Man this last week flew by. Granted, it was a short week for us workwise since we took Monday off to shuttle boys to their first day of school, but it still seems to have gone by rather quickly. That is a good thing since we have a lovely long weekend coming up.
Now for the Friday five!
5 thoughts:
Getting back into a routine was not as hard as I thought is would be. Now the challenge is adding meal planning back into the mix. We've been sort of winging dinners recently. I really must start planning, and planning on using what we have on hand more effectively.
I am going to do Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred for the month of September. I need to do something to kick start myself and I think I can commit 20 minutes a day to that program. I just have to modify all the jumping jacks. My bladder does not get along well with jumping jacks. Vigorous running in place will work right?
Both boys have survived their first week of school. Turbo is enjoying 6th grade. He's taking french and pops off random french words. With any luck this will refresh french for Nick, who also took it in school--6 years of it plus a couple years in college. Bruiser is also loving Kindergarten. He adores his teacher and is being so diligent about the papers he brings home and loves telling us about what he is doing in school.
Labor Day weekend is coming up. We have no major plans. This weekend the weather never really cooperates. At least we aren't attempting to do major home do it yourself work. Last year we redid the fence. This year Nick is planning on getting his archery hunting equipment rounded up and ready for the season and I want to get laundry done. Yep, big plans around here.
We have had rain recently. More rain than I'm used to really. We had almost 2 inches in July and are heading toward 1.5 inches this month. We are usually happy to get half an inch a month. Things have been damp, humid and strange. Our usual humidity level is around 30% if we are lucky. The 60% and higher is just weird. I'm totally looking forward to seeing tons of snow this winter. Yep, I said it. Snow. We should have our first batch by mid October. Probably earlier the way things have been going.
...My babies are not so little any more. They were just small enough to hold in my arms and dependent on me for everything yesterday.
Turbo as a baby.
Bruiser as a baby.
Now they are great hulking boys. OK, maybe not hulking, but still big boys ready to tackle school.
My Sixth grader.
My Kindergartener.
I know they are supposed to grow and continually move farther and farther away from me, but does it have to happen so fast? Bruiser gave nary a look back as he headed into his Kindergarten adventure. Turbo was nervous but excited to start Junior high. A part of me is happy they are so excited and eager to go to school. Another part of me misses the baby/little boy snuggles and cuddles.
But they have yet to outgrow spontaneous hugs and the occasional snuggle (mostly Bruiser for the snuggles). They will always be my babies, but I am loving the young men they are growing into.
I just wish it didn't happen so suddenly...
Put your spin on Suddenly and join Gretchen and Ginny Marie, they would love to have you!
Or our Black Hills vacation. In pictures of course.
First Morning a hot air balloon came and landed in the field by our campground.
We hit Jewel Cave.
Off to the Needles.
Cosmos Mystery site. Bruiser as superman!
Bear Country
Reptile Gardens
Family Photo at the needles
Still sweethearts after all these years
Mountain goats on the back side of Rushmore.
A passing look at Rushmore.
It seems like both a whirlwind trip, and wonderfully relaxing at the same time. We will definitely be going back and spending more time in the Black Hills. It was the perfect way to send off the summer. Monday morning the boys headed to school which is a whole other post all by itself.
OK, so I'm back. We had a lovely vacation. And now we are more than ready to get back into the grind of normal life, AKA back to the school routine for the boys. Although, the routine is different this year. Turbo has to catch a bus and Bruiser is in kindergarten. Which means he has to be taken to school. Adjustments to schedules are being made.
Anyhow, on to the random:
I will be showing more from our trip tomorrow (be sure to come back...) but I did want to say our first experience with an organized camp ground was great. We had water and electric, no generator, and a spot right next to the playground. Also, the campground was over run with bunnies. Seriously, tons of bunnies. They were semi tame and would come right up to us checking for handouts. Turbo even caught one or two for petting purposes.
Meet Bon Bon
No, it didn't come home with us.
Another of the many, many bunnies around the campground.
Chillin' and relaxin'
Cheeky bunny hoping for some cookie
Looking for crumbs.
There will be more of our adventures. Hot air balloons, caves, mystery areas, bears and reptiles.
I had a lovely birthday. My guys got me bling. A necklace, earrings and ring set. All with blue Topaz hearts. Just lovely.
Camping was good. The campground had showers and we once again over packed on the food, but it was a very good time.
Back to school started yesterday with a half day. Today is a full day and both boys were up early and raring to go. This will probably change come October when it starts getting colder out, but it's nice right now.
