dramatic much?

That is a question posed to me by my best friend when I explained that I was on death's door step.  Yes, I am dying.  I have had a cold this week and I think my body is slowly shutting down.  I cannot sleep.  My mind is all but gone.  I barely remember the names of my children.  I dressed one of them in mismatched clothes for school {Oh my word!} and I forgot to pack a sandwich in his lunch.  I even resorted to letting them watch tv and eat dinner in their bedroom two times this week just so I could wallow in my self pity.  Yes, I am dramatic much. ;)

In my time of withering away, I did manage to take and upload a few pictures to Instagram.  {Have I mentioned that I am IN LOVE with Instagram?  I am.}  

Mags was all ready for her third week at Bible study.  She didn't have a meltdown this week...just a few tears and she asked me for a kiss before I went to my class.  Melt my heart. :) 

 And, here is my little diva at the soccer field.  (Yes, in my deteriorating condition, we even made it to soccer practice!)

 And, the highlight of my week:  ANYTIME MY KIDS HAVE GONE TO BED.  {Not getting the Mom of the Year Award this year, am I??}

I am happy to report that I don't think I am dying.  Today, I seem a little {and by little, I mean .00098%} better.  Now, my nose is only dripping out of one side while the other side stays clogged up, but my head doesn't feel like it is going to explode any more.  O Happy Day. ;)

she may be quirky, but she's my bff and I love her

I love being a stay at home mom.  I really do!  I have to be honest, though and say that I miss certain things about working.  One of those things is being able to take a personal day JUST FOR ME.  I worked for four years after having Levi and it seemed like my personal days became his days.  But, occasionally I would squeeze in some time to just go do what I wanted to do. ;)  My mom offered to watch Maggie for me so Gretchen and I could meet halfway for lunch and I jumped for joy, screamed and called Gretchen right away said "Sure!" :)  So, a plan was born.

Now, you guys know I love this girl!  I really do. 

 One of the reasons I love her is because of her quirks.  Oh my stars.  She cracks me up!  When we met up, she said, "I have to show you this..."  She showed me her necklace.  If you look up close, you will see a small necklace tucked in her dress.  Um....she has a small silver necklace stuck to the longer necklace and can't get them unhooked, so she just keeps it on there and tucks it in her dress.  Oy.  Sometimes there are just no words. 

 So, first thing on the agenda was a pedi!  I LOVED this.  Just time to sit, chat and snap 100 pictures.  I'm sure the little ladies thought we were insane! ;)

 Ta da!  This was a new color for me.  I'm def a red girl. ;)

 What trip would be complete without some self portraits?  Oops...first one was on zoom.

 Same pose, different clothes.

 Okay, another reason I love this gal is that we never seem to change.  Situations change, we move on and meet new people.  We don't see each other as often.  But it doesn't matter.  When we are together, we are just us.  We pick up where we left off.  We are just goofy, boring G & T who love to eat, shop and chat it up. 

 We ended up at Cracker Barrel for lunch where we covered every topic under the sun!  I'm sure people around us were wondering about the two ladies who were sitting there f.o.r.e.v.e.r., laughing uncontrollably.

 And, last on the agenda -- a diet cherry coke for the road. 

I am so thankful for life's little blessings: Gretchen, a restaurant halfway between us, and a great diet cherry coke. :) 

I think the gorillas have ruined her

On Friday, my neighbor and friend, Natalie, asked if we wanted to go to the zoo.  Natalie and I take turns watching two little girls during the week so that we can do it part time.  It works out great!  Gives us each some extra cash as well as a few days off during the week. ;)  Friday, we only had one of the little girls, so we loaded up to see some animals.

Addi, Natalie's youngest, is Maggie's little BFF.  It's really cute to watch them play together.  

 And here is one of the cuties that we watch. :)

 For the most part, they all get along great {except when they have to share...or when they are hungry...or sleepy...} :)

 Okay, so my reason for this post is not to show you all the animals we saw, but to tell you a story about the gorillas.  I've never really seen them as active as they were on Friday.  As we walked in their lair, we saw this big guy.  

