He's Back

                          After nearly three weeks with grandma, my boy is home!

The Banner is courtesy of Amelia and our neighbor girls.  Tomorrow we are off to Mexico for the 4th July weekend because we are patriotic like that!

DIY Mustache

                                         This is what happens when you pass out at my house:

                                                          I sick Andrew on you. 

If my Father-in-law hadn't of passed out on our dog bed with a houseful of neighbor kids over this wouldn't have happened to his face. Bwahaha!

Sweet, Sweet, Summer

Bela, our little old lady, happy as can be at Mission trails

Nick, our neighbor, and Andrew, aka Tom and Huck

Our new rope swing that it is getting a ton of use by our family and all the kids in the neighborhood.

Andrew being Andrew

Amelia adores Andrew and he loves her right back

I Wish

That my kitchen looked like this

that my entry way resembled this

That my kids had a cool reading nook like this

this were my yard

I had these hanging in my kitchen windows

It's just a mug

The other day when I was rushing around to get myself and the family ready to leave for a graduation party I managed to break my favorite mug.  It wasn't just any mug, it was the mug I gave to my dad on one of my last visits to Chicago when he was still fairly healthy, the mug I handed to him when he was sitting at the old wooden farmhouse dining table in my parent's kitchen.  He was sitting in his usual spot at the head of the table with a thick slice of bread on a paper towel waiting to greet us upon our arrival.  I took Amelia with me on that trip.  I have so many great memories of her and my dad on that visit.  He adored her.  They would sit at the table and play cards with one another or giggle about silly things over breakfast.  My dad even hop scotched with her out on the driveway despite his balance being a bit off. 
The broken mug was a Starbucks one featuring the San Diego skyline.  It was a last minute impulse buy purchased at Lindberg Field.  I bought it for him because he was such a tea fanatic.  After he died I took it out of my mom's kitchen cupboard and brought it home with me.  It's been my preferred mug ever since. 

I was so pissed off at myself over breaking it.   I tried not to cry about it.  Afterall it's just a mug. Despite myself I cried a little.  When Aaron asked what was wrong and I explained what had happened it made me cry more.  From the backseat of our car Amelia piped in, "Mom, look at my watch."  She held up her slender pink wrist and pointed at her ladybug watch.  "Remember how Grandpa always wore a watch?  We still have his watch.  Before I go bed I hang my watch on grandpa's picture in my room." 

I have seen her watch on his picture but I never realized that she hung it there because her watch made her think of him.  That was all I needed to hear to feel better.  I don't need a mug to remember my dad.  It's amazing how my daughter has such wisdom at age 6.  She reminds so much of my Dad.  She is a mini Seamus. 

Stuff

I'm going to ease myself back into blogging with a meme

1.  Today I managed to get a patchy sunburn on my legs
2.  It's amazing how having one child out of the house (Jake is visiting his grandma for a few weeks)  makes such a drastic change in the atmosphere of our home.  It feels like everything is out of whack.  At the beach the other day I kept forgetting he wasn't with me and would momentarily believe he had been swallowed up by a wave or had wandered off. 
3.  My dog has gotten so old that sometimes I have to lift her up our stairs because she can't make it on her own.
4.  She barks at the wall all the time.  I'm pretty sure she is losing her mind. 
5. When I am having a bad day I go to the animal shelter.
6. While some people get baby fever I go through bouts of puppy fever.
7.  I am always disappointed in people that don't like dogs but I shouldn't judge because I hate cats.
8.  I really love my new house.
9.  My father in law came over a few nights ago to pick up a weight lifting set that he has been storing in our garage. I was immediately startled by his choice of clothing--skater shoes, baggy shorts and a frat boy tee. He used to dress like a hippie.  I'm not sure what brought about his wardrobe change.  His new look reminds me of the guy that worked at the gas station near my parents house  used to sell my friends and I cigarettes when we were 15.  He used to wear raver clothes which seemed so wildly inappropriate for his much older age.     
10.  Embarrassing Confession: I have been watching the Secret Life of an American Teenager on Netflix for the last couple of months and am totally hooked.  I don't watch it when Aaron is around because I would rather not listen to him mock me
11.  I am the kind of person that gets very attached to one friend.  I have a hard time hanging out with multiple people.  I am really trying hard to get over that.  This summer I have been attempting to hang out with an assortment of different people.  It's out of my comfort zone but I'm learning to spice things up.  I am attempting to behave like a normal person.
12.  Aaron was gone all week and I missed him alot.  Normally I don't miss him. That sounds terrible but in my defense he travels a lot so I am used to his absence.  I think that maybe with age I am becoming a little less of a jerk.  Perhaps that is why I have been missing him more lately. 
13.  I'm pretty sure that most of our neighbors think Andrew and Jacob are totally wild and crazy boys.  They are. I am okay with that  because they are really sweet and happy little guys that for the most part make good choices. 
14. My hair is blonde for the summer.  I kind of love it.
15.  Aaron and I went out tonight and our neighbor girl watched Amelia for us (Andrew is having a sleep over).   She baked a cake for us and cleaned our house.  Best. Babysitter. ever.

