under the stairs for his Army gear, and that's where the dog's kennel is. So I disassembled it, and moved it out. And cleaned up the mess where it was. And put the door back on its hinges. Then rearranged the living room to accommodate the kennel. And I really like the new configuration! It took a lot of sweeping and organizing, though, to get it to all fit. But it looks good. I failed to take a picture, though...

I organized the Wii games, and the PS2 games. And that was my WHOLE afternoon... Tom got home a few minutes after I finished up, and we shared some almond roca that I'd forgotten I'd bought when Kari and I went Christmas shopping! Naughty! Needless to say, the diet isn't going too well...

And as I waited for the bus to get back, I started to think about all the stuff I had to do over the next month to get ready for Captain America to come home. And I started to stress. There was SO much to do. And just for today too. Eme had piano at 4. And I wanted to bring Joe to see if I could slide him in too. Kari was taking her kids to the downtown public library for craft time, and I REALLY wanted to go to that. Hmpf.

I had to prepare a Cub Scout den meeting for tonight. Eme had achievement days, and Tom and Jake both had Young Mens. I had to design 5 WordArt packs for tomorrow. Plus cleaning. Seriously? No wonder I was stressed!

I hold my stress in my shoulders and neck, and I could feel it creeping up to my head into a headache. I really could. So, the first thing to go was Cub Scouts. I texted around, and canceled. And made tentative plans to go to a free Art Museum on Saturday with the den families. Should be a good time.

I got the kids from the bus, and hurried to get Jim home (left him with Tom), and hurried off to Piano with Joe and Eme. And I checked, and piano for this month for this time slot was full. Drat. So we just sat and waited for Eme. They had Secret of Nhym (I can't figure out how to spell that...) playing, so there was something for him to watch, at least. It was cute, because he eventually fell asleep. And swore that he didn't afterwords. OK, Joe, so WHO drooled on my shirt, then? Not him, apparently...

We headed home, and that's when the headache reared it's ugly head. It was getting bad. And the kids were being loud. Not bad, but loud. I took a whole bunch of meds, and laid down with my neck massager. I needed to just stop stressing! And stop worrying! I'm not a worrier. I don't know where this is coming from!

I had Jake and Tom make Tuna sandwiches for Dinner, and they gave Boxer all the tuna juice on his food. Come to find out, he barfed it up under the end table. On my rug. And it was the exact same color as the rug. So I didn't notice it. I noticed something was smelling kinda funny (like wet dog food), but I couldn't find it. And i don't know when he did it, because I didn't find it until the next morning. But I digress...

I asked Kari if she'd take Jim to practice, and she said she would. I must have dozed off with the neck massager, because when I woke up, it was 7:30pm, and Jim was back home from practice. The kids were watching Good Luck Charlie on Netflix, and it was almost time for bed. I had Tom help the kids get to bed at 8pm, and i came out to supervise. The meds were starting to work, cause my head just felt fuzzy, not hurting. But I was feeling SUPER weak. And walking around made me feel like puking a little.

So I sat down a lot. Tom reminded me that I had to get photos from Walgreens for his project due tomorrow. Crap. Procrastination is NOT my friend.... Oh wait, it is my friend, that is the problem.... Love/hate relationship, I guess.

I taught him how to upload photos to Walgreens.com, and at least the order was ready. I texted Kim to see if she could drive me there, but she was having issues of her own. She was hurting, so took a ton of meds too. She was more "drugged" up than me. And she has good drugs, since she has a broken back. Ha! No driving for her!

I told Tom that I'd just go to bed right now, and that I'd wake up early and go to Walgreens and get the photos. Then, he could do it either before school, or I would drive him up there if he needed more time. Art was 1st hour, and he was OK with missing a little bit if needed. Sounded like a plan.

I made sure the kids were in bed, and even though I was feeling nasty, I picked up the living room. I'd spent SO much time cleaning it today, I wanted to maintain it. So I picked up the stuff, and swept, and cleared off the couches. It looked a lot better.

