Just for fun

This is just to spice up my life a bit. And, because the baby is extra cute today, I thought I'd throw out these extra cute pics of him. (They were taken in July...)

Day 2 of {A week in the life}

Here we are on the documentation process, feeling slightly dorky carrying my DSLR everywhere. Yet, I do it - and get the shot when I can. There are quite a few times, in case you're wondering when I do miss it. (Like today, trying to get a picture of the boys coming out of the gate after school. Some 5th grader thought I was taking a picture of him - and not to mention that he was totally blocking my shot! There is always tomorrow, I suppose...)

Luckily for me, today was full of average activities, yet wrought with emotion and hormones. It was 100* again today, plus Cam woke up too early (unfortunately this is a common theme, as of late), fell asleep after school and was the biggest grizzly bear there after. UGH.

Today was a volunteer day, and that was quite fulfilling as was the drive through dinner at Carl's Jr. (Hardee's for you midwesterners) for a music program fundraiser. (It was so much easier when Cam was in kinder and I could shield my kids from these. Now, they are all too aware and I'm forced to make the trip every.single.time.)

Now though, at 941 Calgon has taken me away as I sit and check out the days photos, write down our experiences and smell the wafting scent of Bath and Body Works LEAVES . YUM!

With that...another day, just a Wednesday, in photos.

A week in the life

A scrapbooker that I've followed for a long time, Ali Edwards, is doing a project/challenge this week. It's one that she's done before and one that I've widely ignored, until now.

Today I started documenting {A WEEK IN THE LIFE}. I want to remember all of the little details of the everyday life we live. So, this album is the way to do it. In addition to receipts, lists and other tokens of our day, I've also documented the goings on in photography.

The general stuff we do isn't all that exciting, honestly. It's still who we are, however, and it's important to us. Here is our Tuesday (laundry, school, errand, babysitting and soccer practice day), in pictures, if you care to see.

Weekend

First, NEW Grey's Anatomy tonight. Been waiting for this!

Second, the baby is already up. Nice less than an hour nap. I'm in trouble...

Anyway. This past weekend, Andy went to Las Vegas. He met his brother there. They hung out. They saw an Iowa State Football game. Iowa State Athletics is the reason for living, according to Andy.

there were a few interesting shots that I might have included. i still might throw those in later. he only took 8 pictures though, so there can't be THAT much material, you know?

So, while Andy headed off to sin city, what did I do? I was wife and mother of the year. (That is actually really funny because I don't qualify for either EVER. Just the other day, I forgot to go to Sawyer's conference. Just completely forgot - I wasn't doing anything else. Add another tally to stupid mom things that I do)

In addition to taking care of the kids solo, taking them to a birthday party and entertaining them (with help from my Aunt and cousin Ricky) I coached Sawyer's soccer team. Long story short - there are two noteworthy things from this experience. first, I'm not eager to repeat this again. Ever. Second, I bribed the kids. After half-time I was so discouraged by their prowess that I bribed each and every one of them with a dollar for every goal they scored.

The payout: $0.

After that hour, I appreciated all the work Andy is doing with those kids even more. And, I am quite thankful that I didn't volunteer to coach those kids.

Good things

be who you are
and say what you feel
because those who mind
don't matter and those
who matter don't mind.
-dr. seuss

Always love that one and thought I'd share.

Happy belated anniversary (9.23) to the love of my life and the center of my universe. thanks for being you - every bit of you. you are the best thing that ever happened to me and I love every single minute with you. the good, the bad and the ugly. you have given me the best moments and the ability for me to be me. i am forever grateful and loving.

dance.laugh.vote

I know, I know. It's been a few days. I told various friends and family I would write about Ellen. My apologies. I've been busy. And honestly, I'd rather be reading my new copy of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I'm not as addicted as I *can* be to a book, but I'm pretty interested. I'm also pretty excited that there are more after this one, in case I really like it. (Plus, I have 2 more books in the can for after these!)

Back to the topic at hand. The Ellen show. I attended the taping of the show on Tuesday with my friend Amy and her Mother. (It aired on Wednesday) We arrived a bit early, so we had lunch and then headed back to the parking garage at 1240. From 1240 until 400 pm we diligently waited for them to announce it was time to take our seats in the studio. They told us to use the restroom if necessary approximately 15 times. Thinking it would soon be time to go in, we felt betrayed everytime. Finally at 4, I was really feeling a bit desparate and quite a bit disgruntled.

Luckily, once we crossed the street into the studio (I was SO happy to leave the backless bench in the parking garage behind!) , went through the metal detectors and crossed through the RIFF RAFF room (wouldn't you think they'd have the RIFF RAFF sit in the RIFF RAFF room, not the parking garage?) we were homefree. We took our seats and soaked in everything we could.

The studio is a lot smaller than it looks on TV.

Ellen looks a bit older closer up (I say closer b/c I never saw her CLOSE up) than she does on TV.

The pages watch you dance the entire time.

It's FREEZING in the studio.

They sell Ellen bottled water.

It was fun and certainly an experience worth having. I wouldn't do it often, though. I don't have the tolerance, to be sure. It was a nice way to spend a day, and I got the aforementioned books, saw Meg Ryan, Ne Yo and Shia LeBeouf. Really fun.

John and Amy have vacated the premises and so has Andy. J&A are on their way back to Ohio and Andy is in Las Vegas for the weekend. We're packed with soccer games, Aunt visit and birthday party. Something tells me we're going to be very busy and won't miss him *too* much.

oh boy!

That above is about how Sawyer approaches soccer. Truth be told, his shorts are way too big.

He does a lot of trotting during the games. Sometimes he'll even run and try to kick it.

Going to Ellen tomorrow. Woohoo!

remembering

7 years ago today, we brought our first son home from the hospital. one of the best days of our lives. one of the worst days in our history. i will never forget.

Working ranch

Where we live, it's a working ranch. It's not just one where we lolligag and relax, we're actually raising animals kids here. (It just feels like animals!) Here's one of the animals in question:

We're in full swing here. Soccer games started this past weekend. That's like, harvest? No, that is on a farm.

We had a fun weekend celebrating Campbell's birthday. I only wish I could show you how much FUN this party was. The boys all got to race the go-karts and then the dads couldn't contain themselves, so they raced as well.

It was full on testosterone surging around the track - each man for himself. In the end, Caden's dad (my friend Kate's husband) beat out the other dads. Really good times.

{always representin' good ole ISU}

{watching their daddies}

{after smashing his face into his cake}
{campbell and ian}
{what he looks like when he opens a gift card. he loves gift cards.}

We also spent the day at, where else, Disneyland! It was a relatively quite day there and we managed to have loads of fun. Very lucky boy!

{cam and charlie}

Looking forward to a fun weekend. I'll be hanging out here with my kids and Rylee (john and amy's daughter) while andy, john and amy go to the Ohio State and USC football game. While I'm not thrilled to stay home, I'm excited for Andy. I know he's really looking forward to it!