Summer Vacation, thus far

So, we’ve had a very busy 3 weeks!

So busy that I have not had any time to update the blog! This is what we’ve been up to the last 3 weeks!

It all started Father’s Day Weekend with a 5K race here in Kennesaw.

All 4 of us ran – Sam ran in the 1 Mile – and he did great! He came in 4th! Just missed a trophy! Rich, Josh and I ran the 5k.  Josh and I didn’t train and we took a long time. I met up with Josh at the 1 mile mark and he was ready to go home. We took our time running and walking the rest of the way. Rich did fantastic! He showed us all up and came in 2nd in his age group! But he paid for it! It took him 5 days to recover!

After the race, the boys had a birthday party at the local rock climbing gym. My legs were so tired they ached just watching the kids climb!

I think the boys were a bit tired too because they spent most of the time running around!

 

Random Kid Stuff

Last week the boys had VBS so I had my mornings full of a whole lot of nothing! It was wonderful!

This week the kids have been home. And a bit bored! I’ve been trying to get the house cleaned up (little by little). Next week we have Cub Scout Day Camp, then the week after that we go to visit my parents. The house has to be cleaned before we leave, and this week is the best time to do it. Poor kids have had to entertain themselves without making a mess!

Josh has decided he wants some money to buy things I won’t buy for him, so he put up a chore list the other day.

You will notice right under “make bed” is “Be nice 2 bro.”  Which technically, doesn’t qualify as a chore, but apparently Josh thinks of it as one.

Rockfest

This weekend I took the boys up to the Tellus Museum. They were having their annual “Rockfest.”

Rich had to work so the boys and I decided to go up and have fun!

There were all sorts of fun things for the kids to do.

They got a free crystal from one of the vendors.

 

Sam’s New Glasses

The boys have been at Vacation Bible School all week. I’ve had my mornings to myself (and it’s been wonderful)!

And, I’ve been taking turns with a friend looking after the kids afterward. Some days they come here, some days they go there – either way – they leave me alone!

You’d think I’d have had time to update the blog. And I have “had the time” I’ve just not done it!

Sam had an ophthalmologist appointment the day school got out. Everything is fine and he’s doing great. However, he did get a new prescription for his glasses. We got the new ones the other day.

I think he looks super grown up in these!

(He wouldn’t smile. I think he was in a “shy” mood).

What do you think?

Pure Fun!

When we first moved to Georgia it took us quite a while to find friends.

Rich wasn’t working – he didn’t get a job until we’d been here about 7 months. Then, when he did find a job he was traveling to Nashville every week.

We live in a town northwest of Atlanta and I had a job southeast of Atlanta. If you’ve ever experienced Atlanta traffic you know what a hellacious journey it could be! Sometimes 2 hours or more to get to and from work.

When I finally stopped working I set out to find friends. Josh and I would attend story time at the local Borders. Mary, the story teller and I soon discovered we had a lot in common and became friends.

Is It a Basket?

After my last post, I went to check on Sam. He’s playing outside with his water gun.

I filled up the basket I use for the Farmer’s Market Baskets with water so I don’t have to keep filling up his water gun.

When I checked on him, this is what he was doing.

Fully clothed, in the basket full of water, squirting his squirt gun.

Last Week’s Basket

One of the things I’m thinking of doing with this blog is keeping track of what we get in our Farmer’s Market Basket each week and what I make.

I’ve had a few posts already that I put what we got – but I think I’m going to start not only putting what we got that week, but also what I made from the basket. It seems  to be a good place for me to keep track of what I’ve made with some of the ingredients and also helps share some yummy, healthy recipes!

So, last weeks basket. I got the “Veggie only” basket since we still had lots of fruit from the last two weeks. We seem to eat a lot more vegetables than we do fruit in our house. 

Potatoes (I bought several extra), broccoli, spinach (I bought an extra bunch of organic spinach), Lettuce (I bought an extra head), tomatoes, spring onions, tomatoes and cabbage (we don’t eat cabbage so I “swapped” my cabbage for an extra bunch of spring onions). I also bought some garlic and organic raspberries.

