I'm green with envy as most of my teacher friends and family went back to school/class today. I miss it! The original "2 year stay at home mom" plan had me returning to the classroom as a teacher, welcoming students today, but alas 'tis not the revised plan. Ho hum. Anyway, good luck and have a great year!

A few nights ago Daddy couldn't get Megan to cooperate with teeth brushing. He told her that if she brushed her teeth, she could put his change in her piggy bank - a big treat at our house. Ever since then she won't even start to brush her teeth without first securing change, in sight, for the completion of brushing her teeth. It used to be just night time, but today I corraled her into the bathroom and said, "Let's brush teeth." She said, "Um, where's my money stack?" This is going to be expensive...

I was reading this very interesting, very captivating book at an hour I shouldn't even mention when lo and behold I turned the page...all of a sudden it didn't make any sense. I turned the page back, reread the last few sentences, turned the page again, and it didn't make sense again. Hmmmm....frustrating. So I looked at the page numbers. It went from page 662 to page 695! There wasn't any evidence of pages missing, like a chunk of the paperback spine missing or anything; there just simply were no pages! Of course it was an unmentionable hour, and the library is closed today, so I am stuck! And if you're a reader, you know that is an awful place to be!!!

We had 4 Ranger tickets, so I had this (seemingly) brilliant idea for the Megan and Ellie to take their daddies to the game. Which might've been a better idea had there not been a little, okay huge, pop-up storm form directly over the Ballpark and pour rain for over an hour. The girls played in the puddles and ran around during the rain delay, which would explain part of why my daughter looks so scraggly (course I didn't send her all decked out after her trip to the pool today). They ate hot dogs, candy, and brought home all the fruit I sent. They played "baby" where Ellie would hold Megan and say she was her baby (hugs below). The sweet daddies stayed until after the ever popular dot race even though it was so late. I've got to hand it to the guys; we threatened them (with bodily harm) if they didn't take and bring home pictures. It worked!

I suppose we'll go through "Ellie withdrawl" next week...

I forgot to mention Megan's potty trip while Grandpa was here. They left for McDonalds, but then I heard them come back in about 5 minutes later. I heard, "Potty!", so they did the hussle. Daddy and I tried to help, but Megan said, "Hey, my Grandpa will help. Don't you worry, my Grandpa will do it." She wouldn't let us near her...poor Grandpa...

Grandpa came over to have a swim party with Megan. He brought a diving mask and diving toys which Megan said were "beautiful!" They were on their own for most of the time, but I went to the pool to sneak a few pictures. Too cute! Afterwards, Grandpa took her to lunch at McDonalds - a perfect treat! She was absolutely exhausted when she got home, but also extremely appreciative. What a perfect day! Thank you for such a wonderful day.

Today we went to Splash Factory for the first time this summer! Sad, huh? We spent so much time there last year that it's hard to believe we haven't been hanging out there all this summer. We met our friends Ellie and Joanna, oh and Baby Carter too, and I will have to say that this was a highlight of the summer. The girls had a blast! We didn't have a single incident. We had the entire park to ourselves, so the girls just ran and explored the entire time. The mommies talked about everything under the sun while we got some sun.


"Erica, watch me splash!" said Ellie.


Running through the fountains


Playing "mermaid" and what's with the pose?


The girls playing a running game.


"March with me!"

Picture it: 12:48 a.m., me dozing off in the bed while watching volleyball. I awoke, startled, to screaming from down the bedroom hall. Megan had been escaping from bed when we put her to bed back at around 8:30 p.m., so the baby gate was up in her doorway; therefore, she was stuck. She was crying and screaming, "Mommy! I have to go pee pee. Hurry! I have to go pee pee!" I ran down the hallway narrowly dodging matchbox cars on the floor, flipped on the light, and stood in front of the gate. She took a deep breath, held her sippy cup over the gate, and said (very calmly), "I don't really need to go pee pee, but could you fill up my cup with more water?" Um, excuse me? I said, "No ma'am. You said you needed to go, so we're going." Her response, "Well, okay, I'll go, but you'll get my water right?" Seriously. FAKER! I'll give it to her though...she knows how to make an old woman run.

"Oh no, Mommy. Those boys dropped their flutes!" as said when our guys dropped the baton.

They'd thank me for the wonderful night's sleep they had last night courtesy of the new mattress. Not once did I wake up with numb hips! I slept all night long, maybe even in the same position all night long (might know that answer if my neck could talk). Looking forward to tonight!

that I always buy the most wrinkly sheets on the market? I bought new sheets for our bed, several months ago, and just got around to washing them to put on the bed - on my new comfy mattress that was delivered today. I shopped and shopped for a soft texture and "wrinkle-free" designation to avoid what I saw when I opened my dryer today. These sheets - definitely not cheap - look like a piece of paper that has been wadded and rewadded 20 times. The only way they will be wrinkle free is if I stand and iron them, and even then I think it's a crap-shoot. I read the tag and followed the directions...sheesh. We're just sleeping on wrinkles.

