Just Me!!

Doing the Puyallup is expensive. We always leave saying....next year we wont be going! The kids are always in agreement as long as we substitute the fair expenses for something like a night stay at Great Wolf Lodge. Maybe next year we should do that instead! 21.00-Tickets in for mom and dad 83.00- wrist bands 60.00- food and spending Probably a whole lot more that I didn't catch flow through my hands. Charlie had fun but the baby rides are getting too small and the big rides too big. We had fun watching a small ballet, 4D movie, seeing 5 day old baby pigs, eating ice cream/elephant ears/corn dogs, playing games, walking, and watching the kids enjoy themselves! After all, money DOES grow on trees right?

Gratitude journal entry #1- I am exercising my mind to be reminded of all the things I am thankful for throughout the day. I am thankful for 4 hours of O/C today so I could get caught up on my rest. I am grateful my brother came back over and redid the lawn and stayed and chatted for an hour. I full of thankfulness for Mark and Charlie, they helped me tear down most of my summer garden, and pull weeds from a couple flower beds. I am thankful the day went smoothly and all my kids made it back safe and sound, and happy. I am grateful for yummy ripe tomatoes from my garden, they made a most delicious Caprese salad. I am thankful that my niece loved her rainbow bear that I bought for her. I AM THANKFUL!!! There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the duty is sufficiently rewarded by the performance. ~Joseph Addison Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up ...

Valerie has started to notice lately that every time a stranger sees Charlie, they all flood her with compliments about how gorgeous her eyes are. It is true!! Although when Val was little, everyone said those same compliments to her. She is a very pretty girl with some self esteem issues. She is crazy intelligent, pretty, unique, full of spunk, loves to explore, extremely giving (sometimes to a fault), and is the truest of true friends! I love her so much. The women she is becoming is very beautiful. Any man will be very lucky to capture her heart! It might help his case out if he was interested in snake breeding! I took the kids for their yearly physicals last week and she told Dr Taggart how she was going to school to become a snake breeder. She will get her degree in herpetology. Fantastic!!!! Mamma is very proud of her. She is now 51/2 ft tall;) Healthy girl! Charlie is a drama queen. Fainting when someone says the name of her boyfriend and wearing dresses/jewelry everyday day to...

Every year my garden teaches me so many valuable lessons. Some times I fail to learn them so naturally nature reminds me once again what I need to know. I believe this was one of the best summers since I started gardening three years ago. Thanks to Glenda Bowker who I work with for all the confidence and inspiration. Even though her garden was compromised by deer, bunnies, wolves, and slugs she stayed strong and ended up with a great crop. So here's my list that I hope I refer to next year when I start to plan my garden: 👒No beans-we are not fond of them although this was one of my largest crops! 👒Zucchini only- my squash crop takes over my backyard and produces squash very slowly. 👒Peppers-do not plant in part shade. Likes the spot where they are. Lets just not plant any!! 👒Slugs- they kill plants and act as appetizers for my moles. Invest and buy stock in slug bait. 👒No potatoes- I love them but need to find a barrel for them to grow in!! 👒Carrots-need more water and fert...

Last day of summer...memorial day! Doesn't mean that the weather will leave us just yet but there is something about sending the kids back to school that makes everything seem like fall. Shouldn't we be consuming soup by the potfuls yet? Shouldn't we be turning on the heaters? Wearing coats? Well we enjoyed the Stewart heights pool one more time prior to the start of the season, for free in fact? The kids loved chilling out. We spent a few hours here and then ran over and had a yummy meal with my dad and my brothers family. We celebrated Jaxon's birthday with a Ninja Turtle cake. Great last day!

My friend from work has been planning her daughters wedding for 9 months now! The whole family was invited to attend and I thought it would be tons of fun dressing everyone up and taking them to a castle for this wedding. The kids have never been to a wedding or a castle, and everyone seemed to have a great time mingling, eating, snapping photos, playing, catching garters, and just being together. Ethan was lucky enough to catch Irina's garter, and thought it was pretty "yuck" that he would hang such a thing from his car mirror if he EVER gets one! Poor honey;) I bet anything that he will save it until he drives. Pretty neat getting to keep something that was around a pretty girls leg- huh Ethan? Charlie was one of the Belles of the ball. Her eyes shined with joy when she saw Irina. The bride and her mother were gorgeous too! Happy start of your fairy tale romance, Irina and Jason!

First day of school finally came. The older kids went back last Tuesday. I was working so that left Mark to carry the burden of the new schedule for the first few days. Val joined the golf club, so the first day was hectic trying to figure everyone's time frames out. The kids did great. Mark did great. Valerie loved the first day because they mainly got to hang out with their friends. She also got a locker this year, the opportunity to drink in class, and the freedom during lunch to eat and sit where they want. BIG leagues now...so proud. Ethan is now at Ford by himself. He has Choir and is super excited to sing his little heart out. He adjusted fine going back into the school setting and even made a new Girl-friend. Charlie's first day of kindergarten was last Thursday. We are blessed to have Mr Vail teaching Charlie this year. I somehow got accidentally scheduled for last Thursday at work, and because I didn't check my schedule when it came out (why would I if I work a s...