kirstencan

I'll take it.

I must have done something right getting ready for church yesterday, because Thomas stopped me, looked at me for a bit and said:  Mom, you look girl-handsome.

 

Girl handsome! 

Love it!  Made my day.

Golf Balls

Alternate title:  cleaning out Grandpa's wallet.

So my dad needed golf balls for a faculty fair or something they were having at his work.  He knows we get golf balls in our yard (stupid bad golfers) and offered to pay the kids a quarter for each golf ball they found and cleaned well.  I tried to talk him down (10/$1) but that didn't work, and he said he needed as many as we could find.

See, the thing is, he didn't know how many the kids would find.

Monkey was the most industrious.  The girl got in the game a little late, but still made a decent chunk of change.  Thomas landed smack in the middle.

The day before we delivered them the kids got the balls all cleaned up. I was actually surprised to see how hard they all worked.  When the girl was bummed that she didn't have as many as the boys, I told her not to worry, there was no way Monkey would have the patience to finish all of his, and he'd surely give the rest to her to clean.

Well, he didn't.  That kid worked hard.

The boys liked reading the balls - besides the brands, many had company slogans or ads on them.  I liked the Slazenger balls, because they reminded me of field hockey...

And then I counted them.

Monkey ended up with 211.  Holy Cow!

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We all have had a great Annniversary Week, which included a nice getaway for Aaron and I, and 'Grandma Camp' for the kids.  Now if I could only find my little camera to show you our adventures...

Being married rocks!

Fifteen years ago, at the age of 20 (oh my goodness that seems young now), I was married to my amazing best friend/sweetheart/co-conspirator, Aaron.  It seems like yesterday, and it seems like fifty years ago at the same time.  Wonderful years.  Being married is seriously the best.  You know how they say marriage is hard?  Well, luckily being married to Aaron is easy.
We count our blessings every day.

So, let's have a wedding-year shout out! If you are married - for how long?  If your parents are still married, for how long?  What's the longest number we can put up here?

Hooray for the best 15 years of my life.

I love you, Aaron!

Even the kids have blog friends...

Nikko and her 5 boys came to visit last week!  Can you count all 8 kiddos?

The boys were super excited to see their 'friends from Texas' again.  They all get along really well.  I loved when K walked in the house, got a big smile on his face and said 'Oh, yeah, I remember this place!'.

We're glad they had time to stop by on another of their epic roadtrips (so brave!).

Chrome + Yellow = Happy!

I haven't posted anything thrifted in forever!  Mostly because I haven't gone much.  Boo.  I've hit a few yard sales this summer, but nothing too exciting.

Anyway, I recently decided that our (previously thrifted) patio table was too small and too wobbly, and have been trolling the classifieds looking for something just right.

And I found it!

Ignore the chairs.  They're next!

Anyway, a few years ago I was at a yard sale of an older woman who was selling a beautiful chrome + formica table for $15.  It was gorgeous.  I wanted it SO bad but had nowhere to put it.  I kept my hand on it for a while (while other shoppers hovered) and then finally gave up. Unfortunately, I never thought of keeping it out on our covered patio.  Darn it - that thing was gorgeous.

This one is pretty too, and while it isn't exactly like the old one, I love the bright yellow.

The legs are cool, right?  And seriously, new chairs are needed.  I don't know what kind, though...

It makes me want to dress up the patio a little - maybe make a summery bunting for back there and some candle holders like these?  Twinkle lights?

Anyway, the only other purchase of note lately is this set of vintage pyrex bowls.  They are so pretty I couldn't leave them at the yard sale.  Also they were only $2 for the set!

Yeah, I do not have room for more bowls, so I'm giving these to a friend - but they're super cute.

Have you scored anything awesome lately?

Beyblades

This has been the summer of the Beyblades. 

Do you remember that our street overrunneth with boys?  Well, they're ALL into these beyblade battletops - so if you come over, you'll likely find a group huddled up 'battling'.  Or 3 groups.

The kids even picked one out for Aaron for Father's day (a neighbor got one for his dad, too!).  And they've saved their money for extra 'beys' (or grip launchers or beyblaster(!).  Monkey likes to check out Beyblade mangas from the library. 

At first glance they are yet another crappy boy toy (with accompanying accessories and tv show), but they are oddly fascinating.  I've battled, I admit! Also, the boys are no longer running around hitting each other with swords, so that's a plus!  Really it's kinda cool to see boys playing with tops again!  Just don't call them tops...

The boys come get me when they want a tournament bracket (I use sidewalk chalk).  They even have an announcer.  They are super funny with this stuff.  They know all the 'types' and 'special moves' and get really into this, rearranging parts of their beys to make the ideal competitor.  One neighbor just had a beyblade birthday party with a HUGE tournament.

A good friend gifted us some of her grown son's "first generation" bey stuff (apparently this fad was around like 10 years ago, too).  Quite exciting stuff on our street!

Now Thomas wants to be 'Jinga' for Halloween.  I'm trying to discourage it merely because no one but these boys will know who he is, and when adults ask who he is, they'll think they're not understanding him because he's saying it wrong!

Oh, and even their sister bought a bey!  I'm telling you, this is BIG stuff on our street!

Are your kids into these things?  Or what's the summer fad on your street?

A huge step {in pretty shoes}

She's dreamed of this for years.  And years.  She's worked super hard to prepare and waited patiently.  And she is now a dancer 'en pointe'.

She reports that it definitely hurts but is DEFINITELY worth it.

And I have to say those shoes look sweet hanging on her wall.

We're proud.  She's doing a summer dance workshop now and having a ball.

In other accomplishments, 2 days after his brother, the little monkey decided he no longer needed training wheels.  Also he decided that riding bikes is WAY more fun now.

That day we got a huge rainstorm.  He wouldn't come in.  I did make him at least sit in the garage when it started hailing, but as soon as that stopped he was right back out there.  And soaked.

Yup, it's been a big summer.

Once again, being a mom rocks.