A Month in Pictures

Oh look--a month has gone by since I put anything on here.  I've thought about it a couple of times.  But then something else would come up and it wouldn't get done.  And I really don't want to write several posts to get caught up.  So here's a month's worth of living in picture format.

Sewing.  Lot's of sewing.  The first is a skirt that was supposed to be #1's, but I messed up on the measurements so it became #2's.  It looks nothing like the picture in my head.  But she likes it.

Family movie nights.  Carmel popcorn always makes it better.

A spur of the moment trip to go see my sis-in-law, Mom, niece and nephew.  Missed my brother this trip.  But enjoyed our time on the farm.

That would be #4 with Rapunzel hair.  It's actually an old Moby wrap my sis-in-law used.  Braided like my brother braids his heavy duty extension cord.  Because he's creative like that.

A trip to the gator farm with our homeschool group.  It was amazing!  We had such a good time, despite the heat.  We're probably going to be going back with my in-laws in September.

More sewing.  The skirt is more like what I saw in my head this time.  Hooray!  The bottom is a tablecloth I'm making for my parents.  Sewing a large rectangle, no problem.  Adding a colored border around it, mentally taxing.  This is the method I finally went with.  Still not completely sure how it's going to turn out, but there is no going back now!

A birthday party with a mustache theme.  Those things did not want to come off. 

VBS this week.  We did more than just bowling, but since I was helping I didn't really get any pictures.  And those aren't actually my kids bowling.  Because apparently I'm good at remembering to take pictures of my friends' children, but can't remember to take them of my own.  We did have an awesome week at VBS though.

Notable mention with no pictures:  My Mom came to visit for a few days.  I miss my family coming to see us, so I was glad she was able to come. 

We went to a pottery painting place with some friends.  Lots of fun! 

The three oldest went to their first sleepover.  They've had friends over to spend the night, but this was their first time going somewhere.  I hear they stayed up till 2.  There were no bad attitudes, so I didn't care how late they were up.

Bought #1 a bike for an early birthday gift and Hubby one for Father's Day.  We've gone riding 3 times a week for the last three weeks.  We love it.  Hubby is the only one who gets chased by dogs.  Hmmm....

And now we have a week left before going to visit family.  A bit of relaxing before beginning a serious search on finding a smaller place so we can save some money on rent.  Yay for moving during the hottest part of the year!  Again!  Maybe this time we won't be doing it the day after a hurricane blows through!

A Bit of Catch-Up

Whew!  That about sums up our lives for the past 6 weeks.  We have been going almost non-stop, traveling and vacationing and traveling and visiting and traveling and, well, you get the picture.  I'm exhausted!  But I'm also very happy.  Our summers are always like this.  Hubby usually has at least one meeting that he does during the summer and the girls and I always travel to different camps and to visit family and whatever else we can cram in to our summer.  It gets a little crazy, but I really do enjoy it.  In fact, I can't imagine being at home all summer trying to figure out ways to keep my kids entertained.

I won't put all our adventures in one post.  Mainly because I'm tired and will be going to bed soon.  But I hope to have it all written down over the next week or so.  Because school starts in about three weeks which means I only have two more weeks left of doing nothing before I have to start working on a schedule for the coming school year.  Yep--I may be super organized, but I can also procrastinate with the best of them!  Especially when I have two book series I want to re-read and read the new ones that have come out before school starts!  Because I'm also a little bit of a book nerd!  Now you know!

So after our family reunion the girls and I went up to stay with my parents for a week. I am thankful once again to have a husband who understands how much it means for me to spend time with my family.  He might not be jumping for joy to have his family gone for extended periods of time, but he has never made me feel guilty for being gone either.

And people wonder where #3 gets her cheesy grin from!

Got to love the train!

We spent time at Kiddie Land--just because we can.  I can't say I grew up coming here because I was 13 when we moved to Duncan, but I did go a few times.  My girls love it.  I have to limit the number of times they ride the Tilt-A-Whirl.  They all love it, but I'm pretty sure they would ride it until they puked.

I also spent a little bit of time helping Mom unpack some of Grandpa's boxes at his new apartment.  We didn't get to spend as much time unpacking as I would have liked.  I hated leaving so much for Mom and Dad to have to do on their own, but Grandpa seems pretty content to have a few plates and his computer unpacked, so the rest can come out of boxes a little slower.  Of the few boxes we did get unpacked, we worked on kitchen ones mostly.  I did OK through most of it.  Old Tupperware that I remember Grandma using back when I was really little.  Seriously, like 8 9x13 Pyrex pans.  I have no idea where she put them all in her tiny kitchen! Some of it was hard.  Like unpacking the bowl she used to make her cookies in.  I didn't think Mom had the right one when she pointed it out to me because I remember there being a chip on the top of the bowl.  And then Mom pointed out the exact chip.  We had ourselves a little bit of a cry, and then we kept going.  I was sad every time we left Grandpa alone at the apartment.  I realize this is his life now, but it was still sad.  But probably not quite as sad as if I had to see him at their place in Phoenix.  

