Three Photos on Friday

I'm trying to get back in the swing of regular blogging so I'm sharing three photos with you today--three photos related to yesterday morning's hike with a friend.

I mentioned that we got some snow this week. One thing I've learned after living in Colorado is that snow on the ground drops overnight temps drastically. When we started at 9am, this was the actual temp...Brrrrrrrrr!

 I hate being cold. I wore three layers plus my coat and hat and gloves. By the mid-way point, I was burning up even though it had only warmed up to about 20 degrees. Twenty degrees and sun makes for some beautiful Colorado days! And with views like these who wants to stay inside?

I'd forgotten what a mess melting snow on a dirt trail makes. My shoes and pants were covered with mud splatters when I got home.

I wish you could have seen me trying to bend over and take this picture. I was laughing so hard at myself.

Okay. That's all I've got. Hope your Friday is sunny and happy and mud-free!

October Currents

Two blog posts in two days...wow...you'd think I just finished up a big project and found some extra time or something. Grin.


Current Books: I haven't been doing much reading lately, but I did love this book! 

Current Playlist: John brought David Crowder's Christmas album home the other day so I've been listening to it and it's really good. And after the Chris Tomlin concert I went to last week, he's getting a lot of play time too. 

Current Color: dark gray

Current Drink: Good Earth sweet and spicy tea (the caffeine free one) and Zevia caffeine-free cola. And of course WATER.

Current Food: Sweet potatoes. And green chilies. But not sweet potatoes and green chilies together.

Current Favorite Favorite: Gray nail polish. Ooh-la-la. And a cute brown knit hat that my friend, Terri, gave me.

Current Wishlist: A new fleece pullover.

Current Needs: Absolutely nothing!

Current Triumph: I had to buy new dress pants for our banquet the other night because all my others were too big! I bought a pair THREE sizes smaller than the ones hanging in my closet! That felt good. And one more triumph? I finished the girls' Halloween costumes last weekend. Glad to have that checked off of of my list. Pictures soon...

Current Bane of my Existence: Laundry. If it would only stop multiplying. Sigh.

Current Indulgence: Napping!

Current Mood: Happy and relaxed!

Current Blessing: My "snow day" yesterday. Oh, and another blessing? I forgot to tell y'all that the issue with my car last week WAS the battery after all so it was a quick and fairly inexpensive fix.

Current Outfit: Jeans, sweater, clogs, and SmartWool socks (of course)! It's cold here today!

Current Excitement: Well, it's Thursday which means it's almost the weekend! Which means it's almost time for football! 

Current Link: This post has some amazing candy corn ideas. And I sorta want to try this white-chocolate and candy corn popcorn. I don't have a candy corn addiction. I don't have a candy corn addiction. I don't have a candy corn addiction. I'm hoping candy corn disappears from grocery stores soon because it's getting harder and harder to keep passing it by.

What I've Done Today

Today was the first day in a very, very long time that I didn't make a to-do list. I don't even have words to describe the wonderfulness of that statement.

Even without a list I managed to get some stuff accomplished.

Here's a little of what I've done today:

Slept late. Six-thirty is BLISS for me!

Ate breakfast.

Went back to bed. Can't even tell you the last time I did that.

Showered and put clean pjs on.

Made lunch.

Ate a few spoonfuls of Snickerdoodle cookie dough. Yup, RAW cookie dough. It was very sugary and it was very good!

Took an afternoon nap.

Watched some television.

Helped Will study for a Spanish test.

And I think that's pretty much it.

It was an amazingly stress-free day and you have no idea how much I've needed it.

I've been going pretty much non-stop for the last four to five weeks. Last night we had the annual fundraising banquet for our area Young Life chapter and I had a key role in organizing the event. The banquet was a great success and we met our financial goal but I was completely wiped out.

The weathermen were predicting "significant snowfall" for today so I was REALLY counting on today being a snow day. There was great disappointment when I woke up this morning to maybe an inch or two of snow on the grass but not a stitch on the roads. Our district ended up calling a two-hour delay but I made an executive decision and let the students in my house have a snow day! Snow has continued to fall all day long so the kids and I have had a pretty cozy day. To be honest, we all needed it.

