it's always hard to say goodbye

some of our dear friends are moving away :( it's poopy.

we really like hanging out with them and laughing and playing games and hearing about their exciting life.

we understand that they have to, and that the welters are not enough to be the sole reason to stay (i kinda think it is if you ask me) and that phoenix is not the most happenin' place for recording artists. i guess nashville is. big whoop. at least we have a new fun place to visit.

anywho, the kids were taking it harder than i thought. they were very sad. so i decided we would write down all of our favorite things and memories we have made with them.

what says "i love you and will miss you" more than a

big old affirmation bag???

i thought the little messages were so sweet it almost made me tear up seeing how important these awesome people are to the kids.

paul and i had fun throwing in our little notes too.

we really will miss you!!!! you better come back when you start having kids!!!

stuff

we have been "cleansing" for a few weeks now. eating healthy. no sugar, at first no alcohol but it's more like "little" alcohol now, no bread. lot's o veggies, some legumes and protein. it's pretty cool. i def. feel healthier, but it's a real toss up of which way of life is better. i think it has to be a balance.

i struggle with balance tho.

i'm either de-toxing or re-toxing.

it works for me. as long as i can fit into my jeans :)

one day after school, my mother and i took the girls to get pedicures. well, we got pedis and the girls got paint.
they really like the suckers at the register.
they said "this was really a fun day mom!"
pdubs and i went on a date. bianco's... really long wait but good pizza.

then we walked over to where we were married 13.5 years before.
we've matured a lot since then.

art & music

we took the kids to a matt maher concert a few weeks ago. they loved it. we sat way in the back so as to not disturb anyone as we did not know how late the concert would go. the kids happily sat on the stairs the whole time sketching.

bathing beauties

love these cute retro suits from lands end. wish they made it in my size.

love is all you need

grocery shopping

just a quick trip to the grocery store. no biggie.

i kind of like having an entourage of helpers.

as long as the baby is not screaming, no one is fighting, no one runs into my heels, nothing breaks and no one sneaks things into their baskets.

none of that happened. this time.

thanks to the heavens above for that small miracle.

is it fall yet?

we are forcing ourselves to believe that it is actually cooling off and that fall is among us. one of my dear friends gave me some adorable halloween cupcake cups, so i thought today would be a perfect time to break them in. it's feeling cooler already :)

i sure like...

that my mom is back and can come over in the mornings for coffee.

that on tuesdays, S can stay in her pj's and lounge around the house all day.
when my affirmation bag has new notes in it :)
when my husband brings home flowers for moi.

stuff

i was thinking of all the things i could be doing....

1. put away clothes

2. organize my closet (sadly it's back to it's usual state)

3. make baby gifts

4. go thru clothes to donate

5. find new recipes

6. cleaning

but instead, i put the baby down for a nap, got dinner together in the crock pot, and am wasting a lot of time on the computer enjoying the quiet house. oh well. i'm fine with it.

i'm really obsessed with the peanut butter cups from costco. i know they are not very green. we are not supposed to put anything in the kids lunches with a bar code on it, but these are just so great. they can use them with cut up celery, pretzels, apple slices, their little fingers, graham crackers... so many options and such a healthy snack :)

we recently watched this documentary. it was pretty interesting. i'm not vegan now or anything, but i appreciated the angle. it was medically driven, not trying to gross me out of eating meat ever again. but it did make me want to cut my family's meat consumption down and increase veggies. i really want to learn to make more bean and rice dishes. streaming netflix yo.

i accidentally bought these almonds at whole foods. i meant to buy the "regular" almonds but as you can see, these did not have a price on them and i thought they were the regular ones. however there are like 10 different kinds of almonds there so who knows. apparently these were $12.99 a pound. there was a line behind us and we needed to go, so we bought them anyway. we griped the whole way out of the store, thru the parking lot and into the car. we even mocked the almonds as we opened up the bag and put them in our mouths.

they were delicious.

