A quick run-down...

I know... It's been a while since I made the time to sit here and say hello. Lots of stuff going on, but none of it terribly exciting.

-Pops and I are doing a Couch to 5K run/jog program and we go nearly every night to a local track where the treekids can play on playground equipment.

-Schooling is in "full swing" although now that we are going at it every day and have been working the plan for a while now, I am not sure that everything is just right for this year. So, I have been contemplating a few changes - which involves reading some homeschool books.

-I laid down the hammer and we got the school stools (which are hollow cubes that each kid can store papers, stickers, notebooks, etc...) cleaned out, tidied up and organized. There was a LARGE black garbage bag available for throwing away. It was filled half-way!!

-We went camping for a couple of days for Pops' birthday! Did I mention that here, yet? Hmmm.

-The enormous amount of book shelves were organized back to normal (Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony books do not go on a shelf with more learning style oriented books with dinosaurs and Thomas Jefferson, right?!?!) so that books can be found more quickly these days. (Read: Mom organized the books that the treekids brought to her.)

-Brats on Saturday morning for breakfast has resumed. College Game Day is back on ESPN at 6 AM Pacific Time. And the weather is getting cooler... it is looking like fall is on its way and it has rained off and on for the last three days!!!

-Branch had her lemonade stand open for business downtown in our little town. She did pretty well. One lady who bought a cup of lemonade told me that she was really impressed by my little girl's business. She said it was very clean an and she appreciated that. I must have had a questioning look on my face because she clarified that she kept the cups clean in the plastic bag, her table was clean, the pitcher was clean, she used a scoop for the ice and didn't touch it, her hands were clean even though she didn't use them. WOW! She must've been with the health department!! The gal told me that this was the first cup of lemonade that she has ever drank from a lemonade stand and that she usually supports the little kids in their entrepreneurial adventures, she usually walks away and dumps the cup without the littlest sip! So, she could also say that the lemonade was tasty! You Go Girl!! Maybe one more set up of the "treat stand" before the cool weather sets in.

-It has been discovered that Blossom will need to pare down... in a VERY BIG way. Yesterday morning, she traded out some toys (I keep all the toys in a storage closet and they have to give to me the tote of, say - Polly Pockets to get a new grouping of toys.) and had me put her kitchen in her room. Her room was nearly perfectly clean. Pops was up in her room to see if her statement of "I hung up that other shirt I had on for a few minutes" was true and he would owe her $25 for not believing her (the bet I suggested!). He nearly blew a gasket when he saw that there was no carpet in her room. Well, there was carpet, but it was covered in clothes of all sorts and some stuffed animals and other assorted stuff that was with the baby doll toy box. Apparently during the last clean the room session... all the things she didn't want to deal with, she stuffed in with the dolls?? All this to say that TODAY is not going to be too fun. We are getting out the black garbage bags and filling them for charity. Pops suggests five tops and five bottoms. I think she needs a couple additional items of church attire: two nice dresses, a skirt and top AND more like seven of each top and bottom (she wears shorts, capris and skirts) plus two pairs of jeans. IF that was all she had in her closet (with plenty of socks and underclothes) I think that she would be set. She just cannot seem to deal with TOO much. (So, sidebar to the grandparents... Little Miss Blossom does NOT need any clothes. NO CLOTHES!! OK? Kiss. Kiss. Thanks!) This is going to be hard for me. She is going to want to keep some tops that are... mmmm, well used shall we say?! Those are the favorites and with only seven tops? They need to be ones that are good for all things and can be more versatile and such. Breathe... Breathe... Breathe... this is gonna be a tough day.

-Ok, now I am so overwhelmed by this task, that I can't even remember what all else has been going on around here. But, I do remember one more detail about that little Miss Blossom. Do you remember way back a year and a half ago or so?? If you haven't been reading regularly, you might go check THIS out. Well, Blossom has been talking about her hair being in her eyes and how it is bothering her. She told me that she wanted her hair to be cut. SO, I didn't want a repeat of that other experience, so we looked at some pictures of hair on the computer and set to cutting her hair!! Here's a peek at the the new Blossom haircut!!

Before

After

What a BIG girl she has become!!!

-OH! How could I forget?!? Bump has just cut his fifth tooth and a snotty nose and neediness came with these last ones all coming in at once. One more is really working on popping through any day, now. Oh, teething crabbiness be gone!!!!

I do have a few more pictures of some of these other "events" and I will update this post as I have time in the next day or so with those pictures! So, I'll just delete this notice when all my pictures are added here!