Sarah made cookies (AND cleaned up the kitchen!) in between episodes of her favorite show, What Not To Wear. Abbey has been playing, reading, and snuggling up next to me. Will has been studying (he has three tests tomorrow) in between playing video games. And me? I think you gathered from my list that I've been LAZY and HAPPY.

Life will return to normal tomorrow, but thankfully the insane busy-ness is behind me for a good while. I kinda like not making a to-do list...

Life

Just popping in for a few minutes with some random news from mi casa.

We had a great long weekend! I definitely felt rested by the time Monday rolled around. I think we all did!

I went to all the kids' parent-teacher conferences last week. I know a lot of parents dread them but I actually enjoy those conferences. I always leave with a sense of gratitude. Gratitude for my kids and their unique strengths and gratitude for the teachers who pour into them daily.

Will had a great time at his Homecoming dance. His friend's parents hosted the entire cross-country team for dinner before the dance and it was so nice. They invited parents to drop the kids off but stay as long as they liked to take pictures. Then they shuttled kids to the dance. I loved that set up. Here's a pic of Will with his "date". You can see their feet but he had on his Vans and she had on a cute pair of sparkly Toms. They're all about comfort! 

Yesterday morning I was driving carpool and it was cold and drizzly. The kids piped up from the back seat and asked if I had any Christmas music in the car. I found a lone Christmas cd (Jim Brickman) but that wasn't really doing it for them so Abbey found some Glee Christmas on my iPhone. I dropped them off and listened to Christmas music all the way to Denver. It made me happy!

I had to be in Denver yesterday for a training meeting for my J-O-B. I hinted at that in an earlier post but it's official now. I'm going to be the administrative assistant for our area Young Life director. It's part-time but it's a perfect job for me and a way to get my feet wet after many years of not working. I think it's going to be a good fit!

In other news yesterday...my van is dead. I got back from Denver with about 25 minutes to spare before picking Sarah up from school. I pulled in the school parking lot to wait and catch up on email and phone calls. When Sarah got in the van it wouldn't start! My sweet friend took us home until John could break  away from work to help me jump the van. Turns out we couldn't jump it so I don't think it's the battery. We had it towed to the auto repair place and should find out what's going on soon. I AM SO THANKFUL that none of this happened while I was in Denver yesterday morning! SO SO SO SO THANKFUL!

Things I'm looking forward to this week? A beautiful hike with friends, crisp fall days, a Chris Tomlin concert, getting some big things knocked off of my to-do list, and a couple of mornings at home! Those little things make me crazy happy!!!

Ketchup

hello, friends (and family)(and the rest of you who lurk around here).

life is (crazy) busy these days. busyness isn't something i choose but rather seems to come with the territory of having growing children! i'll survive. i don't love it, but i love that our weekends are very low-key and unstructured. i love weekends more than ever right now.

speaking of weekends...

will and i went to arkansas last weekend for a mini family reunion and the arkansas-auburn game. we had a BLAST! we saw my brother and sister and lots and lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins. we also saw a fantastic football game. i love razorback football!!!

know what happened while we were gone? it snowed at our house in colorado. it was the first snow of the season and we missed it. can't say that i was sad. we had absolutely gorgeous football weather in arkansas.

we were in st. louis part of the time. in fact, we flew in and out of there and drove down to fayetteville. i think st. louis is a fun city! we ate some really great pizza at pi (evidently our president loves pi too) and i finally got to go in charming charlie. such a neat store and really great prices! there are a couple in denver but they are not really in the neck of the woods that we frequent.

this is a short week of school for my kiddos. the girls are out tomorrow and everyone is out on friday. can you say LONG weekend? i am beyond thrilled about that.

let's see...what else is going on???

well, i'm cooking dinner for church tonight. i love being able to eat dinner at church but we've had such crazy evening schedules that it hasn't worked until tonight. we're having chili tonight which is appropriate for our cool fall weather.

will has a date for homecoming this weekend at his school. he asked her a few weeks ago. he was so non-chalant about it. i was running to the store for something and he asked if i'd buy him a rose so he could give it to the girl he was planning to ask. she said yes and evidently carried the rose around all day long. anyway, the dance is this weekend (as is the game) and he and his date are going with their whole cross-country team. fun! i'll take pics, don't you worry.

it's almost time to start my afternoon kid-pick-up round(s) so i suppose i should sign off.

happy wednesday, peeps.

