Revival of Rainbow Fish...

Guess what? It turned up! That's right everybody, Rainbow Fish has been found.

Its finding is a bit of a mystery in and of itself. I sent Ryan downstairs to get his clothes for school, and as he was changing in the middle of the living room floor he said, "Look Mom, Here's Rainbow Fish...now we can go back to the library." I said, "WOW! You found it! Where was it?" He said, "Right here on the living room floor" (Now trust me...my house gets cluttered for sure, but I know that movie hasn't been on the living room floor for 53 days!) But Ryan insisted he did not bring it up from downstairs (even though I think he did).

I would like to know where it's been hiding all this time, but I guess that really doesn't matter. It is found, I don't have to pay for it, and that is what matters.

Thanks Target Clearance

Target had their bike helmets clearanced this week...and water bottles! Yay!

Chris cleaned the garage one day, and in the process put the bike helmets in a safe place. So safe we don't know where they are, and for the last few weeks Juliana and Ryan's heads have not been safe because they've been riding without their helmets. So I got Ryan an awesome police officer helmet, and Juliana a lovely green with flowers helmet. $3 each. She is less than thrilled, as she has been enjoying the freedom of the wind through her hair as she rides. But Ryan loves his new helmet...so now they have 2 helmets each (when we find the old ones).

We also needed a new water bottle for Juliana because in her words, "Jordan saw some of the middle schoolers bury my school water bottle at the park after I forgot it there one day." Hmmm...the kids spent some time digging over there to find it, but after finding a family of worms, and fingernails so dirty I'm not sure I'll get them clean, they only found the lid. So water bottles were also on clearance. Ryan broke his lid after an hour, but I'm holding it together with a rubber band and it is working well. Boys are so rough.

Throwing in a picture of Chloe's first time swinging at the park. She is growing and learning fast. The other day she started clapping a little bit. I also included a couple of her smiling big! Ignore the juice on her shirt...she's adorable.

Lucky Number Seven

On September 27th, Juliana turned seven. Yeah! She has been excited for her birthday for a very long time. She had big plans in mind. This year she wanted to invite all of the girls in her class, AND her friends from church to the house for a party. AND she wanted all of them to make a "neat" craft. She got this bright idea while attending a birthday party last winter for her friend Abby. Abby's mom helped the girls make jean pocket purses that were totally cool and chic! So, this was very much what Juliana wanted to do, and she wanted Abby's mom to come and teach the craft. Thank you for your vote of confidence Juliana!

Well, this year I had decided against a big "friend" party...I just started thinking that we don't need to do one for every birthday. However, like every mom, I wanted my girl's birthday to be special.

Juliana had been talking for several months about wanting to go to the Build-a-Bear Workshop. So, we planned a special day to Omaha for her to stay in a hotel, swim and go to Build-a-Bear. What fun!

Juliana has, for some reason, always loved leopards. That is why it is no surprise really, when faced with a choice of which animal to pick...she chose the wildlife leopard. She named her Spotty.

Ryan got to participate in the fabulous building of bears too...he did not chose a bear either. His selection was the most adorable turtle that came with a backpack shell...loved it. Ryan loves green, so this selection is also not a surprise. He named his turtle Roman.

Lost and Found and Lost again...

Does anyone remember losing something as a child or teenager and just being so frustrated that you couldn't find it? If your house was/is anything like mine, then usually it was "Mom's Fault" that the precious belonging was missing! Now I am the Mom! Aaggh!