i will pay the $12.99 a pound again. and can't wait to do so. not sure why they are so good, but they are. i wish you could've heard paul going on and on and on and on about how good they are and how he now understands almond extract and how these almonds tasted just like it.
this is little D's favorite book to take to school. an old college book. she has all kinds of construction paper book marks in it tagging pages that strike her fancy. she says she is not going to bring it as much anymore because the big kids told her that she is not supposed to have so many things to show and tell. i found out where all those kids lived and tee-peed their houses.
this is a common sight. that little baby just helps himself to whatever he wants. he's eating an apple while testing out how securely those lights are attached to the ceiling.

the big hype around our house these days is once again fish. we tried beta fish this time. crossing our fingers that they are a little more "hardy".

these two want to fight. i kinda want to see what would happen if i put them in the same bowl, but i don't wanna get arrested or anything. and i certainly don't want to be on the news for fish abuse or fish fighting.
there they all are.

ogg, sparky, romeo and shaina (she insists it's a girl and we just go with it)
i came across this pic from our trip to indy this summer. i like it. a lot. i like indy. a lot. my mom and my daughter and my bro and his family are headed there in a few weeks. it's S's first solo trip on a plane. she'll be with my mom. but still. she really wanted to go and paid for the ticket with her own money. ( her greenergy money) it will be fall there and i'm super jealous.

hmmm....

well, well, well. i just don't know where the time has gone. i can't even think of what i have been doing. i must be pmsing because i feel in a funk and can't think of anything to blog about. i haven't even been taking very many pics. humph.

things are good around here tho. L & D started piano lessons. they are very excited. S has been creating costumes with all my materials and sewing machine for about a week. i admire her persistence. she is determined to make pants. she just keeps cutting, sewing, trying them on, re-sewing, starting over.... then finally she came in and said "look mom! i did it!" she had one leg sewn on. she was so proud. i also admired her ability to think outside the box. she traced a pair of her underwear. cut it out, sewed it together and then cut out material for legs and sewed that to the "underwear". it is pretty cute, i'll snap a pic of the finished product.

it finally rained a little. i got a new lens. we got our dryer fixed, well really it was an electrical issue, but anyway, it's fixed. the cars have been in and out of the shop. it's never a good time to get our cars fixed. we need the van to cart around the kids and do carpool. but it also drives me crazy that the cruise control and the sliding door are not working. those are the only reasons i drive a dumb minivan. and the great gas mileage. so we need to find a time to get that fixed.

are you asleep yet?

no, ok. i'll keep going.

i have been making a lot of memory books. those are really fun. since S had all the sewing stuff out, i made a few things. that is always very rewarding and enjoyable. i embellished a baby gift for my friend having a baby girl. i made a few "patches" and covered a few holes in favorite dresses that the girls just can't get rid of. i'm on a cleanse and it is so boring. but it is equally as frustrating not being able to fit in my jeans and shorts. i got a new lens. it's cool. i really want to remodel my house but that is not going to happen. i can't even watch any remodel shows or read any remodel blogs because it makes me really really want to do those things. maybe i'll just redecorate D & S's room. it needs a new coat of paint. the kids are obsessed with writing on the walls. they don't even care. they just write "i love you mom and dad" in really beautiful cursive. they have no shame. all of them do it. it's pathetic. i'm really excited for the new season of dexter to start. i'm doing lots of volunteering at church and at school, i think that is keeping me really busy. i can't wait for the backyard to be green and beautiful. i am so ready for the cool weather. i want to have dinner parties every night. i'm going on a trip with my mom. i'm so excited, but it is also exhausting trying to coordinate a time for me to get away. only because of the burden it puts on everyone else (paul). our friend gave us a week of their timeshare in nov. so i'm super excited about that. i want to go to disneyland. i think the kids will actually ride the fun rides now. the baby is a handful. boys are so different than girls. he cracks me up. he runs so fast and dumps everything over and tries to take everything apart. i shouldn't even have to do this dumb cleanse with all the running around after him that i do everyday.

well. it was nice unloading my thoughts for a few minutes, now i'm off to a parent-teacher conference.