Rain Rain Go Away

BASEMENT.FLOODED.

UGH

Gadgets

I was recently accused of always falling for gadgets. Okay maybe a little true. I am always looking for ways to simplify life. For example, I love the swiffer products but hate the disposable toilet bowl cleaner brushes (yuck).

So my recent purchase is this wonderful (I hope) shower cleaner. I used my $5 off coupon and have now hung it in our shower. So far so good but I am only on day 4 of the initial 10 day test period.

We do not have shower doors, though. So you have to be sure that the shower curtain is closed completely so you don't get sprayed in the face. The first time I did it, Jaclyn was in the bathroom with me watching me hang this cool new cleaner. We pushed the button and it started beeping. We thought it seemed like something was wrong so we were about to peak and it started spraying. We both jumped back and started cracking up.

Now my husband has thought this purchase silly. Go figure since he is the voice behind the gadgets speech. However, he couldn't resist the urge to try it himself. He didn't tell us he was going to but after his shower one evening he pushed the button. Also thinking something was wrong because it beeps for a bit (I guess to give you time to get out of the way), he peeked inside and got sprayed in the face. I was laughing so SO hard! Granted he didn't tell us about this until awhile later which made it even funnier that he didn't want to admit it at first.

So, beware! Close the curtains completely while beeping. You never know when you will get sprayed in the face! he he hehehehehehhe

I wonder if anyone else is a gadgets person...

My Sis

I actually have 2 sisters but I only talk to one. The "other" sister as we call her lives her life in ways I do not support at all. So to avoid conflicts and potential calls to the police I choose to keep my distance.

Anyway, I get off subject. My very best friend and sister is and has been trying to get pregnant. I pray all the time that God will bless her to be pregnant. I know she wants it more than anything and is having a hard time with it.

So please pray for her that she gets pregnant soon with a beautiful and healthy child.

I have been enlightened in so many ways about adoption and I am by no means trying to knock that but she is not in that place now. I know at this point that would be too painful for her to even contemplate. And even though I know that is a wonderful road to take to build a family I pray she doesn't find herself on that road. Again simply because I know more than anything she wants to be pregnant. She wants to experience all of the changes that occur to your body (both good and bad). Plus I feel it is too soon for her to even ponder. I think I feel more at peace for her if that is the path she follows since I have read so many wonderful blogs about adoption. As well as seeing my friends adopt the sweetest little girl (even if she has tantrums on occasion. what kid doesn't).

I am glad I can't relate while at the same time sad that I can't relate to help her along better. I love my sister so much and just want all of her dreams to come true.

Please, God, bless my sister to be pregnant with a wonderful and healthy baby soon. She would make such a great mom!


Note: I should say that she doesn't even know that there may be any medical issues. It is just that she is anxious and it hasn't happened yet so far.

Funny

Does anyone watch Last Comic Standing? Oh my goodness... Josh Blue is so funny. He, I believe, is the oldest living person with Cerebral Palsy. He doesn't hide from it and does use it in his skit. But you don't feel sorry for him. I hope he wins at this point. It is down to 4 people.

We also watch Big Brother and I was cracking up with the Jase mirror face. Too funny. I don't know any men that spend that much time doing their hair in front of the mirror. The other contestants were in their diary room and making fun. The sad part was that Jase knows he does it and admits his mom named it the "mirror face".

And to round out tv time last night was Rock Star Supernova. I am not even sure what to say about some of the people competing to be the lead singer of Tommy Lee's new band. I have yet to watch the rest of the show but boy some of those people are strange.

Which reminds me.... I LOVE TIVO!! My husband got this as a birthday gift a year and a half ago and it is the best thing. To pause live tv - awesome. And the way it records so effortlessly...
I don't usually get to sit down and watch an entire show. I am usually in and out as I am trying to clean up, get my daughter ready for bed, get stuff ready for work the next day and so on. So I usually get to catch up on parts I have missed before work. And it is great since I can easily skip past parts I did see. Long live the inventor of Tivo. Yes, sometimes my priorities are a little off.

Dieting

I am refusing to diet.

That said, I really really want to lose weight. It is so hard and I am not sure I could really list the reasons why. One is that in my house I am the only one with a problem. My husband has been blessed with a high metabolism that allows him to eat any and all foods he wants and never has any consequences. I am hoping my daughter has been blessed with this as well.