Every week we check out videos from the library for the kids. Last week when we went to return them, I was short one video- Rainbow Fish. Oops. I knew it was somewhere in the house, I was pretty sure downstairs. I just asked if we could check it out one more week so that we wouldn't be fined. "No Problem, Ma'am." So we went home, and along with our newly checked out DVD's, we were able to enjoy Rainbow Fish for one more week. Today I go to the library to return the DVD's and I'm short one. Yep, you guessed it, Rainbow Fish. Oh, but I can't check it out again...I've already renewed it once. So I am going to be fined 15 cents every day until I find and return it. Okay, I realize that 15 cents is not much when you are thinking of being overdue 1 or 2 days, even a week. But the problem is at this moment Rainbow Fish is "unfindable". I know that's not a word...I just mean, I CAN'T FIND IT! I've looked in all of the normal, expected places and it's not in any of them. Which is really a problem, because if it's not in a reasonable place then that means Ryan carried it around with him and left it somewhere strange. Or it means I picked it up and set it somewhere in haste and cannot recall, at all, where it is!

I hate moments like this, when I can't find something I'm looking for. Seriously, I think it warps my brain a little. I don't want to own Rainbow Fish.

I've bribed the children...$1 to spend at the dollar spot at Target to the child who finds the movie. What do I get if I find it : peace of mind, I guess. Mom if your reading this...have you seen Rainbow Fish?

What I'm thinking...

I have recipes to type.
I spend too much time on Facebook.
Tonight I got to talk to some adults, WOW!
I will be tired when I have to get Juliana ready for school in the morning.
Tomorrow I'll get more accomplished. I promise.
Tomorrow is lunchrun...I wonder where the teenagers will want to go.
I love my family.
Chloe could not be a better baby.

Let's get caught up!

Summer is over...

I have been looking forward to the end of summer since before it began. Don't get me wrong, I love my children, and I love spending time with them, but I really love education. And I really love my children being educated 5 days a week in a classroom setting.

Last thursday Juliana went back to school. She started second grade and is SO excited to have Ms. Olson, a brand new teacher, to spend this year with. Yesterday we met Ryan's preschool teacher. He will start on August 27th and he is very excited!

I realize that it has been quite a while since my last posting. So here is the summer run down of our summer events...

*In May, the last day of school, I was admitted to the hospital with Rhabdomyolosis. The very short version of the story is that I severely damaged the muscles in my legs during a group cyling class. I don't recommend getting Rhabdomyolosis as it is VERY PAINFUL and I thought I was dying. So I was in the hospital for 4 days and was catered to...given all of my meals in bed and basically left alone to heal...it was wonderful and peaceful, despite the pain.

*In June, the family packed up and went to summer camps in Lexington, fun times. After camps, Chris had some time off and instead of taking a trip out of town we stayed home and did some things at the house like painting and "what-not" as he would say.

*July flew by. My brother, his wife and my niece came to visit, followed by Chris's brother and family. The rest of the month was mainly consumed with random youth events.

*August 1st, Chris flew to NYC for a missions trip. My mom came to visit, yeah. We ate out every day and I haven't been on the scale to see the damage. I have taken time off from the YMCA while I was healing, but planned to go back to working out when the kids started school, and for some reason the Y is closed all week...just my luck. I am forced to just not excersize for 1 more week...(I guess I could walk outside).

Juliana is lovely, wonderful and smart.
Ryan is an adorable, hilarious monkey.
Chloe is sweet, precious, an angel baby...and growing too fast!

Wish me luck, I'm going to try and do better!

Parts

These photos are a little dated now that Chloe is almost 2 months old. But they are just too precious to not share them. I desired to create a scrapbook page that would capture Chloe's tiny parts.

For All to See and Random Updates

I decided to develop a blog that can be viewed by anyone. We have myspace and facebook accounts, but my friends and family that were not members were unable to view pictures, etc. So I'm starting this one with the intent to solve that issue. Let's see if it works!

Chris has been attending the Willow Creek conference in Chicago this week. So, this temporarily single mom has been managing to survive on her own. Ryan was massively ill Tuesday with the flu. An experience we shared in the bathroom was the lowest point of the week so far. Unfortunately we had to cancel a Burger King night with our neighbor friends because of it.

Today it's raining outside. The birds are still busy playing pick up sticks in the field-turned-lake across the street. No outside recess for the kids today. I'm sure Juliana will come home with some energy she needs to release. We will have swimming lessons tonight at the Y. Chloe slept until 6 this morning!