 Immediately, his eyes locked with mine.  I have to admit that it creeps me out when they make eye contact with you.  Natalie kept commenting how scary they looked.  We scooted the girls up close in their strollers and were all like, "Ohhh, look at the gorillas!  Watch them eat.  Say "Hi Gorillas!""  And, the girls sat there giggling and pointing at them.  Then, I turned my back and Natalie made a comment about how gross they were and all of a sudden the gorilla ran over, jumped up at the glass and pounded both his fists really hard against the glass!  I screamed.  {Yes, I did!} The girls started crying.  Maggie kept saying, "I don't like the gorillas."  People were staring at us, so we just politely turned and left.  I swear that gorilla was throwing daggers at us with his eyes as we walked away.

We decided it was time for food. :)

 The girls settled down and ate a good lunch, but Maggie kept telling me, "I don't like no gorillas."  {Yes, that is a double negative, but she doesn't know about those yet!}

I'll be curious to see if this scars her for life. ;)

two tickets to the gun show

This little dude right here cracks.me.up.  Griffin belongs to my brother (if you can't tell!) and is his little spitting image.  Today was his 3rd triathlon.  We couldn't make it to the first two, so I was uber excited to see him today!  When we got there, he was walking around showing his "guns".  Again, my brother's son.  He would kiss them and call them by name.  I think he called them Poe and Tigress, from Kung Fu Panda.  My brother proclaimed that he had "two tickets to the gun show"! Ha.   

These boys are the best of buddies.  Levi loved being there with him today.

And, of course, Maggie followed Emmy around like a little puppy dog. ;)

My dad was having some fun with the boys by flipping their chair backwards and making them squeal like little girls. Ha!

Okay, one self portrait and then it was time to get serious because Griffin's age group was up!

SERIOUSLY, is this not the cutest thing ever?  Look at these little kiddos waiting in line to jump in the pool and take off.  Now, this was a little different than waiting for Travis to take off for the Ironman.  I don't think anyone in Travis' line was trying to flip up the lawn chairs with their feet or pinch someone to make them giggle. ;)

I did think it was pretty neat to watch my brother.  I think he gets just as excited for Griffin as we were for him during the Ironman.  He was a proud papa waiting for Griffin's name to be called.  Then he took off, following him to each transition, cheering him the whole way.  Precious.

And, these two little cousins couldn't help but cheer, too!

His name was called and he took off like a champ.  Really...give this child a steak and baked potato or something.

Next up was the bike.  He looks so little on that bike but he did great!

As we were waiting on him to come through on the second bike lap, I really thought my brother and dad were going to go look for him!  We just kept waiting and waiting...

All this swimming and biking was making Levi hungry. ;)

Finally, it was time to run.  I took off a little bit to see if I could spot Griffin coming and I saw my brother, running along side him on the sidewalk.  I got a little teary eyed.  He was there by him the whole way to the finish line encouraging him to keep going strong.  {Travis is in the yellow shirt and little man G is in the white shirt on the street.}

Way to go, little man!!!  Way to go!  We were so proud of you. 

the fireman's parade

When Levi came home from school Friday, he told us about a parade on Saturday that he wanted to go to.  He mentioned it about 84 more times, so we finally caved in and made a plan to go.  It was in Henryville, The Fireman's Parade, and the teachers were walking in the parade.  So, I guess they talked it up pretty big at school. ;)  The weather was GORGEOUS and it ended up being a great morning. 

 We got there a little early and Levi asked me a thousand times, "When is the parade gonna start?"  Oh my stars. 

 Maggie was just happy to have some cuddle time. :)

 Oh, and the candy...it was awesome!  The kids had a huge bag to take home.  I guess the small town parades are the way to go!

 Our sweet little friends Maddie & Kenzie met us there and they had a blast together!!