 

We’re On Summer Vacation!

The boys got out of school last week!

I can’t believe the school year is over already and I can’t believe the boys have been out of school for a week!

Camping with the Cub Scouts

This week has been so super busy – I’m going to try and catch you up over the next few days. I may have more than one post per day or just some really long, photo heavy posts!

Last weekend we went camping with the Cub Scouts. It was lots of fun! We camped locally – just in one of the open spaces in our neighborhood so it was close but we had a great time.

The camp out was the Spring Family Camp Out and the Rank Advancement Ceremony. That’s when the boys actually get the ranks they earned over the year and they all move on to the next level.

What a Week!

I can’t believe it’s Thursday already! It’s been crazy here!

Rich was out of town this week – he comes home today, YAY! – and the boys and I have been crazy busy!

The weather turned quite cold here Monday and Tuesday – well, cold for here – it was in the low 40’s and overcast/rainy on Monday. Perfect for the last Scoop Night fund raiser at Basken Robbins! The teachers are supposed to come out and scoop the ice cream, but I think they all forgot! The boys and I went up there and ate ice cream while it was freezing outside. The kids didn’t seem to notice – they ran around and chased each other all over the place! I froze my toes!

Yes, I Let Him Go to School Like This…

It was a bit cooler this morning than it has been lately. I told Sam he may need a long sleeved shirt and long pants.

He decided that shorts would be good enough but he wanted to wear a specific long sleeved shirt over the top.

The shirt he wanted used to be Josh’s shirt – I think I got it for $1 at a consignment sale ages ago! Josh called it his “Smart Shirt.”

Small language translation – in England if someone says you “look smart” they mean you look nice. So the “Smart Shirt” is the boys way of saying “Nice Shirt.”

What qualifies this $1 consignment sale find to be a “Smart Shirt?”

The collar and buttons of course.

This Weekend’s Concert…

I live in the BEST community.

I really do.

They have all sorts of free events for us.

Last weekend I Was Hip Hop. But to be fair, that was a “private” party – not put on by the HOA.

This weekend I was a little bit country.

Our community put on a free concert at our amphitheater this weekend. They had a local band called The Broken Road Band playing. LeeSa Biddy-Lyons is one of the lead singers and she’s a friend of mine!

 

Wordless Wednesday: Bubbles

For more WW and to play along, visit Wordless Wednesday HQ!

Yesterday’s Post

Totally forgot to post yesterday!

I mentioned we had a busy weekend.. or busy Saturday.

In the morning I ran my 5K – it was the Swift-Cantrell Classic. Lots of fun! My time was not the best – 40:28 when I crossed the line, but the “official results” have me at 40:32.

Before race:

Yeah, I Am Hip Hop…

Or at least I was on Saturday!

Saturday was super busy – we had so much going on and it will take me a while to catch up.

We went to a friend’s birthday party on Saturday.  Greg is the owner/director/founder of World Hip Hop Market. So he “knows people.”

He decided to have a bash for his 40th birthday and invite his Hip Hop recording artist friends to come perform and he invited all his friends and their families to come help celebrate. 

 

Class Field Trip! To the Park!

Sam had a field trip yesterday to the local park.

His school is right next to a huge local park so every year the end of year field trip is at this park. Nice, free field trip!

I went along as a chaperone. It was a beautiful day! Not hot, not cold. Just perfect.

.We walked over to the park – there is a gate to the park behind the school. It’s that close.  As soon as we got there we went on a “Nature Walk.” We were looking for things that were living and things that were not living.  After the walk, the teacher brought out popsicles!

 

Love Thursday: Mother’s Day Edition

Brought to you by Sam.

Sam has a field trip to a local park today at school (pictures sure to come) so yesterday he brought home the things he did at school for Mother’s Day.

He brought me this plant.  Or cup of dirt with a seed in it.

My Middle and What I Intend To Do About It

Before Sam was born I decided I needed to lose some weight. I lost 30 pounds and managed to keep the weight off for quite some time.

The weight seems to be creeping back on. I’m not happy. My middle in growing.

