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Dylan makes me so proud. Going to middle school, fully decked out as a Prom Queen could have been tough for some kids. But not my guy! I asked him if he would be OK if he got teased and he just said, "Mom, if someone teases me about it, it's just because they're jealous that I can rock this costume."
You go on with your self-confident self, buddy!
Just got the call that my nephew also wants to dress as girl tonight. Guess I'd better get my makeup back out!
I am alone. (Well, my house is full, but they are ALL asleep.) And that means that I am watching trashy TV (Pan Am), reading trashy Gossip rags (US Weekly) and drinking a delicious glass of wine (Anselmo Vineyards Majorette). And blogging.
I adore having my extended family here. I enjoy the activities, the commitments, the busyness. I have enjoyed toting my nephew about with with us. He is an easy 3rd child addition to our family.
I absolutely loved honoring my Gram's 95th last night. It was a great celebration. She was giddy with everyone flocking around her. Food was great. Wine was plentiful. The family was there and attentive. Toasts were made. Songs were sung. Dances were danced (the can-can to be exact). Cousins came together and it was sweet. Definetly sweet.
BUT . . . I have spacial issues. Lexapro or not! I love to be at home. Futzing and putzingl I need to do my stuff . . . my blogging and blog stalking and my cleaning and my yard work and my hanging with the kiddos. And we've been busy, way too busy to put our feet up and relax.
And looking at our calendar? I'm not sure that will happen until my December 13th surgery forces me to slow it down.
Which is why I'm still up at 11:00 pm when I should 100% be sleeping.
...
Now it's more like 11:20 and I'm negotiating with myself so I can go to bed without washing my face. (And am already thinking of all that needs to get accomplished tomorrow.) If I hadn't taken 1.5 day off last week? I'd be taking tomorrow off. Just to catch up from our crazy life!
And tomorrow, I've got to get up early to get Dylan ready for school. More specifically, I need to get him ready for the costume parade at school. My brave and funny boy:
That's my boy-man . . . the reigning Prom Queen. If nothing else? He amuses me. And him. And that's pretty much all that matters to me :) (A big plus would be if he didn't rip my party dress!)
again, on a Saturday! But hey, it's something, right?
I don't even have time to label them at the moment. I am printing menus and really need to take a shower. Do you think that someday, when I grow up, I'll start doing things before the 11th hour?
Onto GG's 95th birthday celebration!
Bring it on!
I've been to San Francisco dozens of times, but I am as excited as the boys to head there today. We are doing it 100% tourist style. Alcatraz. Exploratorium. California Academy of the Sciences. Cable cars. Giradelli. Golden Gate. Pier 39. Clam cowder in bread bowls.
Heck, I may even have to buy a sweatshirt!
Lots of pictures and fun tales to come!
It's not that I don't have anything to say, I just don't have time to say it! I need a fill-in-the-blank-blog version these days!
Let's see, in brief . . .
My sister, BIL and two adorable nephews are here from Sweden. We have loved spending time with them. Dylan and my oldest nephew are currently camped out in Dylan's room and we will be leaving in the morning for a couple of days in San Francisco. 100% tourist style! And I cannot wait!
7th grade basketball tryouts were intense. There are going to be probably 8 kids that are very sad tomorrow when they post the list. I am praying (I know, I know . . . famine and cancer and all) that Dylan's heart and authenticity is protected. What can I say? I'm a Mom. I watched bits of the tryouts and I think he'll make the team. But it's hard to predict. We won't even be in town when they post the list tomorrow, so I guess we'll see when we get home. (Or hopefully, one of my amazing girlfriends will send me the list while we're away! HInt, hint!) Dylan has worked his butt off for the last few weeks with an amazing college player/mentor. I want him to reap the rewards of that due diligence. For the first time ever, he's realizing how much he wants to make the team. (Tough tryouts will do that to you, yes?)
Our Shannon will be married in 48 hours. We won't be there and I'm so sad. But I'm happy for her and hope and pray that her wedding and more importantly her marriage is everything that she's ever dreamed off. (But I still wish I could be in Maui celebrating with her!)
I had breakfast with Lauren's Mom this morning and we got to Facetime with Lauren. And I was glad, but also sad. I miss my girl. 11 days and I will be driving to her and Bobby's new house and hanging with her. I am beyond excited. So are my kiddos!
Speaking of Lauren, look at these amazing images from her wedding photographer! (Who is, by the way, taking our family pictures on Friday morning :) I cannot wait!)
I haven't picked up my CD yet, so ignore the bad resolution. Please.
And with that, dear friends, my left eye is closed. My right eye is drooping. I haven't packed and we are leaving at 8:00 am. So I need to go to bed. Post haste.
(I do have a little story to tell at some point, however, about finding a lizard in our front closet tonight and almost dying from the surprise of it. Man, just typing that gave me the heebie-jeebies all over again!)
Peace out! Bed and then SF bound!
as subway art. Otherwise known as the trend sweeping Pinterest. I am a joiner. What can I say? But I love it:
I know that the more traditional subway art is black on white or white on black, but hey, I needed a little color in the hallway where this will be hung!
