How to celebrate a birthday

We try to get together with family when someone celebrates a birthday.

My youngest nephew recently celebrated a birthday.

His wish? To have a birthday celebration the beach.

Can you imagine a beach celebration in October where you live?

It definitely looked like a bad idea.

We had a week of cloudy skies. Drizzly mornings.

And then on that Sunday of the party?

The SUN broke out!

It ended up being a beautiful day. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L !!!!

Not only was there a bit of just plain talking to each other, we did some other things.

 
The kids took advantage of being at the beach and built a fort in the sand.

I took the opportunity to go stand-up paddle-boarding for the first time and so did my niece. My sister does this ALL the time, so she was way far out across the bay.

Volleyball and soccer were played as well.

Thankfully we all did get out that Sunday. Because the next few days were cloudy once more. Ugh! But we so thoroughly enjoyed probably our last truly comfortably warm day for 2010. It'll just continue to get colder from here on out.

But don't you think it was a fabulous looking day?

School spirit and athletic pride

My oldest nephew is athletic.

He's been in football since he was about 6. He was a running back when he was in pee-wees. Now he mainly kicks. He's one of the few juniors on the varsity team.


He's been in track since he was in middle school. He used to do the long jump, but now focuses on the shot put and discus (for his school), while he does the javelin for track club.


And you know what he just got last week?


He got a letterman jacket!




My sister was the one who got the catalog and she didn't stop at the first few pages. She looked through the ENTIRE catalog and saw all the available options. And it turns out that extra bit of browsing resulted in a very unique design compared to his teammates.

Is he wearing the jacket now?

Nope.

It's at a seamstress right now. For the next 10 days of so.

Why?

Because he's getting all of his stuff sewn onto his jacket. His letter. His club sports patches. His name embroidered onto the back. It's going to look totally awesome.

I'm just SO proud of my nephew!

We've been busy so I've been absent

Being here alone with the kids has kept me very busy.

And the rain that's been going for the last 10 days didn't help a bit.

But this hasn't kept me and the kids from getting out and about.

That's a HUGE statement for me. A self-professed homebody.

We attended a couple more football games. My younger nephew's held on Saturday mornings.

My older nephew's Friday evening games at local high schools. Yes. We attended varsity high school games. It's been super fun. I love cheering! We like to sit together but that's not always possible. At one game we all did happen to find space together. Let me just say that we all cheered. My older nephew told my sister that his friend said "Dude, I was sitting near your family and they are LOUD." Was that embarrassing for my nephew? No. He knows that we're loud when we're at games.


We also attended a birthday party where all the kids enjoyed playing games. And they really enjoyed the cake and ice cream as well. Can you believe that my kids didn't want to have anything to do with the root beer floats? Nope. They don't like root beer.

In October, where else would we visit but a pumpkin patch? Right?

The first place we went to was very small, so we went to another one! Yes. ANOTHER pumpkin patch! The kids got to feed some goats, a pig, and some chickens. There were a TON of pumpkins. Even some HUGE ones!

And then tomorrow we're headed to the beach for another birthday party!

Yes. Weekends have been busy.

But it's a good busy. Spending time with family doing fun activities. What can be any better?

Fun weekend for all

The kids and I were out and about this weekend. As a self professed homebody, spending most of the weekend away from home is quite a big deal.

HUGE!

Friday night, the kids and I went to my oldest nephew's football game. The game happened to be playing at a high school about 15 minutes away from our house, so we HAD to go. Unfortunately, my nephew's team lost but they showed some GREAT sportsmanship. When one of the other team's players was injured, all the kids on my nephew's team took a knee. The other team? Their sidelines remained standing, as did the guys on the field who were standing about 10 feet away from their injured friend. Not one of them took a knee. NOT. ONE. A while later, another of the other team player's went down. All the boys on my nephew's team took a knee. Maybe three boys on the field from the other team took a knee. Seriously! But it was really nice to see that my nephew's teammates all showed respect for the other players.

