After seeing some of the crazy (bad) pictures that Owen took with the camera recently, I sent him on a mission to take pictures of things around the house just to make sure he coul actually get something in the frame. These are two he took of Katie that I thought were funny.
Wow. Eighteen years (22 if you count since day one). And there’s no one I’d rather have by my side in this crazy thing called life. 💕
So, we weren’t planning on doing anything to celebrate, then we realized today was our golden anniversary (18th on the 18th). So we decided to take the kids to The Chocolate Sanctuary for a chocolate fountain!!
She wanted to lick the plate!
We had so much fun last year we decided to do it again!!
The kids were very intrigued when Tom started using the blow torch on the ribs.
It took awhile but by the end of the night, some dads (and one mom—not me!) went down the slide. Which led us to wonder how on Earth these kids could do this non-stop… The adults got tired after just a few times. 😄
And then it was over…the cleanup aftermath. And we can’t wait until next year!!
We thought the slide was going to be delivered Saturday morning…so the kids were thrilled that it came early!
These bags were in a nice pile when I left them the day before.
Why do the kids have to touch everything and mess with it? EVERYTHING! It drives me insane.
We were getting some windows replaced today…
One of the back-to-school events…
Owen took over pushing the swing and then Katie joined as well. He had a blast.
So this is what I walked downstairs to see this morning after the kids left to go out and ride their bikes. AYFKM?! 🤬 So when I ran into them on my walk, they had to go home and take care of it all and then stop they were doing and go on my walk with me.
I took it to Facebook and Katie was the unequivocal winner. 🙂
Seriously. Second haircut in seven years. She didn’t want to go but ended up loving it—and asked when she can go back to the salon while she was still in the chair. 🤦🏻♀️
Wet and dry…
It’s so bouncy now—she almost prances around. (I didn’t get a good front pic since it was so bright so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for good first day of school pics.)
Any bets on how often she’ll actually let me style it? She said she would let me but I’m not holding my breath.
If I wanted to do my whole head I’d probably have needed three more bottles.
Katie also wanted a little purple so I did one chunk.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of it before she went in the pool for many multiple hours…(and after one day it was about gone).
This was taking up the entire two feet at the head of her bed right inside the door. Cute and imaginative but not in the best place (of course, this is what she was doing instead of cleaning her room). So I took a picture and we discussed moving it.
Since they got their rooms finished (FINALLY) we headed to the pool and stopped by the orthodontist who was having a free ice cream day. I was good and didn’t get one.
Today started rough but in the end, I think we all got on the same page.
So they knew that today they were going to have to continue and I was going to ask them again to make their bed and put everything left on the floor on their bed.
So I literally stood outside in the hallway between their two bedrooms to keep prodding them.
When I say put everything from the floor on the bed, I mean it. Don’t put anything away. Don’t play with anything. Don’t try to leave the room. Literally put every piece of everything from the floor onto the bed.
Okay, now… Katie, pull out all the Barbies. No not the clothes. No not the Legos. The Barbies. Not the garbage. No! Not the stuffed animals. The Barbies. Okay, now the clothes and just the clothes. No not the Legos. One thing at a time. One thing. Clothes.
Owen, you pick out socks and underwear. Just socks and underwear. No! Don’t put them away. Get all of them first. You dropped one, pick it up. I see more socks. Dig through everything on the bed.
Katie, are you done? Now do stuffed animals. Good. Now crayons and pencils. Put them in your art basket. No, don’t do Legos. Just pencils. Don’t touch anything else.
Owen, now do Pokémon cards. Move stuff around and find them all. No don’t set them there. Put. Them. Away. You have a Pokémon card box. Use it.
Katie! Just crayons and pencils. In the art box, not on your bedside table…
Left, right, left, right, left right. The ping pong match from hell. An hour later it was passable.
We were up there so long Maggie even joined us…and napped!
Their reward for keeping their rooms clean? The Amazon dots they’ve spied in my room. Their rooms get too messy? Unplugged and removed. Easy.
Wish us all luck.
Unfortunately it was back to normal life post-vacation so it was time for the kids to clean their rooms. So I told them they had to clean their rooms. Multiple times. They couldn’t concentrate for more than a few minutes before stopping to play or getting otherwise sidetracked. I started to lose my mind.
👩🏻 You guys have to clean your rooms.
👫 …
An hour later.
👩🏻 You guys have to clean your rooms and Katie remember you wanted to finish your library reading to earn the prize.
👫 …
An hour later.
👩🏻 You guys need to finish your rooms. Katie you have to read that book.
👫…
Katie: Can I have a snack?
Owen: Can we go to the pool?
Katie: Can I go to Sophia’s?
Owen: Can we have the dots in our rooms?
👩🏻: 😳🤯🤬 You do understand that I’ve been asking you to do the same thing all day right? And you haven’t done any of it yet?
