Wordless Wednesday - Double Rainbow

This was outside our house on Sunday during a brief rain shower. If you look closely at the second picture, you can just see the second rainbow. Too Cool! (It's my blog and I'll write something for Wordless Wednesday if I gosh darn feel like it!) LOL :-)

Not So Sick Kid

Jaquelyn is home from school today slightly ill. She's not doing terribly but I figured I would save the frustration of her being sent home and just keep her here. She woke up with a 102.5 fever at about 5am and I gave her some ibuprofen. Amazingly enough, that has been it for the fever, it never came back. She has been coughing on and off but not too badly. She probably picked it up from Rebecca who was running about the same on Sunday but she's fine now and didn't even miss school since her fever was gone quickly also.
Let's hope that all their illnesses are this harmless this winter.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

It has certainly not been months since I have participated in a Not Me! Monday. I am much better at blogging than that. I post regularly and do not have my husband remind me daily that I am a failure at blogging.

I did not stay up until after midnight last night blogging and surfing the internet. I did not then proceed to hem Jaquelyn's uniform at 1am so she would have it for school today. I always go to bed on time and get a good night's sleep.

I most definitely did not find a bag of almond Kisses left over from Christmas and finish them off. Who would eat candy that is 9 months old? Not me!

I am not the one who overslept on Sunday morning giving Jaquelyn just 10 minutes to get ready and eat before we had to leave for Sunday School. I always set my alarm so we have plenty of time to get dressed and actually eat breakfast before hand.

You would not have seen me at our local Goodwill store on Saturday three times. It was not because it was their "last Saturday of the month 1/2 off sale". I did not spend way more money there than I should have. It did not not seem like much at the time since it was broken up over three trips. My oldest did not buy another prom dress (because she did not already buy one in May...a mere week after this year's prom for $30 at a different thrift shop) this time for only $10 while we were there. I absolutely did not say I told you so since I knew she would never last a year without wanting a different dress. Not me!

I am not totally psyched that my Fantasy Football team is the only one in my league that is 3-0. I am most certainly not going to gloat. WOOHOO!! (I am not going to pay dearly for that when my husband reads this)

A Lazy Sunday At Home

Gotta love a lazy Sunday, lounging around in sweats (after church) watching the Patriots beat the Falcons. I am totally going to make my Fantasy Football team 3-0!! Danny Summers you are going down!!

Watching TV, playing Hang-a-roo on my laptop...this it the life.

Hang-A-Roo

Come join me...it's fun!

Rebecca's Singing Career - The Early Years

I had actually forgotten that I put these videos on YouTube several years ago. Then out of the blue I get an email that someone commented on one. I am soooo biased because I think she is ADORABLE!!!! And since we are being so modest I will add incredibly talented too!!! She was just over 2 when these were taken.

Post About Nothing

Well there's not much going on around these parts so I'll just give you a run down of the latest happenings.
Friday my friend Pam (who lives about an hour from here) came over with her daughter Micayla who is friends with my two older girls. Taylor helped her through some Algebra problems she was having. Then she went over to spend the night at their house and ended up staying until Sunday. Teresa went to "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" with her friend Kelsey and then spent the night at her house. Jaquelyn, Rebecca and I watched "Race To Witch Mountain" (my choice how pitiful).

Saturday I picked Teresa up from her sleep over. Jaquelyn and Rebecca played with our neighbors all day. Dan and I went out for dinner (a very rare treat) at an awful Mexican restaurant here in town. Now I remember why we never go to that restaurant...because the service is mediocre and the food is icky!

Sunday meant Sunday school for Jaquelyn, church for all and a trip across the bridge to pick up Taylor. While we were there we checked out a few stores for Halloween costumes but didn't find anything worthy. Although Taylor did find a cute skirt at Hot Topic (I truly cannot stand that store!)

Monday meant off to school for the kids and a trip to the YMCA for me. I have really been enjoying Cardio Tennis. They have it MWF at 9am and MW at 6pm. Yesterday was the first time I tried both am & pm classes and I think I did ok at it. Teresa takes the evening class too. I hope the weather stay nice for awhile so we can continue the class into October and maybe even November!

Today was even less to blog about....I caught up on some season premiers. Went to the bank for the coffee shop. Hung out on Facebook. Jaquelyn has Kids Boot Camp at the Y this afternoon....that is truly it. Our life has taken a turn for the boring but I'm ok with things being a bit slow right now. It's nice after having such a busy summer.

I guess that's about it...pretty much nothing happening.

I Love Fall TV

I am soooo glad that the prime time shows have started up again. I enjoy the break during the summer but it's so great that there are new episodes to watch of my favorites. Here are some of my fav's, how about you?

Bones is my absolute favorite show. I was unhappy with the season finale last year but I am sure that this season will be up to it's usual standards.












I used to be an avid House fan but the past season left a lot to be desired so I am hoping for serious improvements this season.











Dan and I really enjoy NCIS. It's something we DVR and watch together.












Smallville we DVR and watch together as a family.













Vampire Diaries is a new show on the CW that Taylor and Teresa have been enjoying. I have watched it with them so far but I am really hoping it gets better than it is so far or it will not make the cut.

A Fun Day At The Park

On Labor Day Sunday, we went to a local benefit at the park. They were raising money for a girl in our community who has terminal cancer. There were lots of activities such as bake sales, auctions, raffles, and more. Dan provided coffee for both regular and iced coffee drinks.

