I know it has been a long time, which makes blogging a bit overwhelming. I feel like I have to play catch up. Not sure if that is going to happen, but alas I am here. I am now off track and ready to give this ole' blog an update. I'm back!
While I compose some posts, here is a picture of some super cute kiddos! Hope that you had a great 4th of July! Happy Independence Day! Let Freedom Ring!
Miles learned to ski when he was 3.
Noah began when he was 2.
Hannah didn't get around to it until age 7, but watch out world!
She has the Thompson bug.
Grandma Shirley wrote all about it here.
I have an alter ego. I am currently off track wife and tomorrow I return to being on track wife. This means that today is my last day of vacation & tomorrow I turn into my other stressed out self. I honestly feel like an entirely different person. Sigh.
I have enjoyed being home immensely. I have enjoyed the quiet mornings at home, while the kids are in school, more than you can imagine. Oh the peace....
I am okay with going back to work, though. This break has been restful and productive. It has given me the stamina to make it another 3 months until my next break.
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....
While being off track, I've been quite domestic. My mom, sister Liz, & I made curtains for my family room. Here is our photo documentation of the process (photos are totally out of my intended order, typepad wasn't cooperating).
Mom rockin' the sewing machine. Liz rocks the power drill like no other! Mad skillz these girlz!
And then... I took the UGLY vertical blinds down and put up this curtain that I got a Target. It turned out to be 3 inches too short. So, I cut it and sewed, ALL BY MYSELF, a panel of my printed fabric from the other curtains into the existing curtain! All by myself people!!! Miles saw me sewing and then I went upstairs to press my seams, and Miles said, "I don't know what is more strange... seeing you sew or seeing you iron!" All in the same day folks, that's what I call domestic!
Ta Da!
My boy had a birthday on the 16th. He's 9 now, half way to 18. Yikes!
We had no idea of what to get this kid-who-has-everything, for his birthday. When we asked Noah what he wanted, he kept pleading for a cell phone. This pleading actually started two years ago. We have heard the silly reasons why Noah thinks it is important that a 7, then 8, and now 9 year old has a cell phone. NONE of those reasons are very convincing. However, there have been maybe 3 times in the past year that I actually wished that he did have a cell phone, for my own peace of mind. (Example: dropping him off at baseball camp in 105 degree July weather, with asthma. ) That week of baseball camp came and went with no actual need of a cell phone, but it would have given ME peace of mind.
Back to the birthday.... we didn't know what else to get the kid-who-has-everything, so we figured we would just call At&t and ask about their family plan. The family plan would cost us $10 a month to add a new line & we could basically get a phone for free. I have enough roll over minutes to share, so there was no worry there. Hmmmmm, not bad, we think. Miles & I debate the pros and cons of getting Noah a phone more than we have EVER discussed a birthday gift before. I mean WHAT 9 YEAR OLD NEEDS A CELL PHONE?!
I might have been halfway through college before I got my first cell phone, but we made our little guy's wish come true and bought him a cell phone phone for his birthday. He has had a BLAST with it. He has talked to his grandparents almost every day. He has been texting grandparents, family, & family friends. He even got a text from his youth leaders at church. It's been kinda funny to watch. He has not ONCE talked or texted his OWN friends from school. I don't know why this has surprised me since he never talked to them on our home phone before either.
Well, Saturday he couldn't find his cell phone. He had taken it with him to Grandma Shirley & Grandpa Ben's for dinner on Friday night. I figured he must have left it there or maybe it was in the car. We had a busy day on Saturday and I never really stopped to help him look for it. On Sunday, the search began. We called Grandma to have her check to see if it was left there. We searched the car. We searched his room, the couch, etc. NO LUCK. All along I'm thinking... this is why a 9 year old doesn't need a cell phone. Because you KNOW I've NEVER misplaced my cell phone before! I asked Noah where he had it last. He says, "I know I put it in my jeans' pocket before I left Grandma's on Friday." So... I check his hamper. Empty! A huge panic rushes through me as I remember the load of jeans that I threw into the washing machine yesterday. I run to the laundry room and start pulling out the jeans that I put in there yesterday (don't judge me!) and what do I find at the bottom of the WET washing machine? Noah's cell phone. It went through a full wash cycle AND sat in the damp machine for a little less than 24 hours.
Miles and I shared the good and bad news with Noah. The good news was that we found the phone. The bad news was that it got washed. He teared up. After a pep talk on responsibility he understood, but was heartbroken. My heart hurt for him. He left it in his pocket, but I put it in the washer. Poor kid. We dried it out yesterday & tried turning it on today, but no luck. It's a goner.
I know it's just a cell phone that he was probably too young for anyway. Regardless, it's hard to watch your kid learn lessons the hard way.
Lesson learned.
