Day 258 [Daddy Homework]

Bailey brought home some homework today.

Apparently it was really parent homework.

The assignment was to have you parent answer the following question:

Why is studying about US history important?

I passed that index card right on over to my husband to answer.

I had to laugh at how easily my son was able to read my husband's chicken scratch.

Must be a case of if you write it you can read it.

I certainly don't write like either of those boys and usually have a hard time reading what they write! 

Day 257 [Twenty-One!]

That's me, with my baby girl.

Yeah, I know, she's gorgeous!

Today she turned 21!!!

She made me a Mom.

She's older, by 3 years, then I was when I had her!

Time goes so fast, babies grow up in the blink of the eye.

You can read more about her here!

Day 256 [Messy!]

Our cat Roamin.

A neat eater, he is not!

I bought him the nicest food and water dish after we first got him.

I'm still shocked, after 3 years, he is such a pig when is comes to eating!

There is always food under his dish and in his water.

Some days I put his dish up to make him 'clean' up his food area!

He doesn't much like that.

Day 255 [Birthday Hugs]

Friday my nephew turned 6.

Saturday we celebrated.

He's quite the character, my nephew.

It was a SpongeBob themed party.

He made out with quite the haul in gifts.

My favorite moment of the day...

this sweet hug to his Daddy after opening the Toy Story 3 drum set his Dad gave him.

Just a sweet, tender and authentic moment.

Day 254 [Feelings]

It's after 9 pm.

No picture taken as it was a rather boring day.

Ventured out for my morning coffee run, I guess I could have captured my running a red light, but I didn't know I was going to do it until I was actually doing it!  In a total daze, not paying attention and bam!  I freaked out when I realized that I'm in the intersection and the light is RED!  Thankfully it was about to turn green for me, no cars in the intersection...no harm, no foul.  Just one very embarassed lady behind the wheel.

Some days the pictures come easily, present themselves on a silver platter.  Other days I have to put in effort to seek out my shot.  Then there are days like today...nothing!

So, this is what you get.

Our feelings on the picture of the day today!

HA!

Day 253 [Zune Support]

It was the first full day of school today.

I had so much I planned to do.

I made the grave mistake of doing this one first!

My son's Zune player suddenly had a problem connecting to the internet.

I told him I would call and see what could be done about, especially given he's only had the thing for 9 months.

After 1 hour 45 minutes, trying the same stuff 3 times without success, the gal transfers me to the 'advanced' trouble shooting department, where I will not have to re explain my issues to the tech as she has made detailed notes.  After impatiently re explaining, very briefly, the issue, he started me in on the same stuff we had just tried 3 times without success!  When we got to the part where email/password to link Zune is required (the gal had me put my stuff in since I didn't have my son's info and he was at school) he told me we needed my son's stuff and to call back with case number blah, blah, blah.

I hung up after 1 hour, 57 minutes and 45 seconds....nothing accomplished!

I complete waste of my time!

I made my son do the call back when he got home, after 10 minutes on the phone with them, just talking, not trying anything....they told him they would send me an email with the instructions/label to send them the Zune.  Once they recieved it if they can not fix it they will send him a new one!

WTH!?  Why couldn't I get that kind of service????

THEN....this is rich....my son is fiddling around with the Zune, low and behold, he can now connect to the internet!  I'm over it! 

Day 252 [The Wheels On The Bus...]

Yeah!

The wheels on the bus are going round and round!

It may have only been a 2 hour 'first day', but it's back in session!

I'm happy, he's happy, we're all happy!!!

Tomorrow will be my first full day with no kiddos.

Party on moms!

Day 251 [Education]

Tomorrow!

It may only be for 2 hours, but tomorrow is his first day of his sophomore year!

The school allows the incoming freshmen the opportunity to have the school for themselves for most of the day before inundating them with the entire scope of high school...the upperclassmen.

I got the boy's back pack all prepared for the first day.

We have run the gamut on all things organizational regarding his school work.

This is the last idea I have and I'm hoping this will be the ticket to some organizational success!

Separate binders for each subject.

The goal being that it's the only binder out during that class period, therefore the only place that subjects papers will end up.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Day 250 [Hubba, Hubba]

He has been a bit under the weather this weekend.

It started on Saturday while we were out of town.

Head cold turned into sinus congestion, fever and exhaustion.

He's still not up to par, but getting there.

We did a lot of this today.

Zoning out on the TV.

Day 249 [Evening Drive Home]

After an enjoyable weekend with our friends, we headed out after 7 Sunday night to avoid the masses on the way home Monday.

While on the way home I got out my camera to get a good night time shot...not the greatest, but cool enough for me.

Day 248 [Farmers Market]

Saturday morning we headed downtown Vancouver for the Farmers Market.

I was quite surprised by how much it's grown since we lived in Vancouver over 8 years ago.

Loads of fruits, veggies, arts & crafts, prepared food and of course flowers.

It was pretty busy for a holiday weekend.

We left the boys at home to bang out on Rock Band while we were gone because once we returned they were banned from it!

We got back to the house, got out the dominos and snacks to play and eat before the big boys herded to the couch for the UW/BYU football game.

Day 247 [Slow Go]

We headed out Friday late afternoon, as we were merging onto I-5 we hit rush hour-holiday traffic.

We did the crawl from south Tacoma to Olympia, broke free for a bit, hit a patch of crawl again, stopped for dinner at Burgerville in Centralia...YUM! (which the furthest north BV is) making to our destination just north of Vancouver WA/Portland OR by 7.

I was bored on the trip from the beginning, so I decided to list the different states of plates I saw.

I was surprised by how many we saw.

20 states, 2 different Canadian & 1 government.

Washington (duh!), Oregon (countless), California (11), Indiana, Nevada, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado, Texas, Arizona (2, 1 u haul, 1 car), Montana (2, 1 car-1semi), Oklahoma (3, 2 semis - 1 car), North Carolina (semi), Rhode Island (semi), Idaho (semi), Wisconsin (semi), BC (british columbia canada...5), Ontario Canada (semi and my first time seeing that one), and the oddball...USA Army (semi).

It was fun way to pass the time in the car.

Day 246 [Goodbyes]

6 years 24 days

Today we said goodbye.

It's not like I'm never going to see you again, afterall, we are related.

It's just going to be hard not seeing your smiling face everyday like I have for the past six years and twenty-four days. 

You really became like one of my own and I'm going to miss you dearly from my daily life.

It's bittersweet to say goodbye.

You are ready for Kindergarten and the open doors that await you in life.

I'm ready to start the next chapter in my life and see what that may bring.

But there is a piece of me that wishes I could hang on just a little longer. 

I can't though, I have to let you go. 

Your big boy life is starting to take off!  New friends, new school, new things to see and do.

While I won't be there, day to day, to share in it, I will be cheering you on.

There will always be a special place in my heart just for you.....

my little buggaboo!

Day 245 [Tube O Paste]

I have a fantastic husband.

Really. FANTASTIC!

He does the dishes, irons his own clothes, puts the toilet seat down, provides well for our family, works hard, makes me laugh, just a great, all around guy, until....

we get to the tube of toothpaste!

I like the tube squeezed from the bottom, keeping it nice and neat.

He man handles it, centers his hand on the tube and squeezes it like he's milking a cow!

Drives me insane!

The seam on this tube is starting to buckle under the man handling.

I'm seriously considering separate tubes next time I buy paste.

Day 244 [From the Side]

Today I set my camera down on the little accent table that sits in my studio.

I removed the lens cap, turned the camera on and pushed the button.

This is the view of my studio table, in the process of updating my photo a day album.