The last two years have been a bit stressful and our schedules have been messed up. We didn’t know if Rich was going to lose his job (he didn’t, phew!) and with Rich’s schedule our meal times have been a bit… weird.

I’ve tried diets, I’ve tried working out. I can’t seem to lose weight right now. I’m ready for something a bit different. I love the Clean Eating Magazine and, while we already eat relatively clean, I would love to be “more” clean than we are. I’m hoping if I start to incorporate the changes gradually, my middle will become less.

Versatility Baby!

I’m back in the blogging game for just about a week and already the awards are pouring in!

Actually, just one award, but from 3 different people!

I’m blushing!

Check this out…

 

Yep, apparently blogging about one thing – family – earned me the Versatile Blogger.

Enjoying Life

My busy week was followed by some reminders to enjoy the little things.

Josh went to a birthday party/slumber party at his friend Sean’s house. We’ve been friend’s with Sean’s family for years and I’m sure I’ve blogged about Sean and his younger brother Jackson before.

In 2009, Jackson was diagnosed with a brain tumor and lost his battle in August 2010. It was horrible. He was only 7.

I find myself thinking of Jackson at the strangest moments. There are some obvious times, like putting the boys to bed, playing with them – even yelling at them when they aren’t behaving – but he also comes to mind when I’m doing ordinary things like brushing my teeth, or grocery shopping. Sometimes I just can’t get Jackson or his family out of my head.  I take these as reminders that I need to cherish every moment with the boys because you never know what life will bring.
And this last week my sister lost a friend unexpectedly.  Another reminder that life is precious.
So this weekend, we spent some time together as a family.

Busy Week

It’s been one of those weeks.  You know, the crazy, everything-happening-at-once weeks.

Monday, Josh had a really cool field trip.

Wednesday, I helped out at Sam’s school. They were having orientation for the new Kindergarteners so I was there to help greet and give tours. It was fun! I saw lots of kids I know from the preschool. All getting excited to go to Kindergarten!

Sam had a field trip today. They walked down to the local Publix Supermarket. I wasn’t able to go because I had to work. My friend Jessalyn took pictures though.


Here is Sam walking to Publix with Malcolm. 

Wordless Wednesday: Flowers

 

Sampling of flowers I planted on Sunday.

For more Wordless Wednesday, go here.

Class Field Trip! Youth Museum

Yesterday Josh had a class field trip to the Cobb Youth Museum and I was fortunate enough to be the only parent chaperone.

It was AWESOME!

Josh has been studying the Revolutionary War in school and this “museum” covers all the areas that he studied.

I hesitate to call it a museum, because it’s really more of a “Living Museum” or “Performing Arts” museum.

Easter Images 2011

Hope you had a good Easter!  We were busy from the moment we got up until we went to bed!

It was another busy weekend, but Rich did not have to work (Hooray!!) so we had lots of time together.  Friday night we dyed eggs.

 

Our goal for the weekend was to get the garden and back decks sorted out so we could have a barbecue one night.  Sam had a birthday party to go to on Saturday afternoon and it was quite clear by the time we got home the BBQ would have to wait until Sunday!

All About Kindergarten

Sam had an Authors’ Breakfast at school today.

He has a student teacher and this was her “project” for the class. The whole class wrote and illustrated books about Kindergarten.  They invited all the parents to come in this morning for muffins and the kids shared their books.

It was so cute!

Here’s Sam with his book. It was also PJ Day – for a fifty cent donation to the schools Relay for Life Team (ACS) the kids got to wear their PJ’s. He wanted to be sure the sticker and glow necklace were in the picture.

Some Things Are Just Not Worth Arguing Over (AKA Picking Battles)

Meet Sam.

He got himself all dressed this morning – all by himself with NO help from MOM whatsoever!

He also didn’t put up a fuss when I asked him to get dressed, so all in all, a good morning.

(Not) Wordless Wednesday

It was quite warm here yesterday. The boys asked if they could run through the sprinkler.

I’m mean and said no.

But I did let them get out the water guns.

Any Excuse to Get Menchies!

We had such a busy weekend!

Last week Josh had the CRCT Testing in school – that’s our state test that is supposed to measure how well the students are doing. They are a crock if you ask me, but we have to do them.

