It's Official!

Hell DOES freeze over!

The kids got stuck in a doozie of a storm on the way home from school yesterday. By the time I met up with them they were drenched. They wanted to play in it of course - so I let them. I scrounged up some wimpy ponchos and sent them out to play. These pictures make me a little jealous that I didn't join them. But then it started to hail and so after they ran in I grabbed my camera. By then the little suckers - ice pellets, not kids - had started to melt (It was still over 100 degrees!) but you get the picture.

I'm too lazy to get my video with sound out so just pretend you can hear the wind and rain a rippin'. The ponchos only delayed the inevitable, they were drenched by the time they came inside, but they had so much fun while they lasted.

Dejavu

Tomato sandwiches for lunch...

Baking bread...

Cooking down plums to can plum jelly...

And making a sweet treat to end the day right...

Feels like a Saturday at my mom's house growing up. The only thing missing was 17 batches of laundry - oh and the other 13 loaves of bread. Mom everytime I eat a tomato sandwich I think of you. :) Missed you today. -- Heidi

Friday Fun

We discovered this place when Steve and Sarah visited. It is the Mesquite Groves water park just west of Basha High School and just a few miles down the road from our house. It only costs $1.50 for us to go because Elijah is free. The big toddler pool is open in the mornings for all the mommies needing a break from the heat.

Elijah loves this place and has no fear of the water. He dives under with no problems and if he could swim I'd let him have the run of the place. If I could swim I'd feel even better about him loving the water. That is why this place is so great. The water is only 2 1/2 deep near the play structure in the middle of the pool. Even I won't drown here. He and I knew we wanted to go back so we called up some friends for some fun in the pool.

Joining us for the excitement were Jennie and Luke,

Shanen and Cruise,

Jex, Renae and Tate.

I had a great time but honestly didn't get to talk that much to all of the fun moms because we were all busy chasing the boys around the pool.

Cruise loved it as much as Lijah.

Jex...not so much. But he did have a good time I think. He just wasn't crazy about all of the sprinklers. Renae did manage to get him to go down the slide on her lap a few times. Wish I had that on video. :)

I'm ready for a repeat! Anyone want to join us?

I Miss Parker!

Big time. Can we just rewind the past 5 years? Really - I want all of my moments with him back. I'd like to re-live them again. Please? PLEASE? Besides my afternoons are too quiet now. I need someone to tease and talk to while Elijah is sleeping. Someone to color and play UNO with. Parker honey, momma misses you.

You see, Parker came into this world big, strong, but weak too. He spent his first week of life in the NICU because he had difficulty breathing when he was born. I delivered him on a beautiful summer morning in a small hospital and so they had to transport him to a larger hospital with a NICU later that day. No way was I staying in one hospital while my baby was in another 30 minutes away. So I checked out, went home to get cleaned up and then went to find my baby. It would be two more days before I could hold him again. I spent every minute of that week with him that I possibly could, but strangely I have always felt like I was playing catch up with my time with Parker. I think because our relationship together started out so haphazardly I have always held on a little tighter to Parker. And I would put it out there that he has always held me back.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - Parker is my little love bug. My other two show love of course, but Parker loves intensely. He drops compliments the way other children drop toys. His hugs are big and total body experiences. Some of his friends (and dare I say their moms) are a little taken back by his "big squeezy hugs" as he calls them. Parker to this day will climb on my lap and let me sing Rock-a-Bye Baby. To spend a day with Parker means he will tell you he loves you 20 times and each time is just as genuine and sincere as the time before. I remember being in Old Navy shopping with him and while sifting through the piles on the tables he said to me, "Mom guess what?" What Parker? "I love you so much." That's nice Parker. A woman shopping across the table clicked her tongue and said "Oh that's so sweet." That got my attention. I looked up and realized that she wasn't taking for granted hearing his sweet words the way I was and I remember feeling a little sheepish. Could I have that small moment back? Can I re-live that and have the chance to drop the shirt I was looking at to bend down, look Parker in the eye and tell him I love him too?

Parker's first day of all day Kindergarten was July 28th. Good grief! Could he look any happier to be on his way? *sigh*

And like every good mom around here I walked him to school that first day and then right into his classroom and I had a hard time leaving - seriously - even though a certain new second grader was pulling on my arm telling me she was going to be late. And I knew after leaving the room when I realized that I had gotten the picture of him at his desk on his first day, but not a hug from him that he was busy letting go. Okay and typing that just filled my eyes. I knew then that it would never be the same for Parker and I. There is a new woman in Parker's life and she even rivals "Woren." Ms. Mendoza. That's the one. I remember being jealous of Lexi's Kindergarten teacher too. Having someone else be so important to him is kind of hard for me. I asked him tonight who he love the most, Mom or Ms. Mendoza...

