He's Back!

Mark arrived home around 1 AM. I am so happy to have him back. He was caught in the earthquake yesterday and had no cell service for a bit, but was finally able to get a message to me that he was okay. His first earthquake!lol! He's taking today off and taking his kids to swim. They will be excited just to see him!

In other news, Bubba has a third interview for a job tomorrow. hooray! It's been a bad time to be looking, but so far these people love him. He won big brownie points because he dressed up for the interview. Apparently most kids don't do that these days. The interviewers made the point of mentioning that several times and how impressed they were that he took the time and care to dress appropriately! I guess I did teach him something in his 18 years!lol!

I saw Mamma Mia! again on Monday night. It was my monthly outing with my group of friends and we decide on a whim to head over after dinner. I think it was even better the second time because I knew what was coming and was able to appreciate the reaction of my friends! Go see this movie! It's so awesome!!!

My husband...

Mark is at a convention this week. In Anaheim. Across the street from Disneyland. We are huge Disney fans and while it was too cost prohibitive for all of us to go (plus I would NEVER go in the summer. That's just paying to stand in line!lol!), he is spending some of his downtime there. When we went in October he bought an annual pass so he really saved a bunch of money. He's mostly doing things that the rest of us would be really bored with and that we won't do because they are to expensive. Like, he went on the guided tour. The rest of us are all about the rides, while Mark loves the ideas behind the scenes as well. He's also seeing Fantasmic as often as possible. I think he's enjoying his time, but he really is feeling lonely for the rest of us. as was evidenced by my email inbox this morning. I don't know too many men who would think to do something like this for their family, but I am impressed!

Weepy Morning

All the kids were up early this morning as Mark is headed out of town until Wednesday. He travels several times a year, but it never gets easier for any of us. The entire house is generally filled with crying(all the girls) or, at the very least, misty eyes(all the boys!). We have some fun things planned for the time he's gone, but we'd much rather have him here.

Mad Men

Are you watching this? If not, you should be. I'd been hearing a lot of buzz about the show and then it earned 16 Emmy nominations. There was a marathon of the first season on yesterday and I recorded it. I've watched 2 episodes so far and I am HOOKED! The first episode was good and I liked the energy of it, but the closing scene of that episode? Blew me away. I so didn't see it coming.
The show is set in 1960 and it is truly comical to watch some of the things we've become so paranoid about. In one scene, the little girl is playing with a plastic dry cleaners bag over her head. Her mother calls her over and you ware waiting for the admonition to get the bag off her head. But, no. The mother tells her that if the clothes from that bag are on the floor, that girl is going to be in a world of trouble! The divorcee in the neighborhood might bring down property values. And EVERYONE smokes. It's such an interesting glimpse into an intriguing time in our country.
If you get a chance, check it out!

Insurance and Wal-hell

So, I had a minor accident in April and was sure that my insurance was going to go up a bit. I had budgeted for the increase (i am a big budgeter and very anal about it) at about 25%. The accident was so minor I couldn't imagine it being more than that. Well, my renewal came via email this morning and my rates (which are not cheap as we have two newer cars and an 18 year old boy!) had gone up 45%!! Are you kidding me? With the exception of this accident, there have been no claims, no tickets, nothing at all on our driving records. So, I called our previous insurance company, (whom I loved, but the cost of adding Bubba was just too much with them) to see what they could do for me. Well, they were able to get me the same coverage for less than I was paying without my accident with the current company!!! They ran our driving records while I was on the phone and the service agent was so amazed at our 3 "crystal clear" driving records. So, we're actually saving a bit of money now!

In horrid customer service news, I order school uniforms for the kids online most years. I can get better deals and not have to worry about the stores having the sizes and colors I need. I ordered uniforms for The Princess from Wal-hell because they were cheap and she'll thrash them by next year (same 5 outfits for 180 days? Your clothes would be thrashed too!) and she's not as picky as her sister about the style!lol! I ordered online and had them shipped to the store so i didn't pay shipping. Today I went to pick up the items. Well, 3 of the things I ordered were not in the bag even though it said they were! It took 45 minutes, a very helpful 16 year old employee (he really was trying hard) and an evil witchy manager with the IQ of a housefly (who, btw, never apologized) to figure out how to take off the items that didn't show up and refund me for them! And then? SB had gone and found the other items we still needed on a rack in the store and they made me go to the front of the store and wait in line to check out with them!! UGH!! So stupid. I was so frazzled and frustrated. I understand that mistakes happen, but an apology for my time and trouble would have gone a loooooong way to making this better.