I try to teach her not to worry about her weight or looks but to be healthy. I want her to never have to struggle like I do. There are too many people around us that only focus on the physical looks of people and will openly criticize people (behind their back but in front of kids). It always makes me wonder what they say about me. My 4 year old daughter has said things about being fat or someone who is fat. I always tell her that is not a nice thing to say because it could hurt someone's feelings. I also always tell her that she doesn't need to worry about that as long as she eats plenty of fruit and veggies and exercises. I always point out when she is simply playing and running around that it is good exercise. I don't want her to think she has to do some sort of formal workout at her age. Just being active is enough.

I fear for a couple of my nieces that they can become anorexic. They are 9 and 12. Too young to be so concerned but they are. There have been times that they have told Jaclyn that if she eats another cookie she will get fat. Even my sister in law that watches her has made similar comments. That mentality is so scary and damaging to me. That is not the message I try to convey. I simply state she has had enough junk food and needs to have something healthier. Never mentioning anything about physical looks. Only stating that to grow up strong she can't eat too much junk food. I don't want it to only be about looks.

As I watch my daughter in our daily life she amazes me with her lack of self conscienceness. She will wear whatever clothes she likes. Not because she likes how they make her body look but because she likes the color or that they are a dress, etc. I often wonder at what point she will tell me she doesn't want to wear something anymore because it makes her butt look funny or some other nonsense.

It is hard because the media always refers to body image. Even in Disney movies you will hear the term fat or skinny or some other in between. You will hear about beauty and almost always it is about physical beauty.

I also always try to reinforce to Jaclyn that she is beautiful because she has a good heart and cares about other people. That I love her face and body because of how strong it is and it is growing so quickly and amazes me with what she is able to do and think. I love her hair because it is a fairly boring brown color but has the most amazing highlights I have ever seen naturally with her natural curls at the bottom and most importantly it is hers. I love her beautiful blue eyes because they are the windows to her soul. They allow her to see the best they can and even though she needs to wear her glasses they sparkle when she laughs and create the biggest tears when she cries. And they are hers. I tell her all of these things make her a beautiful person on the inside as well as the outside.

I have asked her before when she has said someone was fat if she thought I was. She said no. I really hope she never does. I so want to change myself to be a healthy example to my girl but sometimes I don't know what stops me. I NEED TO CHANGE! I just hope I can find the strength and courage to do it.

Bugs

My girl is shall we say a "girlie girl" with a twist. But don't tell her that or you will then hurt her heart and she will be forced to "fight" you. For those are fightin' words!

For example, the world is attacking her if a bug, especially a flying type of bug, enters her personal space. That then requires her to scream as loud as she possibly can to reach the correct tone and pitch of the offending bug to scare them away. If that doesn't work we cower and continue to scream. I am surprised the police have not shown up in our backyard to see what the commotion is about. Once you assure her it is not a bee and will not sting or bite her you must shoo it away so that the planets can re-align.

She has made my mother in law as well as my husband stop the car because a midgy (mosquito looking bug without the bite for those that may not know what I am talking about) landed on her.

But when I tell her I don't like worms and don't want to touch a worm she laughs. Here is the twist. She will argue with me about worms. She claims they tickle and are perfectly fine to hold. Now I don't know about you but in the girly girl world I would have to say that holding worms is strictly forbidden.

Now don't get me wrong. I sometimes disagree about the worms strictly to show her that it is perfectly ok for her to have a differing opinion from me. And she should stick up for what she truly believes in. Even if it is tickling worms...

Oh and by the way, the midgy's are now ok too since all they do is tickle also.

Baby Mystery

Picture Jaclyn and I driving home from swimming lessons. This drive only takes 2 minutes at most. Out of the blue this conversation begins:

J: "Was I at your wedding?"

Me: "No, you weren't born yet."

J: "Was I in your tummy?"

Me: "No, not yet."

J: "Well how do I get in your tummy? From your pee pee?"

Me: "After you get married you can have a baby. And babies come out by a place by your pee pee but not until you are older."

J: "How do you make a baby?"

Me: "Well, uh, you see, when you are married there is something you can do to make a baby."

J: "How?"

Me: "Well, it is hard to explain right now. When you are a little bit older we can explain it better." sigh, ugh

Boy, I sure handled that well.

Not.

I always try to answer the question without too much detail. She has always wondered about babies being in tummys but the point blank question of how do you make a baby was a new one today.

I did ask her after we had changed to subject if she was ok with the whole baby thing and she said yes. So I was able to dodge any other questions on this day.

At least she still thinks she can marry me and live with me forever...
Even if she has to marry a boy...(boys are bad you see--good thing she doesn't have a brother)

Cows on the Freeway

Ok.

On the way to work this morning there was an accident so I was stuck in traffic. We were not moving much at all. I look over at the lane next to me and I see a semi full of cows.

