And back to normal.

"normal" being a relative term, of course, but regardless here we are, back to our special normal routine. Here are a few favorite pics from the past week, with more coming once I successfully overcome the piles of laundry awaiting me.

Getting ready...

I cannot tell you how irritating it is to write an entry full of wit and wisdom just to have it all magically dissapear. Woe is me, Blogger!

So, as I have said before in words that are not available to read anymore, we are getting ready for our vacation. The vacation that starts tomorrow that we are hopelessly unprepared for at this time. I must really like the pressure of last minute packing, because I do this to myself all the time. So at home I will be hobbling about, barking orders at K, taking deep breaths and cursing self about procrastination. Ahh. Vacation.

We have been practicing this business of getting ready in many ways. For one, I have been getting ready to walk again, after the metal additions to my body, seen below.

These were necessary due to this unfortunate accident, which happened one morning as I was getting ready for work. Yes, that is my leg bone in a position it should not be. Yes, it was painful.

Its been three months and finally I am getting ready to walk without brace or boot or any other assistance. See how good the bad foot is doing? Its the one on the left, if that isn't obvious. Each physical therapy session my PT measures my foot's dorsiflexion, which is the opposite position you see here, and each week I hope my dilligence exercises bring me closer to the normal range. Currently I am barely into the normal range, after weeks and weeks of trying. Whoot! This "normal" is relative-while it might seen normal according to the chart, this is not normal for me and I am still sporting a limp that makes me look like a little old lady with a bad hip or something. In a pack of AARP'ers I would blend right in, I tell you. Also of interest is that the foot that actually did the slipping on the stairs and caused the injury is the right foot, and it suffered no damage. Hmmm.

My ankle has overshadowed a good portion of our summer, but the haze is lifting and we have been getting ready for other things, too. Like new school! Here the brothers are at new school orientation.

And we are also getting ready to beautify the kitchen. I am beyond excited about this. I am just not a fan of the dark cabinets. If you like them, please don't tell me about it, I dont care.

This impending trip had me shopping for a new pair of shoes, but somehow while in a store I got distracted from my shoe hunt and walked out of the store with her instead. Getting ready for the fall holidays, which are my favorite.

And the scene from our living room whilst I was getting ready for dinner. A super long track for the racing of cars, trucks and whatever else might fit on the track. Whatever keeps them out of my hair in the kitchen, I say.

Athens

We have a vacation coming in just 2 days, HOLLA! And when we go on vacation, the dogs go to our beloved friends in Athens for a vacation of sorts. I like to think of it as vacation for them because there are new smells to be smelled, new bushes to pee on, and hopefully someone there will walk and love on them more regularly than we do. Or at least will "pet" them more gently than the boys do. 

So when one is in Athens and one is hungry and cannot find a place to eat, one usually ends up at The Grill downtown. If the picture above was better you would see the name of the place in the pink neon lights above. Decent food, great milkshakes but I have to tell you that I have never been this sober while at The Grill. If you went to UGA, you know what I mean. So this is where I found myself while waiting for my grilled cheese sammich to arrive. Coloring cows with this little dude. He was questioning why I chose to make each cow a different color when obviously he was making them all green. Way to ruin the coloring, Mom.

Across the table there was more talking than coloring. Someone has hit his stride in continuous talk.

Having kids to us has meant having a built-in excuse for frozen yogurt whenever we want it, and after dinner it seemed only appropriate that we sit outside and enjoy some. Hmm. Tasty.

At some point while we were outside a group of townies came closeby. You know the type, too clean to be panhandlers but too dirty to be regular people. So we sat and tried to enjoy the ice cream, but the boys were really into the townies and were paying very close attention.

And then Townie #1 lit a cigarette. I cannot tolerate smoke, so under my breath I told K that I smell smoke and that I wanted to leave. C, having heard my comment, very loudly explained to me why I smelled smoke. "The man behind us lit a thing and its in his mouth and he is blowing out smoke and that is why you smell smoke". Ahhh....ok, gotcha, kiddo, gotcha. Thanks for explaining, and for doing it so loudly that you shamed Townie and he moved.

During my and C's interaction, G was staring and staring and then finally pointed and said "he went over to those other people. Those people are SO UGLY LOOKING". And then he continued to stare in disgust, like he couldnt fathom how these people looked like they do. So we are faced with the dilemma young parents probably face all the time: simultaneously wanting to correct his behavior by reminding him that we do not point at people and we do not say mean things about people, but then also wanting to burst out into laughter at the sheer shock of what he just did. Thankfully K is a better parent than I when faced with parental emergencies because he could keep a straight face while I stared at my yogurt, and he gave G the talk. And then also decided we should mosy on to another spot.

Which was The Arch, or the gateway to campus.

We had an hour of driving to get back home and decided it would be a good idea to get the kids to run around a bit, so for a good 20 minutes we watched the boys run to that tree way in the back and run back to us. G had a near unfortunate bathroom experience on one run back from that tree, but we managed to make it to facilities in time. And we managed to give a group of waiting young ladies a good giggle in down so, since G can be really dramatic about his bathroom announcements.

