Hello Again

Ever have so much going on that it's easier just to not do any of it?

That's kinda how I feel about this blog. I had a lot that I wanted to share but...I would start to blog and not finish.  And then...the moment had passed and I was on to something different. Really, the entire month of July was a whirlwind. Here's a quick recap, mostly in pictures. Because it's easier that way.

Fourth of July Family Fun:

I think we need more fireworks!

Birthday Party Camp In:

M decided she wanted a slumber party and without thinking, I asked her what kind of slumber party. I was thinking she would say some favorite cartoon character and I would run out and buy plates, napkins and cups with that theme and be done. WRONG. She wanted a camp slumber party. In July. There was no way we could camp outside so we did a camp-in instead. Do you know how hard it is to try to do a camping theme inside? Either did I!

I didn't take many pictures, I was busy running around after 11 kids trying to make sure no one got hurt, no one got lost and no one destroyed my house.  All the while making sure that I didn't sound just like a raving lunatic in the process. I did manage to snap one of the trail mix station. We also had an indoor s'more maker that you can't really see in the picture.  The girls were not as impressed with this as I thought they should be - they just wanted the s'more and could care less how it was made.

I also made a really cute banner - and I'm not crafty so that was a real labor of love -  but it has her name on it and the hubby is weird about kid info out on the web...so no pics of that.

Softball Season:
Closed out the season of ball.  M2's team went undefeated, they were some tough little t-ballers! They really had a great team and M2 played super hard.  M's team did good too, but they had some losses. Of course, that bothered M less than the fact that M2 got a bigger trophy than her.

Now we're on to cheerleading. Man, that's a real commitment!  Twice a week and a game every Saturday. Maybe I'm just a lazy parent but twice a week for cheer? Just have them clap and jump around and let's call it good.

So it's a total pain in the butt to squeeze all that in but M is having a blast. And she's pretty good too - she got promoted up to the 4th grade squad. I wasn't too sure at first because she's a young third grader and I didn't know if she could really handle it but she's working hard to make sure she keeps up with the big girls. Working so hard that I've heard every cheer about 20 times a day since they started. Two weeks ago.

Miscellaneous Summer Fun:
July was the month for pool parties - we had several! I'm a water baby so I actually kind of loved it.

This is the only pool party I attended where I didn't swim. I planned to but none of the other ladies were so I hung out and chatted instead. Both because I wanted to be social and I didn't want to bust out in my bathing suit and provide an opportunity for judgement. It seems like that's how girl code works: if everyone is in a swimsuit, eyes are averted and forgiveness is provided. If only one is in a bathing suit then it's full on scrutiny. And my stomach isn't flat enough for that.

So the cop in the background is my BIL. We all live in the same town which can be fun (and sometimes helpful). Several times he has arrived at our house with sirens on and lights flashing so it appears, to all our neighbors, that we're having some kind of domestic dispute. Which he thinks is hilarious. So when I saw him in the restaurant I ran up to him and said, very loudly, "Hey! You're the cop that arrested me last week!" and punched him in the arm. It got kind of quiet while everyone looked at us. And without missing a beat he looked at me sternly and said "Ma'am, punch me again and I'll take you in." I think everyone in the restaurant was then confused when he sat down and ate with us.

Even the longhorn agrees that OU is NUMBER ONE! Okay, so I did some not so nice things to this poor longhorn. All just part of football prep - 22 days!  BOOMER SOONER!

Rental Work:

We Hubby got a new rental ready to rent. I had the easy job - just some cleaning and finishing touches. Like taking care of this:

Remember when car window tint first came out? It was that purple looking stuff that would end up cracking, flaking and peeling off within a year?  Yeah. It was hideous.

It's even worse on a bedroom window.  And what's really weird, I mean weirder than putting that on a house, is that this bedroom has four window panes and they only put it on one. Just one. Which was lucky for me because apparently it reacts differently to bedroom windows - no peeling or flaking,  this stuff was a beast to get off!

And speaking of rentals - we got the "gross house" done and rented. Finally. That felt like it was the longest project ever. Mainly because we were busy so our work weekends were limited. Don't think we've ever had a house drag out that long, we're usually done in a month tops. Not that I'm complaining, I'll take fun over work any day.   Here's how it turned out.  It isn't perfect but at least it's clean.

This is the wall that had the "family" trail on it. YUCK!

It's looking like August will be just as busy but I'll try to do better about blogging. If you read this then you probably already have an idea of my follow-through and level of commitment so you won't be shocked if it doesn't happen consistently. Oh well, I'm a work in progress...

Here's to a great August!