Earlier this month I promised pictures from our family cruise. We had a great time! Kinda wishing that I was back there again, right now! Here is the album!
I read this on a WTD Wednesday post last week. I know that I have a few Twilight lovin' readers who would think this ad is hilarious, so I'm sharing it with you here! The vampire craze has created some interesting advertising....
I'm pretty sure Edward wouldn't like this.
One word Mammogram.
Seriously, a man must have come up with this one. No woman in her right mind would think it is a great way to take a picture of your jugs by smashing them flat like pancakes first.
I'm just sayin'.
This was me last Wednesday. Sorry that my purse didn't match my shoes... I was in a hurry.
For more WTDWT Wednesday, head on over to my superfunny friend!
My oldest friend has become quite the hot-shot blogger and has begun her own blogging carnival. I am SUPER excited to participate in this because I've had some blog topics in my head for a LONG time now. I've been a little hesitant to actually write about them for fear of being an insensitive jerk.
Since Supermommy has already covered one of my "what's the deal" topics of windshield tombstones here, I'll start with this one:
road side memorials.
Being the politically correct person that I am, I must state that I am very sorry for people's loss. I have oodles of compassion and sympathy for those that have a loved one pass on. Probably too much. My question is WHY do we need to have a memorial spot for there place of death? Leaving an arrangement of flowers in an oversized I can't believe it's not butter tub, isn't my idea of honoring the dead! Isn't that what the grave site is for? It seems that these roadside memorials/shrines have become quite a trend. They're everywhere!
I support having some flowers or those Jesus candles that I see sold at Stater Bros. there for a week or so.... but months and years?! They are messy and littering our streets. And frankly they make me sad EVERY time I drive past them. I know one of these days I am going to get in an accident myself from craning my neck to read the details on the signs & crosses! I make up stories in my head about how they died & how their families are coping. People.... I'm going to need therapy about people that I don't even know! Let's keep the shrines at the cemeteries.
Miles & Mom, please don't make me a shrine adorned with pumpkins, Christmas trees, or empty bottles of beer. Thanks.
*BTW~ RIP Alina & Larry. Even though I have no idea who you were, thank you for allowing me use your roadside memorials as examples.
** My phone rang about 2 minutes after I posted this & my guilty conscious told me that it was my mom calling to scold me for posting such an insensitive post! It wasn't... just a telemarketer.
Just checking in to say hola! We are having a great time! I am already sunburned, but am hoping the pain goes away quickly and it becomes a beautiful tan! :)
We are having a lot fun and are pretty relaxed! CHeck back for more updates and pictures next week!
Our family is hitting the high seas tomorrow and we couldn't be happier! We need the getaway and are looking forward to great quality time together! Stay tuned for pictures and a report late next week!
Bon Voyage!
I've had this plan in my head for the kids' Valentines for their classmates, and for my students at school. I ordered really cute stickers from etsy. We made marshmallow pops. I actually found the idea on one of my favorite crafting blogs.
Tonight we made our Valentines. Hannah loved them until she realized that the pops ARE the Valentine! She was really upset that there wasn't any "card" to go along with them. What?!.... isn't this so stinkin' cute?! What more could a kid want?!
A Hannah Montana box of cards for $2.00 from Walmart. That's what my kid wanted. 10 minutes into the project, Miles agreed with Hannah. We should have bought cards from Walmart.
I'm really excited about them though and am glad that we had a fun family night making them. Now, I'm signing off to clean up the mess.
This is a picture of me standing out on our patio for a few minutes, so the chocolate/candy melts would dry in the cold outside. Miles thought it was funny that I just stood out there in the dark for a while!
Hannah had to have the Girl Gourmet cupcake maker for her birthday. I believe she spent $40-$50 of her birthday money to get it. We have had it sitting in the box in her bedroom for a month now.
This weekend, we busted it out to make gourmet cupcakes. Let's just say that they didn't quite look like the picture! And the taste... well, the pictures say it all!
That was an expensive cupcake! Garage sale anyone?
...moving blogs that is.
I am frustrated that I pay a monthly fee for this blog! So many of my blogging friends have a FREE blog that is way cuter than mine! Why do the free services like blogspot allow so many more options than my paid service does?
case in point:
I really want to use this cute header that I made for my blog.
So, I upgraded my account (yes, willing to pay even more money to make it cute) only to learn that I'd have to upgrade my account to another level ($14.95/month) to put the cute banner at the top of my blog page! I don't know if the cute banner is worth $15 bucks a month!?!
Here is my issue with just moving to a new host. I don't want to give up my years of archived posts. I am trying to figure out if I can move the posts entirely to a new blog. I don't really want to just save them to my computer and then start the new blog from scratch. This blog has a history that I'd like to take with me. You know what I mean? Anybody have any insight or experience on this situation?
