Tomorrow is the big day!

I start my new job in the morning...

I'm nervous...

And, I feel like a grown-up well, almost

Wish me luck!

Strawberries

So...what do you do when you are 900 miles from home, on vacation, and you get the phone call?

Which phone call?

The one where you are informed that you have just been gifted 1000 pounds of strawberries.

1. Panic (repeat this step as often as necessary)

2. Cut your trip 12 hours short and drive through the night (this part is brutal) to get back.

3. Pick up the strawberries even before you go home.

4. Panic (again) as you realize you don't have the freezer space for the berries.

5. Go on Craigslist and find a freezer.

6. Find a free freezer that had just been posted.

7. Do a happy dance (this step is optional).

8. Wash berries, hull berries and freeze berries (repeat this step hundreds of times).

9. Be very, very grateful!

We survived!

Everyone and everything made it back home...safe and sound.

Except, maybe my sanity...

Worry

Part of being a mom is dealing with the new worries that come along with having kids.

Worry...will they make friends at school?

Worry...did I teach them compassion and empathy?

Worry...will the values that they have been taught hold up when they need them?

And on and on and on and on....

A new worry...

Does this mean...

That she wants to look like this?

I sure hope not!

The Neons

Please let me introduce...

The Neons

What do they do? Sing? Dance?

Nope.

They dress alike and go to church dances.

I think it's funny.

And kinda cute.

The girls think so too I'd told.

Whatever works.

Three of the four boys are mine.

The fourth one is their good friend, whom we adore.

Go Neons!

Peter

When out, late at night, walking with Corey...

We came across the cutest little baby bunny ever.

He was wet, cold and hopping in the gutter.

We picked him up and brought him home.

Joshua named him Peter.

After 24 hours, when Peter who went on a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment had not had anything to eat or drink, we went on the Internet to see if there was something else we should be feeding him.

What I found was a picture of a wild bunny who looked EXACTLY like Peter...

and next to the picture it said...

"If you find a wild bunny, who has it's eyes open and is hopping around...DO NOTHING. Leave it alone."

Oops.

Feeling sheepish, we immediately released Peter into our back field.

I'm sure he'll grow up all happy out there.

Where he will get big and fat eating the entire contents of our garden.

But like my dad says...

No good deed goes unpunished.

Much better

What do you get when you take...

One Joshua...with unruly, mop-like hair...

And you add...

Clippers, scissors and a comb?

A normal looking boy! (wearing a garage sale shirt...score!)

Whew...

Grandpa's Hat

What is it about a grandpa's hat that is so irresistible?

Everyone wants to wear it.

Including Lily Pad.

Love you Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Lizard!

Recently Elizabeth turned 11.

She is now a tweenager.

Gulp.

She is such a sweetheart...and such a good big sister.

She received some new clothes and shoes (thank you for great clearance sales + coupons at Children's place and Justice)

She requested hamburgers and orange salad for dinner.

We BBQ'd hamburgers and they were yum.e.

She also requested the Ice Cream Brownie Mountain but with mint oreos around the bottom.

It was also yum.e.

Happy Birthday Liz!

My Birthday

For my birthday (which was back in February, by the way) Corey gave me a free pass.

Meaning...he gifted me with a day...without kids.

It was my 29th birthday again.

Recently he made good on his promise and took the kids to a park and then to the pool.

All the kids went and I stayed home...all...by...myself. **Squeal**

Matthew...posing like a gangster...not sure who taught him that.

The twins were having so much fun...can't you tell?

Happy Birthday to me!

This is one time that I wish my birthday rolled around more often.