Sun Soaked

 After working in the yard yesterday morning we spent the rest of our day in the water.

It was one of those nice relaxing days where not enough sunblock was applied, too many chips eaten, and lots of catching up with friends we don't see enough.

And of course the mermaid tail was brought and I think before the day was through most everyone had to try it on and take a swim.  A good friends daughter was cracking me up when her mom was taking a picture with her wearing it she said "can you just order it now, on your phone".  Just a tad excited/impatient to have her own I guess :)

Ones of these days I'll get better about taking pictures of the adults.  I think we were just too busy eating.  And talking.  And not applying sunblock.

Just Love

I have no awesome Southern Californian Beach pictures (but I will soon :) or crazy stories of my kids (although I am sure I wouldn't have to think too hard for that one), just a typical boring breakfast photo from this morning and a heart full of gratitude.

I am grateful that I get to do what I've always wanted to do, be a mom.  I am sure there's not enough money in the world to pay someone to take my kids, they are SO much work.  There's also no way anyone would think they were as brilliant and love them like I do. But to me, getting to spend mornings and afternoons, time helping in their classroom, weekends and soon all summer makes me so giddy.

They are growing up right before my eyes and my heart literally doesn't know if it should be happy or break. These 3 are every thing I've ever wanted.  To have the connection I do with them is the greatest gift.

When I was younger I had this vision of crafting all day with my kids and them listening to me and us just being so happy.

I am not sure what I was thinking because I don't craft, and things are physically and mentally a lot messier than I ever imagined.

But it's also so, so,so, so much better.  I love them.  I have fun with them.  There's no one I'd rather be with.

Second Hand Lions

I am so glad Emry is getting into photography and I've convinced her that candid shots are much cooler anyway.  Like this one............

Ahhh, how is it possible to love a boy so much?!  On our drive home from church yesterday the girls were ganging up on me saying Ethan was my favorite.  Since it's not in good taste to be honest about those things I tried to plead my case by telling them all the great things I do for them too.  But truth be told they had pretty solid points.  Guess I'll have to reign in the baby talk, the catering to him, stop myself from crying every time he says 'I love you Mom' which awesomely enough is always!, hanging on his every word and trying not to melt at just the sight of him.

The subject of this post is not Ethan, but it's easy to get sidetracked when I think of that sweet mug.  So moving on to our other deals.  Emry got 4 cute little summer shirts, clockwise from top L $1.40, $3, $2, $1.40.

Whaddaya know, here's that sweet boy again.  I'll put his scrumptious face up any chance I get. All of these shirts were $1.40 each.  I love that I found him 2 more button up shirts for church, it was getting to be slim pickings every Sunday.  And by that I mean he had one shirt that was getting too small and then we lost it so for a few Sundays we got very creative.

Oh it's fun to have to have your own blog and ramble on and on about how much you love your kid.  What? ........... everyone stopped reading?!?!

Fine, here's the grand total - $17.60 

I am off to clean Ethan's room, organize his Lego's and make sure the kitchen is stocked with his favorite foods.   Aaaaarghhh, somebody stop me!!!!!

Rolling in the Dough

I always knew that someday I would teach my kids how to make bread.  All children deserve the right to have the aroma that only bread baking in the oven can bring burned into their psyche.  After church on Sunday I wanted to make rolls for our Mothers Day dinner, and then immediately thought, "Marie, get Emry in here, she can do this".

I gave her the recipe and just stepped back while I walked her through each step.  We talked about water temperature, proofing, what dough should feel like,  how to love it (not really, didn't want to scare her, her first time out) rising time and finally how to shape those babies.

They turned out perfect.

Kind of like the girl herself.

Splash

My kids spend half their life in the water, so it was bound to happen sooner or later that they'd turn into Mermaids.

A few weeks ago we were swimming as usual when a mom brought her two daughters to the pool.  They put on their mermaid gear and swam around the pool like something out of a fairytale.  My girls were mesmerized.  Their breath was taken away as they longingly watched these girls living out a childhood dream.

As frugal as my girls are, they stood no chance against the mermaid outfit, it HAD to be theirs.  They both pitched in money and 4 days later it was on our doorstep.

Amidst a busy night Emry pleaded with me to take her to the pool that night.  She even opted to go to an unheated pool because it was bigger and she wanted to have maximum room to swim around.  Even when the sun started to set and a light rain started to fall it didn't faze her, she was living out a dream after all.

And sometimes ..................... dreams really can come true.

Amazing Youth

I work with the youth in our church, specifically the Young Women.  Last night my friend Theresa & I were in charge of putting on a combined Young Men/Young Women activity. We planned an Amazing Race theme which included: Hula Hoop race, pizza dough toss, ice stacking, eating disgusting food, finding safety pins in a huge bowl of rice while blindfolded, jigsaw puzzle, scripture fill-in and a fitness test.

There were 6 teams with about 7 youth per team.  They ran around the building looking for the next country and challenge. 

This challenge had some of the kids almost hurling.  If you ate the pig's feet you got to move on right away.  The sardines, wait 3 minutes, and the beets wait 5 minutes. I told Theresa I did not support the kids eating disgusting pig's feet, but she would have none of it, so pig's feet it was.

One of the boys reluctantly ate the sardines and then asked for more!

I am not sure why this challenge is under Mexico as we all know Mexican Food is the BEST!!!!!

 Here is Emry and one of her teammates Devin eating the pigs feet. I almost couldn't watch. I think they're breaking into a cold sweat right about the time I snapped this.