There were softball games going on all day. Each team was $5 per person. While we were there, they made an announcement that a team didn't show up and they were taking the first 12 people who showed up and paid. So that's how Dan and I both got to play. It was so much fun! Dan even hit a home run. That's my man!

You can just barely see the girl, Megan, who the benefit was for in the wheelchair behind the fence on the left. She was there for the whole day and even picked the tickets for the raffle!


























There was a dunking booth that had lots of people who volunteered to get dunked. There was a local politician, a teacher or two and a whole bunch that I didn't know. At the end of the day, there was someone related to the girl who got up in there in a bikini top and heckled everyone. Jaquelyn asked to try to dunk him so she had her turn.












Here he is giving her a hard time.













Here she is running up to the target and pushing it. That's my girl!












Teresa helped out with some face painting in the kids area. They had games and a moon bounce too.

Wordless Wednesday - Sleepy Girl

Happy Birthday Dan!!

Here is a shout out to my sweet hubby on his birthday. I love you lots and don't know what I would do with out you. I can't wait til you get home tonight so we can all celebrate together. Here's looking at you kid!

Back Into A Routine

We are finally getting back into a routine around here. The kids off to school and me able to head to the YMCA for a workout sans children. Today I thought what fun it would be to try the Cardio Tennis class they had. OH! MY! GOODNESS!
I am in pain in places I should not be in pain...it is so not fun. My inner thighs truly hate me right now. I know I haven't been working out like I should be since I pretty much took the summer off from everything but I really didn't think it would be this hard to jump back into it. I was so wrong. When I walked into the Y to shower I was asked 3 times if I was ok...that's how red my face was from the workout. And it was still red when I picked Taylor up from school at noon. I think it was brighter than Heidi's hair. j/k Heidi...you know I love your new do!

I dropped Teresa off at the 6pm class tonight...we'll see how she feels tomorrow. I just hope I can recover enough to make it to the Wednesday morning class.

Our Trip To California - Part Two

I know I mentioned many moons ago that I was going to get to the second part of our California trip. So here are those pictures as promised.
We spent the second week of our trip with my dad who lives in Santa Rosa which is about an hour north of San Francisco. We spent lots of time just hanging out and relaxing which was awesome.
Rootbeer floats were a big part of our trip and possibly Jaquelyn's favorite!

















He built a shed in his backyard a while ago and the younger two really got a kick out of playing in it.













One day we went to a nearby lake and the girls paddled around a bit in the kayaks to get the hang of it. They really enjoyed it. Even Jaquelyn tried it out and liked it. We didn't have a life jacket small enough for Rebecca so she didn't get to try it out but she still had fun. We packed some food and hung out there for a while.

































Taylor thought it would be a neat thing to climb up in this tree. See how cute she looks posing for the picture?












Now see how funny she looks when she realizes she is laying on a tree with red ants all over it...which are now all over her? I am not a mean mother. I surely did NOT laugh at her struggling to get out of the tree and get them off of her. I was very sympathetic and helpful...you can tell by the fact that I am taking pictures. Right?!? After all, I could have videoed it and put it on YouTube. That wouldn't have been nice and I am very nice.




















There is a pretty cool park near my dad's house that we have visited in the past. They have a climbing wall, lots of fun playground type stuff and even a sprinkler area for hot summer days. I so wish we had a park like this near our house. It would be a regular hang out I'm sure.























My dad has a hot tub in his backyard that my children absolutely LOVE!!! He lowers the temperature before we get there so that it's not too hot for Jaquelyn and Rebecca but it's still warm enough to enjoy. For them it's like a small swimming pool and loads of fun!!


















We planned our trip with my dad so that we could spend a day at the fair. We had been on a previous trip and were looking forward to going again. We checked out the rides and got the kids some tickets.

This was a fun ride that Taylor and Teresa tried out...and tried and tried and tried. It was actually quite funny. They got on the ride and so it went round and round. Then they started letting people off...but somehow forgot about my kids. So they let the next group of kids who were waiting get on and the whole ride went again. Well, we thought they would surely notice them this time but....nope, the girls went on again. This was with Jaquelyn going up to the operator and telling him her sisters were on the ride. So all in all they rode three times in a row without getting off. I would have been totally yelling at the moron to let me off before I started puking all over his ride but the girls really enjoyed it.



















Jaquelyn and Rebecca's rides were a little tamer.

























It was "Harry Potter" day at the fair when we went (preplanned) and they had some activites lined up to celebrate the day. Jaquelyn enjoyed dressing up and she also entered the "potions" contest. I tried the trivia contest but didn't make it past the first round....BOGUS QUESTION!


















Here we all are eating dinner outside. My dad's backyard is amazing. The kids love it. The picnic table we are all sitting at was made by my dad and is soooo nice. The arbor above has grapes growing around it and Rebecca and Jaquelyn spent hours picking and eating grapes while we were there. It was neat to see them ripen from day to day.












One afternoon, my dad took Teresa and Taylor kayaking down Russian River. They had enjoyed the time on the lake so much they were really looking forward to this trip which would be a bit more exciting. Rebecca, Jaquelyn and I dropped them off at the start point and then drove down to the meet up spot. It was a nice little spot under a bridge. The girls played in the water for several hours while we waited for them.

























My dad put a treasure hunt together for Jaquelyn and Rebecca. They enjoyed it so much. He had done it another time for Jaquelyn and she was really hoping he would do it again on this trip.













Even Rebecca helped find some of the clues.




















The prizes...rootbeer floats and a toy car. Everyone was happy!














Here's the whole group at the park the day we were leaving.













This is outside my mom's house as we were saying goodbye to my dad