It’s official!  School started today.  I am not ready but hey..we did it anyways.  Not too bad so far.  My main problem right now is mostly evenings.  Hubby likes to spend time either playing Perfect World (hey, if you can’t beat em, join em. right?) together or watch a movie, or show.  Last night that meant I went to bed at midnight.  I was able to get up at 5:30am like planned but that will be hard to continue at this rate.  I really need to be firm about this I guess.  If Anna is in bed by 9 – 9:30.. that gives us plenty of time.  I would like to be in bed by at least 11. 

Last week we were told our water was going to turn brown.  So we prepared ourselves by filling everything we possibly could with water.  Turned out we only had brown water the first day.  They had predicted the work to last 4 days. However, today they are pulling apart our cul-de-sac.  Apparently we have a broken pipe somewhere.. So not thinking.. I put laundry in washer, pour on detergent and then discover we have no water.. sigh.  Very thankful we still have all the jugs for drinking and washing up. 

This evening we are all heading out to see Meadow.  I should be back with lots of pictures.   

We decided we needed to spend some time just relaxing at the library.  There is a nice park nearby and we could also spend some time there.  What was interesting to me was the girls went through, picked some movies to check out and then they were ready to go.

Imagine their surprise when I told them we were staying.  It was as if I just told them we were spending the day locked up in a room with nothing in it.

This really saddened me.  I loved the library growing up.  It has so much more to offer than movies and a few books.  I was determined to show them.  We headed off to the kids section and I browsed thru some books.  I grabbed a book on horses, cats, optical illusions, and some hidden pictures.. We sat and just browsed thru the pictures .. checking to see if we could see whatever wash hidden in them.  Anna loves animal so she was checking out that book.. She is also really good with the 3D optical illusions. Kate finally showed some interest in some of the books as well as some coloring pics that were set up on the table. 

I left them for a bit to check something out in the adult section.  When I came back Anna was having a Librarian help her search for more books on optical illusions.  They also had a board game area for the kids to play.  We didn’t get to go there though.. Not if they still wanted to go the the park.  I actually  had to tell them it was time to go.  They were finally having a good time. 

Here is a video of them at the park.

I can’t seem to catch up.  I am so incredibly behind.  Kate spent 3 weeks here.  It was great.  However, now I must get back to work.  I have so many pics and videos I want to share.. but I can’t seem to organize time well.  I don’t know how others do it.  So far I have planned a whole month of dinners.. Not really planned what days but just wrote down everything we can make this month with the food we have stock now.  We should only have to get some produce and dairy between now and the middle of next month.  Right now I am going to pull out every single school thing I need to work on.  Going to just dig in and start planning. 

Where did the summer go??

Last Thursday was a typical day around the house.  As usual, the girls slept in late.  They were able to spend about an hour in the pool.  Our goal was to have shepherd’s pie for dinner.  After dinner the girls wanted to go to the local pet store.  Kate wanted to see a chinchilla and a flying squirrel.. our pet store has both. 

The dinner got ruined.. thanks to a fly that decided it would be a good idea to land in a pan of ground beef as it was browning.  The fly was not discovered til after I started to transfer it to the baking dish.  That was the end of that idea for us.  We packed up and headed out to get pizza instead. 

After the pizza we went over to the pet store to find that they close at 7.    Sad girls they were.  So we headed over to PetSmart.  However, there are not many to look at there. 

After that we heading to Walmart for essentials..   David had asked if we could pick him up around 9 – 9:30.. but he wasn’t answering his text..  His boss makes them silence the phones.. So we sat outside the military gates (subase) til 10pm waiting.  Turns out he had promised to help someone move and was hoping we would wait for his call before we headed out to get him.  Sometimes the cleaning up takes longer then expected.  I have to say.. sitting out there waiting.. I was getting nervous.  He wasn’t answering and the worse things were going through my head.  I had no clue if he was in there.. or if he had started walking .. maybe his phone died and he couldn’t call us.. ugh.. just bad thoughts.  I was grateful he was fine.  He must have gotten a ride home because I checked his room Sat morning and was in there sleeping.  It is extremely rare for him to make it home. 

After we got home.. we watched Percy and the Lightning Thief.  It was a good 1am before the girls got into bed.  Kate decided she will stay for a 3rd week but that she has to go home after that.  LOL. 

Last Wednesday (not yesterday) the girls wanted to make goo.  Goobleck is another name for it.  Have you every heard of it.  It is fun.. yet very very messy! 

Kate was such a sweetie!  She got 4.00 from David and decided to buy Anna and Ethan a treat.  She made sure Ethan could get the Spiderman pop.



Then it was finally time to go swimming.  We found the little frog below hiding on the inside flap of the top of the pool.
 



Ethan wanted to show me how he could go under the water..

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We decided to spend the last day of vacation, mining for gems.  The girls really enjoyed it.  They were directed to a cave where they had 10 minutes to dig in the sand looking for any gems they could find. 

After they were done digging, they were sent to identify the gems.  This part was tricky! 

After the gems they went and checked the sand art bottles.. 

We also enjoyed looking around in the shop.  They have alot of neat things here.. Kate picked out a shark’s tooth and Anna chose a worry stone.  

We ended the day with some roasted marshmellows and glo sticks. 

Friday of Vacation week.. We took the kids bowling.  Poor Ethan cried at first.  I don’t wanna go bowling.. I want my mommy!  However, when we got there he had a blast.  They even had a lightweight bowling ball just for him. 

The first ball he rolled.. he kinda dropped down the aisle.  After that, he preferred to use this handy equipment. 

I am not sure which was more fun for him.. the bowling or the bubbler..

Below are some clips of the kids bowling.  Kaitlyn can definitely bowl straight down that alley. 

Not a bad way to spend a rainy day..

• 5:42 pm
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A few weeks ago (July 20th), Angel took the week off work.  That Tuesday we decided to head out to the local beach.  Of course, after we leave I realize I forgot the sunblock.  I ended up running into a dollar general to grab some, while in my bathing suit and shirt.  Believe me.. I ran! 

The Beach was beautiful!  However, there was a huge drop where the tide breaks on the sand.  I practically fell into the water and then couldn’t get out again!  The girls were just laughing at me.  I look and notice 3 jellyfish just cruising by.. at that time I notice Kate was getting out of the water in pain!  The Jellyfish got her.  Then I look down and there are these huge fishes swimming around my legs.  Talk about freaky.  I just don’t remember all of this at beaches in Florida?  Maybe because I was just young and loved the water.  That was probably all that mattered to me. 

We decided it was a good time to have lunch.  We sat in our chairs.. girls on their towels.  Angel had his sandwich in his hand.. when a seagull out of no where.. tapped him on the head.  He looked up and then down again and his sandwich was gone.  The bird just dived for it.  Poor Angel lost his lunch. 

We went back into the water.  I had fun tossing Kate around.  She just loves the water.  Then I stepped on a crab.. had to be a crab.. it closed right on my feet.  No pain.. just freaked me out a bit! 

It ended up being a good day.  We loaded up and went home.  However, I discovered a problem.  I completely burned the areas above my knees, my neck and my shoulder.  I did wear sunblock.  I guess I should have re-applied.  I am really not used to getting burned.  What happened to that dark olive skin I was born with.  sigh.  I spent a few days in a bit of pain, but thankfully it didn’t last too long.