It just doesn't seem like 8 years ago. It seems like so much longer and at the same time yesterday.

My middle daughter, Flower Child, is 8 years old today :) We have all manner of celebrating to do today so I'll just take a few minutes here to get in the Way Back Machine and remember the day she made me the mother of 2 :)

I was at my 39 weeks appt. at Kaiser and was in more than just pain and irritation. I had this whole body itch thing going on, and had been for weeks, they couldn't figure it out so I was going in for tests 3 days a week. That's hard to do

GIGANTICALLY pregnant and with a four year old. So I looked, pathetically, at my doc and said "When, dear GOD when, will this baby come?" Expecting to hear the "Oh baby's come when they're ready" speach I heard when my first baby was 2 weeks late. But instead I heard "Well, I'm working in Labor and Delivery on Monday, how bout then?" I was like "WHA???" Then I said OK, booked it and got the HELL outta there before she realized it would still be 5 days before I was due and change her mind!

So after much research and contemplation, it seems I have whats known as "The Creeping Death".

Or that's what my husband has decided anyway.

At first he was sure it was SARS, which I told him was just a fad in the early 2000's. So then he figured I had the bird flu. Again I told him he was a little late jumping on the bandwagon for that disease. When he said Swine Flu, well we both just laughed, and when THAT was over ... he decided it MUST then be The Creeping Death.

Ladies, I am the first known case. Watch out. We don't yet know how it is transmitted.

But I'm not usually one to let made-up-but-horrible-sounding diseases keep me down so I did end up taking the girls to the pool yesterday.

A good time was had by all ...

Even me. I basically just sat or laid out and read a magazine (don't be confused by the Good Housekeeping, I promise I'm not secretly 55 years old, but my copy of Hustler was on back order)

(totally kidding btw ... I'm much more of a Playboy kinda girl)

(again, I kid)

So when the sun and 73* temps were too much to bear for some we headed in.

This pool thing has worked out pretty well, timing wise. We go out at 10:30-11 before it's too hot and NO ONE is there yet. We stay for like an hour and a half then head back in for lunch. They eat lunch on the porch while they dry off (more time of them outside for me :) and that rolls right into Quiet Time!

And in my weakened condition, Quiet Time is absolutely necessary. I spent yesterdays watching True Blood, Season 1 from Netflix and then catching up further on Weeds while they watched the first Harry Potter movie. LOVE them all. And on a side note: Netflix, I am eternally grateful to you for your Watch Instantly category :)

Well I should get going and try to think of something else to do with these people so we don't end up hiding in the bushes, stalking the mail lady, waiting for our next Netlix shipment and totally freak her out.

Hope you all are HEALTHY and enjoying the heck out of your summer!

So summer has officially begun ... and I've got a cold >:-/

Like a kickyouintheass kind of cold. A sore throat, up all night coughing, lose your voice and can't yell at the kids - kind of cold. It's seriously messing with my plans.

Thankfully it didn't start until after Memorial Day Weekend. Not that we did much. I spent most of the weekend cleaning the house for a business dinner DH had scheduled for Sunday evening.

Then Monday morning brought The Boy home ... and the first day of all 4 kids in the house ... all day ... with me.

Don't worry, we all survived. The same can not be said for Sapphire ...

Meet the Crickets. These noisy little buggers are currently residing in my garage RIGHT NEXT TO MY CAR. Lil Miss is quite taken with them. Their names are "Sophia", "Matalie", and "Sapphire" ... though ... "Sapphire is the broken one {dead}. She fell off the top of the box and got all broken ... on her legs." LOL

You'll be glad to know that even the smallest of our new residents is living on our new Real Food menu ... "They eat MELON! AND CORN!" And each other, apparently. But we don't tell Lil Miss about that part.

So on Monday, when my house {and patience} had reached capacity, we headed for the pool.

I am truly blessed to have the neighborhood pool right outside my door. That is, unless, I'm not taking them to the pool {because it's 40* outside} and every time they pass the window they say "Can we go to the POOL?!" and every time they pass the patio door it's "Hey! Can we go to the pool?!" or when they look out the other eleventy hundred windows I hear "HEY! How bout we go to the POOL?!"