Military Mom

Bubba joined the Army National Guard this week. He's at his first weekend drill right now. In case you are unfamiliar with the Guard, and I still mostly am, they serve locally most of the time. They are the only branch of the military ruled by the state and federal governments. He will go to basic training and advanced training in Missouri for 21 weeks, but not until January. Until then, he drills one weekend a month. His term of service is 3 years. After his training is completed he drills one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer unless he gets deployed somewhere or chooses to be voluntarily deployed. I'm a little more okay with this than I originally thought I would be, mostly because by the time he's finished with training, we'll have had a new President in office for 6 months. I'm very proud of him, but especially glad that he is choosing to serve in this way. It really came down to, for him, that he couldn't stand the idea of being away for 4 years. As pissy as he gets with me sometimes, and as much as he acts like he wants to be a grown-up, there is a side of him that is not quite ready to cut those apron strings.

Great article

I was driving alone today (a rarity!) and thinking about seeing an old friend next week and how the conversation will go. And I started thinking about her life and her children and how, when we were in regular contact, I was sometimes jealous of the life she lived. Of the lack of financial worry, of the seeming easiness of her children. And then I remembered some other details. Details which ultimately derailed our friendship. Things which I would not trade with her in a million years. And it occurred to me that we always think the grass is so much greener elsewhere, when really we should just be tending to our own yards. And then I came home and checked my blog feeds and found this article from a favorite blog author of mine. I think God's looking for me to get a message here!

Another Movie Review

It's 5 weeks until school starts again and with 4 kids and Mark out of town one weekend in July, it was time to start our annual summer dates with our kids. The Princess was first and we took her to lunch and to do some shopping she wanted to do and then to see a movie of her choice. She chose Kit Kettredge:An American Girl. It was wonderful!! We all three very much enjoyed the movie. I'm glad it was something we saw just with her so we could really enjoy her reactions. She laughed hysterically at parts and was sad at parts, but she really loved it. It was such a wholesome. lovely movie.

4th of July Photo Extravaganza!

FE, Mark and Grandpa eating their dinner.

Boy, do they both have to give me the SAME look???

I really don't think I want to know what he is talking her in to!

The Princess decided to keep everyone cool

But then gets cooled off herself!

It's a Grand Old Flag!

So pretty...

Here comes the flyover:

Directly above us:

Cute girl!
A snowcone from Grandpa!

Big enough Cheeto for ya?

The fireworks: We got so many great fireworks shots I had a hard time deciding what to share, but I love this one because it reminds me of a dandelion...

We had a really fun night, even with a little wind. The kids ran races with a group of about 50 other kids, Grandpa treated us all to snow cones and ice cream, we danced and sang along with the (exceptional) band, we saw friends from school. The wind delayed the fireworks by 10 minutes, but that was okay because we were still hanging out having fun! We all layed back on our blankets and listened to the music and watched the gorgeous fireworks. My heart swelled as my baby girl lay her head on my chest and oohed and aahed over the beautiful colors in the sky. The only thing missing was Bubba, but he was safely tucked away in a cabin up north with a friend's family. My guess is we'll get him back for fireworks once he has kiddos of his own!lol!

Wall-E and Mr. Magorium

We took the kids to see Wall-E yesterday. It was cute. I had heard several people say that it was the best Pixar movie ever. Ummm...no. not as good as Toy Story(1 or 2) not as good as Monsters, Inc. I mean, it was sweet, but parts or it were boring, even to my kids, it was far too violent for the G rating, in my opinion, and the message was oh-so political. I don't necessarily disagree with the message, but I don't like my animated features to be so full of political messages.

On the other hand, our summer movie for the day was Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. I laughed and cried. Dustin Hoffman was spectacular was the wonderful toy store owner. This movie did not get enough praise when it was out. It was full of beautiful nuggets about enjoying your life and living to the fullest. This is going on record as my second favorite movie of all time. (Finding Neverland is first!)If you haven't seen it, you must rent it!

Happy Independence Day to one and all. We are headed to our usual fireworks spot with a dinner picnic and my mom and father-in-law. This is our 13th year with the same wonderful tradition! Enjoy your day!

Fun Day!

Today we took our kids to the city run aquatics center just a little over a mile from our house. We had so much fun! There are two big slides, a great kiddie water play land that we all enjoyed, two diving boards, a lazy river, and a deep pool for real swimming. To go there, for the 5 of us who went, was less than paying for one of us to go to the big water park and was honestly just as much fun! The kids were worn out in a good way and then had to go to swim lessons afterwards so it's been a very lazy quiet evening at home!

How to feel like a GREAT mom!

If ever you have one of "those" days? You know the ones. The kids won't cooperate, nothing stays clean, the kids argue, you spend too much time correcting and not enough time enjoying. The days where you feel like you are doing everything wrong and those same kiddos are going to end up in juvie? I'm telling you this; tune in to Nanny 911 or SuperNanny and you will think your children are the most wonderful well behaved kiddos EVER!!!