oops...

told you it was a case of the crazies! My new car is an Infiniti QX56...pics to come...

this weekend topped off the weekend of crazies.... the highlight was my brother thinking it was a great idea to dive into the pool that isn't meant for diving, and take off a few layers of skin on his lower face, and portions of his two front teeth. Awesomeness. Awfulness. Tried to take pictures, but he wasn't feeling too smiley the next morning. And in answer to your next question, no, he was not at all sober. Until after. Something about loofahing your face with the bottom of the pool seems to sober people up. There are other portions of the evening that are oh so memorable, but for the sake of my relationship with Nick, I'll save it for off the www. :) Love you bro!

***DISCLAIMER: Please, for the sake of injuries, clothes falling off, and dinner making a return visit, stay away from Tuaca. Just take my word for it. Although I did not consume any myself, I was present to view all side effects of drinking it. Trust me. Stay away.

Crazies...

it has been a nutty week fo sho!

Saturday bliss has arrived, thankfully...

Cameron started swim team this week, and had to do rookie camp all this week. And Megs started a new session of swim lessons, which are twice a week. Add that to the normal routine, and you've got some crazies up in here! Basically it's been days of no more than an hour at a time in the house until bedtime. Add to that a few dinners with friends this week, and we're just insane. :)
Monday there was no school, so we spent the day swimming, and Brandy and Dyl spent the night, which was fabulous because Brandy and I scrapped the night away, thus completing 3 of the last layouts I posted. yay!

So, I have a little story to share....
Wednesday I called Brent in the afternoon, and he told me he was working a little later, so he wouldn't make it to swim practice, and that he'd just see us at the house when we got there. So I come rolling onto the street at 6:30, and Brent's truck isn't in the driveway.
Ever since his wreck last year, I have a minor heart attack when he's not home when he says he's on his way. I call his cell phone. No answer. Crap. Really starting to have a panic attack.
I pull into the driveway and open the garage, only to be greeted by my new car parked in the garage! I was totally shocked! I had no idea he had bought it, let alone brought it home and everything without me knowing.... awesomeness at the highest scale!
I am in love with my new car, and now I need a name for it... although nothing can top the 'Hoe, retired from the family with a ripe 97k miles on it.... (Which was sold five minutes after Brent drove it to work- crazies I tell ya!). Now it's just a matter of figuring out all the buttons....so how cool is my hubs? Never ceases to amaze me, I tell ya....

So I have to share one of my new fav stores Brandy told me about... Crazy 8. Rockstar little brother of Gymboree and $5 shipping. What's not to love?

some scrappity stuff of late...

The first four are stuff for KMA... you can check them, and all the other fabulous DT work here.

The one of Em was just for fun... just 'cause I love Em. :)

my kids are growing....

Cameron is reading, writing, and doing math. Crazy. I just gave birth to him, you know? I had my first, "Uh oh. This is real life now" moment last week.
They just started show and tell at school, and he brought up that he wished he had something cool to bring to school for show and tell. I started going down the infinite list of cool things in abundance in our house, but he was still looking discouraged. "But no one else will think those things are cool."
Boo. You fight it off as long as you can, but it comes anyways. All the memories of fitting in, worrying about what friends think (who am I kidding, not much has changed) come flooding back, and I am struck with the panic of how to sheild him from this, how to make it stop.
And I just can't. All I can do is give the pep talk of all pep talks, boost his coolness factor as much as I can with my wisdom, and send him on his way. sucks.
As a parent, you want your child to be invincible, and to always have a confidence to stand the test of school age peers.
And as I am sitting in my room, thinking of all the great parent quotes I can give my son to make his mark in this world, he comes running in with a huge smile on his face.
"I've got it Mom!"
"what's that?"
"My show and tell- it's awesome and everyone will think it's SO cool!"
"Really? Let me see!"
And he opens his little hand to show me.... a rock.
"It's a baby dinosaur bone!"
"Awesome!" I secretly sigh in relief, off the hook for the moment.... but just in case, five minutes later I tell Cameron he is the most handsome little boy on the planet, and I love him.

