Week 34

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  We're trying to get back into a school schedule here.  It's coming along slowly but surely.  I can tell my quiet afternoons will be gone for awhile.  There are so many different schedules and events swirling around in my head it might just explode! I am looking forward to some water polo this afternoon though, and was pleasantly surprised when my Booster's snack bar shift got cancelled yesterday so it's all good.

Here are last week's pictures:

Day 230- Monday, 8/18/14
We're still squeezing in appointments before the start of school. Justin had his eyes checked and his one eye that crosses has greatly improved so no need for surgery in the future. He has the same prescription to correct his slight far-sightedness so he's set.  We'll just get him a new pair of frames for the new school year.  They should be available the middle of next week, and he can't wait because he's excited about the ones he chose.

Day 231- Tuesday, 8/19/14

Here we are on the very last day of summer so I took the boys out for some frozen yogurt.  Oh the choices!  It can be so hard to decided sometimes, and Brandon ended up with quite an interesting mix to top his treat off ;0)

Day 232- Wednesday, 8/20/14

It's the first day of school!  The backpacks are bigger and weigh more than the kids these days.  My younger two are still at the same school for one more year, and Tyler is on his own at the high school again until Justin joins him next year.

Day 233- Thursday, 8/21/14

Now that the kids are back in school I can spend more time at work and continue to plug through my 5000+ horse samples.  We're just over the half way mark.  I have all those slides in the trays to read today and the the samples in the tubes behind the trays to set up.  It's actually turning out to be a great epidemiology study so I'm excited to see the end results and get them out to the horse world.

Day 234- Friday, 8/22/14

Tyler helped me pick up dinner at Whitey's tonight.  We had burgers and shakes to celebrate the end of our first week at school, and then later I was surprised to have these beautiful roses delivered to me from John who is in New York for work.  Today is our 22nd wedding anniversary.  Thankfully he'll be home tomorrow so we can celebrate together then.

Day 235- Saturday, 8/23/14

He's back! I think he got in just after 1 am this morning, and after a long day of water polo we were able to escape and have a wonderful dinner at Morton's.  They printed us our own special menu and took this super cute picture.  John was happy they were having a full lobster special, and I very much enjoyed my steak and chocolate mousse dessert.  It was a great place to celebrate.

Day 236- Sunday, 8/24/14

Today got off to a rocky start with a 6.1 earth quake near Napa that we very much felt here in the Sacramento area.  It was an interesting way to start the day but otherwise ended up being a beautiful Sunday.  It was a bike riding day--my version of riding and then John's version of riding.  The boys rode with me around the neighborhood and John rode out to Bogle to pick up our wine club release.  It was a great day for a ride no matter how you chose to do it ;0)

That wraps up the first week of school.  Now let's see how we all fair after a full week.  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you next week.

Week 33

Welcome back!  We're starting school this week--tomorrow in fact!!  It's so hard to believe summer is over already, and I still have a few last minute things to take care of. I'm running out of time.  At least I managed to get my jury duty deferred.  Talk about bad timing.  I was supposed to report Monday which I could have done, but then they changed it to Wednesday--the first day of school, the day John leaves for another business trip, and the day my oldest has another lesson with the driving school.  At least the court was very understanding and will call me again in a few months. For today I need to think of something fun to do on this last day of summer.  Too bad Tyler has to work.

We'll find something to do I'm sure and until then here are last week's pictures:

Day 223- Monday, 8/11/14

Yep, he's a big sucker alright.   Justin was enjoying this very blue lollipop today, and the blue tongue with the green braces was just too much--total photo op.

Day 224- Tuesday, 8/12/14

Summer sports camp ended last week so for this week Brandon's going to a day camp at the Bounce Spot and it sure wears him out.  He comes home all sweaty from jumping and pretty much needs a nap to recover.  This is how you know it's a good camp.  Sports camp never made him this tired.

Day 225- Wednesday, 8/13/14

Tyler and I met Lindsay and her mom today.  They are from Elk Grove and she will be attending a Medical Congress in Washington DC with Tyler this fall.  Both these kids were the one student chosen to represent their respective schools at this amazing event.  It's so great they are able to meet ahead of time and get to know each other before actually attending in November, and it looks like they'll also get to travel together for at least part of the trip.

Day 226- Thursday, 8/14/14

I finally found a Coke to share with Tyler ;0)   I was in Davis picking up a few things after work and wasn't even really looking.  I just happened to glance over and see his name out front in a small group of drinks near the deli section. Score!

Day 227- Friday, 8/15/14

These past few weeks after Teen Heros ended  Justin went back to tennis, and today is his last day before heading back to school.  Thankfully we have wonderful friends and neighbors that have helped him get there and back while I'm at work.  Those middle of the morning activities are the hardest for me to help with, and he really wanted to do this so I'm glad it all worked out.

Day 228- Saturday, 8/16/14

After spending most of the week working on kid stuff and prepping for the new school year it's time for some adult activities.  The Wong family came over so the kids could hang out and the adults could wine taste.  We went down the road to the Old Sugar Mill which is like a wine mall ;0)  I needed to restock my wine collection and wanted to have fun doing it--mission accomplished!

Day 229- Sunday, 8/17/14

Here's a sad sign of the times.  This is at our local park, but you also see them all over town.  I'm glad our city is doing something to help out, but I wish it hadn't come to this.  I'm hoping this next rain season is sooo much better and can get us out of this drought.  Some are saying it may be an el nino year and that would be great because it means lots of rain.

Wait!  One more:

August's Family Photo

We got this month's photo done early.  It's best to get it in before the craziness of the new school year consumes us.  There is nothing like enjoying a pleasant summer evening with the family around our fire pit.  It's a great way to connect and sum up our day or week although I think the boys enjoy burning up marshmallows or making s'mores more than the company ;0)



OK, all done!  See you next week.