And last, I will leave you with this picture, which is the site of one of my and K's first kisses. I told G as much and the look of bewilderment and shock on his face was enough to make me chuckle for a good five minutes. Payback, baby!

People We Love

Short on time today, but lots to say, so I am doing it in short sentences. Ready? Lets catch up on things about people we love.

Obviously I love these two. And Mr. Pillow Pet. This was taken on a drab weekend day when Dada was traveling and none of us felt great. So we ate chips and watched a movie.

In the movie as a cruiseship, and we were convinced some other loved ones, GG and Grampie, were on that very cruiseship with the chipmunks! Could it be?

And then since we ate chips I felt guilty and we did the workout tape of my favorite exercise lady. Can't say I love it, but its as close as one can get to loving a workout. Check out G's form!

And at some point back Nana got some flowers. We love her and Oupa, of course. Had a picture of Oupa and Karen and Gang, but that didn't upload properly...hmmm....stay tuned for more of that later.

And a wee baby came to visit! He loved our toy selection, but C admittedly did not love sharing it with him.

Its a shame I dont have better pictures of this munchkin.

And then there is this guy, and the new fishing rods all the boys got. Love the rods, love the guys.

Aaaaaand.... I'm outta here.

Photos from my phone.

Update: oh hell. I am posting from my phone and its does not post the pics in the order I upload them. What does this mean for you? It means you get to figure out which caption belongs to which picture. Funsies!

Lazy day post, here are a few snippets from the last few weeks.

In order: momma treats herself, minions at work, then minions rest, giant pizza at Costco, friends, neglected dogs, I went to Savannah to see Sara, and books I want to read.

Molding Young Minds

...that's what I am all about. And a little free labor is good, too. Our boys' usual after-school care doesnt start for another few days so I have had some bonus time with my boys after school. Bonus time that I am *trying* to spend without TV. That's hard to do since the ankle is hurting by the afternoon, so we do have to sit and cuddle with a little afternoon show (or two), but mostly we are keeping busy.

How, you ask?

Well, C does like having the house "nice and clean", he's told me, so I told him that he can assist with that. And then G wanted in on the fun, so this was the scene yesterday.

They loved it, though I should note that towards the end of the cleaning session there was a lot more spraying than there was wiping and we may have had a few Windex rivers running down the wall trim. Today after school we are cleaning the upstairs bathrooms. I am a FUN Momma ;-)

Once the downstairs was "nice and clean" AKA they were bored with that task, we moved on to a little mental labor.

We circled the largest item in each row and colored said item, and we did this with no problem. We completed the whole page, despite protests, and then moved on to doing one page of letters. Now I might be a drill sergeant but I did let them each pick which letter they wanted to do. G picked "D" and C picked "B". I have no idea why those letters. Things were going fairly well until someone got a little sloppy and needed a spot of refocusing. Wait no, I thought he needed refocusing. He disagreed.

I had "hurt his feelings". OH LAWDY. It seems in our efforts to raise emotionally intelligent boys we have created a mini monster. Any constructive criticism now hurts the feelings. And you WILL be told when you do such a thing. So a quick conversation about learning vs. getting upset about everything later, we were back on track.

I should say, G was back on track, someone else was on track the entire time. In the zone!

After our "D" and "B" pages, we were done, I was told, and we "had to take a little rest". Which I was happy about so I could prep dinner.

I prepped dinner AND explred the teacher folders that came home in their backpacks. OOOOOH, I am so excited about these! No really, I am, no sarcasm. I love me some school.



Phew, people.

So we all survived the first day of pre-K. Phew! I looked at the clock all day, and then would check theschedule. Then the clock, then the schedule. And finally it was time to take my place in the "car-riders pick-up line". See how fast I pick up the school lingo? That's right, we all got some smarts.

Here here is where I am when school lets out. In a long line of other parents. 

And since I did not come empty handed I had a good 12 minutes to consider eating one of these as I waited for the line to creep along. I was able to resist and the boys got their first day of school treat, dont you worry.

And the line kept creeping. Faster than expected, really, so I pretended I was in Nascar and turning a sharp corner. Or are all the Nascar corners the same? Here I am, coming on the outside, rounding out around the playground. Or something.

Oh! In the homestretch, here comes Momma, babies! That building there holds the chillen.

And I meant to get a pic of them coming out but I was too excited. They were excited too*

*seemed complete calm, like they do this everyday.

So we got home and I asked if we could redo the morning picture, given that we were all now happy from our lollipop treats. I was granted my wish.

Apparently I need to work on my communication skills because "repeat the picture" meant to them that I wanted them to 1) clutch a Star Wars lunchbox (told you he loves that thing) and 2) hold the sign that says "pre-K" sideways. Yes, maybe its a bit much to expect him to hold it properly considering he cant read, but come on, work with me here.

In between the pic above and the ones below there are at least a dozen out-take pics. And then finally we warmed up to the camera. That's right boys, give momma some good shots.

Now that's more like it. And I didn't even have to threaten them to get these. Score.