So this one's for Shannon. Sorry, honey-bunny! I was driving home from our Ashland field trip when you texted about my lack of a Friday phone dump. I even tried to put it together last night, but it wasn't happened. One eye was closed and the other was twitching!
So here you go, my dear . . . seven hours later . . .
From the top, left to right . . .
My Halle-girl on her way to preschool. What I ate for breakfast on Monday morning. Mr. O'Malley stalking me work. The dog AND the cat stalking me in the kitchen. Girl's Night! What I drank for dinner on Monday night. My Halle-girl on our traditional Tuesday morning date at Great Harvest. x2. Oregon Shakespearean Festival (i.e., the purpose of our 7+ hour round trip yesterday.) Julius Caesar . . . fantastic production. Fake mustaches which was THE ITEM to buy at the Shakespearean Gift Shop. Our view on the drive home.
There ya have it . . . the week as captured by my iPhone!
(And as soon as I complained about my Instagram not functionally properly in last week's post? It magically began working. Which leads me to think that some highly important Instagram programmer must be following my blog. Or something like that!)
I feel as if I cannot make sense this week. I cannot get anything done. Anything that I do attempt? Seems to take three times as long as it should. I cannot form proper words. And my house is an utter disaster. Ugh.
But . . . the disaster will still be there tomorrow and then, I will tackle it. Maybe then I will also speak in coherent sentences?
This weekend was easy. Or easy-ish. (Yes, I made up that word.) It was just Halle and I, so I dug into her closet and started sorting and tossing and organizing. I bought a couple of new bins to put big toys in. It felt good.
In the midst of that, we also played (Polly Pockets, Barbies and lots of pretend games). And we painted. And played outside. So while Halle's closet got cleaned out? The rest of the house turned into the current disasterous state. Major ugh. But again, maybe tomorrow the disaster will be overcome.
Dylan had a great time at his youth group retreat. It seemingly was more about paint-ball wars than The Word, but he sure enjoyed himself! He's sporting some lovely welts and bruises, most notably, the one on his throat. His voice is slowly going back to normal. Thankfully. He also has some doozies on his right side. And his left. And his butt, although I'll refrain from taking photos of those bruises!
Last night I had my girl's night with my college roomies. Love these girls. And love the Happy Hour pricing at Crush :)
Today we celebrated my lovely Gram's 95th birthday. 95! Crazy, huh? We have her "real" shindig in a couple of weeks, so I'll have lots of pictures and prettiness when that occurs. Tonight I took some photos on her camera and only this one (of my Mom and Sis) on my iPhone:
In other random news, our new grass is growing. I'm ridiculously excited for the first time it can be mowed. I know, that officially makes me an old dork. But whatever. It's new grass!
How was that for an all-over-the-board random (blathering) update?
Take what you can get these days, peeps . . . don't be surprised if I start writing in pig latin if the current craziness continues!
These actually do amuse me. I love the variety of things that I'll take a picture of with my phone that I would have never thought to take out a real camera and shoot.
From left to right, top to bottom: Yardwork. Game day. Game day napping by Mr. O'Malley. Game day napping by the Packer's Princess. Mid-game sibling annoyance. Awesome new app on my iPad, ABC Tracing. Trying to buy a couple of dresses at JC Penney's, which they didn't actually have online, but the technophobic sales clerk was still trying to be helpful anyway. Sister not feeling well. Bub's allergy testing, round two. Halle's dessert request . . . a chocolate buffet. Dylan getting his first debit card in the mail. New grass, looking good! Sand and paver project next to the house. Ringworm treatment, human version. The only way to do dinner around here. Sister's newest collection to sneak home/steal from preschool in her shoes . . . pumpkin seeds. Champagne . . . how every Thursday should end. Mama's special milkshakes. Dylan appreciating my milkshake effort, including the ginormus milkshake straws that I bought.
By the way, ever since Instagram did their big upgrade a few weeks ago, my Instagram pics aren't saving to my camera roll. Any Instagram gurus out there that can help? I miss my cool filters! My mundane crap looks better in Instagram! Help me!
Oh, this boy of mine . . .
He is really, truly amazing.
Yesterday, I picked him up at lunchtime. He's been off his antihistamines in preparation for further allergy testing and he's been pretty miserable. In addition? He got ringworm, too. Ugh. And he couldn't take anything to help with the itching, since it would interfere with his testing as well.
Poor kid.
I took him to lunch. It was one of those day that I had a million and one thigns to do at work, but I am so glad that I had that hour with him. He is astonishing and delightful and wise and intuitive and so enjoyable.
I am so, very, very blessed by him.
Today was a big day for him . . . his first debit card arrived in the mail. The only problem? It's so fancy, I don't know how to teach him to use it! Seriously! Guess we'll be the dorky ones at check-out. (Don't get in line behind us, FYI!)
And then a few minutes ago, our neighbor came down to see him. This neighbor of ours is a kind, respectable, well-reputed businessman. He wrote Dylan a check for his house-sitting duties over the summer and gave him a 30% BONUS! How cool is that for a kid? And this amazing letter of recommendation:
My boy is such a great kid. Strong. Courageous. Wise. Smart. Charismatic. Faithful. Kind.
Love him. Big time!