I must figure out some easy breakfasts that Bruiser will eat. He's not a great one for the cold cereal. Claims to currently hate eggs. Wants granola bars for breakfast. I don't think they are really breakfast food--at least not enough. The hunt is on.
And that covers my not so random this week. More vacation stuff tomorrow. Be sure to link up your random with Stacy! She who is now Random Queen, or our fearless leader of the random!
Whoop! Made it to Tuesday! Now one more day and it's vacation time. Or mini vacation time. Whatever, we are leaving town.
But before that, let's have some random shall we?
Last night, Nick put the pedals back on Bruiser's bike. He had been using it as a push/balance bike and was great at coasting. So, we figured it was time to let him try out pedaling.
He managed to do pretty good. He still needs to practice getting all the elements together at the same time, but he can ride a bike.
Turbo has orientation today. He's going to 6th grade and it will be at the middle school. Lockers, different class rooms, different teachers, all that jazz. He's excited. I more where did my baby go?
This is so true:
Thullee loves the toys we bring home for him, however, he does tend to tear the stuffing out of them on a regular basis. Or he has figured out the fun of playing this:
I may be a bit more outdoorsy than this, but it a place to start:
I hate it when shoes give me blisters. It's been a really long time since I got blisters, but I now have three on my right heel. And I really like those shoes too...
So that's my random. Be sure to link up your random with Stacy! She who is now Random Queen, or our fearless leader of the random!
This last weekend had it's highs and lows.
Friday we put in a new dishwasher. It's a fancy one--at least for me. It washes well and looks pretty nice.
All the controls are on the top of the door so you don't see them when it's closed. And it's so very quiet. Not intrusive like the old one.
Nick graduated from Leadership Academy here at the university we work at. It was about leadership in the workplace and it taught Nick a whole lot about being a boss and advocating for himself. He really got a lot out of it , but was glad to see it be over.
He got a nice plaque out of it too:
I hit the thrift stores with my mom and the boys on Saturday. We did well. The boys are pretty well outfitted for the year. There will be snow boots to get and a coat for Turbo and possibly some socks for Bruiser, but for now school shopping is almost done. Turbo has his orientation tomorrow for middle school and we hopefully will get a materials list so we know what he will need. Mostly the unfun things like notebooks, folders, paper and binders. He has pencils and such that he likes to use.
We had friends over Saturday night for Shish Kabobs:
After feeding the kids their kabobs, we put together a bunch of kabobs and the nafter they were cooked ate off a communal plate. A sort of eat what you want general plate. It kept the dishes down and was lots of fun.
Sunday was less busy. We took the dogs for a walk along the river. Thullee got thoroughly wet and had a ball running in the water.
The rest of Sunday was very low key. Naps, Chinese delivery and general laziness ruled. Although I did get laundry accomplished. Mostly. I still have towels in the dryer and a basket of clothes that need putting away. I'm calling it done enough.
The lows were Nick dad. He had knee surgery the beginning of August and now is back in the hospital with blood clots and pain. Nick spent a lot of time with his mom at the hospital on Saturday.
On Sunday, during the adventure walking the dogs, Thullee whipped the leash out of my hand and gave me some rope burns--tore the skin on my ring finger right above the knuckle inside my hand. Made it less than fun to finish the walk and do much of anything the rest of the day.
And now for MMMM. Freebie week so let's see:
Billy Joel: Only the Good Die Young
Time for 5 thoughts and 5 pictures from the last week:
5 thoughts:
We have just over a week until school starts. Time has been whizzing by so quickly! Tomorrow we will be wrapping up school shopping for the boys. How has it come up so fast?
And we have dishwasher issues again. The slightly used dishwasher we got from friends has developed a leak. We will be checking to see if it's fixable this afternoon. If not, new dishwasher bound we will be...
Next week we are giving summer it's last hurrah! Off to the Black Hill to take in the sights and experience tourist crowd and have some fun with the boys. Since we will be luxury camping--electricity, water and bathrooms (flush toilets and showers, yippee!), but sleeping in our pop-up, I'm excited about it.
I have discovered that artificial sweeteners give me migraines. Well, if I have a lot all at once. So only the occasional regular soda and much more water for me.
I went to the dentist for a teeth cleaning yesterday. Sadly I have a cavity. I hate the dentist. Necessary evil, I guess.
5 pictures:
New furniture in our living room.
Love my new chair, but I need a footstool.
On the new stuff I'm able to snuggle with my boys.
Guinness did great on our small hike in the mountains last weekend.
Thullee loved rock hopping around the lake.
Join up with Emmy Mom and do a Friday 5 of your own.
