End of Summer Events

As our official summer (defined by summer break) winds down, we are in preparation for two big events around here; the start of school, and the little guy’s birthday. I can recall when I wrote this post about parents using months rather than years for their kids’s ages. When I wrote that my little guy was only just over a year old (which of course I referred to as 13 months.) My denial over my baby perhaps not being so much a baby any longer continues as he is now 35 months. I cannot even imagine saying “3” as in three years! Wow. To say the time has flown would be a major understatement. In honor of this big milestone I’m preparing a special slide show outlining his first 35-ish months of life and I’m hoping to post a version of it here on the blog. This of course will all be dependent upon whether or not I can don my techie hat and manage to get the thing to work, set it to music, etc. Unfortunately, I am just barely technologically inclined to be a danger to myself, but not so much as to actually accomplish things that need significant techie knowledge. In addition to slide show, I’m also thinking of posting my birth story since when the little guy was born this blog did not yet exist and so I never had a chance to share it. I’ve been inspired as I’ve read about others’ birth stories and think I might like to share mine. So we’ll see. In the meantime, we’re gearing up for his birthday as we have a big party planned. It’s actually been helpful to have this party to plan and look forward to because it’s forced us to get some things done around here that we otherwise might have taken our time to do and I have to say I’m really pleased with all we’ve accomplished! Okay, let me rephrase that, I’m pleased with all the Hubby has accomplished. It just amazes me some of the things he can do and he really enjoys doing lots of landscaping and making our yard more available for entertaining. I will have to take some photos and post them. As I think about my little guy's upcoming birthday I am trying to do what my husband always tell me when I get a little sad about our baby growing up and really try to focus on and enjoy every minute and every stage of his life. As I work on this slide show and see how he’s grown over the last few years it just amazes me. Stay tuned.

Three words every kid dreads

Although “clean your room” probably comes close, nothing strikes fear into the hearts of kids everywhere like the term; “Back to school.” Around here school starts ridiculously early…so early in fact that it even hits before the little guy's mid-August birthday. When people talk about going back to school and mention “in the Fall” in the same sentence it sounds pretty silly since this momentous event occurs during full-on Summer. So lately, just for fun, I’ve been harassing Teenager by mentioning the Back to school sales when I see an ad in the paper and talking about school supplies which were stocked at our local Target last month, in June, the month that school used to end in. Speaking of Back to School and school supplies, several years ago Staples did a commercial that I thought was hilarious. Here it is here for your viewing pleasure and please feel free to harass and taunt your own school aged children with it.

 

It was the flux capacitor

(To read the brief "prequel" to this story first, scroll down to the previous post or click here.)

The A/C repair guy finally made it here. We got lucky. Thankfully, it was not the compressor which would have meant waiting for a new one to be ordered.This was perhaps the fastest repair job in history. All it was is this:

Within mere minutes cool air was once again blowing. Thank heaven for modern technology. And now I am only half as cranky as I was an hour ago.

Didn't we go through this exact same thing before?

Almost exactly this time last year our A/C went out. I remember writing about this in a whiny post here. Well, it's out again. And just like last year, it's triple digit weather. We are currently waiting for the repair guy and hoping it gets fixed quickly. It took days to repair last time and special parts had to be ordered. Let's hope this is not the case this time. There are two things that make me very, very cranky; being hot and being on a diet. So, I think you see what I'm saying here (hint: I'm hitting both of them at the same time.) I think Hubby might be spending a lot more time at the office.

Awkward Family Photo

Just because I love sharing a good laugh I’ve decided to post what could possibly be considered one of the most ridiculously awkward family photos in history.

Let me set the scene for you:
Circa 1970’s (that in and of itself makes for some serious hilarity), Dad had long ago lost his hair and thus, sported a toupee. Mom had the typical mom-do; sort of semi-beehive affair. And speaking of hair, this unfortunate family photo session took place just after I’d gotten into Dad’s hairpiece tape (not one of my better ideas) to secure a dress up wig to my head, not realizing that being bald is a prerequisite for using the tape, resuling in a forced “shag” haircut. Then you add the clothes….oh good grief the clothes…well, it was the seventies. Now since this is technically the only unveiling of a photo of yours truly (albeit a few years decades ago) I want to state that I look nothing like this today. Oh who am I kidding? Minus the seventies clothes this eerily reminds me of the time back in early 2000 when I got all my hair cut off because I thought I was “too old” for long hair.

So here you go folks…..

Good for all Boo Boo's

We have one of those little bears that holds an ice pack for various bumps and boo boo's.  Little guy appropriately calls this the "Boo Boo Bear" and whenever he falls, runs into something or even gets even the slightest bit banged up he cries and/or whimpers (depending on the severity of the incident) and calls for the Boo Boo Bear. We think this is pretty cute, even though he has been known on occasion to appear to take a tumble on purpose and ask for the Boo Boo Bear.  So, last night as Teenager went to hug his little brother goodnight, little guy looked at his older brother's acne speckled face, pointed and said: "Buhbuh! (his word for "brother") uh-oh, Boo Boo Bear!"  Yeah, when your two year old brother thinks you need his Boo Boo Bear, it might be prudent to step up your acne fighting routine.

Honey, the police are here...

This is not the thing you want to hear your spouse say when you're sitting around, minding your own business while enjoying a holiday weekend.  Mr. big, burly police officer showed up asking if we had kids and if they were ok. Apparently the police department had been getting 911 distress calls coming from an unknown number but tracing back to our house. So naturally we assumed the little guy had gotten a hold of a phone and somehow been dialing but this was not the case. After further investigation we found the source. The day before Teenager had been messing around with the settings on his cell phone and managed to lock himself out of his phone and render it inoperable. Well, inoperable except for emergency calls. He had no idea that this could happen and you know how your pants decide to call people? Well, his called the only phone number available; 911, and called it repeatedly.  Apparently police are able to track down where the number is coming from. They heard kids in the background (we were all outside playing) and came to check on us. We were naturally very surprised and apologized for the accidental calls but the police officer was very nice. We're pretty thankful to know our local police department is on top of their emergency calls...even pants calls.