Leftovers, anyone?

The garage sale is complete! More on that later, but we do have some clothes leftover. I haven't separated everything out quite yet, but I think it's mostly 6-24 months (boys of course).

Before I get rid of them, does anyone know a family in need that could use them? Most of them are are still in great shape and still have a lot of wear.

Finally!

Peanut is riding his bike on his own! He has had very little interest in doing this - he would rather just ride his scooter. Peanut does things his own way - always has. (He was breech, remember?) So we pretty much had to make him practice. As you can tell from the photo, he's pretty proud of himself and happy.

The bike (that I bought at a garage sale 2 years ago for $7 thankyouverymuch) already looks too small for him and it's his second one. Hopefully we can just move the seat up and it'll be ok for the rest of the summer.

Speaking of garage sales...I'm still working on getting things ready for ours this weekend. Wow - it's a lot of work! Probably more so since I'm sorting through things instead of getting rid of everything. I just hope that most of it goes. If there is a lot left over or I don't get to everything I want to, I may have another one. Or I may just go to Goodwill. We'll see how my mood is Saturday at noon.

My children are starving!

I need help!

Remember how I was saying that Trophy Hub's new schedule will be good? Well..it still is, but I need some dinner suggestions.

As most of you know, Trophy Hub is the main chef in the house. I like to cook, but he does most of it for a few reasons:

1. He likes to cook.

2. With the old schedule it made the most sense. (He could start cooking as I was on my way home and we could eat right away, which made for more family time in the evenings.)

So I need some ideas on what all of you other working folks do for dinner. I already know all the stand-bys - tacos, spaghetti, etc. But how about some recipes that I could throw together quickly when I get home? Or even make ahead of time? Any good crock pot recipes?

Please post a comment with your favorite quick recipe (or two or three!). My children thank you!

While the cat's away...

Everyone keeps asking me what I did on vacation. Honestly, we didn't do much. Don't get me wrong - we had a ball. But we pretty much just shopped and talked. Not much to tell! If you want to come over, I could do some show and tell with my loot - that would be fun. :-)

Back at home, things were a little more exciting. So the question should actually be if the boys had fun on my vacation. Here were some photos Trophy Hub emailed to me to show all the bad stuff they were doing in my absence.

First, Granny brought some turtles home from Kansas.

Then, Trophy Hub let Peanut run around in the street...in the rain.

Lastly, they even had enough energy after all the rule breaking to make funny faces for the camera (but they were bathed and had PJs on!). Ok, all kidding aside, Trophy Hub did a great job holding down the fort. Not that I doubted him...but all I really wanted was for everyone to be alive. Not only were they alive, but laundry was caught up and the house was as clean as I left it.

Sounds like an invitation to be gone more often, huh?

Family Day

Trophy Hub is officially on his new shift and rotation. He's now working evenings instead of overnights. Everyone asks is this is a good thing or a bad thing. Over all, it's a good thing! He has worked the late night shift for a long time and that does start to take a toll on your body. Sleeping during the day is not easy.

We will miss seeing each other in the evenings during the week as we are doing tag team parenting, but I think the weekends will be good. Today was a great start!

Today we went out to the lake and had a picnic. Trophy Hub grilled burgers while the boys and I ran around.

Ok so Trophy Hub got to have some fun too. The weather was perfect and we got to have this little area of the park to ourselves for a little while.

We really have not taken advantage of the amazing lake amenities that are just a few miles from our home. This year, I think we definitely will (especially since we have the (expletive) boat!).

When we got home we started working on getting the garage straightened up for the garage sale next weekend. Bubba came outside looking like this:

He had nothing on his lower half. (I had him squat down for the picture so he wouldn't show too much!) You will also notice that he tried to get his shirt off, but didn't quite get it. Never a dull moment around this place!

Home!

I got home about 4:30 Friday afternoon. Bubba was tickled to see me, but Peanut played it cool. Trophy Hub had to work, but he stopped home to give me a squeeze and some kisses. (Wow, I missed them!)

Like I said before, Mom and I had a great time! We mostly shopped. Bealls and Bealls Outlet are our two favorite places to shop. I love to bargain hunt and I found some awesome deals. I desperately needed some new clothes. Mission Accomplished!

We even took a few hours off from shopping to go to Fort Myers Beach. Yes, as you all know, I hate sand. Hate it. This used to make me hate the beach. The older I get, the more I can tolerate the sand because I get the sun, the sounds, the people watching. Here is proof that I was there (with flip flops ON).

So, there I was...on the beach, listening to my iPod, getting a healthy dose of vitamin D, when my mom points out that we were being watched. I turn around to face him and he pretends he's not looking.



Umm, hello? I saw you.



This went on and on. He would look, I would turn, he would practically run away. So Mom and I decided to turn our chairs to face him. This clearly made him uncomfortable. But he kept looking so I got out my camera and took his picture. And now I'm going to post it on the Internet for all to see.

He was totally cute and totally creepy!

Sorry!

Wasn't it me that said that I would post while on vacation? Sorry, no dice! I didn't want to load all my pictures on my parents laptop down here, so I figured I would save all my wonderful pics and stories for when I get back.

We leave in the morning. My mom and I had a fabulous time. I miss my boys (kids and Trophy Hub) terribly, but I do not miss Iowa. I know that surprises none of you.

Please cross your fingers that we don't go over 50 pounds in our suitcases!