Two great loves...

I love lots of things but two of my great loves are FALL and HIKING.

I hiked yesterday with two friends (that I also love!) and was stunned by the beauty of that hike, particularly the aspen grove near the summit of Eagle Peak. It was simply gorgeous. So gorgeous that I want to share a couple of photos here.

Yesterday's hike stirred my heart in both physical and spiritual ways. The beauty that surrounds me in this place I call home is something I cannot take for granted!

Rule Breaker

This meme is called Fill in the Blank Friday. Today is Tuesday. I guess that makes me a rule-breaker.

I'm either a rule-breaker or one busy girl who can't seem to find time to blog without some kind of prompts.

Both are true. So without further adieu, here are my Tuesday blanks...

1. My current obsession is football. My poor family groans when the weekends roll around. We only have one television that is hooked up to our cable receiver and it's a fight for control of the remote around here on weekends. Thankfully my family got to watch whatever they wanted on Saturday because I went to Boulder with some friends for the CU game--so FUN! (I listened to the AR game on the drive up until half-time and then turned it off in thorough disgust. Imagine my surprise when I got to the Folsom Field and saw the score! It was a good day for the Hogs; not so much for the Buffs.)

Aren't the mountains behind this field awesome? Here's the view from the other end of the field. I have to say that those views are slightly distracting for me. I almost want to stare at the scenery instead of watching the field action. Almost. 

2. Hiking makes me happy. Can't wait to hike this morning with some friends! We're doing a very challenging hike that I haven't done in awhile and I am really excited about it.

3. My greatest strength is responsibility. You can count on me.

4. Responsibility is my greatest weakness. You can count on me to get things done...which also means that I end up picking up others' slack because I NEED things to be done and be done well. It's hard to find balance sometimes.

5. My life is very VERY blessed. 

6. In high school I was awkward, but surrounded by a GREAT group of friends that remain very dear to me!

7. When I'm super tired I seem to cry at the slightest thing. Also when I'm super tired (like I have been the last week or so) I try to take naps! I took a short one yesterday afternoon and it was just what I needed!

Alrighty! Hope your day is a good one.

Love,

Rule-Breaker/Girl-on-the-Go

My Favorite Place on Earth!

Here are some photos from our little getaway to Estes Park last weekend. Sit back and enjoy (and wish you lived in Colorado too!)

Sliding down the rainbow slide and riding go-carts at Fun City are absolutely must-dos for us when in EP! The girls also did the bungee-jump-thingy this time but I only have videos of that and no time to upload them. Besides, all the up and down motion would probably make you dizzy. 

Love this pic so much!!!

The weather and the colors were GORGEOUS on Sunday. Most of these pics were taken at Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. I also want to note that all of these pics were taken with my iPhone camera...using the Camera+ app which I adore!!!

Don't be surprised if you see one of those two family pics on our Christmas card this year!

Happy Friday everyone!

Quick Catch Up

I'm sitting in a quiet house right now. John took Will and Sarah to school on his way to work and Abbey is still asleep. I have a few minutes before I have to wake her up and since I haven't blogged in over a week I thought a blog post was in order!

--I have a weird backache/chestache going on. It started last night and it hurts! It feels muscle-related so I'm hoping the muscle relaxant kicks in soon.

--I had a cup of coffee last night for the first time since May. My book club met at Village Inn for free pie night (we're suckers for pie)(especially FREE pie) and I ordered a cup of decaf. Wow. It was good. I haven't had any caffeine since mid-May and I feel so much better with it out of my system. I'd drink decaf coffee if I could ever get John to switch but that's NEVER going to happen. He's a fully leaded guy.

--Abbey got brackets on her two front teeth this week. Her orthodontist will put more on next time. I think she looks pretty cute! 

--We went to Estes Park with John's parents last weekend. Estes Park is my favorite place in Colorado. It was beautiful. Last time we were there we saw a bear. And guess what we saw again this time? A BEAR! In a TREE! My pics aren't great but here's proof. I'll share the rest of my pics from EP in another post (hopefully tomorrow). The fall colors were gorgeous!

--Speaking of fall color--I think the trees in my little town have literally been changing overnight. Everywhere I drive (and I'm in the car a lot these days) the leaves are brilliant red and gold and orange. Who doesn't love fall colors? I ooh and ahh over this group of trees when I walk past them on the trail every morning. I went back one afternoon to take this photo...