Here are about half the teams.  My camera really tried to keep up with them but those young'uns are fast!

It's really a privilege to be around all these kids.  They're fun, smart and are really trying to do what's right.  I am thankful to belong to a church that puts such an emphasis on teaching these youth correct principals and giving them lots of opportunities for growth & FUN!

These kids got it going on!

New Job, Career, Life

Glenn had been in the High Tech Industry for 10 years.  Many years it was great.  Towards the end it was a little frustrating for him. An inability to move into positions he felt more suitable for him never materialized. There were major layoffs happening in the Summer of 2011.  Glenn would always say how he hoped and prayed he would get laid off with a severance instead of being forced into quitting by a complete unhappiness with the direction, or lack thereof, his career was headed. 

I was making the kids pancakes when Glenn came downstairs and told me "I am done".  

I was completely in shock.  I couldn't believe that the life we'd had, the job, the stability, the paycheck, the health coverage, was over just like that.

I went to bed that night thinking 'I should be homeless instead of sleeping in my king size bed'.  Isn't that what happens to people without jobs?

I knew Glenn was unhappy.  I knew it was inevitable that his career was going to change.  It just stands to reason that when you're miserable in a job they don't lay you off.  Murphy's law or something like that.  Yes he wanted a change, but it still stung. 

For a few months he joked that he was retired.  But severances don't last forever, and pretty soon he was in full on job search mode.  A small dream in the back of his head was to go into law enforcement.  He went for it and was soon in the thick of the application process, which in law enforcement means picking apart your entire life, friends and family.  No stone is left uncovered.  Every bad choice you ever made is put on the table.  Luckily for Glenn he has always been an upstanding guy and had nothing to hide.

During this time he also started a successful Construction Management Company with a good friend.

Months went by.  Then a year.  Glenn went for interviews, meetings, was turned down, more applications, tests, physicals, tons of paperwork, and round and round it went.

Last month, after almost 2 years of this process, Glenn was hired by the San Diego Sheriffs department.

When he was laid off from Cisco he said "I'll never work in High Tech again".  Apparently he meant it.

He is excited beyond belief to be entering into a career where he will interact with others.  Do good.  Be physical.  Better his community.

I think it's a perfect fit for Glenn.  He decided to follow his heart with this career, and at 40 years old he made it.

He has spent more time than a supermodel getting his hair cut, recut, shorter, shaved.  Workouts have been stepped up, uniforms washed, ironed, folded.  Shoes shined till they're mirrors, gear in order,  making room in his closet for a ton of new work clothes, and of course mentally preparing for this new career ahead of him.

Heraclitus is credited with saying "The only thing that is constant is Change".

I concur.

Helloooooo Savers!

So we got a new thrift store here.  Actually it's in the next town over, but still really close.  I was hurt I wasn't on the VIP list for the grand opening, don't they know who I am?  Guess not.  But maybe I don't deserve to be because it's taken me a whole month to go and check it out.  I had other things to do today, but it just felt right, and shopping as we all know has to be done when you're feeling it, so today was the day!

In the picture above - This dress is stunning!  Thrift stores should be thrifty, but I've seen dresses like this go for $20 and up, so I was delightfully surprised when this "Samantha" dress as Lila calls it was only $4.  I got it for dress up or Halloween but Lila said she wanted to wear it to church.  Great!  I am all for putting on the fancy at church.

Ethan is in dire need of new church clothes.  We got him some slacks from Target but Glenn was unimpressed with their selection of shirts.  I took a chance on this purple shirt hoping Glenn would like it for Ethan, he did!  $4.  And for the record there was no way I could talk Ethan into putting on the rest of his church clothes for the picture.  I barley got him to take the picture.

I LOVE my outfit.  I picked up the shirt, put it back, then later had to go find it.  It's not fitted and I am not a big fan of tucking shirts in, but I couldn't shake it & paired with these pants that I adore, it goes so great.  Shirt $5, Jeans, $2.50  (half off).  Seriously, how great is the waistband on those jeans?  In love.

The linens were calling my name as I am always excited to see if there's any quilts I can score for a deal and then pretend I made them.  There were no quilts, but the book section was stocked and I found a few the kids would love, 69 cents each.

Ethan's been busy reading the Brain Busters Book, my kids love riddles.  The kids will be sucking on their popsicles as Ethan throws out riddle after riddle and we all rack our brain trying to come up with the answer, it's the best fun.  The only hard part is not yelling the answer when I know it, but kids kind of don't like that.  I am only allowed to answer after they see the answer.  But usually I know it, then I feel super smart and they think I am smart and everyone wins.  For the record this means a lot to me in Emry's presence.  It is rare I know something she doesn't, so to impress her is downright awesome!

I am forever putting cookies out on the same white oval platter, so I've been keeping a lookout for some fun new serving dishes for bars and cookies, these 2 fit the bill.  I also got some small, food storage containers.

The platters were $3 each and the containers $2 each.  Not the deal of a lifetime, but pretty good.

Last but not least I found Lila a pair of skinny jeans.  Her pair from the beginning of the year are worn out (she likes her skinny jeans).   It's always a risk when you're buying things that can't be returned, but luckily these fit and Lila loves them.  $4.

 Grand total - $35.70.  Not my best effort, but everything I bought I needed.

Yes, my new outfit was a need.  Sometimes the line between need and want is extreeeeeeeemely thin.  Right?

Right?