Oh Yes I Did....

Go to the store in flip-flops and tool around in our our neighborhood pool and never even realize that my feet looked like this...






I remember thinking I badly needed to fix my toes last night and starting the process (by the way, I despise giving myself pedicures, which should be obvious) while watching Real Housewives-Atlanta, and then getting really tired, I do NOT remember stopping half-way through and going to sleep. Maybe I should check Chris' feet to see if I continued on with him...???

Today...

Today I am..

...out of Coke Zero

...really wanting a Coke Zero

...going to Costco to buy Coke Zero (and other things)

...wishing Coke Zero would pay me for advertising!!

...longing for sunshine

...planning to attend the Beth Moore Simulcast in August with church friends

...looking forward to the Beth Moore Simulcast

...wishing Beth Moore would pay me for advertising!!

...feeling great after running 5 miles (on the treadmill)

...thinking running on a treadmill may be easier than running outside, but I push myself so much more on the treadmill than I do outside

...Struggling to grasp the thought that tomorrow I'm taking Levi to pre-school open house

...reading this blog and praying for this baby mycharmingkids.net

...thankful for my own two healthy boys

...trying to redesign my blog

...thinking I'll be much better at redesigning my blog once I get some Coke Zero in my system!

...what are YOU doing today?

Letters from my mind

Dear Lady at the Mall Play area:
Are you aware that most of the moms in the play structure spend 90% of their time telling their children to STOP TATTLING! What then, makes you think it's a good idea to tell me 10 minutes after my oldest child pushes my youngest down (something that happens 1.2billion times a DAY), that "your baby was crying (10 minutes ago, a 2 second cry) because his big brother pushed him down over there". Well, thank you so much, let me just grab that mean big brother and punish him right in front of you so you will feel that justice has been served. By the way your perfect child may not be pushing his sibling down, but he's over there licking all of the climbing toys, you know the ones that all the other kids are running on barefoot, and I think he just put a pre-chewed piece of gum in his mouth!

Sincerely,
Big-brother bully mama!!

Dear Lady @ Target,
Listen carefully, there are TWO, TWO photo centers here, right next to each other. While I have 2 patient children in my cart, who are quickly losing their patience, could you please BUZZ OFF! I don't need you standing over my shoulder commenting on my vacation pictures, reminding me that I'm using your favorite photo center. By the way, when you say you'll go away for a moment, so I don't feel rushed...I didn't think you literally meant ONE moment, so I don't know why you were surprised that I wasn't finished when you returned from your "moment". Also, even though I apologized, I really wasn't sorry that Levi kept bumping into you while you were trying to use said photo center, since it was still our turn, and he was trying to get our pictures as they were printing out! Finally, my vacation pictures were way better than yours!!!

Sincerely,
The one with nicer pictures


Dear Coke Zero,
Did you hear that I got rid of facebook once I realized I was facing an addiction to it? Aren't you worried that I might axe you out of my life? In all of your fizzy goodness, I'm downing more cans of you than I should, and I'm starting to take notice...what's that? Oh, right, you heard that I went crawling back to facebook so you're not afraid? Nice...

Sincerely,
The one with no will power

Visions...

I'm fairly certain this is what he had in mind both times he heard the words: "It's a boy!"

No need for any safety lectures...the car was safely parked in the garage, and note that the emergency break is engaged, and this is the ONLY time the boys have ever been in the car...never unsupervised!! This is a recording..

Lions and Tigers and Bears.

...except NOT! (because they were all sleeping and not visible enough for a 3 and 1 year old to see!!)
I took the boys to the Detroit Zoo on a whim today. We didn't really have anything planned and I decided it would be a quick and fun way to spend the morning/early afternoon. (It's about 1/2 hour to the zoo, nice and quick!) The weather was great, the crowds weren't too bad and the boys were a blast! They both actually noticed and enjoyed the animals, a first for sure. While I really enjoy spending days with friends, it's always nice to do some outings with just my boys...it was a great day!

This picture is blurry, but he rarely looks at the camera and smiles! (The french fry in his hand isn't hurting either)

Watching4 painted turtles swim in front of them

The closest thing to a monkey I saw all day!

You weren't expecting pictures of animals, were you!?!

Vacation oh lovely vacation!

Here's a look at our vacation. It was so great to get away and just be our own little family for a week. Enjoy...

This is mostly what we did... Hung out on beaches at different parks and threw rocks! I love this picture of Mason and me (and Levi!)

Mason didn't get the memo that this was NOT a nude beach!!

I see this picture and realize how full and rich and blessed I am!

This is possibly the best picture of the boys we have... I LOVE IT!

The 4 of us!

My 3 favorite guys on Mackinac Island!

Mason and the bumblebee!

Levi's "favorite food"...s'mores!!

My random, crazy, busy wonderful life-in blog form!

Phew! I can't even catch my breath, we've been going about 100 miles/hour around here, and I feel like I just blinked and we went from April to JULY!?!?
I had intentions to write a nice father's day post in honor of Chris, the best baby daddy I got...and then father's day came and went, and I thought I would write a nice birthday post in honor of Chris' 32nd birthday...and then his birthday came and went! What on earth is keeping us so busy, you ask? I have no idea...
Last week, the weather around here was sunny, hot and clear blue skies, it was gorgeous. We were out and about every day. Swimming with friends in our pool, swimming with friends at a beach, and swimming with friends in their pool, lots of swimming fun! It was so nice to get up in the morning and be gone, drag home 2 tired little swimmers and have a few hours of nap time quietness.
The end of the week brought our Chicago family into town (Chris' sister Rachel, husband Joel and their 2 kids, Payton (3) and Evan (1). We spent most of Friday and most of Sunday with them, while Saturday we had 5 parties to attend, but only managed to squeeze in 3 of them (Sorry, Pat and Adam).
This week has been filled with rain and cold weather...yielding 2 caged up crazy boy animals, which yields one crazy caged up had enough mama!!
We are celebrating the 4th of July with my extended family and then on Sunday Chris, the boys and I are OUTTA HERE! We are going on a vacation, just the 4 of us, camping in Mackinac and doing all the fun up-north stuff there is to do! I'm a little overwhelmed with the packing and planning part, but I'm really looking forward to introducing the boys to my favorite spot in Michigan!
Happy 4th of July!!