--I think I might have a part-time job soon. I'm kinda excited about it. 

--I'm getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow. It's been three months. My hair has gotten so long and scraggly. I'm kinda ready to chop a few inches. We'll see.

--My time is up. Must wake my littlest kiddo up and get her to school. And then? THEN I get to spend my entire morning at home. That is such a rare treat these days!

Good stuff!

I only have a minute or two but I have three good things to share this morning...

1. My husband arrives home this afternoon! Hip hip HOORAY! He's left for a conference in Chicago last Wednesday and then flew to Arkansas to spend the weekend with his parents. Their last Sunday at the church his dad has pastored for 25 years was yesterday. I was so thankful he got to be there for their special day (and so sad the rest of us didn't) but I am more than ready for him to come home. I have missed him like crazy! I'm not too fond of single-parenting. Hats off to those of you who do this day in and day out. You have my utmost respect.


2. Yesterday was absolutely GORGEOUS! I went on a great hike with some neighborhood friends. We had originally hoped to hike Pulpit Rock but the main road to the trailhead was closed and we couldn't find any access so we ended up going to Ute Valley Park instead. It was fabulous! We live in a place of stunning beauty.

I can't figure out how to zoom with my iPhone camera but if you look close, you can see the snowy summit of Pikes Peak just over that rocky ridge. BEAUTIFUL!

Local friends: Have you ever hiked Pulpit Rock? Is there another way to access the trailhead besides going north on Nevada?


3. Sarah and I made these pumpkin spiced oatmeal pecan cookies on Saturday and they were SOOOOOO YUMMY! I've been very strict with my sugar consumption since May but I could not resist these cookies. Fall just begs for pumpkiny treats, don't ya think?
*I used walnuts instead of pecans and regular oats instead of quick oats. I also didn't have any pumpkin pie spice but my friend Kellie had just posted directions for mixing up your own. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for directions!


Hope your Monday is off to a great start!

Saturday Morning Post

It's Saturday. Hooray! I was able to sleep a little later than normal, but not nearly as late as I'd hoped I could. I'm just happy the hour hand was on the six this morning. I've had a couple mornings lately where it was on the four and even one morning it was on the THREE! And that's no bueno. 

This week was very good, but very full. I can't seem to find that pace (slow, but purposeful) that I really love and I'm hoping things settle down a bit in the next few weeks. I've always tried to have a couple of days each week that I spend at home and those kind of days have been few and far between lately. I think I might have to start scheduling them on the calendar to keep them free!

>begin rambling<

John walked in the kitchen one evening after work and found me slaving over dinner asked me to close my eyes. When I opened them he was holding a Spiced Pumpkin Yankee Candle. He'd read my last blog post about wanting a new candle for fall and so he picked one up for me. Sweet, eh? He also sent me to the mall with a very liberal shopping allowance to buy some jeans. He always has a generous heart towards me and our children but he outdid himself this week! 

We had two rainy, gloomy days this week that brought record amounts of rain to our area. I was thankful for the moisture, but I really miss the sun when it's overcast for that many days in a row. I'm so spoiled by Colorado's 300 days of sunshine a year. I picked Will up from a post-practice pasta dinner for his cross country team on Thursday evening just as the sky was starting to clear and in addition to a gorgeous rainbow spanning the sky, we noticed that Pikes Peak was wearing a fresh coat of snow! It was really beautiful! I was in the Springs yesterday and saw people everywhere stopping to take pictures. (I took a couple of pics but they're not very good!)

Gloomy fall days make me wish I could sit on the couch with my Slanket (ha!) and watch You've Got Mail. I think it's time for my annual viewing.

Will had a cross country meet yesterday afternoon in Denver. I'm so proud of him because he set a new PR of 23:18. His last run was 27:10 so that's almost FOUR minutes that he shaved off!!! Wow.

John's parents are coming for a visit next week! We're getting excited about that. They'll get to go to one of Will's XC meets and we have some other fun things planned. His parents are retiring and we're hoping more visits like this are in their future! We love where we live but often wish it weren't so far away from our family.

On tap for this weekend: 

Cleaning (since I didn't get much done this week!)

Laundry

A hike with friends

FOOTBALL!!!! (Not too excited about the Razorbacks non-conference game this week but next week things start to get fun!)(I am excited about NFL and my fantasy team though.)

Church

Bible study homework (we started The Patriarchs this week. I loooooove Old Testament! So excited!)

A meeting

Rest

And hopefully that's it.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

>/end rambling<

PS: I thought I was being all cute with my HTML code for rambling but I guess blogger read it as actual code and made it invisible so I inserted the words "begin" and "end". It still read it as (invisible) code so I had to reverse the < symbol to get it to appear as text. Interesting, huh? Looks like I still have much to learn. If you're not an HTML geek then you probably have no idea what I just said. Just nod and smile.

Currently

I copied this from my friend, Stephanie. Here are my September currents...

Current Books: Last week I finished reading Bossypants (for book club) and I'm a few chapters into Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (also for bookclub). I have Odd Girl Out beside my bed as well. I'm not in much of a reading groove these days though. 

Current Playlist: Gosh, I've been enjoying silence so much lately that I can't even remember the last time I listened to my iPod. 

Current Color: orange!

Current Drink: Water. And the very occasional Zevia caffeine-free cola.

Current Food: Red meat. I love it. Can't get enough lately.

Current Favorite Favorite: Micro-fiber cleaning cloths. Yes, I'm the biggest geek on the planet.

Current Wishlist: a fall candle, fall sweaters, warm(er) workout clothes for chilly mornings! It was around 40 degrees every morning last week! Brrrrr.

Current Needs: New jeans!

Current Triumph: I hiked the Manitou Incline with some friends yesterday. It's 1 mile straight up, 40% grade, and a 2000 foot elevation gain. It was exhilarating! I did it last year but I was pretty out of shape after taking most of the summer off to recover from my hip injury. I felt GREAT yesterday.

Current Bane of my Existence: Evening activities and weekend homework. 

Current Indulgence: Pinkberry!

Current Mood: Mostly happy but worried about a couple of friends...

Current #1 Blessing: My husband. We had a great weekend together and I'm beyond grateful for him.

Current Outfit: capris, tee, and flip flops. Gotta milk it while I can since it will be sweater weather before I know it.

Current Excitement: Monday night football, a fun hike with friends tomorrow followed by lunch with another friend, and Bible study begins on Wednesday. It's a good week. 

Current Link: I got nothin'. Except for maybe these Snicker Bar Blondies that I made this afternoon to take to a Younglife BBQ tonight. I'd try of of them if I liked chocolate, but I don't. Hate me if you must...

Random 9

1. I have been crazy-busy lately. If you know me, you know I don't like being busy. Thank goodness our weekends have been slow-paced and relaxing, which makes me appreciate them all the more! The only things on my schedule for tomorrow and Sunday are happy things!

2. Some of those happy things include football! Have I mentioned I love football? I'm so excited about Fantasy Football starting this weekend (even though I guess it technically started last night) and excited for week two of college football. I have a hard time getting into Arkansas' non-conference games though so I have a few more weeks to get geared up for the Hogs' real SEC competition.

3. I experienced my first Grilled Cheese Thursday yesterday. Every other Thursday, our local Younglife makes a gazillion grilled cheese sandwiches for the students at both of our local high schools. The kids come in droves to devour them...and seriously...they can put away some grilled cheese! I think we went though sixty loaves of bread yesterday, which explains why I smelled like grilled cheese for the remainder of the afternoon! I also learned what a fluffernutter sandwich is. I will share that recipe soon.

4. Speaking of recipes...I made this this tequila-citrus grilled chicken last weekend and it was delicious! And I think I could eat this southwestern flank steak every single day.

5. We've had some great fall weather lately and I love it. I should be clear here. I like cool weather. We've had a cold day or two mixed in and I'm NOT ready for cold. I like to experience fall before winter.

6. We have a fun family getaway planned for later this month. I am so excited. More on that later.

7. I'm hosting Bunco tonight! I love my Bunco friends! It's rare that all twelve of us can make it every month (we usually have several subs) but it worked out all of us can come tonight. Should be fun. I am really looking forward to laughing with my peeps!

8. So...that situation I didn't want to talk about in my post last week about people thinking rules didn't apply to them? I was referring to the carpool line at our elementary school. I'm happy to report that the afternoon pick up procedures were tweaked a bit and my blood pressure has been normal all week! Hooray!