The poor kids and teachers get so stressed out by them; I’m always glad when they are over.

The CRCT’s were last week and they finished up yesterday.

This weekend was the The Big Shanty Festival here in Downtown Kennesaw. It  is so much fun – we go every year. But this year, I had a Pampered Chef booth and Rich was working, so we didn’t get to see the parade and the kids didn’t get to spend much time there. 

Friday is Ninja Day– Apparently

Sam has an obsession with Ninjas (and penguins, but we’ll explore that another day).

Last year for career day, he dressed up like a Ninja.

When his teacher asked him how many Ninja’s he’s seen walking around he replied, “Oh, about 8.” Silly Mrs Beth, she should know you don’t SEE Ninjas!

Love Thursday Revisited

When I first started blogging, I joined an online community called Maya’s Mom. Through Maya’s Mom I met a fantastic group of ladies. It was a really wonderful online community that unfortunately has been integrated into another community and is no more.

One of the things we did at Maya’s Mom was post blogs on specific topics and every Thursday was “Love Thursday.”

I’d completely forgotten about Love Thursday until I re-started this blog and added that cool “You Might Also Like” widget at the bottom of the posts. This widget scans the tags and looks through old posts makes a “suggestion” based on similar posts.

One of my recent posts brought up a bunch of “Love Thursday” prompts.  So, I decided today would be a good day to post a “Love Thursday” post.

Wordless Wednesday: Dragons & Quilts

I’m a sucker for my boys artwork!

Reinventing the Family Meal

I have a confession.

We don’t eat dinner together as a family on a regular basis.

I know the family meal table is an important part of child's development. I know how it encourages them to try new foods, helps promote good table manners and is a great bonding time for families.

When I was growing up we always ate together. Some of my favorite memories are around the dinner table. And, on the rare occasion, when my brother, sister and I gather our families at my parents’ house, we still sit around the dinner table and talk.

MMM—Monday!

Back in October 2010, I decided to become a Pampered Chef Consultant. I haven't had much time in my schedule to do many parties, I have had several catalog shows and have had booths at fairs and expos. I really enjoy it and hope things slow down enough that I can start doing more parties.
One of my new favorite Pampered Chef recipes is new the Mango Confetti Salsa Recipe. I made some yesterday and wanted to share it with you all. It is so yummy and so easy!

Spring Break 2011: Soccer!

Today is the last day of Spring Break 2011.

We really didn't to a whole lot, other than going to Fernbank on Thursday.  But we did have a busy Saturday!

Josh got a skateboard for his birthday. He's been practicing and practicing on it and he's getting much better.  One thing he's been itching to do is go to one of our local parks that has a skate ramp. Every time we go it's over crowded with teens so Josh hasn't been able to get on. Plus, it's a bit intimidating with lots of High Schoolers skating on it. It's not that big of a "skate park."  Rich promised Josh he'd take him down early one morning before the teens invaded. So, Saturday morning, off they went.

Spring Break 2011: Fernbank

It's been spring break here in Atlanta.  We had great plans to do nothing, and for the most part, that's what we did!

The weather cooperated and the boys played outside most of the time early in the week. But by Wednesday it was clear we needed something to do! So on Thursday, I packed the kids up and we ventured into the heart of Atlanta and explored Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

Boys outside the museum

One Year Later....

Is anybody still out there?  Hello?

Hard to believe it's been a year since I posted any updates.

I've been really thinking about getting back into the blogging thing. I loved having a record of what was going on in our lives but some how got a bit disenchanted with the whole thing.  But, now, I think it's time to pick back up again.

We've done a lot in the last year. We went to England to visit Rich's family, we went to Michigan to visit mine, then spent a week with my family at the beach in South Carolina. Sam started Kindergarten (!), Josh is now in 4th grade... and so many more things.

But instead of looking back at what we did, I'm going to just move forward from here.

So, moving forward, start to look for some more updates.

I'm also thinking of re-doing the whole blog - giving it a make over. Maybe changing the name, changing the layout and all that jazz. Any recommendations for new blog names would be great!