leggy...

this is how i spent yesterday...

...and exactly how i plan on spending tomorrow.

saw eclipse with morgan this morning.

i left team edward.

abandoned team jacob.

and...
i might have a small crush on dr cullen and jasper now.
did anyone out there see it?
what did you think?

spent...

i would like to thank my daughter, morgan, for taking this photo of me and chopping off my upper half...despite the rockin curls sitting atop my head...

3:34 am is when i awoke today

i did not fall back to sleep despite the effort and 2 hours that i invested without return

i am exhausted, to say the least

i feel spent already and it is just 9:03 am

i promised the kids the pool today...

and they are already in bathing gear

damn! don't think i'm getting out of that one

i hope i don't fall asleep in the sun because there is an 'ozone warning' today...

we get those a lot in phoenix...

and i don't want to burn my skin... that is no bueno and my mother lectured me on the effects of skin damage yesterday...

i felt like i was 12

i have 2 days until 3 of mr c's children come to stay with us for a month

that's 6 kids for me while he is away at work

i'm tired just thinking about it

but...

we will have fun

{and i will have 2 built in babysitters!!!}

while unable to sleep this morning,

my thoughts wandered from my dad, to my mom, to my grocery list, to mr c, to our beach trip, to seeing eclipse with morgan tomorrow, to donuts, and then to my coffee...sometimes i feel like my mind never stops...just thoughts all of the time...

then i got up...readied myself...drove to dunkin donuts on mckellips and power and then to my starbucks...

off to the pool now...then home for a nap.

catching up...

finally some time to play catch up on my blog

right now the children are being somewhat quiet and have been banned from my bedroom

where the computer is...

they are not at all happy about this, but sometimes a girl needs some space.

summer has been swinging in full gear and the triple digit temps are here to prove it...

i think it topped out at 113 yesterday

while it was scorching hot outside...we took the kids inside to do some of this...

a little family bowling day

i not only brought my own shoes...but i brought a pretty decent bowling game with me...

i left quite proud of my 138 score

those are my blue bowling shoes below...mr c hates them and thinks that they categorize me into some sort of nerd club for having my own shoes...but i am not sticking my feet into shoes that who knows how many people have worn...socks or not!

lets see...what else have we been up to:

we spend many days in the week at the pool...

this pool has been our saving grace...i don't know how i managed to buy one of the only homes in phoenix without one...

sister and i meet here and let the kids run free while we sit poolside sunning our bodies and sipping on homemade strawberry lemonades...

the days are just exhausting i tell you...

just exhausting

this is the reason why all of the ladies were sucking in their tummies the other day at the pool...me included.
hello mr sunbather




i feel like summer is going by too fast so the kids and i sat down and made a big list of everything we wanted to do before they go back to school in august.
some of the ideas are fun and easy like water fights and family flag football and then some are a little heavier...like a trip to the beach and a weekend stay at a local resort
{those might have actually been my ideas and not the kids}
in any case...i'm not ready for summer to move on so fast

we have also been to 5 movies

taken the kids out for chinese and to a sushi bar

we have shopped

we have had play dates with friends and sleepovers with family

i have somehow gotten hooked on all of this twilight business after i protested it for so long

{team edward}

i have organized 2 pantrys and kitchen drawers

cleaned out my closet

had 2 really great dates with mr c

celebrated my nephews 10th birthday

we have watched mr c play softball every sunday night

we have bbq'ed and eaten corn on the cob from local farms

the tooth fairy has visited our home twice already

it really has been so nice so far...

looking forward to next month when i turn 35 and we head to the beach...

i love celebrating my birthday...

and were doing it at the beach again this year.

we will also have mr c kids here with us for the month...

if i could just teach my kids the value of sleeping in during summer and not fighting every other minute then we might be very close to perfect around here.

my heart is somewhere on the beach...

.....and it's probably somewhere right between these two.

Right about this time during the summer is typically when I start to crave the beach. I mean...I literally crave the beach. I need for my toes to dig deep into the sand while my body faces skyward taking in the sounds and the smells of the ocean. I love to hear the children fight over the roars of the waves. I crave to feel warm and cool at the same time. I need to be at the beach in San Diego.

We hit 109 degrees the other day. That's just too hot. It's hard to be comfortable in that kind of dry heat so we are either in the pool or in the house. And bad news...it's only going to get hotter. Does anyone want to visit Arizona? I will trade you homes for the summer...or for maybe just a month...a week...anyone?

I already began my campaign to get this summer's beach trip scheduled and on the books. Am still waiting for Mr C to give the okay as to when we can trade this desert for ocean. I also told him that if I did not get a timely reply...I would be heading over there without him. He did not like that text so much so I had to follow it with something sexy. I will not tell you what that one included...but it was sexy. Yes it was.

I have even began my 'beach diet' because that whole look good in a bikini thing is really catching on. I even cut my white mocha intake to just two a day now...calories, calories. My summer tan is already in full swing...my legs look like cinnamon sticks...who says the sun isn't good for you? I am under the belief that everyone looks better when tan.

