Recap

Allow me to recap the last few days. Friday I met the girls at work to write Thank-yous for a couple hours, then headed out to Poplar Grove to scrapbook with a new friend. I had decided to change my albums to 3-ring binders and intended to work on that, but when I opened my new albums I realized that they didn't come with page protectors. Oh well, I just checked out Dede's projects. She has the most awesome scrap room and she is an Uppercase Living consultant so she has lots of words in her house. I had to go home after just a few hours because the boys were coming home from vacation. I stopped for some page protectors on the way home and worked on organizing while I waited. The boys were late, of course. Didn't get home until about 8. We went out for dinner and visited with them for a while then off to bed. Saturday morning was swim lessons. Both are doing simply amazing. Joey is finally putting his head in the water and jumping in the pool by himself. Later I got to watch this little cutie for a couple hours. I don't have little girls at my house very often so had to get the camera out. Saturday night we went to the Riverhawks game (our local baseball team). The stadium is really nice and there are no bad seats, but the boys really didn't get into watching the game. They mostly played around in the seats and annoyed the people araound them. There was a cute little grasshopper to keep us occupied for a few minutes.We did see a few people we knew, and ended up sitting with an old student and coworker toward the end of the game. Sunday we did a whole lot of not much. Went to lunch at Tom and Jerrys, stopped at Menards for paint samples because I've decided to add some color to some of the rooms in my house, watched some episodes of our new favorite Deadwood, read a new book Twilight by Stephanie Meyers. Today I mowed the lawn then we went to the pool to cool off for a bit before Joey had gymnastics. He is also doing great things there.
So that's my fascinating life the past few days. Nothing too exciting, just life as it should be: steady, normal, boring, fun.

Rainbow

Caught this tonight between the thunderstorms. I got one pic, but when I started to focus for another it was already gone. The boys were excited but they tell me they've seen one before.

Phew

I've been playing with my pictures on Photoshop Elements again. I really like how these turned out.

Saturday we had swim lessons, and I worked at the same time. Daddy came to watch and both boys did a great job. As soon as we were done we headed into Chicago for Daddy's brother's High School Graduation party. It was good to see his brothers and sister, but jeez do they have some ornery grandmas. There was lots of avoiding and complaining and I was ready to leave within an hour of arriving. The boys were obliviously playing on the trampoline the whole time we were there. We finally left at about 7, and got home close to 9:15. I realized at Belvidere that I had forgotten my camera. Grrr. So one of those ornery, I mean kind, Grandmas had to bring it to me Sunday. Phew. At least someone else had to drive out here. So when we got home I headed right back out to scrap night. I can count on one hand the number of times I have started my evening after nine o'clock. Used to be I was in bed by then. I'm glad I went even though I didn't bring anything to work on because there were all kinds of birthday presents waiting for me. Thanks girls for all the goodies. I had to take my gift cards yesterday and spend them. I just got some little stuff and some card stock. Also stopped at Kohl's because I was down to one bra that I liked. I hate bra shopping. After my shopping I came home and decided to organize all my scrap stuff. I stole a case with compartments from Daddy's fishing supplies and put all my small embellishments in one place. Then I played a bit with my cricut. I haven't finished a page, but I have lots of ideas swirling around for it. I also played on ebay for a bit (any longer and I'd be broke). I got a new cartridge and some vinyl so I can make stickers for the walls, probably mostly at school for now.

Today I had to work all the way on the other side of town at 7:45 so I had to leave at 7:15. I knew it would be hard to get up this morning because I'm used to sleeping in the last few weeks, so I tried to go to bed at a reasonable hour. And laid there for 2 hours. Then Ben woke up with an asthma attack at 3. Then I was awake at 5. And 6. Part of it was me being nervous because I was starting at a new place. I better get used to it because I am floating all summer. So I got there at 7:45 and got off at 5:15. Long day for a girl who has been working part-time (sorry Jacque). But I really loved working with my participant. He is such a sweetheart, just very delayed speech. Tomorrow and Wednesday I go back there all day. Tonight we're about to head to the library, then (possibly) to watch a baseball game. Tomorrow Daddy is test-driving a car for me. Not the car of my dreams, but managable. I'll give more details if we get it. I'm tired of getting my hopes up and then nothing, so I'm trying not to think about it too much. Look for a new post soon about Daddy and his ummm, craziness.

