Around here...Lately.

 The same old, same old.  Which is kind of awesome.  We live a no drama life and I kind of like it that way.  Here are (as usual...) lots of pictures with just a few words....

Playing Risk for geography purposes....

Sadie loves pillows.

We are both working hard.  Jake at math and me at coloring...

More geography but this time with my beautiful new globe I got with my birthday money from Nana and Papa.

Jake has come up with an idea for a board game.  So we are making a board game!

Lots of steps have been happening around here.

Pinterest you really do know me.  You suggested I pin this because you though I would like it.  You are right Pinterest.  I do like it.  So much that I already own it. 

Bag of Asian salad that even had the ginger dressing in it for $2.50 at Sam's club...I added chicken and it is now one of my favorite quick and easy meals ever. :)

The Rail Trail Dog Park now has a sprinkler and four pools.  Sadie approves on all the upgrades.  And to the fact that she didn't have to share it with any one since we were the only ones there.

It must be game night if this guy is frying wings!  This was for game three of the NBA finals.  (This should let you know how long ago I should have been posting these pictures...)

The never ending battle to organize every inch of my house continues....

I got an amazing birthday gift from an old friend (and former neighbor.  We built houses next door to each other in Fletcher on purpose) in the mail.

I couldn't decide if I wanted it above the bookcase or the desk, but I decided on the bookcase.


The picture below is of Aaron stopping by to see how the Ward Day of Service was going (which is the picture under the one of Aaron.  We painted a park) after he helped his dad fix the busted water line (it happened again) in their front line.  Isn't he cute?

Our little friend Hailey from church who just turned 8 (and got baptized) invited us to her pirate themed birthday party.  The food and entertainment were both fantastic!

We got to witness the chaos that is candy retrieval after the Pinata busts from a prime spot.

And we got to see another one of our little friends, Omner on his baptism day.  We have gone to 6 baptism in the past month!  These kiddos are so lucky to have such a large class of 8 year olds.  It is great to grow up with lots of friends that have the same beliefs as you!

Hamburgers in a caste iron skillet are the best you will EVER eat.  If you haven't tried it, we highly recommend it.  We like it so much that we had it two nights in a row for dinner.

I mean really...how can you not want to eat that?

I made the guys strawberry lemonade and didn't want to drink all that sugar so I put frozen strawberries in my ice water.  It is another one of my favorite things. 

Jake had a scab on his ear lobe that he accidentally itched off so we put a Yoda Band Aid on it.

That moment when Rere (Riannon who is 17 1/2) realizes just how much taller Jake is than her...It was a Kodak moment. :)

Why have I never posted this?  Or have I...I don't remember.  Aaron was at work when his company was replacing their large flag (the end, which is turned under because the wall isn't long enough, is a little tattered), and he got to take the old one home.  Its new home is in Jake's room.

Life is drama free and good!

Empty.

Every...

...laundry basket...

 ..in the house was empty.  If only but for a moment.  They were all empty.  And the ones that were filled with clean clothes were emptied too.  There is one load left in the dryer...and to be honest there is another load ready to wash again now (Aaron played basketball last night, while Jake learned the basics of fencing, and while I helped clean a rental home for a friend that is getting ready to move into it...all sweaty clothes that need to be cleaned today) but for a few miraculous moments all the laundry was done.  Even more miraculous:  I did it all.  I went back into the laundry room.  No snake has been found and no changes to keep them out have occurred but I will go broke if I actually pay Jake a dollar for every load (except his own because he has to do it) like I did for a couple of weeks because I was being a wimp.  I still am a wimp but I am being brave...and fast!  I can put a load in and either put it in the dryer or in a basket to put on the line (depending on what it is) really quickly.  I am in and out. 

And boy howdy clothes dry fast on the line now because it is H-O-T, hot here!  It is humid but not so much that the clothes won't dry.  How cute is our little path to the storage room under the house (I still need to take pictures) that I don't really go in since there was a snake sitting on the light switch that I almost touched a few months ago?...It is really just a glorified crawl space because the house is built on a little hill. I hate snakes.  But I love that for a moment all the laundry was done....See I told you miracles really do happen!

Miracles do happen....

 On what was our official last day of school (we will be working on some stuff over the summer but we are done for the most part...are we ever really done though?  No this is education. Never really done) I woke up and walked out to this:

These are the words I posted along with this picture on Instagram:

I woke up today to find Jake had already started school....On his own. No one told him too...If you don't believe in miracles let this be your confirmation that they are real and can happen in your life too! ;)

 

A Real RIP...