Other than that, it's lovely :) This picture cracks me UP ... on the left you will see Flower Child working on her "Angry Sloth" for the group jump LOL

This is the Angry Sloth in action LOL

So I let the little monsters swim and I laid out with a magazine and a Rockstar and it was the BEST hour and a half all weekend :) They were gloriously entertained and got some great exercise and *I* didn't have to participate in ANY of it!

If I can gather the strength to walk across the street despite this SICKNESS that has taken over my body, we might head there today too. Gotta be early though, so I we can get there and back before lunch and quiet time cause Mama NEEDS her quiet time.

When else am I going to sift through candidates to replace my former BSF {BestShowForever} LOST {LOST,YOUAREDEADTOME} I just got True Blood from Netflix so we'll see how that goes. I don't hold out much hope though, I'm a little jaded and the wounds are still fresh. But as long as the names JJ Abrams/Carlton Cuse/Damon Lindeloff are NO WHERE NEAR ASSOCIATED with this show ... it might be able to break through my post break-up emotional wall.

Here's hoping ...

The first official day of summer vacation hasn't gone so well ... and it's not even late enough to start drinking {socially acceptably, anyway}.

I don't even want to go into it. It's just been a day. So what I would like to do is make myself a list.

Lists make me feel better :) And I can add to this list as things pop into my head.

Things we can do during the summer OUTSIDE of the house:

• Storytime at the library
• swimming at the pool
• blow bubbles/play with chalk
  
• walk to the park
• walk to Starbucks
• hang out at the other Starbucks with the big table
• go to the big park up the hill
• Sonic for lunch
• Subway for lunch
• Del Taco play area
• McDonalds play area
• use the gift certificates for Funworks miniature golf
• hide out and scrap at Rachelle's
• meet up with high school friends in my old home town
• the lake's nature area
• sell them to kindly looking gypsies
• fruit standing
• picnic at the park/lake/river
• impose on my ma again, sleep over and sneak out after they're asleep :)
  
• farmer's market on Saturday mornings
• free movie's at the Regency
• cheap movies here in town
• go to JoAnns with coupons for fabric for sewing projects
• meet friends at Chuckie Cheese
  
• take the 2 smaller to the gym kid's club if I haven't already gone or even if I HAVE

• bubbles or chalk
• household daily chore - more on that later, I hope
• computer time
  
• movie from Netflix with popcorn
• make candles
• make jewelry
• drink
  
• scrap
• craftsy stuff from the dollar store

This is my first Thankful Thursday post. I found this weekly meme through Veggiemomof2 and she talked about keeping a gratitude journal to remind us of all we have to be grateful for when we need it most.

I've heard it said that people who keep a gratitude journal, or something similar, tend to be happier people. I think it's a great idea so I'd like to start doing it!

1. This week I've been thinking a lot about my family and the things that are going on in my life. I'm thankful that I've started taking pictures again. When I'm depressed or shutting down from life, I stop taking pictures. I don't do it consciously, it just seems to be a symptom of a deeper issue going on. I noticed that I had gone weeks without taking pictures. And it wasn't because we hadn't left the house, I just didn't care to remember the camera or even get it out when I DID remember it. For me ... THAT indicates there's something going on. In the last few weeks I've made some changes as far as my perspective on life and how I'm living it and I think I'm coming out of the depressing I was slipping into. I'm back to capturing every minute detail of our lives on camera again ... and I'm LOVING it :)

2. This week has been my girls' last week of school and I'm thankful that they are extremely bright children who LOVE to learn. Tween went into middle school this year and has been THRIVING! She is still getting straight A's even thought she has really had to work hard for them this year! Flower Child is getting straight E's {which is a little harder to get than an A actually because it's 95-100%} and she LOVES school! She seems to breeze through subjects and LOVES to read whenever she gets the chance. I'm so fortunate that my daughters are both such good hard working students, it makes my job THAT much easier!

3. We have recently been going through some financial/housing issues and a lot of it was due to SERIOUS procrastination on my husband & I's part. It started almost a year ago and is getting closer to being over {one way or the other} but because we started going through this situation we were forced to confront some financial things we were hiding from. Well, THOSE things have finally been dealt with and are WAY less horrific than we feared they would be! So I am thankful for this horrible situation we've been dealing with. If it weren't for the situation we might still be hiding from these financial problems and stressing out about how bad we thought they would be! Gotta make lemonade from lemons ... amIright?