Katie reads for 5 minutes and Owen reads for 10. They go back to playing.
👩🏻 Hey guys, take a quick sweep around and pick up everything that’s yours and put it away.
👫 (They pick up one or two things and go back to playing.)
Lather, rinse, repeat three times. I warn them that the garbage will be the next stop. This is NOT a new thing.
Guess all the shit I threw away? Shoes, notebooks with drawings, water balloons, Legos, stuffed animals, beads, figurines…
I’m currently waiting for hell to break out when they discover it.
Remember me saying I was trying to lose weight…again? Well, things went SMASHINGLY well for 2+ weeks and I lost almost 20# (I think it was 17). YES, THAT MUCH. I was feeling motivated. I was being strong. I was surviving without margaritas. I knew I could do it.
And then.
A minor slip up—one drink with a friend to celebrate a reunion. And then another minor slip up—an extra piece of pizza at my kids’ birthday pool party that I ate without even thinking. And then honestly I kind of lost track after that because…summer, friends, BBQs, late nights, kids being away, vacation, etc. And I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was so I gained 16 of those 17 back and could just kick myself.
This Monday I was back at it again. Because I know I can do this. I have to do this. I worked too hard the first time around to let myself slip farther.
I’m down a few so far this week. It’s better than going up so I’m thrilled. Now I only have *cough*grumble*cough* more to go. 😂
Who wants to be my accountability buddy since this crazy kid is a good walking partner but not much help otherwise…?! 😂
Sidenote: Owen and I might have the same size shoes!
Owen really wanted to go out to the raft in the middle of the harbor but Grannie and Papa were afraid to let him do it on his own because they wouldn’t be able to help him at all. I wouldn’t have had a problem with him going but they wanted to wait until Tom was there. Tom did agree to go out with him…even knowing full well that it was freezing cold water. So here is their experience.
Tom was ready to stop right here—that water is COLD—but he agreed, so…
We had one happy boy!!
And one cold daddy.
Who deserved a beer!
These kids crack me up. Grannie Lin thought they were so creative coming up with this…until they showed her the back of the bag that suggests doing it. 😂 I need to teach them to not share the secrets!! 🤫
Y’all know I love a good before and after! And if they tell me it’s formal, you can be damn sure my tiara is coming out!! (We were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Agate Harbor Land Pool.)
Time for pics since we were all dressed up!
Owen didn’t even know this was on his bucket list until we got here and discovered Liam is a distant cousin. He was giddy. Don’t feel bad is you have no idea, either—I don’t do sportsball so I had no idea either…but it’s Liam McHugh.
He is a sports announcer for NBC Sports coverage of the NHL as well as Notre Dame Fighting Irish football and the NFLNBC Sunday Night Football. He is also perhaps the face of NBC Sports Network, anchoring much of its staple programming, including the NHL, Tour De France, college football, college basketball and the Premier League.
Who?! 😂 It’s okay, it made me feel like I was 14 again (which is the age I last saw some of these people)!
We took the kids up Brockway Mountain today. The bonus? Better WiFi!!
Tom went fishing but didn’t catch much. But he did catch this back at the house.
Papa and Grannie bought Katie a smaller kayak so she could do it herself…but for now she was still tethered to Grannie. Owen does really well in the bigger kayak!
A quick trip next door to go swimming off the dock…
Katie didn’t feel like swimming today.
I left them there and went home. Imagine my surprise when I looked out and saw this:
So I ran out to get a better pic, though he was still pretty far out.
I’m not sure we have enough crap for one day.
See? It really is Christmas!
When you learn awesome party tricks from your elders: Tequila-infused watermelon with salted limes. Aunt Rose, you rock!
The annual cousin lineup, by age: 7, 10½, 11, 12 (almost 13), 14 (almost 15).
And Nick is pulling away, which is okay since he is almost five years older!!
Adding older cousin Alex (17) to the mix (Jess was working).
I introduced Lisa to a few new products.
Unfortunately, it was a stormy day so we had to dodge rain and lightning for most of the afternoon…but, on the plus side, it wasn’t 100° with 95% humidity! My hair kinda grew throughout the day.
There was a fishing contest… Aubrey is a Master Fisher so she helped my kids. I was surprised at how long they kept at it! (Of course Tom was out there, too.)
Darrell caught the biggest one:
And then this happened…
Someone started the cooties!! (I think that will be a blog post in itself!) So for the last two hours we all had to keep our fingers crossed! We reminisced about the old days and learned Greg still has what it takes!
The big bummer? Lisa and Alex left pretty early and with the rain throwing things off, we totally forgot to take our group photo!
I ask Katie to try new food and I get whining and complaining. Grandma asks Katie to try a new food—raw rhubarb at that!—and she agrees eagerly. She didn’t even know that it would be dipped in sugar when she agreed to try it! And she liked it!
It went well until she missed the sugar…