I'm Bored

The boys went with Grandma to Iowa for today and tomorrow and I hate to say it but I'm bored out of my mind. I worked this morning at school and this afternoon at the Park District, read for a while and watched a Grey's rerun and now I have nothing to do. I want to work out but I'm not feeling it. I should get groceries while I'm by myself, but see previous sentence. So here I am typing blather on my blog. I still can't get pictures to upload, ggrrr. Oh, wait, look at that. I got one. Now let me try some more...
Here's Ben showing off at gymnastics. The skills seem to come naturally, we just have to work on listening and staying on track.

And swim lessons. Same problems. We do call him tadpole when he gets in the big pool, though 'cause that kid can move.Here's Joey at his big boy lessons. He's really tiny and can't reach the bottom, but he is doing really well at trying everything.

Can't get much cuter than that. I remember how cute it was when he first got his teeth, and now it's cute that he is losing them. Mostly he's pretty cute all the time ;)

And here are both my cuties and their cousin Ana climbing in trees at the Father's Day family picnic.

Saturday is Daddy's brother Jeff's graduation party in Chicago, then I'm hoping we get back in time for some scrappin at Sarahs. Sunday I'm thinkin Magic Waters, and we're going to try for a zoo trip this week. Joey really likes the Music in the Park that is every Tuesday and Thursday, so we are going to try to get to those again, and I want to check out Imagination Station on Wednesday.

We're Goin to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Yesterday we picked up Ti-ti (she lives right by the Brookfield Zoo) and headed to the zoo for the day. When we went to buy tickets, there was a sign for memberships. For about the price of two visits you could buy a years membership and get free parking, free admission, free tickets to the children's zoo and play zoo, a free guest pass every visit, and discounts on everything else. I decided to go for it, and I know it is going to be so worth it. We won't have to worry about bringing a bunch of extra money every time we go, and we can do just the things we want to without worrying about getting our money's worth.

They had this awesome new area called Stingray Bay. We got to hang out around the edge of a pool and touch stingrays as they swam past. Ben loved it from the beginning, and Joey just had to be convinced that they wouldn't sting him. We stayed for about an hour, and the boys were soaking wet by the time we left, but it was really cool.

This guy was a show-off. He kept popping his head out of the water and then he would slowly swim towards us until we could reach him, then move down to the next visitors.
Here's the coolest part of the day for the grown-ups: We got to watch baby pigs being born! The boys didn't care, but we found it fascinating.

And my personal favorite is always the gorillas. I love to watch their "human" qualities. Another treat for us: we were there when they were being fed. It was funny watching the little ones try to battle it out for a piece of food. And a couple of times a bigger one tried to take the little one's food, but they ran faster. The zookeeper tried to throw a piece right to the biggest gorilla, but he missed and it hit his arm. The look of indignation was just hilarious. For several minutes after that, he would rub his arm and look over to the zookeeper.So if anyone ever wants to go to the zoo, I have guest passes:)

Yay!!

It's here!! My Cricut arrived in the mail today and I have been checking it out. I can see already that I am going to have to spend more money to really enjoy it, but there are a few things I can do right now.

Ben really just liked the packing peanuts that came in the box. I let him play while I opened my new toy.

Unfortunately they are very static-y and it was a big mess to clean up. They were in his clothes, his ears, all over the kitchen. Then he decided to start breaking them into teeny tiny static pieces.
Oy. At least he had fun:)

And here is me playing my pink guitar. (Or trying anyway). Don't ya love it?

Now I'm waiting for some purchases to arrive from Creating Keepakes and from Dick's Sporting Goods (I had a gift card - I got a heart rate monitor and some new crocs.)

Last night and Tuesday night I had some training for my new summer job. I really cannot wait to get started. I am going to be working with inclusion services for the Park District, so basically I get to play with kids outside all day. My kind of job. At training, though, I realized that most people who need a summer Park District job are either just out of high school or still in it. I felt a little old. All of the coordinators are about 20, maybe. And they're guys. And they're goofy. Should be interesting.