4. Exactly 76 days from today it will THE.BEST.DAY.EVER. LOL 76 days from today Lil Miss will be starting Kindergarden :) And so will begin the BEST.YEAR.EVER. It will be the year that Tween is not YET in High School, but Lil Miss is taken off my hands by the good people at her school. It actually took a lot of work to gather all of the things needed to get her registered {I didn't even have her birth certificate!} but I got it done! And I am SOOO thankful that she is FINALLY registered and everything is ready to go! She is officially a kindergardener :D And yes ... *I* am officially counting down the days until school starts WOOOOHOOOO!

5. Last summer I developed a health condition that really forced me to take a long hard look at myself. My eating habits were terrible, I never exercised, and I didn't really take very good care of myself. I have changed a LOT about my life in the past year and I've lost 35 pounds :) the LOOONG HAAAARD WAY lol So much of that weight loss {and the fact that I've KEPT weight off during plateus} is due in no small part to the gym that opened here in town. I am SO VERY THANKFUL for our gym :) I've had memberships before but never used them to their full potential for various reasons. This one ... I go {almost} every.single.day. LOL It's more than just a place I work out. When I walk through those doors, not only do I get to drop Lil Miss off for a mere $15 a MONTH but I also get to drop "Mommy" off too. For up to 2 hours EVERY DAY I get to be Christine. I get to think about MY needs. Whether it be a super hard class that makes me sweat like crazy, riding the eliptical watching E! for an hour, sitting on a bike watching a movie, talking with 1-10 friends who all go there, sitting in a steam room, or even just taking a SHOWER ... uninterrupted! This place means so much to me and I am eternally grateful for it :)

So that's my gratitude journal for this week! I feel happier and more aware of all the good things in my life already! For more Women Taking a Stand and being THANKFUL check out Thankful Thursdays!

Seriously ... the weather has been CRAZY around here!

The usual temp for these parts is 83* ... yesterday it was 65*. And it rained. It's BEEN raining at least once a week for MONTHS now.

Yesterday was super pretty in the early part of the day and the girl and I did our normal routine of dropping the girls off at school and then heading to the gym/kids club. I'd hoped to walk to the park after ward but the clouds quickly rolled in.

Later that afternoon, after the big girls went to their dad's house, DH & I took Lil Miss out into the depressing rain to run some errands. While DH did some things, I planned on wandering around Target with Lil Miss but I just didn't have the energy for it. I think all this crappy gray weather is sapping my energy levels.

So instead, she fell asleep in the back seat and I sat and enjoyed the QUIET :) I just listened to the rain and enjoyed every second of it.

After the errands were run we thought maybe a stop at Buffalo Wings N Rings might cheer us up :) And I had my camera this time! lol

Ahhhhh ... that's better ;-)

Lil Miss insisted I take a picture of her Kitty ... Roxy lol

But THIS was the star of the show ... it was 49 cent wing night! WOOOHOOO!

This morning I woke up early to go get the girls from their dad's house (45 minutes away from me, if you don't know) and I got to drive in THIS. Seriously? Did I wake up in February?! The fog followed me for the majority of the drive but it was nice{ish} once we got back home.

After the gym/kids club we went to the library for some books and storytime :) She LOVES her some puzzles! The Storytime has been SO good for her! She sings all the songs and does all the movements. She is learning to sit and be quiet and listen, and I think it will really help get her prepped for Kindergarden.

It's also a half hour of time that *I* don't have to entertain her ;-) Thank God for the public library! lol

After the girls got home from school it was time to work on their Teacher Gifts! Tomorrow is the last day of school {AAAHHH!!!} and I wanted to make something cute, inexpensive and clever for the 2 older girls to take to their teachers.

I totally copied THIS POST about St. Patrick's Day Teacher Gifts and just adjusted it to my needs. I got the little containers and the candies at Dollar Tree. I already had the ribbon and hot glue gun so I basically only spent $10 for 8 teacher gifts! {Tween is in Middle School so she has 6 - Flower Child has 2}

Next I had to come up with a cute little saying for the tags and start assembling! It took a little bit of time and effort, but Tween helped me and that was fun, so the time flew by.

The little ones ditched me though, they wanted to play outside before it started to rain and when they were SUPER quiet I went out to see why ...

They started giggling and squirming and I found out why ...