Then, I took one of Jakes Melatonin and headed to bed. I didn't wanna worry about not being able to sleep. And set my alarm for 6am. And hoped that everything would be better in the morning :)

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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Here's 2 examples of how to use the WordArt :) One from the Fabulous Sharon, and one from Me! Fabulous at WordArt, but not so much at scrapping. ha!

Fourth

Hey there! So, blogging two times in one day is NOT so good. Cause I'm tired. Ha! I set my alarm for 9am, so that I could make sure that I woke up in time to get Jake to his Therapy appointment.

After I got up and got ready, I went and took a picture of each of the kids to see what they were doing. Joe was wearing his new outfit, but SO didn't want his picture taken. ha!

Jake wanted the game in the picture with him. hehe. Silly boy :)
And Eme! I was gonna take her with me to Jake session, and aftewords, we were going to the Beauty school for a hair cut!
And sweet little Jimmy cat :)
And me :)
Who knew that America Funny Videos could STILL entertain kids, a whole generation later! I so remember watching this growing up! hehe. My kids LOVED it! Thanks, Netflix!
We went to Jake's session, and I went in and talked with his therapis for a few minutes to give her the low-down on the week, then Jake went in for the rest of the time. Eme played on her fake tablet, and I texted people. Ha!

After the session, we headed on over to the Beauty school. They were able to get Eme in right away. Here's eme's before pictures.


S


Getting her hair shampooed
I followed her back, and sat in the chair next to her. It's funny, because I had 2 instructors stop and almost scold me for being on the phone, until they realized that I wasn't a student. Ha! I'm like, I'm a mom here to take pictures!!! LOL ;)


When the girl was all done, I found out that it was her first day on the floor. Nice. ha! At least she did a FABULOUS job! The teacher was there a lot, and helped out quite a bit. So Eme got a FANTASTIC hair cut! What do you think???

I so want her hair! hehe :) We paid, I gave Eme money to give her girl a tip, and we headed home. Jake had been watching a movie on his MP3 player, and was definitely ready to go. hehe. He wanted to swing by Game Stop to exchange 2 of the games. They didn't work. But I didn't have/feel like taking the time. I told him we'd do it later tonight.

Here's another picture I snapped of Eme when we got home at lunch time. Isn't she adorable!!!
When we got home, we had a quick lunch, and I left Jake playing PS2, Jim on the Wii, Tom on his computer, and Eme playing at Lexi's house. And I took Joe and we headed over to my new friend Maria's house. Shes from church. The one who told me that her hubby told her to find a friend that one Sunday? Remember. hehe. Her Joseph is the same age as my Joseph, and I have him in Scouts! He's the kid that got the Ornament! LOL :)

I got directions to her house, and we got there around 2pm. She has a BEAUTIFUL house in the North East side. LOVED it! She had 6 kids, first 3 boys, then 3 girls. All her kids are super sweet. The boys played, and we chatted. And watched the little ones do their thing.

Check out this homemade swing set in the back yard! I've NEVER seen anything like it! That's Joseph and Joseph swinging on it! Look how they look like ANTS compared to the size of the swing set!!!
It's not quite finished yet, but her hubby had to go for a training and left yesterday. He'll finish it up when he gets back :) After a few hours, Joe and I said bye, and headed back home.

I cooked dinner for everyone (ground sausage and cheese salad - hey, I had to cook the sausage, so it counts as cooking!), and then Joe and I got ready to go to Basketball practice. Kari asked if I'd drive Leo there, and of course I said yet. And Jake said that he wanted to come, so that we could stop at Game Stop on the way home. Good idea :) that way, I wouldn't forget. hehe.