The levered door handles are on my last nerve again. Megan continues to welcome herself to areas where we'd rather her stay completely out - my scrapbook room and our bedroom. It seems nothing is safe in those two rooms. So I've started locking them when I remember. They have a little flat indention instead of a key, so I've been using a butter knife to open them for entry. Little Miss Eyeballs has apparently been taking notes although I thought I was being so sly. I folded a load of laundry and went to put it away when I came upon Megan with a steak knife trying to open my bedroom door! She proceeded to meltdown and have drama because she is "a big girl and can use a knife now." Well, that's kind of true because I've let her "cut" some of her food with her plastic IKEA knives but that's a far cry from the the steak knife. And I know you can't imagine, but reasoning does not really work with this girl....she thinks the whole issue is that she isn't a big girl (I know because she keeps whining to me about it).

While Daddy was out of town for work, Megan and I spent a few nights at Grandma and Grandpa's house. While there I actually slept through the night without waking up with numb hips/legs. Apparently my bed is rough on my body. It took a couple of nights after getting home to figure it out (one night I slept in the guest room; one night I slept on the couch), but it is our mattress for sure. So today Megan and I went mattress shopping. What a hoot! Megan's job was to bounce and flip-flop while I laid on the bed to make sure it didn't bounce me all around. We narrowed it down to a few very comfy ones and then waited for Daddy-o to get home. We took him back to the mattress store, and he quickly came over to my side of thinking. Megan bounced and flip-flopped for Daddy, too, and hopefully we found the perfect bed. I should be sleeping better on Wednesday night.

Oh yes, as of today, we've been married for 12 years. I've been trying to come up with something sappy, romantic, gushy, ridiculous, meaningful, embarrassing, sexy, appreciative, and just plain perfect for today, but my brain is not functioning properly. Therefore, "Happy Anniversary, Daddy-o!" is going to have to cut it for now.

Megan got to stay up to watch Michael Phelps' race - live. We cheered and cheered, and these were her reactions to his 1/100th of a second win. I wish I'd had the video camera on her...

Megan would climb up and down Grandma's stairs several times a day. Very early on, she decided to straddle the bannister area. I asked her what she was doing, and I got, "I just ridin' a tractor."

Grandma found a very cool program today and made Megan into a Bobble-head. Check it out HERE

Megan fell down a few stairs at Grandma's house. It really was only 3-4 stairs, instead of the entire staircase and out the front window, but it scared me to death. I ran in from downstairs; Uncle Scott ran in from upstairs. She wasn't hurt, but she was very scared. I scooped her up and brought her to the rocking chair where I assessed her head to toe. I asked her what happened, and at first she said it was just an accident and that she slipped. However, the story took a quick turn and she decided to paint a very dramatic picture of a very dramatic event. Her version of the story? Uncle Scott pushed her down the stairs! She had us all in stitches with her, "Uncle Scott pushed me! That wasn't fair, Uncle Scott!"

Uncle Scott brought Megan a seashell from Seattle. Megan thinks it's a little hat.

Sorry it's a day late, but I had photo card to computer issues yesterday...

Uncle Scott wouldn't let her come outside while he talked to Kelci, so Megan made the best of the situation. BTW, she was in tears! I seem to recall some little 2-3 year old boy doing the same thing to his big sister about 15 years ago...

Megan's day can be best described by Grandma at Grandma's blog. Oh my.

Megan has an obsession with "fitting" people with shoes whether they are even close to the right size or not. She tries to put her shoes on me, my shoes on Daddy, Daddy's shoes on me, her shoes on Daddy, etc, etc, etc. This morning I had to sit for my fitting of Belle glass slippers. If you haven't ever had your adult feet squeezed into a 3 inch curved piece of plastic, well, you're missing out. I was informed that once I had all 10 toes shoved in that I was ready to go to the ball at the castle. Whoo hoo.

How come it is that I have heard the National Anthem probably 4 million times in my lifetime, but when they play it at a medal ceremony I get chill bumps?

The T.V. is sucking me dry! As you may already know, I'm a news junky and there are several - several - news stories I'm following (probably too much for my own good). From John Edwards, to the missing girl in Orlando, to Russia/Georgia fighting, to the campaign trail, to Bernie Mac, to the stabbing in China...I'm in "news junky overload"! If that wasn't enough, then they had to go and start the Olympics. I'm a sucker for all of the "from nothing to olympian" stories that seem to be the true reason for the Olympic coverage - forget they're playing or competing in the background, make me cry with the sad, sad story. Back to watch more coverage lest I miss a story...

Megan saw a picture of Uncle Jeff holding her when she was a baby. This is the "sentence" that followed her pointing to the picture...in a rushed, shortness of breath kinda way.