What's crazy is that bright and early Saturday morning, we headed back to that same high school. Why? Because my youngest nephew had his own football game at 8am. It was a beautiful morning. Even my youngest niece went to the game. Whenever she got restless, they kept her busy walking around the stadium. She had a SOLID nap after that.

We went home to finish up some chores and then headed out again. My sister, my youngest nephew, and my niece went with us to the annual Air Show. Instead of being in the massive throngs of people who attend during the day, we opted to go to the evening show. It was sheer chaos trying to get INTO the base since there were tons of folks headed OUT of the place. They actually tried to EXIT us out of the base. When I stopped and asked one female Marine who was directing traffic, she told me to continue to go straight down the road and then she yelled "Wagon wheel, ma'am!" What the heck? Wagon wheel? What was THAT supposed to tell me? Anyone? Anyone? I finally opened my window as we started to look like we were headed to the bundocks and asked "Excuse me?I'm trying to get IN to see the night show????" The Marine took pity on me and let me turn left onto this curvy road that led us STRAIGHT to the parking area. Woohoo! We got to see the evening parachute team, the Robosaurus, a Harrier take-off, and fireworks. It was loads of fun, even after the parking drama.

I expected to stay home today since we were out so much yesterday but....we finished up our chores for the weekend. And I wanted to get the kids out on such another great day. It was a little overcast, but it was warm. There was a centennial ride going through our community, so we walked over to where our local Farmer's Market is held every week. That's where the last water stop for the ride was located. It was just 9 more miles from the end. But it was a much needed stop. We had water, fruit, and pbj's. We even had a couple port-a-potties and I can't tell you how popular THOSE were.

I had such a great time with the kids this weekend. And I really think the kids enjoyed themselves as well. Yes. They did fight a bit. I couldn't escape that. But the good totally outweighed the bad moments. You know?

So what did you do this weekend?

Finally getting back to unpacking

Last night I got back to dealing with unpacking stuff.

Yes. We moved in here in mid-August and I took a LONG break from it.

I broke down on Friday night and finally dug into a few boxes. Granted, they were a few small boxes but it was stuff from my desk at home. I had to go through the papers and figure out what I wanted to keep. Papers that I hadn't looked upon in ages that the Hubs just packed into boxes since he didn't want to filter items out for me.

And now? We are NOT going to sit on the floor to eat. Yes. We've been eating "picnic" style since we got here. I know it's pretty sad. I finally found some barstools that are just the right size. OUr bar that we've got now in our kitchen? Around 34-35 inches high. The seats on our breakfast nook table chairs are 18 inches high, while our original barstools are 29 3/4 inches high. One is too short, while the other is too high. Dag-nabbit!

For the last couple weeks, I've been hunting for some 23-35 inch stools. I checked IKEA. I checked a couple furniture stores. But where did I find the stools that I finally purchased? Target! Yes. The big red target had the stools. The right height (24") and at the right price (< $25). The stools have metal legs, so I ended up buying an inexpensive area rug to protect the floors. Since this is a rental, I've got to protect the darn artificial hardwood floors. You know?

Unfortunately, we did have a mishap with the stools. When we got home, I set to work because I wanted to get the stools done. I was going at a good pace. I got the first two done in about 15 minutes each. Then I was stumped when I took out the pieces for the third stool. I was supposed to have the seat (part A), 2 legs (parts B), 2 legs (parts C), along with the screws & washers. Me? I had the seat, screws, and washers just fine. BUT? I had only 1 leg (part B) and 3 legs (part C). Yes. I had enough parts but not all the right ones. So we had to head back to the big red bulls-eye and trade it out. Ay-yay-yay!

All I can say is that, even with the minor fiasco, I'm happy that our kitchen/bar area looks now. 

Nothing beats good customer service

Earlier today I was online searching for some new shoes for the Bear.

My son?

He's got wide feet.

Like me.

So it's a struggle to find him wide shoes that are cute. I mean, I know he doesn't REALLY care what they look like but I like to find ones that are nice. Not orthopedic looking. You know?

I found a pair of shoes that I thought were cute. I called the Bear and he agreed.