So we headed off to Basketball practice. I visited with Deborah from church (I apologize if your name isn't Deborah... I remembered it as that!! If it's not, maybe you should consider changing it... it suits you) and another mom. Actually, for the first 20 minutes, I texted. And after being silent for 20 minutes, I couldn't stand it, and butted my way into a group of mom's conversation where I met the other parent next to me. She seemed SUPER cool. But I failed to catch her name. (not that it would matter : Deborah)

She liked the thrift stores too, and had a 13 year old and an 11 year old and an 8 year old. Similar aged kids. Her hubby is in Special Forces. She just seemed super down to earth, and cool. She lives in the North East side of town. I'll have to get her name next time, and friend her on Facebook. I enjoyed her :)

After practice, we loaded up, and headed back to post. Stopping at Game Stop for the exchange. Which took WAY longer than anticipated... Jake couldn't decide what he wanted. Go figure.. ha! Leo and Joe were having a grand time playing on the XBox 360 demo, though. hehe.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we were done. Jake got 2 different games, and we were out of there! We dropped Leo off at home, and came back to our house. I gave the kids about 15 minutes to finsih up what they were doing, and then it was bed time. Or quite reading time for the older ones. Tom was gonna take "I am number one" to his room and finish it off. He LOVED what he read so far. Only about 40 more pages to go. He can finish that in no time flat. The kid is a SUPER reader.

I put Joe and Jim in their beds first. Then ake took his meds, and went to his room to read. I informed him that we'd be going to Seminary in the morning. He wasn't enthusiastic, but he didn't flat out refuse... Eme went to bed with no issues. I went to re-check on Joe and Jim, and yeah, they'd smuggled a portable DVD player into their rooms. Naughty, boys! I took it, but didn't make a big deal of it. And re-tucked them in. Then went in my room to start to blog.

After getting all the pictures posted from yesterday, Tom came downstairs. He'd forgotten to get a haircut! And I'd promised him one before school started back up. Crap. So I put my stuff away, and he got out all the hair cutting stuff, and I buzzed his head. 1/16 on the top, and nothing on the sides. That's how he likes it.

On the off chance that Joe or Jim were still awake, I went to check on them. They HATE their hair cut, but they SO needed it. Well, Jim mostly. And I found them both sitting up in bed in the dark. Weird. With a box of cereal. Upon closer inspection, they had a DS. VERY naughty boys! Now they were in trouble.

Two birds with one stone, here. I told them that they were electronics grounded tomorrow, AND that they had to get their heads shaved. Joe was MORTIFIED. He didn't know that he was gonna have to get it cut that way anyway. He was sobbing as I brought the two of them into my bathroom.

I shaved his head first, then he got in the shower. Then Jim was next. His hair must grow faster than Joe's, because it was SO bushy. Maybe it's just a different consistency? And his head was kinda nasty under it, too. After his haircut, I lathered on the baby oil, and rubbed it around real good. That loosened up all the dead old skin. He hated it, but his head look SO much better afterwords. And he smelled good too!

They both showered up, then got dressed and went to bed for real. I told Joe, that next time Jim does something naughty after bed time, to COME AND GET ME. Then he wouldn't get in trouble (and his head shaved) and only Jim would. I think it may have sunk in this time.

I cleaned most of the hair up, and FINALLY started blogging. So much for an early bed time in preparation for Seminary! I finished up the first blog, then started on this one. And here it is, 11:17pm. I guess that's not TOO bad, right? And it would have been a lot sooner if Facebook hadn't been so darn distracting. hehe.

So, Wednesday... Kids go back to school. BOOYAAAAA! Can you tell I'm just a little excited? hehe. Kari and I were supposed to go and see Footloose. But she totally ditched me to go with her hubby tonight... What's that all about. hehe. Just kidding, girl. Maybe she and I will go and see something else. There's a TON of good new things out, and quite a few at the Dollar Theater that I wanted to see, too. Or maybe I'll just clean something. Cause that's always a good thing to do the month before your hubby comes home, right? Wouldn't want it to sneak up on me or anything. Anyone wanna volunteer to come and help me clean? hehe ;)

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