Have you ever had one of those days where things don't quite go as planned? I know, dumb question. Anyway, I had one of those days today. I woke up feeling well rested from a great nights sleep (unlike the night before when I couldn't get to sleep until 3am because it was so hot even with the fan blowing). Later on after breakfast I grabbed my notebook and wrote down everyone's chores for the day (including mine). Since I've been so busy lately, I haven't taken the time to plan out my menus. That was one of my chores, along with grocery shopping (having food in the house is a good thing). I figured I could make up my menu while Apollo took his nap and then go grocery shopping after he woke up. It didn't quite happen that way.

As I was in the kitchen loading the dishwasher, I could hear Apollo calling my name. It sounded faint, so I acted quickly. I hurried to his bedroom and noticed Sascha's room divider was tipped over I thought Apollo was stuck underneath, but no Apollo. On my way to their room I noticed a strong smell. As I made my way into our bedroom the scent got stronger. I noticed the bathroom door was shut and the lights were on. I knew Apollo must be up to no good. Boy was I right! This is what I saw:

click pics to view larger

His first words to me in a very proud Apollo tone were, "I painted my nails Mommy." I was shocked and very annoyed, but at the same time couldn't help but laugh at how cute he was, thinking he was such a big boy.

How do you think he made such amazing designs?

He loves wearing everyone's shoes and on this particular occasion, had been wearing Steve's sandals. I didn't even attempt to get the polish off. It would have been a nightmare and I thought Steve would appreciate their new character.

Who would have thought that such a little bottle of polish could make such a huge mess?

Montana and Sarah were such a great help and bathed Apollo while I cleaned up the mess. All I could think about was how grateful I was that none of it got on our bedroom carpet. It could have been so much worse! It only took me about 30 minutes of good scrubbin' with cotton balls and nail polish remover.

Before:

After:

My cell phone was ringing while I was scrubbing away. Little did I know that it was Duncan trying to let me in on the good news: THAT THEY ARE STAYING HERE IN WASHINGTON!!! I was so excited hearing the news that I could have cleaned up the nail polish mess 38 more times in a row and still be happy! It wasn't but almost two months ago that I was crying my eyes out after the blow that they were moving back to Utah. Mind you, the day before that, my brother David who lived in Silverdale at the time, let me know that they would be moving back to Utah within two weeks time. So you can understand why I was crying my eyes out. Double whammy. I am overjoyed with Duncan and Kaitlyn's decision. Yay!!! I know it's a little disappointing for those folks who would have been so lucky to have them back in Utah. I guess that means you'll have to come visit us all. Oh yeah!

We love you Duncan and Kaitlyn (aka: Jemima's)!!! We're always here for you and are so happy that we'll be able to keep creating amazing memories with you. Welcome Home 8-)

And if you're wondering if I got my menu made up and grocery shopping done, the answer is no.

Today was a scorcher! Fuggedabout any of those records set back in the day. Just pick them up by their wee hineys and throw them in the trash. Make sure you close the lid too. That's right. Today was the hottest day ever!!! We broke all records! Read the thermometer for yourself. I took this pick on my back deck even before peak hours.
We stayed cool by hanging out at the mall. I think everyone else was at the beaches and lakes because the mall was bare! That was fine by me. As long as it had A/C, and it did. Oh yeah!!! Don't forget that humidity makes it feel even hotter. I believe it was around 50%. So yes, keeping dry was not optional.

I really didn't get to see my cousins much while growing up since they lived in Virginia and we, in Utah. On occasion they would fly over for a visit. It was much easier for them to make the trip with three kids, than us with ten kids. I did get to spend a whole summer with my cousins all by myself though. We had a blast. We did all the sites imaginable: White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian, Air & Space Museum, etc... And my Aunt took me to get my ears pierced! My Momma wanted me to wait until I was thirteen, but my Aunt talked her into it and I was only ten. My Aunt even signed me up for swim lessons with my cousins at their country club. Such great memories.

While there we made up nicknames for each other. Now I'm having a senior moment and can't remember mine. But Marcus was Mucous and April was Lady Ape. Michael Burke was too old for that stuff, being about six years older than I.