9. Anyone know why my phone keeps scrambling text messages to look like this?

John was TRYING to tell me to wear my bear bell on my hike. You got that message loud and clear, right? I've gotten three messages like that this week. Does this happen to you guys too? I'm so confused!

Happy Friday!

Wiser Now

Some things I realized, learned, or remembered this week.

--I learned it's very expensive to have a van window repaired, but it's sorta nice to be able to roll it down and have it go all the way back up again. I must say though, our body shop ROCKS! They found a part they were able to use instead of ordering a brand new one. Total repair cost ended up being $100 less than the price they quoted us just for the part.

--I realized (again)(much to my chagrin) that my body clock has no regard for Saturday and the fact it's the only day I can sleep in. I was up at 5:15 just like almost every day this summer. WHY can't I sleep late even when I want to?

--I learned that lightning, rain, and Friday night lights don't mix.

--I realized that I don't miss caffeine all that much until I drive past Starbucks and think about pumpkin spice lattes. Sigh.

--I remembered that swimming is the most intense cardio workout in the world (for me). I have a new respect for swimmers after swimming laps at the pool this week. Wowza. Swimming makes walking/hiking/theoccasionaljog feel like pseudo-cardio.

--I realized yesterday after a grocery/Costco run that the price of food is climbing. Either that or my family is just eating more these days. It's probably both. Realized too that we should probably re-evaluate our grocery budget since I can't seem to stay within it.

--I remembered that homework is a necessary fact of life and that I'll never be a fan.

--I also learned/realized/remembered that I really like blogging! And that I've missed it.

What about you? Learn anything new or realize something (again) this week? Wanna share your great wisdom? :)

Fill in the Blank Friday

1. One thing that is completely superfluous, but that I could never give up is Biolage shampoo. I quit buying it a few years ago and went with some much cheaper brands but that didn't last long. I'm addicted to Biolage.

2. Hugs from people I don't know very well or feel very close to make me feel awkward. And then there's the whole issue of front hugs? Sideways hugs? Quick or long hugs? And what to do with my hands? See? Awkward.

3. I can't make it through a single day without making some sort of list.

4. Edamame is my favorite snack. Besides being yummy, it's fun to say! It's also fun to convince your friend that she's pronouncing it incorrectly then listen to her use the made up pronunciation the rest of the evening while everyone plays along.

5. Lately I've been trying to find my new school year groove.

6. If at first you don't succeed take a breath, don't over analyze it, and try again.

7. Fall is such a cozy season. I'm looking forward to crisp mornings, some yummy comfort food, and of course FOOTBALL!

I'm so glad it's Friday AND a long weekend. And glad I could link up at the little things we do today!

Happy Sad Crazy

Two blog posts in two days. I KNOW! Please don't faint.

Some things that have made me happy lately:
:::Catching up with friends at church and school after a busy summer!
:::Walking with my neighborhood posse in the evenings
:::Picking kids up from school and seeing smiles on their faces!
:::My adorable nephew is ONE YEAR OLD today!!! Happy Birthday, J!
:::Sunshine
:::Air conditioning
:::Spending time at the (almost completely deserted) pool while the kids are in school! And evening out my funky flip flop tan.

Some things that have made me sad lately:
:::Watching people compromise who they are to be liked and fit in with a certain crowd
:::Mean girls
:::Costco no longer sells the 4lb container of strawberries. It's a 2lb container instead. It means summer is on it's way out and is taking it's bounty with it. Sigh.
:::Will got new glasses this week and they're awful. He has one eye that has basically NO vision in it and when I took him for his checkup the doctor strongly encouraged him to wear glasses to protect his one good eye. He picked out some cool frames and was finally coming to terms with the fact that he needs to wear them regularly but when he put them on for the first time, the lens in his non-seeing eye makes that eye look four times larger than the other one. Not cool for an oh-so-cool 9th grader. I've got to call the eye doctor this afternoon and see what we can do to fix this.


Some things that have made me crazy lately:
:::Autocorrect. OH. MY. GOSH. I have a love-hate relationship with this feature. I love that it catches words I misspell when texting but I hate that it changes some words I DO spell correctly. John sent me a text this afternoon sharing some exciting news. I replied with the word: Woohoo! which autocorrect subsequently changed to Elohim! Now, I happen to know from my Old Testament classes in college that Elohim is a Hebrew name for God. John knows that too and was trying like crazy to figure out why I replied back with "GOD!" in Hebrew. Autocorrect is maddening.

