Today's the day!

Are you going to watch the Olympics? Who are your favorite athletes? We, of course, will be supporting returning Olympian swimmer Cullen Jones, a fellow NC STATE WOLFPACKER. We'll watch the swimming, the track events, some gymnastics for me and SOCCER for mini#2. I just heard that Michael Phelps can win 3 medals of any color and become the most decorated Olympian ever! Wow! Guess we'll record the opening ceremony. We have to go to a cookout at Mr. Pink's fraternity tonight. And it's supposed to be near 100 degrees. Not. Very. Excited. Enjoy your weekend!

Things on my nerves Thursday- Catchy isn't it?

1- A lot is two words. The contraction for you are is you're; not your!

2- Why do I always get "the" cart at Target, Walmart, wherever. The one that creeks or has a wobbly wheel?

3- Being asked 5 times today at Old Navy "are you finding everything you need?" 5 times! I may or may not have said "Yes, thank you. And you're the 5th person to ask me" the last time. I know. I surprised myself on that one. I did say it while laughing (while cringing inwardly).

4- Waiting in 2 carpool lines, elementary and then at middle school, for an hour and twenty minutes in this southern heat only to beat the bus home by 5 minutes. The same bus that could bring both of the not-so-minis home. We compromise. I pick up Mon, Tues, Wed and they ride bus home on Thurs and Fri.

5- "Friends" on Facebook that tell all of their "friends" every second of their day. In a bragging way. I might just have to suggest Twitter or delete as a "friend."

I suppose 5 is enough of a list. I am sure I could go on but I am sure your you're tired of my rant.

Enjoy the rest of your day....all 3 of you still reading.

If it's this hot you might as well...

GO BACK TO SCHOOL!! Yes, today was the first day of school for my year round kiddos. We had a 5 week "summer" in which we had a week of runner's camp and a week of boy scout camp for mini#1.  Mini#2 had a week of soccer camp and they both went to a week of VBS (Vacation Bible School). We went to the beach twice for day trips in addition and had a visit from my parents. We've been busy!

I have been emotional about mini#1 today and last week. Not only did I have my first week ever without speaking to him while he was at scout camp, but I sent him off to middle school today. I was really ok about it (although hope he remembers to bring home all of his homework books daily!) until I took the last picture above. I rode along this morning for drop off since Mr. Pink usually takes them. We dropped off mini#1 and he immediately started walking with a friend. Then we looped around to the middle school (right in front of our elementary school) and mini#1 was getting a little nervous. I reassured him and he let me take the above picture before he turned away and I closed the door as he commenced another new stage in his life. And I got choked up and teared up unexpectedly! It hurts to feel like that. You feel a little helpless as a parent. I can't wait to hear about his first day. I pray that I remain "cool" to him for as long as possible because talking to this kid like I do is one of the best things about being his parent.

And we're off to the pool after school (please be no homework the first day!)...because, yes, it's still hotter than hot here in NC!

Our 4th!!

Our 4th was really fun this year. The only thing missing was mini#1 who is away at boy scout camp this week. My parents came into town and the night before we decorated mini#2's bike so he could be in our town's kids' parade ay 10:30 a.m. on the 4th. We had never done this and I always wanted to with the kids so I figured I better do it this year before mini#2 loses interest. My parents and Mr. Pink sat in chairs along the shady historic district while mini#2 an I were in the parade. It looked like a Southern Living spread. There easily were 300-400 kids/parents on foot, bike, wagon or skates! And a ton of spectators, too. It was fun (HOT!) but, if we do this again next year, I'm riding one of the kid's scooters! I had to run after mini#2 a couple of times. As you can see I also snapped some photos of the beautiful historic homes along the parade route. One even had a party on the lawn afterwards, but we weren't invited. Ha! That's ok. We came home and ate grilled chicken, corn on the cob, grilled asparagus, 3 bean salad, deviled eggs and watermelon. Yum! We walked to the top of our street later and had a prefect view of our town's fireworks. Gotta love not having to get into traffic to see the fireworks. But I really missed my big boy...a week is too long! What did you do for the 4th?

Funny and not-so-funny

That was funny. And it has been hotter than hot here. This weather on the east coast is wild. High winds, hail, states without power, extreme heat in the 100's. I think relief is in sight though. I hope!

Not-so-funny. Last night mini#2 got chewing gum stuck in his hair. I've been a mom now for 11 yrs and this is the first time this has happened! Yes we stopped for frozen yogurt last night and the 7 yr old put gumballs on his and when he went to brush his teeth and try to pull the sticky stuff off of his teeth he ended up getting it stuck in his bangs! And his hair was still damp from his shower. He quietly came in to show me and he looked like a hot mess. At first I freaked a little, but then went and got the peanut butter out and smeared some on the trouble areas. Then I combed it out (alongwith a bit of hair I might add). He yelped a little, but we both survived. And he had a second shower of the evening to de-peanut butter himself. Mr. Pink tried to capture this life moment on film (that's an obsolete term now!), but mini#2 was having none of that! I'm just glad we didn't have to pull the scissors out.

Happy 51st Birthday!

She'll forever stay in my mind like this...beautiful and youthful. I still miss her!

We're in our third day in the 100's...like 105, 106! Ugh!You can't breathe outside. Today I'm cleaning in preparation of my parents coming to visit. Mr. Pink is driving mini#1 to his first ever camp away for the week. Sniff. Sniff. And mini#2 is counting down the minutes to watch the Italy/Spain soccer championship game. What are you doing today?