I'm so proud of our little community.  They have done a great job at welcoming the kids back to school.  I'm sure there were lots anxious little kids {and teachers!} last week, but everything has gone smoothly.  The new school looks awesome and the town is lit up with Hornet Pride! :)  Love it!

my checkbook secret

This week has been a whirlwind!  Levi LOVES school.  Loves it!  I'm so thankful.  He has been a little jabberbox telling me about every second of each day.  It just seems like he is growing up so fast.  I'm really trying to bottle all of this time with him. 

Eric got home from school early on Tuesday and took the kids to the local airport.  They had some old war planes in town on a tour and the kids loved it!  Levi has always been interested in flying so it makes me wonder if he will become a pilot. :)  But, he is also interested in how garbage trucks work...

I am getting working on getting used to a daily routine.  It has been nice.  Alright, you guys, I'm going to share a little "problem" I have.  I've been working on my issue.  Sigh...  Sometimes I dread working on the checkbook.  These are receipts that are waiting to be entered.    

I don't know what it is, but I'm so bad keeping track of all of that stuff.  I would rather just have an ongoing checking account that never runs dry!! ;)  I'm getting better, though.  Confession time:  I just started keeping track of the checkbook again in June.  I hadn't touched it since, ahem, last June.  LAST JUNE.  A year of no entering.  It drove Eric bonkers!  He would hand me a receipt and say, "I don't know why I am giving this to you.  It's not like you need it."  Ha!  Now, I would look online to make sure we had money, but I just never logged anything.  {I can hear my sister-n-law gasping for air! :)} So, let me see a show of hands...surely some of you out there have this problem, too.  Anyone?      

time flies! sniff, sniff

Last night was big at our house!  Levi has had his first loose tooth for about a week.  It makes me queasy each time I watch him wiggle it! YUCK!  My parents stopped by to see the kids and as soon as they left, Levi tripped and his face hit his soccer ball and his tooth fell out!  He started screaming from excitement!  He is sooo happy to go to school minus one tooth!!

This morning was our first day back to school.  I am happy to report that the kids get to start back at their new & improved school!  So nice for them to be back home at Henryville. :)  I'm sure the teachers will make it extra special for them!  Papa was waiting outside this morning to take Levi down to the bus. :)  So sweet.

 Love this boy!!

 I love it that Levi has lots of kids at his bus stop. :)

 Is he REALLY a first grader?  I got a little choked up as he walked to the bus.  I yelled his name and he gave me a little wave behind his back.  Oh man...he is already to big. :(

I hope one day, it won't make me want to cry when he rides off on the bus...

when you watch your friend's kids...and other fun stuff!

While Gretchen was in town, I offered to watch her kids one night while she met up with her sister.  My kids love having other kids here to play with, so it was a win-win situation! :)  Plus, when you watch someone else's kids, you can let them drink chocolate milk...

 ...jump on the bed until they are ready to pass out...

...let them have two or three or four snacks after dinner...

...and take a bath loaded up with tons 'o bubbles!

 Oh, and the girls did all that while the boys did this:

 Love those kids!  It was fun having them hang with us for an evening before they had to head home. :( 

On Monday, my Aunt Gail and my cousin, Robin drove down and spent the day at my Mom's.  It was SO MUCH FUN getting to hang with them for the day!!  Robin had moved to Texas (gasp!) and is now on the Wisconsin/Illinois border.  They are only 6 hours away as opposed to 12! 

 I managed to get a group shot of all of the kids.  I think I had to threaten a few lives...but hey, it was worth it!
Maggie-2, Emmy-4, Casey-5, Nicholas-6, Levi-6, Griffin-7, Bailey-8, Abigail-9, Noah-11 

On Tuesday, we had one last hoorah before Gretchen headed home.  Met up at the park and even though it felt like it was 110 degrees, we had a great time gabbing and letting the little kiddos run free!  I truly do love these girls!!  

 And I love all of these offspring. ;)  They are cute, fun and totally worth all the headaches!  Ha! 

 Such a great week filled with lots of girlfriend time!  I'm so thankful that I was able to spend so much time with my bestie before school starts back.  Sigh...I can't believe I have a first grader.  Someone pass me a tissue...