Week Ending

This weekend was a rarity in that we didn't have any kidlet activities planned and we were able to hang out around the hacienda mostly. It was much needed down time after a long week at work.

Friday night Scott and I stayed up late after the kids were in bed and shelled pecans until our fingers bled. Just kidding. That would be gross! It's not like we don't have some snazzy nut shellers (I user the Texan Nut Sheller) or a method to the madness. We almost have it down to an art form these days. Which is good because we still have 3 trugs full in the sun room after we get through the 1/3 full trug in the Living Room.

We gave away that gallon bag to the Little Ones' birth mom who came over for a surprise (to them, not us) visit on Saturday.

Mama Bri!

It was a nice visit. Emi and I made Lettuce Wraps (with Thai Peanut Chicken for lack of a better name). It was fragrant and delicious and very messy. I am glad that we got extra chicken thighs because we want to make the same recipe again later this week using spring roll wrappers to hold everything together. It will be a new experience because usually when I wrap something up in an egg roll type wrapper (lumpia wrappers to my people), it is followed up with a deep fry.

Then on Sunday we went to my parents' house for lunch. While there we checked out the "beach" for rose rocks and it was disheartening what we found.

Lake Thunderbird is devastatingly dry.... I have never seen the lake like this before...

During our lake parties boats were tied up just a mere 20-30 feet from where Aubri is...it's so sad.

We definitely need to pray for rain....

Rainy Day

Mommy's safe at home, Emi's basketball tournament is over (they took 2nd place) and David's soccer game has been canceled. We've been given some unexpected down time (hallelujah!). We sorted through goodies that I brought back from my trip - fake moustaches, watermelon twists, whoopie cushions, astronaut ice cream and Stars Wars Mad Libs. (We finished the Ube bread with breakfast and it was thoroughly enjoyed.)

Gracie didn't want to wear her 'stache...

You burned the souffle?

My Little Jokesters

Lost Marx Brother

Weekending

Friday was the first day of the city-wide garage sale in which we decided to participate. We had random items in the yard and in the basement and garage that needed to go and normally we'd take this stuff straight to the Salvation Army. But the kids (at the behest of the oldest sibling) had been bugging (begging) us for a new pet. Specifically a pet rat. We are not quite sold on the idea, especially since I saw a special on rat infestations and how quickly and boldly they can take over... but we are still entertaining the idea of getting a fancy rat.

But we aren't going to pay for said rat, so we decided to let the kids earn some money to start a new Pet Fund.

So this past week Scott cleaned out the garage and we had items sorted to toss, keep or sell. Thursday night we lugged stuff up from the basement and started pricing.

Friday morning after the sun came up we set up shop and unloaded a lot of items we no longer needed (i.e. a dolly, some bikes, an air compressor)...

 

David did his part in helping out by greeting the customers and letting them know who's bike that was ("That's my sister's bike!") and then talking about the customers as they walked away ("Why didn't they buy anything?!") Despite his valiant efforts, stuff got sold!

By lunchtime, we thought were done, but after we put the kids down for their nap we powered through...for another hour.  Then we decided to load up the truck and cart the remaining items to Salvation Army a day early. That second day might have yielded a little more cash, but it was so freeing to be rid of the extra stuff, have some cash on hand AND have Saturday free to TCB.

I'm sure Spidey has found a good home...

Saturday morning started off really nice, chilly and overcast. After breakfast, we loaded up the kids and headed out for back to school clothes shopping. Our first stop was Kohl's. As we were making our way to Kohl's, the skies opened up and dropped buckets and buckets of rain. We were soaked as we made our way into the store and then the electricity went out. The looting began almost immediately!

Just kidding! The power flickered for a few moments and then we got to the serious business of getting the kids some much needed socks, shoes, under clothes, etc.

Two hours later....it was still raining and we were finally headed home.



Later in the afternoon, we girls decided to get out and find me a cheap hair cut. I have a go-to girl that I am happy with, but I didn't want to futz with an appointment and I really just wanted a trim, so to Top Cuts is where we went. I was in and out within 15 minutes!

After that we braved Walmart for groceries and school supplies. David starts Pre-K and this will be the only time that he's in school with big sister Emi. What a year this will be! He is also going to play soccer like big sis. I don't know how we'll squeeze in all of the extra-curricular activities, but I guess we will. Looking forward to what this year brings us!

Awwwww...

Sunday was a relaxing day after church. I even managed to get a 30 minute nap in.

Today I am longing for Sunday afternoon. I have been way busy at work this week and this morning at 3:21, I woke from a sound sleep thinking I heard a gunshot coming from campus. I can't be sure I wasn't dreaming...I hope I was.

Hope the week has been kind to you, friends!

Here's to Back to School!

Rain Dance

We were blessed with a gorgeous amount of rain today!  It's 69 degrees and no sign of dust in the air....amazing what cooler temps and a little rain will do for one's mood.

Raining ... Pouring... Crowing

Well, it was raining...at 2:30am. I woke up again to rainfall. I peered out the window and saw rain gushing down the street. And later this morning when we were all rushing about to get ready for work and school I opened our bedroom windows and let the cool air inside... Two days in a row of rain! Keep it coming.

At breakfast, we stepped out back to check for wind damage (none - well, downed leaves) and on the tadpoles (lots) and Ozzie crowed at us. It sounded awkward like he wasn't sure if this was the right way to do it. All these weeks he's been one of the girls (and NOT one of the dominant ones, mind you) so he's probably not sure about his masculinity just yet.  We imagined that while he was looking at us and stretching his wings he was asking the ladies "Should I? You think it's ok?" and then he let out an unsure "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" which sounded more like "Er-er-er-er-ooo?" He is not very vociferous (yet) and I hope he continues to be courteous.

Sunday-Monday-Blessings

Last night as we were finishing up Breaking Bad we heard the oddest sound on the roof...a pitter patter of RAIN DROPS? I could hardly believe it! Earlier the weathermen showed a forecast of 100+ degrees all week with only a 20 or 30 percent chance of storms on Monday. I jumped out of bed to confirm and thought we must have been wrong because my cat was laying on the front lawn looking at me (like what?) through the window. Then we both looked at the streetlight and that's when we both realized it WAS rain! Hallelujah!

It didn't rain hard for very long but I fell asleep to rain drops! This morning when we let the dogs out it was misting a little too. At lunchtime when it's normally been 96 degrees already it was only 88 degrees today, and our leaky rain gauge showed that we got .25" of rain.  It's been overcast all day and a really welcome break from the oppressive heat.

Thank you God for the rain!

I Love a Rainy Night (and day)

Mother Nature OBviously didn't want us to play soccer this season! At least 4 games were rescheduled this season mostly due to weather, and today's game was canceled due to rain. Hallelujah! We needed a rain day to catch up on chores.

Here's a list of what was accomplished today instead of showering and running to and fro the soccer complex:

• A fort was erected in the living room
• A puppet variety show was given
• A batch of beer was brewed
• The kidlet's carpet was steam cleaned
• Basement was mopped
• Bathrooms were cleaned
• Much laundry was done
• Bills were paid
• Patches were sewn onto Daisy smock