His setup was much more precise…but then you had to be when doing two or more bushels at a time.
These were tomatoes from our own gardens! We’ve been picking them consistently but we can’t eat them fast enough so I had to make something…and pretty much everything starts with peeling the tomatoes.
Both kids started complaining of sore ears and headaches Tuesday afternoon so it was off to the doc today. I had a feeling they had swimmers ear since that’s what happened to Owen the last time we had the waterslide…and the doc confirmed it. Plus Owen also had a mild middle ear infection. And Katie has generic first-week-back-to-school crud from the Petri dish that is a school with 1200 kids.
He was’t terribly excited about me taking a picture before getting his expander.
Being his silly self.
End result:
She said it would take him a few days to learn how to talk with it—and that is definitely the case. He mumbles a lot anyway so this just makes it 10 times as hard to understand him.
It was our first major shindig at our new place…and we didn’t even think about turning it into a housewarming. Oh well.
We did 9 racks of ribs in the sous vide. Our sous vide container isn’t big enough so we had to jerry rig a Rubbermaid bin.
We rented a waterslide and invited about 60 people. We had a great turnout of about half…and the kids had an amazing time on the slide. I don’t think Owen got off for more than a minute to use the bathroom and five minutes to eat dinner—he started about noon and we pulled the plug about 9.
We were so busy with party prep and visiting with guests that I didn’t even take many pictures. I can’t believe I didn’t even take a pic of the food spread—I always take pics of the food!!
We set up a tent and picnic tables.
Tom had put up posts to hang our sunshades and lights from.
Tom prepped the ribs in the driveway.
The kids still sliding at 8:15!
A good time was had by all…and we decided to keep the slide another day because it was supposed to be another hot day and we only splurge like this every few years.
Storms are pushing through which means Maggie was attacking her crate trying to get out. Which means she woke me up and now I get to deal with her until the storms pass. How do I do this? By closing all the bedroom doors and going downstairs to “sleep” on the couch so she’ll hopefully keep close to me instead of waking everyone else up. And then Charlie joined, too. Needless to say I don’t get much sleep.
She has been waiting and waiting and waiting to be old enough to climb the rock wall…so when we were there today she remembered and asked to do it. Of course I said yes. Unfortunately she didn’t make it too far before she got scared and wanted down. Baby steps.
Buses always run late the first few days and today was no exception. But we were all there waiting on time…in the sun…and it was hot…so at about 30 minutes I sent Owen home to get me a celebratory drink! It really hit the spot!
I tried to get pics on the front porch but the lighting just wasn’t right (well, the lighting was good but it was too bright and they wanted to squint).
So we tried elsewhere, but it still wasn’t right…and Katie was cold.
First day of 4th grade. What?! So serious.
Okay, a tiny smile.
Owen and Xavier are the only two at their bus stop at 7:45. Yes, 7:45AM. Needless to say this is the ONLY day I will be going with him. 🙂
Katie’s turn…in her annual T-shirt pictures.
We found the perfect lighting! She was pointing to geese flying overhead.
First day of 1st grade. I can’t even with this outfit and the shoes.
With a backpack almost as big as she is!
At the bus stop with Linkin and Nate (Sophia will be there, too, but she was parent drop off today).
My happy face!!
And later on Facebook I found these pics of how the elementary students were welcomed to school. How cool.
Katie got invited to a sleepover at Sophia’s so I sent her off. It’s soooo nice having friends on the same street. (We alsohad Owen invite a friend over and he was a total hoot to watch—he had soooo much fun. They even picked our veggies!)
When you’re working on graphics for your business and you google something somewhat random and you see your face (and a friend) on the page. WHAT?! It’s from a post on my personal blog, which has none of the keywords that I searched for.
Why not let our month-long anniversary celebration continue with dinner out on our actual anniversary?! We opted to take the kids with us…and they were really good. And we got complimentary Prosecco and truffles!!
No recipe, just winging it.
I love a good jalapeño margarita so I figured since we’re growing jalapeños, I might as well try to infuse my own.
My first attempt:
A friend said I needed LOTS more peppers, so I went out and picked one more.
Give me a week or so and I’ll come back and taste test it!
This is the first time she’s slept here.
My new friend that I met at the playground (LOL) invited us over today so that was right after the orthodontist. They live in a new subdivision in a huge new house and it really made me miss our new houses… And yes, I told her I kind of hated her a little bit. 🙂
The kids all got along—even with Katie! They jumped on the trampoline, played Xbox for a bit, played Legos, had snacks, then played board games.