Megan is... well, Megs. She is stopped by the elderly continuously about her blonde little curls and her pretty blue eyes, she knows her colors, her abc's, and is a total snugglebug. She makes people laugh all the time because of her nutty, quirky little personality. She can stare you in the eye as she tests the limit, trying to do whatever it is she thinks she shouldn't, all the while with a little smirk on her face. She is stubborn as all get out, not willing to budge until she is ready.
She loves to talk on the phone, and will steal mine or anyone else's any chance she gets.

They are both so different, yet at any moment I can pretty much tell you which characteristics came from which parent, and also how much they are alike.
They both love sleep- they've been awesome sleepers since birth. They both can go anywhere, just about any time, and be a great sport about it- meltdowns are pretty rare for both. They both love crafts and being creative, and they love puzzles and books. But they still would both rather be outside any day if given the choice, especially if they get to swim or jump.

And still I wonder, as much as I love these two, just what would a third baby bring?

itsy bitsy spider...

is Meg's new favorite song. She sings her own little version alll the time now. I need to get a recording of her singing it. That, and her saying hippopotamus, and octopus....

We took an unexpected trip to Kings Orchard on Friday- it was a gorgeous day, and we picked enough strawberries to share with the entire street.... Megan thought it was so cool, and I had to bribe her to get her out of there. She was so good, didn't eat a single one until we had paid for them, and then as soon as I told her she could eat them now, she proceeded to take one bite out of about six different ones!

It was fun to get our three girls together, although trying to get a picture of all three of them smiling at the same time was next to impossible. :)Happy (belated) Birthday Rita! I mentioned it in my other post, but didn't officially salute ya :) Love you, and thanks for being such a fabulous friend.... who knew that meeting people over the internet could be so not creepy? You rock!

My dear son is going through some changes.... all these scary signs that he's growing up. His front tooth is dangling, waiting any minute to be the first tooth to be lost. At the rate that Cameron wiggles it (which is allll the time, including some moments at dinner in the middle of chewing. ew.) the tooth fairy should be visiting us soon.

He was also invited to his first sleepover this week. I said no, and picked him up at bedtime, but just the thought that he was old enough to be invited to one was crazy to me. When did he get so old?

He is now on the neighborhood swim team too. swim team= very early mornings for me... but he's super excited, and for some strange reason, loves the spandex swim trunks he has to wear. If he only knew....

He's become obsessed with these jammies the last couple of weeks, too. You would think we live in Antarctica the way my child dresses for bed. But these are the ones he's worn for two weeks, every single night, with a couple of days off here and there for washing. Thank God my kids bathe before bed.

off to search for scrappy mojo.... it's been MIA for some time now... wish me luck!

Ring around the rosie...

pocket full of posie, ashee ashee, all fall down!

That's Meg's version.... too cute, she's got a song just for Ashley :) If that doesn't make you come out of hiding, what will?

Stephanie watched Megan for me yesterday while I went out to lunch to celebrate someone's birthday (which is actually tomorrow)... I figured out the bonus of having an awesome photographer watch my kids... watch out Steph, they're coming over all the time now! Ha! Megan and Chase just love each other- they love playing together 99% of the time, which in toddlerland is spectacular.

Happy Birthday Moms!

My fabulous Mom's birthday was yesterday- she turned 51...oops. 31. 21?

Not surprising, she's celebrating in style this weekend, complete with Scottie's band... hope you have a great one Mom, wish we were there!

This last week marked the end of our outdoor project. Other than the fence coming back up, we are done with the pool and landscaping. Woot! If you'd like to enrich your life in the form of watching the slide show of the construction as it progressed, tickle your fancy here.

Still need to go patio furniture shopping, and need a new play set, and of course, beer mugs that go in the freezer....