Mid Summer Night Post

What summer is half way over? How does time pass so quickly when we have no routine? Shouldn't we be bored? No, we haven't had time to be bored between vacation bible school, art camp, science camp, library, Wonderland, high-noon on the square, picnics, splash pads, swimming pools and trips to CO, we are exhausted! Right now my dining room is filled with boxes of clothes for a consignment sale that happened today. No, I didn't get it all priced in time. I have 10 perfectly labeled items sitting on the buffet and the rest is scattered. I'm debating about boxing it all up as is but am also tempted to start pricing now in time for the October sale. Just like I eventually will get to the college t-shirt quilt with the pieces already cut (yes, I just need to sew it together) and also my wedding album (I was there so it's not like the album is pertinent to my remembering the day).

The minutes pass quickly because I have 4 littles with varying needs. Today, Lola wanted cherries but didn't want to eat them because of the seed. So I used our cherry pitter to get rid of the seeds and then she didn't want to eat them because they had a hole.

Matalley said she knows that Grayson and she are a part of me (i.e. born of my belly) because they have my hair (it's the same color) but she's not sure what Lola has of me.

The above pic is from Wonderland. We had to make it there before August 1 so we chose the hottest day of the summer thus far to make our annual pilgrimage to our local amusement park. Matt and I split up so that each kid could maximize the fun value (Lola is just 37" and you needed to be 42" for the big rides). Matt took Grayson and Matalley to the rollar coasters which intimidated Matalley just a little (and she's usually the one to say yes to those). Lola had fun at the kiddie park rides with me and then got to go on the Ferris Wheel with Matt and Matalley. At the very top of the wheel she said, "Oh my gosh, I'm a big girl!"

Millie is almost sitting by herself and so we need to move the crib mattress down a level...she's pulling herself up on the side so will probably pull herself over and out if we don't get it moved. She LOVES to eat and wants whatever everyone else is eating (though she makes yucky faces at everything that isn't pureed, she still wants to try it).

Matt and I celebrated 14 years of marital bliss this week with a date night. We headed to a wine tasting at our botanical gardens and then dinner. I received a funny text in the middle of our date from a friend stating she'd just purchased chips from Grayson on a street corner. Turns out Grayson decided to go into business selling expired Pirate's Booty, sunchips, various pops and bubble gum. I love that he was trying to get rid of old inventory but feel bad for his customers. Not sure they will be back. And I'm debating about replenishing our stock.


For my birthday, I hired my old housekeeper to do a deep clean of the house. Back when I was working, Barbara was a life saver. I was able to spend more time with Grayson and then Matalley. But when Matalley was almost 2, Barbara decided to work full time on medical office buildings. I decided it was a good time to start cleaning my own house since I was no longer working and the kids needed to learn from someone how to clean a toilet. That and the fact that we hired someone else for one time and realized that noone would ever be as good as Barbara (I swear she washed the baseboards every other week and the ceiling fans too). Then I started to sell cleaning supplies that make it all so much easier and I honestly don't mind cleaning. However I still suffer from that procrastination. Most days I just leave the house so I don't have to deal with it. On the rare occasions that I am stuck at home all day, I get in a bad mood picking up mess, after mess, after mess (Did I mention that Lola and Matalley sprayed water all over the bathroom giving Barbies baths in 5 separate bowl tubs? And, when I asked them to clean it up, they got out the entire cabinet of clean towels to make a carpet of towels covering the entire bathroom floor thereby causing me to do 2 whole loads of just barely used wet towels...all of this in the time span of me pricing 10 items for the consignment sale).

Anyway, for my birthday, I hired my old housekeeper back. She spent 6 hours one day with 2 of her friends just doing the kitchen and family rooms. Then she came back the next day for 9 hours doing the bedrooms. Who knew my house was SOOO messy? Sad thing is that I was only able to enjoy it for 30 minutes and then I remembered why it was so messy to begin with...the kids. They managed to have popcorn flung onto the couch (despite not being able to eat outside of the kitchen) within 30 darn minutes. But for 30 minutes, I was in a really good mood and really, really sad that Barbara had spoiled me so. Makes me sad when good things change.

I'm going to be really sad tomorrow when I say goodbye to my personal trainer. She's stuck with me through 16 months of whining and pushed me so much more than I will ever push myself. I started with her to lose those 5-10 pounds that I couldn't lose after the birth of the first 3 kids and found out I was pregnant a month later. I worked out with her until the day before giving birth to Miss Millie. Sad, but I was stronger at 9 months preggers than I am today. I told her she couldn't quit, especially since I actually gained 10 pounds (so now I have 15-20 to lose) but she's going back to teaching of which she is amazing (I think I can consider myself a student). I'm not so happy about losing another good one and even though I know I could use someone else, it just won't be the same without Kara. Let's hope my motivation doesn't lose momentum now that I'm on my own like it did with my clean house.