I cut all the girls hair, by myself.  It turned out OK, although a little shorter than I wanted.  But it's nice to know that I can do it when the time rolls around again for them to get it trimmed up.  Four girls plus the prices they charge to cut hair now equals one broke set of parents!

We also got to meet up with a brother and sis-in-law for dinner and ice cream.  Again thankful for their willingness to travel to see us and spend time with us.  And to spoil the girls, which they love!

Mom and I also got a little shopping in and and a pedicure.  Thanks to my awesome Dad who A) works from home a lot and B) is willing to watch the girls while Mom and I run off for a few hours.


While I wouldn't call it a relaxing week, (I'm sorry I can't call a week relaxing when it involved unpacking boxes) it was still a very enjoyable week.  One where we didn't have to go and do anything or be anywhere specific.  We could just enjoy being together!

Memorial Service Part One

I was debating about what to write about for these next few posts.  I feel like I've been talking about losing my Grandma a lot on here and on Facebook and I wondered if people were getting tired of hearing about it.  I have seen first hand that most people are not comfortable dealing with others grief for very long.  I think it is just human nature.  Even seeing other people grieve causes us pain and human nature is to shy away from anything that causes pain.  Therefore, most people aren't comfortable when you continue to talk about your loss after a few days because it is easier for them for you to grieve in private. 

But then I realized that my whole purpose in writing this blog is to have a record of our family.  The good and the bad.  The more I thought about it the more I realized that I wanted to write down the memories I have of my Grandma's memorial so that I can come back in a year or two years or five years and be able to have a written record of what happened and what I felt at the time.  So, in as condensed a version as possible...

I took off on Wednesday and drove to my brother and sister-in-law's house to stay the night with them.  I'm glad I have a good relationship with both of them and am always able to be with them and feel welcomed.  Traveling by myself was interesting.  I can't remember the last time I drove 5 hours all by myself.  I think I might actually prefer having the girls with me.  Ask me again after I travel with them again.

Thursday my brother, sis-in-law and I drove about 12 hours after dropping off their daughter with another set of grandparents and heading west to meet our family.  The drive was as nice as 12 hours in the car can be.  Again, glad I get along with both of them.

Thursday night I stayed with some friends of ours.  Actually, I consider them friends and mentors and it was really nice to see them for a few hours, even if the reason for it kinda stunk. 

Friday morning we met up with the rest of the family and headed out around 5.  We rented a 12 passenger van and had 8 adults going.  My Dad, myself, aforementioned brother and sister-in-law, another brother and sister-in-law, actual sister and her boyfriend.  Did I mention that I have 5 siblings?  Good luck keeping all of us straight.

The good news is that all of us made it in the van traveling for another 12 hours with no one getting stabbed in the neck with a pencil.  Other than a few complaints about how cold I needed it to be to not throw up in the back, it wasn't a bad trip.  As a side note--I found that after the first few hours everyone preferred my sitting up front to me sitting in the back and freezing them out.  It totally wasn't my intention to spend the entire trip in the front seat.  Not my intention at all.

We arrived about 5 pm Friday night, got everyone else settled in the hotel and headed to my uncle and aunt's house to spend time with family. 

I think that's enough for now.  I'll write about the rest of the trip next time.

Finally HOME!

I'm finally back home.  After almost a week, a 3000 mile road trip and a funeral.  I've learned some things this last week.

Traveling by myself in the car is so BORING!!!  The only relief is when there is a large grass fire on the side of the road.  But that only took up like 5 minutes of my time.

It looked much more impressive in real life

Traveling in a 12 passenger van with my Dad, 3 siblings and their significant others is anything but boring! 

So they're all sleeping in this picture, but it was fun when everyone was awake!

I can get up at 4 am for 3 out of 4 days and still function in the real world.

Getting together with my extended family, even for something as sad as my Grandma's memorial service, still involves a lot of noise, laughter and chocolate chip cookies.

Most of the grand kids making cookies, exactly to Grandma's specifications!

Hubby by himself, 4 kids, camping trip for 4 days.  Enough said.

Grief is funny.  I was fine all day today, but when I got home and started talking to Hubby it was like I was re-living the memorial service all over again. 

There is no place like home.

And, we're off!

I just sent Hubby and the girls off on their camping trip.  I'm sad that I don't get to go with them, but so thankful to have a husband who is willing and able to take four children on a camping trip without me.  Granted, his parents will be there as well as another family, but the fact remains that the brunt of the work falls on him.  Remember when I said he was exactly the husband and father I knew he would be?  Yeah--I meant it!

I'm leaving in a few hours to go to my brother and sister-in-law's house, stay the night there and then we'll start our trek out for the memorial service on Thursday.  I'm thankful for the time I'll get to spend with my family on this trip.  It will make it much easier than trying to make the trip alone!  Being with family is always better!

But before I go I am going to do some serious cleaning!  Hubby's parents have been here for a little over two weeks and I let the housework slide while they were here.  I'm going to work like mad without the kids around and get everything all sparkly again so it is nice and clean when Hubby and the girls get home.  I'm fully aware that it won't be like that by the time I get home, but I'm ok with that.  Hubby likes a clean house too!