"Oh look it's Uncle Jeff holding Baby Megan and he's a nice boy! He played dragon with me right there (pointing to the playroom) and I slayed him with my sword and he falled down and I hit him with my baseball bat but he didn't get angry because you got angry but he didn't get angry and I love my Uncle Jeff and he wants to come play dragon with me again today."

And where was my camera? At home on the charger. But I wish I'd had it today as we finally got together again with Megan's friend Ellie! It has been months since the two girls have played together (don't worry, we mommies feel like crap about it enough...), and they picked right up where they left off many moons ago. They played dress-up the entire time, and were quite concerned with making sure the other one was decked out enough. Megan's obsession is glass slippers, so she had to make sure they both had glass slippers on at all times; Ellie was concerned that they each had a tiara on at all times. Their little conversations and interactions were absolutely hilarious. They danced, hand in hand, to "princess music at the ball." I sincerely apologize for any questionable dance moves Megan taught Ellie...I don't know where she picks some of those up! Megan was also very interested in Ellie's new little brother, Carter. She even got to hold him (yes, Ellie's mommy is very brave and sweet).

Thank you for having us over, and please, let's play again soon!

Daddy and I were engrossed in the Rangers/Yankees game. Megan did everything she could to compete and distract us. She started dancing while she sang, "Shake, shake, shake your booty..." She won.

True, there are a several things inherently wrong with Walmart. But today...oh, I could've just lost it there in the aisle. Twice.

First of all, I had to heave-ho my 30 pound 2 year old out of 5 baskets before I got one that actually worked. After the 3rd one, I asked the old-lady greeter for one that worked and she said, "Darlin' I don't think there is one in the store that actually works." Good to know. I managed to finally get one that only took most of my body muscles to keep from running over everyone in the aisle. Off to shop.

I had very few things on the list but one "non-negotiable" was potato chips. I had it in my mind to buy potato chips and Dean's French Onion dip, and eat it all by myself. I was salivating. But to my complete shock, there was not a single - I repeat, not a single - bag of plain potato chips in the entire store. They had sour cream and onion, bbq, Santa Fe ranch, cheddar and sour cream, but no plain ones. Not even the too huge family size or even little lunch size bags. I thought maybe they'd have them somewhere else, like the back-to-school aisle or something. Nope. They didn't even have an off-brand or Kettle cooked or anything. No form of plain potato chip. Is that legal? So here I sit, the thought still in my mind, and 3 pounds lighter because I didn't get my chips and dip. Ugh.

The one upside to the grocery trip was Megan's little "show" she put on while we were shopping. She would say, "I know what else we need!", throw her arms up in the air, and announce a food product. "Pork chops!", "Pickles!", "Tomatoes!", "Hot dogs!", "Muffins!", etc. She was so animated and got great reactions from all the old folks, which egged her on even more. She said "popsicles" one time, and a lady turned around to talk to her about popsicles. Megan said, "Hey, you want to get some popsicles for me?" The lady was willing, but I put the smack-down on that one.

I was watching the news this morning and sheesh...it's become such a hazard to leave the house! First of all, we're under an "extreme heat advisory" because it will be at least 107 degrees today. They predict record electricity usage by 3 p.m. today, so it's a crapshoot as to whether or not we'll actually have electricity - been there, done that one August a few years ago. We can't go to the park because the park equipment gets up to 160 degrees; way hotter than the minimum degree to which little people's skin burns. And let's not forget the crypto bug keeping us from the pool because someone pooped in a lake over 4th of July weekend and infected the entire metroplex. Then there's those pesty mosquitoes and West Nile. If I don't answer the phone, we're in the bomb shelter with our gas masks on...

We had a tragedy of epic proportions last week...Megan's favorite Cinderella glass slipper broke! Daddy took it to the "Princess Workshop" to be fixed, but he hasn't been able to find his "Princess Glue" (Gorilla Glue). It's been a rough week without the glass slipper, and it has been the subject of a few meltdowns. Today we were shopping at Target and found...drumroll...a replacement pair of Cinderella glass slippers. We also happened upon a new Cinderella beautiful gown, and I am such a sucker! She didn't even ask for it, but I wanted her to have it. Her current array of dress-up clothes barely fit anymore, and are piecemeal at best. She barely made it in the house before she was head-to-toe Cinderella. She talked Daddy into "taking her to the ball" and dancing together in the living room.

Thanks to cousin Ashley for her suggestion to make a countdown chain for our Disney trip. Megan kept telling me to get dressed because we were leaving for Disney World after dinner, so I decided today was the day to make the chain. We have less than a month until we leave, so at least now it won't wrap around the living room or be completely unattainable. Meg helped me cut the strips and staple them together to make the chain. We tore the first one off tonight, with much celebration.