So...while I wait for Mr C to approve this summer's trip...I'm going to go look through photos from last year. I'm even going to print a few of me in my bikini and put them in places for him to find...like under his pillow and on the seat of his car...maybe one in the shower...just as a reminder for how much fun the beach is. Maybe that'll get me to the beach a little sooner.

wink, wink

hello summer...

...i'm so glad you're here

{peonies arrangement from dinner with friends}

summer is here and i am so in love with it

i love that my schedule has been officially thrown out of the window...

it's gone...

it's been busy so far:

saturday was spent poolside and i came home with the sunburn to prove it

sunday night we hosted dinner with friends and a few of them stayed until 1 am

i have not had friends over that late in a long time

last night... sister came over for grilled shrimp tacos and scrabble

i have slept in two mornings in a row...unitl 9:30...

and then today...i snuck out of the quiet house early and headed to starbucks...

when i came back home...i jumped back into bed to canoodle and watch movies with mr c

after mr c headed off to work...the kids and i sat and watched alice in wonderland for the first

time...i loved it...every minute of it, and will probably watch it again tonight...

and now...i am ignoring the arguing going on in the family room...and the laundry piled high in

the laundry room...

kick your shoes off summer and stay awhile...would ya'?

♥

the magic of girls....

i love having a daughter in between my two boys

she makes me remember the magic of being a girl

the specialness that is part of who we are as little girls with dreams bigger than life

yesterday marked the end of the school year

so morgan and i decided to have a small but magical end of the year party

a party to celebrate the end of fourth grade

the guest list:

her best girlfriends

a small group of girls that i love having over

we tossed around a few ideas on how to celebrate...

and last minute...we decided to have an outdoor picnic in the grass

it was the simplest idea...

easy set up and easy maintenance

the girls made their own homemade pizzas for dinner

one pepporoni and one cheese

{i get my pizza dough at trader joes and it's the best i've found}

we also had a summer salad with strawberry dressing and crusty french bread

from the moment morgan's guests arrived...they were silly

and the entire night was their show

they behaved exactly how i did at my slumber parties when i was ten

i somehow turned into their waitress {that never got a tip from them} for the whole night...
i was running strawberry lemonade and panna water back and forth for these girls
i should have hired a real waiter or maybe even paid the boys to serve them...
maybe next time...
we set up our quilts and pillows right in the front yard...
right under our big ficus tree
we also brought out some trays and vases of flowers to pretty things up



they spent the lot of the night outside under the big tree
i love that they only came in for 'tinkle time' as they put it...



after dinner...they played all sorts of silly games that i played when i was their age...
they talked about boys and i was glad to hear that for the most part...boys are still gross...but that doesn't stop these girls from thinking that gross boys are still cute...
confusing, i know
they played statue and truth or dare which actually just turned into dare...
do you remember playing that?
i think it would be more fun to play as an adult...





i am so glad that morgan has this group of girlfriends
i hope she has them with her forever...
they already have their own very distinct personalities...




they danced in the front yard until about 9 underneath the big tree...
mr c and i hung tea lights in mini ball jars for the girls...
it was the perfect amount of twinkle for the night
the perfect amount of magic...

i learned last night that morgan thinks jake d is cute and nice...

and some boy named trevor b is not...

and one of the fourth grade girls has already kissed a boy!...

really....in the fourth grade

we finished off the night with chocolate cake...movies and snacks...

it is amazing how much food these girls can eat
when i left them and went to bed around midnight...they were playing rounds of MASH...do you remember that game?....

i used to play it with my sister and my girlfriends...

somethings just don't change...

when they woke up {too early on the first day of summer break} we had chocolate croissants and berries with orange juice spiked with pellegrino water...

it gives the oj just enough bubbly and zip...you should try it...you'll love it too..

after her girlfriends were all picked up and dropped off...

i told morgan that we should have more parties this summer just because...

because isn't being a girl enough to celebrate...

bare toes in the grass...

after a somewhat busied morning with picking up the one of

the kids from auntie's and a few errands and housework...

we put a stop to the day and invited a picnic into our afternoon...

have you ever just done that?

had an idea and you didn't think about it...

you just did it?

something i'm trying to work on...

losing the regimented scheduling girl inside of me...

i'm getting tired of letting the clock run my day...

so as summer is getting closer..

and the days are becoming more lax...

i've decided to let go a little

so far...it feels pretty good...

we picnicked in the front yard on mikey's old quilt...

it was warm and breezy...

perfect weather for sitting in the sun with my 3 little bugs...

we talked about college...dogs...summer plans...swimming and ants

there wasn't one fight...

that always amazes me...

{maybe because i threatened to cancel the picnic if the bickering started

or maybe because i bribed them to behave}

the only thing missing was mr c...

but he was at work...

somebody's gotta bring home the bacon

i wish for these to be the memories that pop up in my children's minds when they are grown

up with little bugs of there own...

...i hope that they reflect back and think of the little simple things

that they had during their childhood...

these are the days that count...

the days that left us with bare toes in the grass