Elder L. Tom Perry passed away on May 30th. He was 92 years young! He was an Apostle for our church and one of my all time favorites.

Bittersweet...I will miss his talks at General Conference so much! His words always touched my heart as the Spirit testified of the truthfulness of what he was teaching. It is a tender mercy of the Lord that he didn't suffer long and that he is now home in Heaven with loved ones who passed on before him. Families are forever! I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ where waiting to welcome him home into their presence....

RIP Burt...

Check out this cool car!  Where did I see it you ask?  In the parking lot of our mechanics (the day after my birthday).  Burt is officially (we thought so one other time but he pulled through) out of commission.  Something is wrong with him...I don't really know what...Something about the transmission but it isn't the transmission...He's dead.  Unless of course you want to just drive around town at 25 mph since he won't shift to the next gear.

The price to fix him is $900, which is about what he is worth.  All this means that "Old Reliable", the Jeep's new name (Jake renamed him..her), is out of retirement...and our fancy car is getting lots of miles on it while Aaron drives it for work.

He is temporarily driving the fancy car.  Just until we figure out what he is going to drive for work.  Old reliable isn't "put 100+ miles on me a day" reliable.  Plus no air conditioning...Not fun in the South in summer...which is here.  Humidity.  Heat.  We are living it right now.  To which I say "YUCK". 

Although we are very sad that Burt is deadish (some mechanic may be able to fix him and get a few more miles out of him)  we really can't complain.  For 1998 free handy-me-down, we got a whole lot out of miles out of him. 

  So, Burt has taken over the retirement spot in the drive way. Old Reliable is no allowed in the carport because of the oil he spills but he taking us around town.  Aaron is off driving around in my (don't you love how I went from ours to mine?) fancy car in his dusty work boots with the AC pumping in his face.  And on a completely different note...our house is kind of adorable.

Don't worry.  My fancy floor mats are being protected from Aaron's dusty work boots.  I found some cheap rubber floor mats to catch all the work site dirt until my baby can be returned to me. :)  It was Aaron's idea and I think it is genius.  I do love that Southern red dirt...just not in my fancy car....in this amount.

So, Burt will be going on Craig's List (with absolute full disclosure of his issues) and we will see if someone (most likely a mechanic who can fix it himself.  The part is only $30 but you have to take out the whole engine to replace it.  Labor costs a lot) wants a really cheap car they can fix and drive around town a little bit.  Old Reliable will be driven, only when absolutely necessary because it is too dang hot to be rolling with no AC in South Carolina right now (it is supposed to be 98 degrees on Monday...we started summer late but it is here now!...boo).    Stay tuned for news on a new (to us-it will be old I am sure) car...we are working....

Yes I Do....

Day 31: 39

 This is actually the night before but it counts.  Jake and Aaron took me out to dinner (to the Olive Garden..we decided we won't be going back.  The food isn't as good as it used to be, it is really expensive, the service was not great, it is loud, they rush you, and they didn't give us our Andies Candies that are supposed to come with the receipt) and gave me my gifts.  I got just what I wanted: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in hardback.  I have it in paperback but needed the hardback to complete my collection.  They have new covers and I have been worried I may not be able to get the old version...but I did!  Plus I got a bonus gift: a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble!

My guys are the best. :)

  And here are the moments that followed....These are blurry but too good not to post...

                                                 Life is good when your family is crazy.
Oh..here are the only pictures that we took on my actual birthday:

My chorister in Primary brought me a lemon raspberry cupcake. It was delicious.

  I knew what we were having for dinner when Mom asked me for one of my salad dressing recipes and my (really the Pioneer Women's-the only one I use) recipe for fruit pizza. :)

And here is an unattractive picture of me.  The first one of me at 39.  I am about to start looking really different in my pictures...

Day 30: My Birthday Buddy is Turning One

Saturday was a busy day.  It started off with Parker's 1st birthday party (he wouldn't be one until the next day...also my birthday!...but Saturday worked better for the party)!

 This boy is always smiling and is so sweet!  I am so glad I get to share my birthday with this precious boy!  I am so glad to be your Aunt sweet little Parker!

And family parties means cousin.

Day 29: Smarty Pants and Other Friday Stuff.

