Tomorrow... "D"-day

In this case the "d" stands for D-O-N-E with school. I have mixed feeling about this event. Gone is the hope for ANY alone time. Gone is the morning rush (thank goodness!). No more fighting over homework, but I might have to listen to kids fight because they are bored or stir-crazy. I think that I will have less laundry! And I might get some more sleep either by sleeping in or because I was able to sneak in a nap. These things were hard to do when I have to get and pickup kids over the time I desire to sleep. SO... I suppose that there are more positives to school being out , then keeping them in. But I am a little nervous.

I am nervous about how I am going to entertain them all summer. Gas prices are soooo high and I am really reluctant to drive too far for entertainment that will just cost MORE money. Does anyone have any ideas of things that I could do from home? Please, I need help! We are already doing swimming lessons in July, Grandma is coming in June, and Eric has Scout camp in early June. We go to the park every Wednesday with all the Mom's. And we plan on going to the library. Are there any ideas out there for at home things to do? I know that there are some awesome Mom's out there that can help me!

Why not?

A couple of weeks ago I posted a birthday wish for Brandon and used a old photo of him. I thought that he would be bugged about the picture, but he wasn't! Instead he asked why I didn't post this picture. So why not? Here it is!

He was 14 months old and living in Corpus Christie Texas at the time. Don't you just love the curls! The story that his Mom likes to tell about this is: His Dad was in the Navy and would go out on Subs a lot. She would be home with Brandon. One day she went to the base with his hair in piggy tails (yes, like a girl). Well, that got back to my Father-in-law and so when he came home he shaved it. No more curls! Poor guy!

Random

I was tagged by both Windy and Trish. Sorry I took so long to get to this!

7 weird or random facts about myself.

1. When I get tired I get cold. Even when we lived in Havasu I would bundle up. Only then will I fall asleep.

2. I HATE putting gas in the car. This spoiled little Oregon girl think that someone should do it for her! (In case you didn't know... in Oregon every gas station has attendants that fill your gas tank. It is GREAT!)

3. Noise in the car bugs me. My kids always want to talk non-stop and it drives me nuts!
4. I have never had a Piñon nut. Go figure.
5. I love baby smells. ALL baby smells.

6. I still have clothes that are older than Eric, and I will wear them (around the house).
7. I didn't like green chili until after Josh was born. Here in New Mexico it is a crime to not like green chili. It took over 6 years for me to acquire a taste for it. Now I love it!

Yeah, random and weird. So now I tag you! Amie, Angel, Dana, Katie, Holli, and Marissa.

1. On your post, link back to the person who tagged you - that would be me, in this case.

2. Post your assignment on your blog - seven weird or random facts.

3. Post these rules on your blog.

4. Post links to the bloggers that you will be tagging.

5. Go to those blogs and give them a comment on their blog to let them know that you have tagged them.

Sunglasses

Josh and I were at the Mall the other day to pick up a few things that the kids needed. I bought Josh these sunglasses and he has hardly taken them off! He so badly wanted to have me take his picture with them and so I took a few. They came out really well. I think that I have a good looking boy on my hands!

Fun flashback and a late HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Yeah for me! I got my scanner working without help from anyone! And to test it out I grabbed a picture of my wonderful Brandon, in honor of his 35th birthday. I am a little late as his birthday was on April 30. But I am sure that he will forgive me (hee hee).

I like the expression on his face here. My Mother-in-Law says that he was 8 in this picture, so this was taken in 1981. Isn't the style great? And wasn't he the cutest kid around!

Happy Birthday Brandon! I love you!

Only when Brandon is gone

Although I have never mentioned it before, I feel that recent events warrant me to talk about the irony of certain events. For the last several months Brandon has been working two audits shifts at a local hotel. For those of you who are unfamiliar with hotels, this is the graveyard shift, starting at 11pm. So for two night a week it is me, the kids, and the dog in the house. And it is the only two nights a week ANYTHING will happen. For example, when Eric has the stomach flu and was up all night, Brandon was at work. When Josh was up all night with an ear infection, the same. And that is just a bit of it. So this last Friday night when Brandon was at work and of course I had a problem. Katie got me up at 1:30am and this is what I walked into...

This is my very wet kitchen, I am not sure if you can see the several inches of standing water on the floor, but believe me, it was there. And it was not only in my kitchen, but also in my living room. Because it is just our luck to NOT have the water confine itself into one room.

As you can see, we had a VERY large mess on our hands. It took several hours of a wet/dry shop vac to get it passable and the a few more hours of a Bissel carpet cleaner, a lot of fans, and a lot of time to get it dry. Today, Sunday, we are back into our living room. The carpet is mostly dry, with just one little spot that it damp. "What caused this mess?" you ask?

This lovely dishwasher. The water hose had come off of it. I had turned it on before I went to bed around 11:30. So there were two hours of the water running everywhere before Katie got me up. Thank you Katie for sleeping so bad! If you had slept longer who knows what we might have had on our hands!

Here are a few more pictures of what happened that night! I am happy to report that the only apparent damage was to the back of a picture that I had yet to hang. Other than that everything was fine. I also wanted to share that Brandon did work again last night and all was well.

Where is Katie?

I was running around today, cleaning, and somehow I misplaced Katie. I knew that she was safe because I had blocked off all of the dangerous parts of the house, but I still couldn't find her. Finally I did. Look what she had done...

She was quite happy as you can see.