Unfortunately, that was the only shoe that I could find in his shoe size.

So what's a Mom to do?

I ordered TWO of the same shoe.

The kids and I went to the community pool after I placed my order.

When we got back, I made them some dinner and I got online. I'd forgotten to take my meds, so I still needed to wait an hour before I could chow down.

Anyway, I went in to check my emails.

I found the confirmation from the website for the shoes.

Rather than one line item, there were two listed.

Line one said --> "Estimated to arrive by 9/20/2010"

Line two said --> "Cancelled - unable to fulfill"

Say what?

Unable to fulfill?

Hmmm....

What got to me was that when I looked at the email in more detail is that the shipping and handling for the one pair was the same as it was for the two.

I went back to the website and initiated a web chat to voice my complaint about only getting the one pair. And to cancel my order.

In the end?

I didn't cancel my entire order.

Why?

But you know what?

The gal on the web chat was good.

She listened (or read if you want to be more specific) to what I had to say.

And can you believe it?

She actually waived my entire shipping and handling since I did bring it up.

Because I'm sure she realized that if I was going to cancel my entire order? That I was going to go to that other big shoe website and order from them since they don't charge for shipping. You know the site I'm talking about, right?

Anyway, so my Bear will be getting one pair from this site and another pair from the other big shoe website. Yeah. He definitely needs two pairs of new shoes right now. Growing boys can totally shred their shoes!

Nothing like an afternoon/evening of football

The kids and I met up with my family to watch my youngest nephew's first football game of the season.

It was a late afternoon game.

They started warming up in the late afternoon. But when they ended, it was dark.

Yes. We got to watch as the warm sun got lost in the horizon and saw the stadium lights turn up.

It was a pretty awesome sight.

The game?

It was a good one.

My nephew's team won.

But I wouldn't have wanted to be an official at that game.

Why?

Because both teams were called the Lancers.

And they wore the same colors.

Purple jerseys.

Black pants.

Black socks.

Black shoes.

THE.SAME.COLORS.

The only way we could tell who was who was from the numbers on their jerseys.

Our team's numbers were dark with white outline.

The other team's numbers were just white.

We always waited a smidge to make sure who had the gosh darn ball at the kick-off. Because in a pile-up they all looked the same!

But it was a fun way to spend the evening.

We ended up picking up some AWESOME Mexican food (from one of those locally-known hole in the wall places) to finish off the night. YUM!

We made it through!

I'm happy as a clam.

The kids and I made it through this full week of school.

It had it's difficult moments.

Like when my son brought home a wet backpack. And when he pulled out a paper I needed to sign out of his backpack, the lower half of the paper was shredded. Destroyed. Ay-yay-yay!

Like when my daughter forgot her spiral notebook that had all her notes & rough drafts of a 7-paragraph that was due the next day. It was something that they'd been assigned the very first day of class. They had a week to finish it. And my daughter? She had to finish it in one night. THAT was not pretty.

It had some good moments.

Like when I spoke with my son's teacher and she and I laughed about how my son's expressions can just crack us both up.

Like when my daughter mentioned that her teacher read her poem out loud to the class. When I read the poem? I could see why the teacher read it. The poem was beautiful!

But I've cooked the kids dinner every night. No take-out at all! Yeah for me! This is a HUGE accomplishment for me. We did eat later than we used to. Around 6pm rather than between 5-5:30pm but that was okay. They just relaxed and talked about their day while I cooked. So it was good.

Tonight I made tonight a tiny celebration. I made tacos, which the kids love. Before I picked the kids up I rented some DVD's and bought popcorn. We had an at-home movie night! It was really fun to just cuddle up on the couch with them with no homework to think about. Nothing due. No where to go. Just cuddle. [sigh]

Of course, they stayed up later than usual. And they'll hopefully sleep in. Wait. I know my daughter will sleep in as long as possible. She IS my husband's daughter. But my son? He'll probably wake up by 6am. ARGH! But I wrote him a little note about what he's allowed to do when he wakes up. Just so that he knows, you know?

How about you? How was your week?