Week 32

Welcome back!  Only 1 week left before the boys head back to school.  Summer is almost gone for good.  I could really use another couple weeks.  We had a super full summer but missed doing some of the things we usually always do like going to the state fair and camping.  Maybe we'll just pitch a tent in the backyard one weekend to help make up for it. We can't give up on summer yet.  I need more fun!

Speaking of fun, here are last week's pictures:

Day 216- Monday, 8/4/14

It's a Lego building day.  Brandon has a lot of birthday sets to put together before school starts and Justin scored this Guardians of the Galaxy set by using some gifts cards he earned this summer.  They were happy to be building together.

Day 217- Tuesday, 8/5/14

Share a Coke with my boys.  I found 2 out the 3 names we needed.  Not sure there is a Tyler out there.  I saw Taylor but not Tyler.  I'll have to check the website and see if he even made the cut.  Until then he'll have to deal with the large "Friends" Coke.  What we really need is one that says "Brothers" ;0)

Day 218- Wednesday, 8/6/14

John is traveling for work this week so it's made juggling work for me and kid drop offs interesting.  Tyler had to hang out at my work for a few hrs before his work shift started, but it gave him some good free time to wrap up those summer assignments.

Day 219- Thursday, 8/7/14

Remember this poor pepper plant that was striped to the stem by a snail right after Justin planted it this spring?  I was going to pull it the next day but luckily life got in the way and I didn't get around to it.  We were happy to discover a couple weeks later that it made an amazing come back and now is thriving like crazy producing lots of these green beauties.  Justin is so proud and has even used a few on his sandwich creations.

Day 220- Friday, 8/8/14

TGIF!  It's been a long week and the boys have helped a lot so I treated them to dinner and a movie.  We saw the Guardians of the Galaxy in 3D and it was actually a really fun movie--much better than I expected and also more emotional than I could have imagined.  Geesh!  I can't believe I cried a few times during a Marvel movie.

Day 221- Saturday, 8/9/14

I'm not sure why I'm smiling here.  This was an ugly chore that had to be done.  It took me 4 hrs to go through all 3 boy's closets.  These two were the worst.  Once I got through all the clothes in the upper part digging through the collection of junk down below was quite interesting.  My younger two must think the deep, dark depths of the closet are for stashing trash.  It's all good now.  We can see the floor in everyone's closet, and I know what sort of clothes I need to buy for the new school year.

Day 222- Sunday, 8/10/14

I finally got my husband back and in true fashion he's made me a cocktail.  It's good to have him back and this was the perfect way to end an exhausting week.  I'll do the single parent thing again the week school starts on top of jury duty--joy!

That sums up another summer week.  Thanks for stopping by and hopefully I'll see you next week.

Week 31

Welcome back and happy Tuesday. Wait! Is it Tuesday again already?? Time flies and I'm not wanting summer to end. Only 15 days until school starts. Ack! I so need to go through closets and figure what I need in terms of uniforms and clothes. Wish I were a bigger fan of back-to-school shopping but I'm just not.  Enough of that.  I'm getting ahead of myself. 

 Here are last week's pictures:

Day 209- Monday, 7/28/14
It was another super hot week so today was a PG&E save energy day.  Brandon spent his time reading a new book we downloaded on his Kindle yesterday.  He's working his way through a Minecraft series this summer.  Big surprise!

Day 210- Tuesday, 7/29/14
Yesterday was Justin end of year party for the summer camp he worked at.  He brought home a trophy for all his efforts but was more thrilled to be bringing home the owl mug he made with the group at Color Me Mine.  It turned out cute, and he is so excited to have an owl mug for hot chocolate or coffee when he gets older. LOL!

Day 211- Wednesday, 7/30-14

I had a Boosters' meeting this evening and came out to this beautiful sky.  We're happy to have some cloud cover to help cool things down and make for some nice sunsets.  

Day 212- Thursday, 7/31/14

Happy Birthday Brandon!  My baby has hit the double digits and turns 10 today.  It happened in the blink of an eye.  He helped me bake his cake today but it's not quite decorated yet and is being saved for his party tomorrow so a birthday donut was in order.

Day 213- Friday, 8/1/14

It's the first day of August and my house has been taken over by 10 year old boys.  Brandon is having a birthday sleepover so I had the kids help me with my monthly marker.  Yes, he is wearing the same shirt from yesterday because it's his birthday shirt and he loves it that much :0)  Everyone had fun at his Lego party.

Day 214- Saturday, 8/2/14
It's time for an oil change on my car and also time Tyler learned this skill.  John showed him how to get the job done so the next time he'll give it a try on his own.

Day 215- Sunday, 8/3/14

Not the best lighting for a picture but we got one nonetheless.  It was family movie night at the theater and we saw the latest Transformers movie probably on its last running weekend here.  Unfortunately, Brandon ended up getting sick during the movie which is why he's missing in the picture.  Too much positive excitement from his birthday weekend--that always does him in.

Also please keep the Inter-Mountain Area of Northern California in your thoughts and prayers as they battle through numerous major fires because of lightening strikes and the drought.  I grew up in this area and know many of the people still living here and fighting to save their homes and businesses.

This amazing picture was taken by Ryan Albaugh looking from Big Valley mountain over Fall River valley towards Burney at the Eiler and Bald fires creating a smoke "dome of doom".  There's another major fire, the Day Fire, right behind him.  They all started the end of July and have been burning ever since forcing evacuations, road closures, and destroying tens of thousands of acres.  They did get some good rain yesterday so hopefully that helped.




On a happier note- Just one more:

July's Family Photo

A donut selfie taken on the very last day of July!  Had to squeeze one in, literally!  So fun.  We crack me up ;0)

Now that's it.  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you next week.