They'd found a new friend :) His name is Brayden LOL

I let the girls choose which ribbon they wanted to use on their different teachers and I'm SUPER pleased with how they came out :)

See, the candy is Sour Patch Kids ... so I said "Thank you for helping grow this PATCH of KIDS" ... get it?! ... cause they're sour PATCH KIDs ... yeah ... you get it ;-)

We ended up needing more candy so we ran out to Dollar Tree on the way out to celebrate Flower Child's perfect report card. I just HAD to take a picture of their "Sale of the Week" ...
LOL!

We ended up having dinner at Applebees since they have 'Kids Eat {Almost} Free Night' and ...

Mango Martini's :) My heart belongs to Applebees :D

It's been a LOOOONG day and tomorrow promises to be even LOOOOONGER lol ... and that is just the beginning of the LOOOOONGEST SUMMER ... EVER. LOL

But I WILL survive because in 76 more days begins ... the BEST YEAR EVER {aka - Lil Miss goes to Kindergarden LOL} ... pray I ... and they ... make it that long ;-)

This was a SUPER busy weekend ... and those are turning out to be my FAVORITE kind :)

Saturday was my friend Rachelle's daughter Amelia's birthday party. DH & The Boy went fishing so it was just us girlies :)

The party was in a town about 2 hours away so I decided to hit the mall on my way out there since malls can be hard to come by in my {red}neck of the woods ;-). I was unaware that there was a carousel ... LOL ... But Lil Miss did so well in the stores that I rewarded her with a ride :) She chose "the Tiger cause it's saying ROAAAAAR!" lol

After we finished up there it was on to the party! It was a Dora party and Lil Miss was so excited!

Rachelle MADE the cake! Didn't it come out cute?! Amelia kept greeting her guests at the door and RUNNING to the table saying "DORA CAKE! DORA CAKE!" it was the CUTEST thing :)

We were having a great time :) I tried {a few} times to get a cute picture of us and I think I now now Lil Miss's diversionary tactic ... whenever I get a few pictures in she says "OK! MY TURN! I wanna take a picture of YOU, Mommy ... you're so preeeeetty :D"

And I fall for it ... everytime ;-)

In between bouts of HAIL and RAIN {it is MAY, mind you, IN CALIFORNIA) the kids played in the back yard.

Lil Miss & the birthday girly :)

Lil Miss and her friend at the party, the birthday girls cousin.

And here we have the rule of 3's rearing it head ... whenever you have 3 subjects in a photo ...

It will take you INFINITE amount of photos to get one with all 3 of them looking at the camera ;-) And usually you will either run out of patience, or your subjects will flee the scene before you get that shot ;-)

Me and the birthday girlys Mama, Rachelle :)

Rachelle & Baby Della (10ish weeks to go!)

And Lil Miss informed me that the Dora cake was "VERY good"

And that I could stop taking pictures NOW ... LOL

After Amelia opened her presents she wanted to play with the baby at the party :) She brought the baby food lol ... and what you don't see pictured here (because she is faster than my crappy Nikon) is her pretending to "water" the baby with her new watering can LOL it was so funny!

Then the grown ups played with THEIR toys LOL Don't you DARE take that last piece of cake from a preggy ... see that look in her eye?! LOL

Even with her Father-in-law ;-) You can just see the "Don't MAKE me" look on her face LOL

Once the dolly house was assembled ... nice construction job Shell ;-) ... the girls really got "into" it LOL ... get it? Cause she's ... IN ... the house ... hahaha ... *crickets*

The little girls really had a good time playing while us Mama's chatted for awhile :)

Awwwww, such a sweet birthday girl :)

Mama & Amelia

Me and Lil Miss ... I think this is my favorite picture of the two of us ... ever :) Thanks Shell!

Well the good times had to end sooner or later, so I got my drive home supplies ready and hit the road :)

Aaaaand then while I was stuck in traffic I got bored ... and what else was I to do? ... LOL

Yes I COULD have just focused on driving but then I wouldn't have gotten this super cute picture of me! :D See my dilema?! ;-)

I made it home JUST before this HUGE scary cloud. I had to deal with the hail and rain when I first left but I raced ahead and made it home just ahead of it :)

And dinner and THIS was waiting for me ...Ahhhh ... I LOVE my man :)