And then I heard it...

...the heavy sound of HESITATION...

...and then...

"Both."

Oh my big baby boy - Wrong answer!

So then I went and asked Alexia who she loved the most, Mom or her teacher. "Of course you mom. That's a silly question!" Thank you baby girl... I think so too.

This makes me Giggle

First Kiss

At the end of their first date, a young man takes his favorite girl home. Emboldened by the night, he decides to try for that important first kiss. With an air of confidence, he leans with his hand against the wall and, smiling, he says to her, "Darling, how 'bout a goodnight kiss?" Horrified, she replies, "Are you mad? My parents will see us!" "Oh come on! Who's gonna see us at this hour?" "No, please. Can you imagine if we get caught?" "Oh come on, there's nobody around, they're all sleeping!" "No way. It's just too risky!" "Oh please, please, I like you so much!""No, no, and no. I like you too, but I just can't!" "Oh yes you can. Please?" "No, no. I just can't." "Pleeeeease?..." Out of the blue, the porch light goes on, and the girl's sister shows up in her pajamas, hair disheveled. In a sleepy voice the sister says: "Dad says to go ahead and give him a kiss. Or I can do it. Or if need be, he'll come down himself and do it. But for crying out loud tell him to take his hand off the intercom button!"

I love a project!

It all started with my sister Becca showing up unexpectedly back in June. We were bitten by the project bug and it seems like I have had one ever since. First we decided to do these cute letters for our walls. I love how Alexia's name looks in her room. (Thanks for the idea Katie!)

From the pictures of her room you may notice that each wall is a different color. Lexi caught pneumonia when she was in Kindergarten and had to be home for six school days. I had just bought her bedspread and asked her which of the colors she wanted me to paint her room. She thought for a minute and then told me she wanted each wall a different color. It was on a whim and I did it. For a year and a half though, I have cringed every time I entered her room. However, since hanging the pink curtains and putting up the letters that tie all of the colors together I actually think it is cute. I finally finished painting all of the flowers (thanks Alena for your help with the vine, ladybugs, and flowers) onto her walls and switched out some furniture with her brothers and it is almost done. I played with this little cupboard when I was little and it belonged to my mother. It was black then.My dad added the bottom in order to make it tall enough for Alexia to play with it and I finished painting it all two weekends ago. Isn't it cute? My boys have just as much fun playing with it too. I'm always getting a pretend treat that someone has made me on a plastic plate. Too fun! Now I just have her bed to paint white. We got this bed off of Craig's list (LOVE THAT!) way cheap and it just needs some sanding, priming and paint. Then I only have hanging her shelf above her bed for her treasures and I'm calling it done although I do have an order in with Grandpa Stewart for a low bench to go under the window for a great reading spot. Lexi likes to cozy up with a book in a little spot. Do all kids do this?

Now onto the next room.

It's official...the boys are in bunk beds. I begged my dad to let me borrow the set of bunk beds he made for his kids. I love them because they are so sturdy and made so that an adult can sit on the bottom bunk. Perfect for reading bedtime stories. However, after being used by all seven of his kids at one time or another they were in major need of sanding down and restaining. (Darren sweetie thanks so much for doing this HUGE job!) So after getting dad's permission Darren and I went to it. It is no easy task to sand off stain outside in the 110 degree weather. I think they turned out great. We switched out dressers with Lexi and the boys now have one big enough to share and it matches with the stain of the desk from the office and the bunk beds. This is one of my favorite rooms now. You may notice the ladder being used. *sigh* Yet another project. We have the stuff to make a ladder, we just need the motivation. Pretty hard to muster it when the industrial strength ladder works just fine. :)

My living room has been a work in progress. I do love my red wall but it is a serious decorating commitment. I've wanted a picture on that huge wall for a long time and recently found the perfect one at Hobby Lobby. If you haven't been there, you must go to this store! Man I love that store. Anyway it's up in the room and I love it. Mom you've been asking for a picture of it...here it is. Now it took over the spot my mirror and family pictures previously called home. So of course it was time for an update for all of them. Sorry about the flash, but I love the pictures on ribbon and hung this way. I couldn't find the knobs I had pictured in my head to hang them on so while at HL the other day I picked up the stuff to make them and I painted them yesterday. Darren helped me figure out how to hang them up and they turned out just as great as I had hoped they would.

Well coming back to Becca. While she was here she offered to help me paint my bathroom. It took us all day but I love it. The color makes sitting on the pot an elegant experience. :)