Anna was really impressed since she said normal playdates only last about 20-30 minutes before one of the boys is done. So apparently Owen and Katie are magic.
Her husband happened to come home early and he was just as great and easy to chat with as she is and we had a great time. I can’t wait for them to meet Tom!
Oh, and you know how I said it was weird how similar we were? Look what she has?
We have the same exact secretary. I have only ever seen one other of these in person and it was at antique store. Bizarre. (Truth be told, I might like ours better if it looked like this. In its current state it is NOT my style.)
The time flew and suddenly it was 3 hours later…
Today Owen had his first orthodontic appointment—getting his mouth scanned for many thousands of pictures of his teeth/mouth to be stitched together so he doesn’t need impressions! Technology is awesome.
They also put on the two rubber band spacers to prepare for the expander.
I’ve been wanting to take the kids out for lunch all summer but just never did it, so today on the way home from the library I just stopped and surprised them!
It was supposed to be a quick trip to get a few books to read before school started. But they have so much fun looking for books…and then Owen found a friend. So how could I make them leave?
I’ve been struggling with my weight loss reboot. I’ll lose 5-10 then gain it back. Lather, rinse, repeat. (Lather, rinse, repeat.) I partially blame margaritas because DAMN they’re just so good. And I blame my own attitude: I’ve still lost 110# overall and holy crap that’s awesome…right? But I feel blah lots of the time…and fat (some of my clothes are way tighter than they should be). I created a Facebook group (for friends in the same boat) to help with accountability but even that hasn’t helped as much as I’d hoped. I am annoyed at myself for slacking on the NS principles and letting my weight balloon up 30# because I KNOW BETTER and NS couldn’t be easier. I feel guilty I have just seemingly lost any willpower I’ve had. I know I can do this…I just need to DO IT. So I keep trying. All I can ever do is keep trying.
Each kid was playing at a different friends house for quite awhile. Then Katie got invited to Six Flags with them if it was okay with me. Ha! Yes! (These are the same neighbors who first offered to watch the kids while we unpacked the week we moved in. And Katie’s best friend.)
I got this pic in a text…and then a bit later a note saying (and I quote):
We took katie on the condor. She almost puked on Sophia:) she was doing some heavy breathing…didn’t know she did not like big rides:)
After I apologized for not warning them (I thought they’d just be going on the small rides that Katie likes) she said that Katie had been very proud of herself! When Katie came home, she told us about ALL the rides she went on (kids rides, but still…baby steps).
Of course when Owen found out that she had gone without him, he was whiny. Not even considering that
Kids.
We were supposed to meet friends at Six Flags water park (Hurricane Harbor) after the play date. Let’s just say things didn’t go quite as planned and I didn’t have the fun time I expected.
My friend eventually made it and we headed to the wave pool…which was an even bigger mess of humanity with less place to sit. And by this time we had three adults and eight kids. We tried to sneak into the new VIP section (since it was practically empty) but got called out within minutes.
The kids loved the wave pool and I let them swim for about half an hour but I was long done and we past rest to get the hell out of there. I have zero desire to go back and told the kids I hoped they entire it because we were going back. (And I was even looking forward to the lazy river.)
Katie’s school (Owen’s old school) got new playground equipment so the PTA had a playdate there. They do this playdate every year before school starts so hopefully the kids can find other people in their grade and make friends before school starts (each grade wears a different color shirt).
We ran into friends right when we got there…
And then I made a friend, too! It was really hot so I eventually sat on the bench next to another mom and we started chatting and just totally hit it off! We had lots in common (she just moved here, she’s an editor/graphic designer, we have the same sense of humor) and our boys hit it off, too (she has twin fifth graders). I was super excited to say the least.
After being in the far reaches of the U.P. with pretty much no cell service and intermittent home WiFi sure to unknown issues…this is heaven. 🙂
We usually eat fast food on road trips because we are trying to save time or we can’t leave the dog in the car…but today we found a place that had a patio so we could actually stop for a decent road trip meal (she’s under Tom’s chair).
Someone was being grumpy and didn’t want their picture taken.
But this one let me.
Papa has a slingshot to scare the geese away. The kids found out and both had a blast with it.
Katie was all gung go about fishing… until nothing was biting and it was boring.
This is how she ended up “fishing.”
The only thing Tom caught!