We miss having Marcus and his family around. They used to live in Lacey, but moved back east about five years ago (yes, they're military). So when I heard they would be in town for just a short while (before heading off on an Alaskan cruise), we jumped at the chance to meet up.

Meeting point: Owen Beach in Point Defiance. Funny enough, right when we pulled into the parking lot, Steve spotted this license plate frame. And no, it didn't belong to them. What a coincidence eh?


Caren (his lovely wife with bun in the oven) and Marcus:


I didn't know April would be there too. She lives in Portland and drove up to also be with them. April and my Auntie came up to visit us a month or so ago. It was great to see them both. I hadn't seen April in years. She just moved to Portland last year.


Here are Marcus and Caren's adorable kiddles: on the left, Kate, second oldest (it was her birthday!), and Hannah, oldest:

Carson is next and is a spittin' image of his daddy:

And then cute Bella:

It was great visiting. It was like they had never left.

It was time for a check-up for Sascha and Sarah was due for a shot. Since they both had a sleepover with friends the night before they wanted to keep the party going and invite their friends along to the doctor. AND even have them come into the room for moral support (I guess???). This is what I thought would happen: Sarah would get her shot so she and Courtney could go wait in the waiting room and then Sascha would get his exam with only Noah in the room. That's not EVEN how it went down. First, they had Sascha get into a hospital gown (everyone left while he changed). Then everyone came back into the room. Next, he got his exam in front of everyone. Of course when it was time to check down there, everyone had to face the wall. Noah kept turning around and giggling so I had him go out until that part was done. THEN Sascha had to lie down and get his blood drawn. After all that, THEN Sarah got her shot. I'm sure the anticipation was killing her since she had to wait through all of that. I should have said something, but didn't. Oh well. She had her good friend Courtney there to try and cheer her up. Afterwards, they gave everyone a Tootsie Pop and I let everyone get something from the Dollar Tree. Sarah and Sascha got two things since they were poked with needles. This will be one fun memory to reminisce about when they're older. Maybe not so fun right now...



Yes, Noah decided to hide under the chair. I guess he doesn't like the doctors office much. At least we weren't there for him.

I came across this sweet site last night and thought I'd pass it along. It's always nice to have extra ideas to fill the summer. Hope you're having a great one. We are! I'll blog more later about my Momma's visit. Yes, still playing "catch up."

Here's the link to the site "The Long Thread"

http://thelongthread.com/?p=4054

I am WAY behind in my blogging and have thus given up in putting things in order. Since I had to say goodbye to my Momma today that's what I'm blogging about. Any complaints? I didn't think so...

Momma's been here since June 19th. We've had a full schedule and I won't name everything we've done but I'll do my best to share some bits.

Let me first say that she has helped me out immensely with all of my household duties and then some. The kids and I put together a Father's Day breakfast in bed for Steve, and of course, Momma helped with putting some finishing touches on it:

We had a Father's Day/Goodbye Fyffe's dinner later that evening with family and friends. Click on the picture to view larger (panoramic pics rock!):

We had our last outing/picnic with the Fyffe's at Lion's Park. They moved on June 26th, back to Utah so David can go to nursing school. Hopefully they'll be back again someday. We miss them:

Sascha had his birthday party (slumber, yikes!) and Momma helped out a lot with that. She was a good sport, especially since the boys had a contest to see who could stay up the latest. There were a couple of boys who actually won.
LaRoo stopped by for a short while so Noah could give Sascha his gift. He wasn't able to stay for the party.

Sascha wanted a devil shredd cake, which is a cartoon character that he made up. So he drew the picture and I made it into a cake. His friends from school knew who devil shredd was already because he draws it a lot at school.

We had pizza and they got to play Guitar Hero and design their own guitars with markers, brads and string from cutouts that I bought from Michael's.

I think they all had a blast. I'm going to re-think the slumber party thing next time.

We enjoyed an evening at the waterfront park letting the kids play, walking on the pier and eating a spot of pizza:
Apollo doesn't waste time and made friends with this cutie: