spirituality and a $50 shirt

i got the new mumford & sons album yesterday. i never thought something with so many f words in it could be so spiritually uplifting.

man i love those mumford & sons. nothing has inspired me to lose this muffin top more. i actually ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill with those angels blasting in my ears. i know, i almost died.

it really gets my blood pumping. it's my roots man.

even tho they are british. whatever. they are irish to me.

i got a chance to run a quick errand w/ my eldest yesterday. usually i pick her up with lots o chillen in the car. yesterday it was just me. she asked where everyone was. i said they were w/ daddy & at piano. 

i asked her if she wanted to make a quick escape before heading back to the shackles of homework, dinner, baths, etc.

she smiled big. heck yes!

so we drove to urban outfitters.

we parked the car, beeped it, big smiles on our faces, anticipating what great deals we would find.

we browsed for a bit, nothing panned out for us, but we did find a great shirt for daddy, $4.99. gotta love a deal.

we were only in there around 20 min.

we walked out to see.....

a yellow parking ticket on my windshield.

BOOOOOO HOOOOOO

i was so excited to escape for a minute, i completely forgot to put money in the meter.

it didn't even cross my mind.

i couldn't believe it.

$42 ticket

so dad's shirt ended up being a $50 shirt.

at least he liked it.

a cheer for greer

a few weekends ago we went up to greer to stay with two other families

in their fancy resort- i mean cabin.

it was amazingly beautiful.

here are all of the little cherubs lined up.

2-12.

we met these dear families when oldest 3 girls were in 4yr. old preschool together.

now they are full on tweens.

the kids had so much fun running wild, catching snakes, riding motorized toys, riding bikes into town, going on hikes, "falling" in the muddy creeks, etc. etc.

R had the time of his life playing sports with daddy all day.

ahhh. the green trees, the kids playing outside, the laughing around the campfire...... heaven.

we even snuck in a little photoshoot :)

          

i can't WAIT for this hot az weather to cool off!!!

museum fun and 7lbs of heaven

mother-daughter time

a few weeks ago, S and i attended a

 st.philomena mother daughter retreat.

it is a special weekend where we were to discuss the gifts of 

femininity, marriage and purity.

gulp.

                                                   

it was really such a fun weekend. i feel so lucky to have met the great group of women who put on this retreat. i also felt happy for S to have such a safe and supportive opportunity to learn all about growing up! i can't wait to take all of my girls on this retreat.

it was held in a nice resort in scottsdale. we went to sessions, had tons of delicious snacks, the girls got time to swim and hang out and the moms had time to chat.

S was hilarious. her reactions and responses were sweet and priceless. it was hard for her to sit still at times, but the talks were so great and thought provoking.

one talk had us thinking about the type of man she would want to marry

and what her deal breakers would be.

since S is not really into boys yet, she was having a hard time coming up with anything.

but after some thought, she said she would like to marry someone like her daddy.

i thought that sounded like a good choice.

a sweet girl from flagstaff came to tell us a story about her devotion to st. philomena. she even had a st. philomena relic!

here are all the girls that attended after our fancy banquet dinner. we met girls from all over arizona. the age spread was 11-15.

we got to attend and share a room with some of my fav people on the planet.
Y and i had a pretty good time too. staying up all night talking after the girls finally passed out. and i mean all night. it took a week to recover!!

50 shades of d

ho hum...

so...

my mom is in germany. me miss her. i.want.to.go.to.there.

who wants to go with me???

i am adjusting to a new parental jr. high lifestyle. i don't remember my mom being so involved in my daily life in jr. high. it's just that one teacher in particular makes me so mad. i'm crazy about all the teachers that say she is outstanding. hmmm...

i do think i have an unhealthy obsession with seeing what we can sneak by the uniform police at school. i think it may be my latent rebellious catholic school girl tendencies bubbling up. considering other options for rebelliousness, it may not be so bad after all?

i took my only child to the children's art museum yesterday. he loved it. before we went, i was explaining where we were going, telling him he was going to have so much fun.

he said: "oh! will there be swords there?"

me: "no, probably not."

R: "oh! guns then!?"

me: "no, probably not"

R: "oh. maybe football then!?" excitement diminishing...

one track mind that child.


i have all kinds of adorable pictures i would like to share.... but still haven't figured out the picture issue.


L is really into having a high ponytail lately. she was a little flustered when i had to leave this morning before doing her hair. i got a text from her dad with a smiling L and a very smooth, very high ponytail.
now he has mastered the braid, the low ponytail and the high ponytail. good job papa.


and my favorite quote from yesterday:

on the way home from school, with my carpool bandwagon, i overheard....

"ugh, i'm really in the mood for tapas right now."

wha???

my blog is telling me my picture space is full.

goll.

i don't want to pay $2.49 a month from now on.

i wonder if i will get in trouble for writing this.

or flagged.

or something.

conspiracy theory.

so i guess i will have to jot down my jumbled thoughts.

and i just polished off a venti starbucks... so look out.

first off: i love this post from my mom's blog

(side note: she changed all my children's names to correspond with the initials that i use for my blog. it's what she wished i had really named them. i am not paranoid.)

blogging beth living life

what i love about it:

that my mom refers to herself as a little child. she's almost 60 and her dad is adjusting the bike seat for her. funny stuff.

my grammy makes her breakfast.

i love that the ladies love to apply some lipstick & get together for martinis. so exciting.

well basically i love all of it.


what else. what else.....


we just got back from an amazing weekend in greer with some awesome friends. so much fun and laughter... and snakes. yuck.

my mom has some pretty funny stories regarding online dating. hopefully she will write about them.

one recent experience involved an elvis impersonator. the second, she really liked, until the end when he confessed to being over taken by aliens several years ago. it's much funnier when she tells the story.



this school year is off to a strong start. it makes me a little nervous actually. the kids are all so much busier this year. i can't tell yet if it is good or too much.

S: homework galore, volleyball 3x a week

L: piano, gymnastics (maybe), atrium, mary's club, choir

D: piano, soccer 3x a week, atrium, mary's club & choir

S: gymnastics (maybe), atrium, mary's club, choir

and i joined the gym again. R is getting used to the childcare. he is really sad when i leave, but then so happy & having fun when i come back to pick him up after my intense 15 min. workout. jk. i actually did a zumba class, i was terrible tho. i kept jumping to keep my heart rate up, but spent most of the class facing the wrong way.



our bathroom needs to be remodeled in a big way. i will spare you the details.


i want a new hairstyle in a big way.


my friend is preggo with her 6th baby. i am jealous in a big way.


the kids are so funny. they just crack us up all the time. i never get frustrated or overwhelmed.

hahahahhahahahhahahahhahahhahahha.


but they really are funny. i am thankful for my husband and my family every day. i have a friend who has been fighting stage 4 cancer. you can read about her story here. it is heartbreaking. i admire their strength and faith so much.


well.. that's it for now i guess.