Wannabe Mormons

Tonight Andrew had his bud Jackson spend the night. While playing ping pong the boys lobbed a ball over our neighbor's fence.  It didn't appear to be a big deal.  We have a zillion more.  Apparently they thought it was a bigger deal than I did.

A few minutes later Andrew came inside wanting to know if we had a Mormon bible.  Despite the fact that we are not Mormon, randomly, we do.  A short time later Amelia and Jackson came down the stairs dressed like this:

After nearly dying of laughter I got them to explain why they looked like Mormon missionaries.  Apparently they hatched an elaborate scheme to distract our neighbor by knocking on his door and pretending to be Mormon missionaries.  Meanwhile Andrew would sneak into their backyard and retrieve the ping pong ball. 

I suggested that it may be easier if they just asked for it back

 "That wouldn't be as fun."

In case anyone is wondering, I didn't let them go through with it.

The Littlest One

So far my summer has been consumed by all things Amelia.  Jacob is visiting Grandma in Chicago for a few weeks and Andrew has a new best friend that lives next door, so Amelia and I have been spending lots of time together. 

Everyday Amelia comes up with creative things to do. She has a very imaginative little mind.  We have had countless tea parties, stuffed animal picnics, dress up play, treasure hunts, and lots, and lots of arts and crafts days.

A few weeks ago Amelia drew portraits of everyone in our family.  They are hilarious.  I'm the one with the messy hair on the top right. We cut them out and pasted them onto black construction paper.  She drew one of Bela as well but it tore a few days ago.
   

After a visit to Costco today Amelia constructed her own TV from the cardboard box our groceries were placed in.  She made herself into a human TV and is now insisting that we save her creation for Halloween.  I'm not sure how I feel about my child being a TV for Halloween but I have plenty of time to change her mind.

Home tour part 1: The living room

The family room:

Our new place is a work in progress.   It's been fun making it our own.  The last three photos were taken in the perspective of Amelia who took about 50 pictures of random things today. 

Last days of school

After moving to La Mesa, Aaron and I thought about enrolling the kids in our local school but after much thought we couldn't do it.  We love their school. 

I love that I know the name of every single kid I see on the playground.  I love that the 5th grade girls have the tendency to braid Amelia's hair and tell me who their crushes are.  I love that Jacob was allowed to get half way through the 5th grade math book when his teacher realized that the 4th grade one was too easy and that Andrew's teacher gave his grade lots of projects to do this year because he realized that is where their strength is, and that Amelia woke up everyday excited to go to school. I like that if I don't feel like driving all the way back home to La Mesa after dropping the kids off at school I can stop by our principals house to have a midday margarita with his wife who is the most hilarious and inappropriate woman I have ever met. 

My kids school is like a little bubble--a fifties time warp of good manners, morals, and old fashion community love.  Last weekend was the 8th grade graduation ceremony and I actually cried because I will miss those kids and I have loved seeing them mature and grow.  My favorite 8th grader whose is moving to Arizona, stopped Andrew and Jacob when we were leaving a graduation party to give them a hug and to tell them how much he was going to miss them.   It's moments like those where I realize how lucky we are to have them in such a tiny school.  As much as I complain about having to pay tution and the traffic we sit in to get there, in the end I know that it is worth it and I know that they will look back on there elementary school days with some pretty awesome memories.

P.S.  My camera got wet during the end of school water ballon toss.  That is why the pics are hazy.

The WT on the street

My neighbors may or may not think we are trash balls.

 It all started when Aaron took some hedge trimmers to the vivid green, wildly growing bushes that once lined our driveway.  He took it a step too far and trimmed them to death.  When the kids and I arrived home from a weekend trip up north we were greeted by their bareness. 

The following weekend he trimmed more off and currently all that is left is the lonely carcasses of what were once bushes.  To add insult to injury he lined our front yard with weed killer and now everything is brown.  In his defense it was basically all overgrown weeds. At some point in the very near future we plan to do some great landscaping. For now our neighbors have an unsightly looking home on their block. It will get there.  At some point our hosue will be pretty.