{pretty things}

Morgan and I both got pretty little things. I bought these pretty earrings at a local craft show this weekend. The picture doesn't do them justice. Trust me, they make my ears look faaaabulous.

Morgan loves Minnie Mouse. She was tickled pink (or in this case purple) when she saw the pretty dress that Grandma Andrea made her. Doesn't she look cute?

Poor Gerard. All he got was a 103 degree fever. Motrin made him feel better. That, along with doing nothing but watch TV all day. He took a break from TV to play in his room and surprisingly he took out his old Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. He hasn't played with that stuff in AGES. In fact, I was thinking of selling it all on Craigslist. We've invested a small fortune in Thomas. We probably could've funded his college education if it weren't for his Thomas obsession. Know anyone who likes Thomas and doesn't mind withdrawing from their 401K? We've got everything a little boy could dream of! Anyway, he and Morgan actually played very nicely together today.

His fever was down to 99 by the time he went to bed, so I'm hoping this was a short-lived illness. We're supposed to go to the park tomorrow!

Oh, and speaking of pretty things, Morgan's pretty bathing suit appears to be a lost cause after yesterday's trip to the beach. Anyone have any good tips for removing mud stains from clothing?

{woo hoo}

Check THIS out!

{the beach}

It's official. I have become THAT MOM. You know the one. The one who screams "GERARRRRRRD! CUT THAT OUT!" from 100 yards away. The one who says "Sure. Go ahead and eat that. It was only on the ground for 10 seconds." The one who allows her 2 year old to run naked in public. Yes. THAT MOM.

Luckily today I was not alone. I was in THAT MOM Mecca. The Beach. When one of THE MOMS yelled "STOP THROWING SAND AT YOUR SISTER" all the kids stoppped and looked. Whose mom said that? Did MY mom see me? And the good news is that ALL the kids who were throwing sand at their sisters stopped.

We had a lot of fun today. We were at the beach for about 4 1/2 hours and I think Gerard left the lake twice: to eat and to pee. Apparently he should have left three times though -- he told us tonight that he peed in the lake once. I'm proud it was only once. I am THAT MOM, remember.

Morgan had a ball, too. She was covered in sand and mud from head to toe and EVERYWHERE in between so I did what any good THAT MOM would do when it was time to leave -- I stripped her down, rinsed her out in the lake, and carried her to the car.

Both kids fell asleep in the car immediately.

Goodnight! THIS MOM is tired!

{he means well}

Most of my blogging is about the kids, so I thought I'd try out a different subject today.... Big Gerard.

* * * * * * * * * * *

I love my husband. He's a great dad and a great friend.

He kills the bugs that find their way into the house. He usually wipes the blood stains from the walls/floors/furniture.

He takes out the trash and almost never has to be reminded when it's garbage day.

His clothes almost always make it into the hamper.

He can fix almost anything, even if it means fixing the squeaking dryer by placing a used fabric softener sheet between the drum and the wall of the dryer, something that I'm sure our local fire chief would cringe at.

He starts any project I ask him to start. I'll let you know when he finishes them.

He happily runs to the store when I realize I forgot the hotdog buns to go with the hotdogs I'm making for dinner. He doesn't complain that we are having hotdogs AGAIN this week. He also has an innate ability to find 87 other things while he's at the store...things he thinks we just MUST have. Little does he know we already had 86 of those things at home from his last trip to the store.

He also happily runs to the store to fill the propane tank that he swears he filled just last week. Or at least he was thinking about filling it last week.

He never complains about my cooking. He doesn't think I can tell that he's holding his breath while he eats and I pretend not to notice when he eats a bag of dark chocolate peanut m&ms after the kids go to bed.

He is the official bath-giver. It's magical. The kids go in dirty and come out clean. The floor starts off dry and clean and ends up a sopping puddle of mud. Magical.

He says excuse me when he farts. I'd prefer it if he excused himself before he farted, but hey, I guess I can't have everything!

Thanks for all you do, honey!

{camp tire-him-out}

Anyone want to contribute to Gerard's camp fund? He loved camp this week and I loved that he fell asleep by 7:30 most nights this week, too. As promised in their brochure, they kept him safe and sent him home dirty and tired. Very dirty. And very very tired. We'll be sending him for another week in August. We're ALL excited.

It was camp the way camp should be.

They swam every day. He came home smelling of sunscreen and lake.

He canoed. He thought it was totally cool that he and his boat-mate capsized.

He climbed the rock wall. He certainly doesn't have my fear of heights.

They jumped on the trampoline in the lake. Again, no fear.

He learned how to shoot a bow and arrow. Can't say I'm a big fan of that one. The last thing he needs is more weaponry skills.

They hiked through the woods. He came home smelling of bug spray. He also came home with about a dozen mosquito bites.

They sang songs, did some arts and crafts (the boondagle/lanyard sure brought back memories), and played lots of games. He loved everything about it.

Thursday was Family Night and we got to go and experience a little bit of camp. We only had time to try out archery and see the lake before we had to leave -- he had swimming class last night, too.

Gerard totally played the part for DRESS LIKE A ROCK STAR DAY today. He had everything necessary to be a totally cool rocker:

Spiky hair? Check.

Cool shades? Check.

Lots of tattoos? Check.

Tattered jeans? Check.

Awesome guitar? Check.

Bad attitude? Check.

Just kidding about the bad attitude. Mostly.

And yes, even rock stars eat breakfast.

One of his favorite games at camp is called Ga-Ga. I had never heard of it but big Gerard had. The kids stand in what can only be described as a pen. (Can I get one of those for home?) Then somebody hits a ball with his hand and tries to hit the legs of one of the other kids. (Again, can I get one of those for home?) If a kid can't get out of the way in time and gets hit with the ball, he's out. They play until only one person is left and then they start all over again. And again. And again. And again. I tried to take pictures each day, but none of them really turned out. Since today was his last day, I'll have to post the pics I have.

{rock star}

This week's theme at camp has been "Be a Rock Star" and tomorrow the kids can dress up. Originally I was planning on spraying Gerard's hair into a mohawk and spray painting it, but then I realized that his group swims pretty early in the day and his hair would get ruined. Does anyone have any suggestions for an easy rock star costume? I have an inflatable guitar he can carry if that helps!

{a white trash summer day}

Today it rained. We were in desperate need of a good rain so I shouldn't complain too much, but I'm going to complain anyway. Gerard is at camp this week (I'll get to that in a later post) and Morgan and I had planned to go to the park for our regular weekly playdate. Unfortunately Mother Nature must've had it in for us because it poured this morning. We therefore did not go to the park. I don't know what would have been worse -- the wet tushies, wet sand in places where sand should never be, or the obscenely frizzy hair (mine and Morgans!)

So to keep things interesting we played in the garage. Yes, sounds white trashy, but it was just the change of scenery we needed. All we need now is a screened-in garage door. (No offense to those who have screened-in garages. Laura, your parents don’t read my blog, do they?!)

Truthfully, though, it was great. I didn’t really want to spend the whole day inside so when we got back from the gym I parked in the driveway and we played in the garage with the door slightly up. Morgan thought it was pretty cool and only tried to escape under the garage door a few times.

Not exactly lounging at the pool with a margarita, but it'll have to do for today.

And happy birthay to Arleen and Jayna! I hope you both have a great day!