you can't help but smile...

...when you spend half your day in the wind and waves...

...and come home with a prize-stash of sharks' teeth!

movie night...

boys' version...
* two rentals
* take-out pizza

date night version...

* one great flick, "Angels and Demons" (recommend you read the book...and visit Rome first...)

* Moe's for two before we go

(darling daughter was out for the night...)

remember this game?...

it's a family favorite of ours...

but we sure get crazy when we have to go back to start!

how come you can't ever POP a 6 when you need one?...

sign of the times...

i will really really miss them...

i feel like i forgot to teach them something...

hard to believe we're trading school books for the sandy beach...

over the bridge...

this is sooc (straight out of the camera)... and yes, i did take it while driving, but there was no one around me or behind me, so I slowed down to an almost-stop and shot quick...it was worth it.

good find...

i bought this ring for $10 at a thrift store a few months ago...it was signed on the back (tom nez, navajo), so i knew it was authentic...i wear it almost every day.

i love a unique find!

the cow has come home!

remember when i blogged about the cow we got for a Christmas gift? and we weren't getting free milk? the cow finally came home...

before...



after...

farmers' market...

the market was buzzing today, and the peaches were pricey, but oh-oh-oh so sweet...

we bought seven and ate them all in one day!

funniest sight ever...

i scared a teacher when we walked down the hall...

you get three today!

soda exploded in my purse...not so cool...

soda exploded with the help of some students and some Mentos...cool, very cool...

and I got a good shot of myself today...I was pleased with the light and the fact it was a self-portrait...

and then there were four...

birds. no, not children. we have three and that's perfect.

we went from one egg to two eggs to four eggs to four birds.

how's that for some duplication?

we took this photo before the others hatched...

my heart skipped a beat...

...when I saw this vision in blue...and that they are giving TWO AWAY in July!!!

Check it out...here, please...

not for the easily embarassed...

don't freak when you see what I took a picture of...

but think about this...

have you ever noticed that they all end in X???

TampaX...PlayteX...KoteX...

X...X...X...

hhhmmm...better be careful how I type that.

playing catch-up...

i am still here
i am taking a college course on m/w from 5.30 to 8.30...
only 4 wums left...
so so so tired

more coming soon

awards day...

this amazingly handsome and smart young boy won three awards today...

* one for academics and character, the top honor among all the 6th graders

* one for his artistic talent

* one for academics in his basketball league

...and this boy has two amazingly PrOuD parents and a wonderfully awesome teacher (seen above) who think he ROCKS!

what a blessed boy...and extremely blessed parents...

girl scouts are home...

and resting soundly...no photos.

girls scouts go camping, day two...

photos coming soon, really soon!

girl scouts go camping...

photos coming soon!

coach sal and i's daily mantra...

www.edwardmonkton.com

8:30 pm, the view from the bridge on the way home from downtown...

a taste of summer...

my sister and nephew...

the one day a year i get this photo...

saturday morning comfort food...

riverdogs...

aWeSoMe baseball weather...breezy and warm...

...smiling happy people (because they ate grilled hotdogs, boiled peanuts, pretzels...oh, and bought cheap sunglasses)...

...still smiling, even in the 9th inning with no score...

...fireworks are fAnTaBuLoUs when the riverdogs pull it off in the tenth inning, yah!

rock on...

he's such a good guitar player at his age...he plays all the time. ALL. THE. TIME.

and he's blessed to have a couple of great teachers (mentors) and to get to play for an hour at school every day.

his newest song to play is "it's a beautiful day" by U2.

(did i tell you he also has good taste in WHAT to play?)

snug and warm...

remember the hanging basket plants on the front stoop on the last photo?

this seems to happen every year. they must like us...

...that and the momma know if we got three kids, she's safe with us. we can handle it.

the place where we live...

"Our house, in the middle of our street...

Our house, in the middle of our street..."

This is our house...the third house we've actually owned. We bought our first house right after we got our first jobs and had our first baby. Nine years and three children later we decided we wanted more space and less traffic, so we built our second house. Our "dream" house, our final house. Two years later we decided to not only escape the traffic that had enveloped us again, but to also sell our house in order to finance a 30 day trip across the country in an RV with our three children. (Yes, just like the movie...I should probably blog that story sometime...) We then decided to move closer to downtown and school (since we seem to spend so much time there) and we bought a 1964 brick ranch house. It's the smallest of the three, but there are SO many things I love about it...

* brick

* crawl space

* attic!

* ChArAcTeR!!

* hardwoods

* my pink (with original pink toilet and sink) and lilac tiled bathrooms

* our huge yard, front and back

* TREES!

* REAL grass that actually is rooted in the ground and grows

* two car garage that the cars will actually FIT in

* NO community organization taking your money and telling you that you can't have a basketball goal and they don't want to see your swingset or trampoline over the fence...no joke.

* my pocket door between the kitchen and dining room

* the front door, original to the house

Of course there are things that our old house needs right now...new windows, new a/c unit, new roof, paint paint and more paint, etc etc... but I must say, I enjoy a work-in-progress! I like having "projects" to do. What else are two teachers supposed to do in the summer? (coach sal would disagree)

Maybe I'll show some other rooms...until then, I leave you with this:

"Our house it has a crowd

There's always something happening

And it's usually quite loud

Our mum she's so house-proud

Nothing ever slows her down

And a mess is not allowed"

Well...messes may not be "allowed", but they sure do happen! That's why I'll have to show you other rooms later.

girl scouts are so handy...

Ok, this is not the most exciting post ever, but what the girls did tonight was cool.

They made "fire kisses". (Huh? What? I don't know what that is, you say? yeah, me neither.)

Here's what they are- shaved candle wax wrapped up like "candy" in wax paper.

Here's what they are for- fire starters!

Like I said, you can always count on a Girl Scout to be prepared.

we got locked out...(more on that)...

Saturday was almost perfect...we slept late, I made chocolate chip waffles for breakfast, we went to the beach for the first time in 2009...

...can you feel the excitement???

Then we got locked out- of our house.

I left my key for my dad so that he could check our A/C unit while we were gone. He thought it was my extra key.

It was my ONLY key.

I got the news while sitting on the beach midafternoon...with the view I had, who could be mad??

The kids actually were thrilled- adventure, here we come! Since coach sal was at the state track meet in Columbia until evening, we had nowhere to go and NO CLOTHES.

Walmart for clothes...$70.

Lunch at Chickfila...$25.

Changing clothes in the back of the van and hanging out at Granny and Opa's for five hours...PRICELESS.

(I told my dad the next time he wanted us to come over and visit, to just call. It was cheaper.)

Oh...and the day wasn't perfect because coach sal wasn't with us at the beach. Bummer.

BUT...if he had been, we'd have missed out on the FUN!

Guess there's a reason for everything.