 This is one happy kiddo! On Friday morning we were discussing what time that day we thought Jake would get the email letting him know whether or not he got into STEM Camp. I was actually filling in a calendar for the summer and wrote in STEM Camp and Jake said I shouldn't since we didn't know if he got in yet. A couple minutes later he was working on Algebra and using his Kindle as a calculator when he excitedly said, "It just came!  The email just came!" and he read it to find that he was accepted!!!!  AWESOME!!!!  There is a waiting list but he is not on it.  :)

He immediately called Aaron, the grandparents, and Aunt Sheila.  Aunt Sheila didn't recognize his voice and thought it was someone trying impersonate my cousin "Big Jake" so she told him to get a job and hung up on him.  It was hysterical!  We called back on my phone (a number she recognized) and we all laughed about it together as she congratulated Jake. :)

Here are  couple more of him as he was reading the email...

 They asked for teachers references so they could check the applicants GPA. We gave them my email and phone number and explained that we homeschooled and that if they needed some one unrelated we could have one of his teachers from co-op give a reference  I never heard from them so I am assuming they read his awesome essay and decided that was all they needed. I keep hearing that homeschoolers are being recruited by colleges (because homeschoolers are awesome) and I am sure the same can be said for STEM Camps. They saw he was homeschooled, read his essay and knew he was a smarty pants. :)

 We headed over the library to sign up for the summer reading program and met some homeschooling friends there. The kiddos hung out while I chatted with their mom about how to document and count credits for high school. Her oldest is Jake's age (but born in September so he is a year behind Jake in school because of the cut off date...Jake made it in by 2 days.  He is always the youngest) and will be able to start counting high school credits next school year which is a

 little overwhelming when you start the process.  Our library has a teen room equipped with a Wii (sad but that is the only thing that draws some kids to the library...we don't spend as much time there in the summer since it is over run by kids that aren't at the library to check out books...) that the boys had fun playing while we talked.  Once Jake has read 10 hours he will earn the owl t-shirt in this picture.  He also got a free book that he is reading and there will be a book club and the author of the book is going to be part of the discussion via Skype. 

We went to Barnes & Noble after that because I know they have a kids summer reading program and we wanted to check and see if they had a teen program.  They don't. :(  We looked around and actually left with out buying anything...which took great restraint (and meant carrying books around, contemplating buying them, then putting them back...there is a little bit of satisfaction in doing that to be honest).   I saw this lovely copy of Little Women (one of my favorite books) and showed it to Jake.  He thought it was nice also and said, "Don't you already have that book?", to which I replied, "Yes.  Two of them actually" (plus I have it on my Kindle app on my smart phone).  But that seems completely besides the point to me. 

   We went to the gym after all that, which if quit impressive I think.  It is hard to be motivated to go in the morning...it is extremely difficult to go in the afternoon!  I feel like your body should know what a hard choice you made to still work out even though the day is half over and it should automatically burn more calories because of it...as a reward...

After working out we were both stretching on either side of the car so I of course took a picture....that was slightly staged since I had to get my phone ready after noticing I could see Jake and myself.  It still counts though.

Fridays are good.  Especially when you get an email about STEM Camp. :)

Day 28: Some Days Pretty Doesn't Happen...

                                   Let me be honest...More times than not it doesn't happen.

 Sometimes I use pretty serving dishes and tablecloths for dinner.  Most times it looks like this.  Served out of the pots it was cooked in. And the only reason we aren't using paper plates (like the apple and crescent rolls are on) is because we were having white chilli which requires a bowl and I didn't have any paper bowls.

And this poor quality photo is of a sweet, puffy bird that was relaxing on the clothes line.  It was there for a long time so I tried to sneak out and take its picture closer but it flew away....This one is from the dinning room, through the window that needs to be cleaned and zoomed in a lot...At least we have a picture of the memory of it. :)

Day 27: Sleepy

 Last night Sadie woke Jake up at 3:30am because she had to go to the bathroom.  He claimed he couldn't fall back to sleep after that and I have to admit I did not believe him.  Until this happened....He was reviewing his geography while I was working on grading some things and putting them in his portfolio.  I realized a lot of time had passed and he was awfully quiet so I looked over and realized he was asleep!  I woke him up and told him to see if he could take a nap...but in his bed instead of at the table.  About 2 hours and 45 minutes later he emerged from his room looking more rested.

On a completely unrelated topic (but it happened the same day so...) I am having fun making different salad dressings lately. 

I  was feeling half adult and half kid today...

And on last little quote from Benjamin Franklin that I kind of like. :)