:::Facebook. I know I'm in the minority but I don't love Facebook. I actually deactivated my account for a few weeks earlier this month in an attempt to step away from some drama and the people who were creating it. I'm back now, but it's starting to feel too much like Twitter to me. And you might recall that I'm a Twitter quitter.

:::People who think that certain rules don't apply to them. I SO want to elaborate on this one but I don't want to put myself in a bad mood.

:::Maybe I should have ended with my list of happy things. Oh well. I'm still happy and I hope you are too! And hey, it's hump day. Elohim! Woohoo!

State of the Family: Back to School Edition

Well, I finally feel ready to blog more and as luck would have it I seriously cannot find the time! Having three kids in three different schools is pretty nuts! I'm hoping I find my bloggy groove soon!

Here's a little of what is going on with each of us!

John: He's plugging away on a manuscript that is due in early September. This is actually a freelance job so it consumes most of his nights and weekends. It's hard on all of us, but especially on him. He's told me repeatedly that after he finishes this project he's going to need a break from freelance stuff for awhile; his mind is just tired. I think that a break is a wise idea. Anyway, he has two books that he co-wrote releasing soon. This one and this one. He's gotten some advance copies of both from the printer and is very pleased! I'm really proud of him.

Me: I'm feeling like I'm in hyper-mode when it comes to organizing my family for daily survival. Everyone is going a dozen different directions and it's my job to keep things running smoothly. I do manage some down-time/self-care each day and honestly, I need/crave it. I'm getting super excited about football season and am really looking forward to a weekly hiking group that my friend has organized! I'm also hoping to jump back into Bible study at church as well as some Younglife volunteer stuff.

Will: He's enjoying high school so far! He's running cross-country this fall and it's been such a great way for him to meet some upper classmen and feel a part of a team. School begins for him around 7:30am and he doesn't usually finish practice until 5pm so his day is SUPER long. I feel sorry for him sometimes, but he's adapted really well and is getting stronger and faster almost every day. His first official meet is on Friday. I'm kinda bummed (he is too) that 90% of his meets are on Fridays. We were really jazzed about going to all of his school's football games this season. We'll still get to go, we'll just be going late!
Here's a pic from his first day of school.

Sarah: She's doing great! She loves school both for the academics AND the social interaction. She is so my child. Smile. We have about an hour alone together in the afternoons before retrieving Abbey so she usually tries to persuade me to take her to get some fro-yo and I usually say yes. I love how chatty she is when she gets in the van! She and Abbey are constantly changing the photo background on my phone--they each want it to be a solo picture of them with me. She snapped this one day last week on a fro-yo run. She's stepped into some great leadership opportunities this year and she's going to run for Student Council again too (she was on it the past two years). She's such a great kid and is always so happy and confident. I love that about her.

Abbey: She has adjusted very well to 4th grade AND to her palate expander! She had an orthodontist appointment this morning and will get her braces put on at her next appointment. She's been a champ about that whole process! She really likes her teacher this year (she got a fabulous one!) and she has some sweet girls in her class that I'm hoping she'll get to know better as the year progresses. She got her ears pierced for her birthday in March so one of the highlights of her morning is picking out earrings to match her outfit. It's really cute. She's also crazy about Jack the Beagle. Thank goodness someone in this family dotes on that dog. Smile.

That's all I've got for now! Stay tuned...

The End

Today is officially our last day of summer. School starts tomorrow and my heart is a little sad about it. I love summer and it's unstructured days so much. But I also love structure, so I have a feeling that the rhythm of the school week will probably lure me in quickly. The kids are excited about starting back; I'm just a few (reluctant) steps behind them.

Our last few weeks have been packed with as much summer fun as we could manage: swimming, spending time with friends, hiking, sleepovers, camping (in the backyard), trips to the North Pole and Elitch Gardens, and a neighborhood (outdoor) movie night. And so much more. We've tried to cross as many things off of our summer list as we could!

I'm sad to see summer end but new beginnings are exciting too. Farewell Summer 2011. Here's to a fabulous fall.