You Don't Get Any Cabbage Unless You Pick Up Your Toys

This isn't a phrase you normally hear in a house with kids, but Emma has some weird love affair with green vegetables. If it's green she'll eat it! She was all excited when on her first day of school they had broccoli. We've never had at home, but we had to go to Fareway first thing then next day to get her a bag of it. Daddy also found a cabbage in the garden the other day and she dug into that too (raw....eeeew). She's also been known to eat an entire can of green beans. She doesn't get the green veggie love from me...peas and beans are as crazy as I get...although I will eat broccoli if it's in a cream soup!

The kids have evening swimming lessons this week and last week (they end at 9). I hate doing them this late, but when you're a working mom and apparently most lessons are scheduled for people who don't work in the summer, I make do. They are having a good time although it seems like half the time they aren't in the water - once there was a swim meet, one night I guess a kid pooped in the pool (again eewww) and tonight it rained! Tball is over for E and next week both of them start their soccer practices. It sounds like they both got great coaches, yeah!

I forgot to post something funny Parker said over the 4th. There was a black dog that was hanging around at G & G Blue House that everyone loved (but gma) and Parker said, "He knows my senses. That's why he's staying here."

P.S. I was wrong about the Mole...now I'm stumped! BB - I'd like to root for Jessie since he's a local boy, but he can't stop looking at himself! That's a little freaky.

Penny Pinchers

Here they are all spiffed up on their first day of school. Of course Parker has hair issues and Emma is making a face...well I get what I get and I don't throw a fit when it comes to pictures!

Parker is excited because they are already learning about science and they also got popsicles on Friday. I haven't gotten too much info out of him so far. Emma sounded like she might have been a little too excited on her first day of school Friday.... she got a green flag which means she had one time of not following the rules. From the sounds of it she was blurting out things when the teacher was calling on other kids. We'll call that a friendly fire and she said she was just sooooo excited. She did get a light speech from mommy. I'll keep the green flag as a first day of school memento!

Here is a goldfinch habitat that Emma made today. It has everything a goldfinch could want. A nest, food (it's in the nest), water, yard decorations and some sticks to perch on!
The entreprenuers got busy again today - this time it was selling Hi-C and apples. They aren't going to be striking it rich anytime soon. Parker set the prices at one cent. I tried to give them quarters and he said no it was a penny and they are trying to save up for $5. Ok, maybe he won't be an accountant like mommy when he grows up? He's not understanding the value of a dollar!

I'd like to go where no man has gone before, but I'll probably just stay in Aurora...

This pretty much sums up the way our house hunting is going. Basically we have too small of a budget for what we want. They either need a lot of fixing up or are missing one or more of the major wants on our list. There were a couple at the toppiest of our list and I stopped last night to look at the one. It's been vacant for ever, so I did a little trespassing and peeked in as many windows as I could. Looked great! Of course someone defaulted on it and there are now so many liens against it no one will ever be able to buy it...sigh... Another one that's brand new (didn't have time to peek at that one)...the same situation! I'm not sure why I suddenly got the urge to look, when for the most part our house is fine. Of course I wish it was bigger (and had a bigger scrap room) and we need new siding etc, but it does suit our purposes. Plus we bought when the market was a lot lower and now cha-ching! everything is so dang pricey. Even if most of these things have been sitting there awhile they still want a bunch since they had already paid a bunch a couple years ago for them. My house is extremely cluttered right now and if I just purged a bunch, it'd feel like a brand new house! I just hate to declutter and clean.... Oh well now since no larger house payment...I have extra for scrap supplies again...sweet!

In other news, Parker started school Weds and E starts tomorrow. I'm afraid Emma's teacher isn't going to know what hit her! She is more than just a little bit excited! I know she won't be scared, but will probably be mad when she gets home because there will probably be at least one kid crying. Emma is an early reader like Parker so hoping she doesn't get too bored, since a lot of what they will do, she did in Pre -K. I will post pics this weekend of them on their first days. Neither got new duds to wear...oops! That reminds me, need to shovel out Emma's backpack for tomorrow. They didn't get new ones of those either - worst mother ever!

Well so far we haven't had any more monsoons. The kids and I got stuck out in it Monday when we got 5 inches and we were drenched! Also lost our electricity for a couple of hours and I was really starting to get the shakes from lack of technology. Of course my laptop died so I basically just sat in the dark bored out of my mind.

P.S. For those of you too young or too old to know...the title's a quote from Wayne's World.

Fourth Fun

Parker does some golfing after the parade. He was pretty intense!
Emma won this giraffe on the midway and he went everywhere with her for the rest of the weekend. (He did get banned from the anniversary party though)
All dressed up for the party and she was hamming it up a bit.

Key to lots of candy...master the wave! You can also see cousin Peyton and Rylan across the street mastering the wave too.
My Grandpa Hansen riding the Brayton float.
Emma loved the big slide. Parker did not have any interest at all!
Hitting another overpriced ride!
Steve did a great job with the pictures! Mine would have been blurry.

Marilyn attempts to help with the hamburgers for the BBQ. She was quickly "let go to pursue other opportunities."
Parker learned how to drive a 4 wheeler...thanks Uncle Brad....
Cousin Drake takes his turn at the pinata.
Cousin Laura waits for the parade to start. We were the 1.5 hours early :-) The one time a year the town gets traffic jams!
P and E also wait for the parade to start. By the end they were tuckered out from catching so much candy!

Here is a smattering of photos from our holiday weekend. Sorry I hadn't posted in awhile. I think just the usual stuff happened - baseball and TKD, work and then getting ready for the 4th. The anniversary party went well too. It was held at the local winery and it was a gorgeous place to have it. You can see the guest book I made here. The kids start school on Wednesday. Thank goodness you can buy the supply kit thru the school or I'd be in some serious trouble right now!