And they are all saying, "Moooooooooo" in several different tones.

Now keep in mind that I work in our major city downtown so to see a semi full of cows is, well let's just say unusual. Not that I don't see cows all the time when I go places on the weekend nearish to my house but not going to work.

Of course I call my daughter and tell her to listen. Poor thing couldn't hear a thing. But she was tickled pink. I told her they looked like baby cows and that just added to her awe.

Too funny. I took a picture with my camera phone. Not too clear but if you look real hard you can see some noses poking through the holes.



Cows have made my Thursday morning.

Swim Baby Swim

I have taken Jaclyn in the water every year since she was 6 months old. I love swimming and wanted her to love it as well and not be afraid. So here she is 6 months old and we are at my SIL's pool and I push her under water and pull her up. And she loves it. She has the cutest what in the world was that look on her face. My brother in law even took my under water camera and snapped a picture. She has her mouth closed and her eyes wide open. She wasn't at all scared. We then swam around for a little while.

They next year she was one and we did pretty much the same thing. Except now she was big enough to go in an infant float but what she really liked was to suck on the front handle part. We had another fun summer in the pool.

By the time she was 2 she wasn't as crazy about going under water even though she would do it a couple of times during the summer. We went to Disney that year and she had a great time in the pool there and in the water park but still didn't like the water on her face too much. Even in the bath tub we had to wipe her face after every rinse of her hair.

Then she was 3 and started swimming lessons at our community pool. We did both sessions so they were Mon-Fri for 40 minutes every evening from June through August. There was 30 minutes or real instruction and the last 10 minutes they call game time. She learned so much that year. It was hard for me to let someone else care for her in the pool. I always kept a very watchful eye to make sure the instructors (who are the pool life guards) were also keeping a watchful eye on her. She learned to do a ball float, front float, back float, hold her head under water, kick and so much more. She still wasn't crazy about being splashed in the face, though. I even had to ask the guards to not splash her during their games. But she still loved every minute being in the pool.

While she was 3 we went to an indoor water park that was ok to me but she had a blast. They had a small kiddie slide that was just perfect for her. To begin I had to walk her up and then run back down and catch her at the bottom. We only stayed one night but that was all she needed. By the next day she was booking up the steps and going down all on her own. "Don't catch me, mom!" she would yell.

Now at 4 it is amazing to me how far she has come. She is back in her daily swimming lessons this summer. And not only is she still learning more techniques, she is perfecting others. She has no fear and just swims and swims till she is so exhausted. We went to a different indoor water park in the early spring and she was leary at first but then going down the kiddie slide with ease. Trying to go different ways such as head first, on her tummy, lying on her back and whatever else she could think of that the guards wouldn't tell her not to do. They of course were no fun and they were only allowed to go down on their butts. But that didn't stop her from trying and at least getting it in once before they told her no. We are thinking of having her birthday at this water park since it was just so much fun.

So that brings me to this past weekend. It was extrodinarily hot and humid in our part of the world. We spent Saturday afternoon, evening, and almost all day Sunday at my SIL's pool. We swam our hearts out. She would jump (more like dive at me) from the ladder. And lest we forget the biggest discovery of all. Can we all say CANNON BALLLLL!

We got tanned. Or should I say she got tanned while I burned. I always make sure she has sunscreen on but never do it myself. Shame on me. Now if only my legs weren't so pasty white I might look human. We just had a great time together in the water.

Yesterday I had to go to work and she got to go swimming in the afternoon as it was still so very hot. But after her swimming lesson was over we both went back in the pool and swam for about 45 minutes. So not only were we having a great time but I was trying to think of it as a great workout. I love things that are fun and you don't even realize you are using your muscles.

So here is to you, my little mermaid, and our fun in the pool this summer! We will make sure to hit the pool again soon.

Blah Blah and more Blah

I just feel Blah today. I am not sure why. There is nothing really wrong. Just Blah.

As a funny side note.

My daughter takes swimming lessons at our local pool every weekday evening. So we get there last night and walk to the pool from the car. I usually park on the side street and walk through the playground area. Once we get to the pool we hear a little rumble of thunder.

Bummer.

So we wait a few minutes as they have not cancelled swimming lessons yet.

It starts to drizzle. No biggie. They still swim if raining but not with thunder and lightning.

No lightning and no more thunder. But then it is as if God has dumped his bucket of water on us because it just downpours. We all scurry under the umbrellas set up for shade at the pool. But it is windy and pouring.

I am getting wet from the backside. I still have an my nice dress work clothes that are thankfully machine washable and not dry clean only. Hate dry clean clothing. I don't buy it but that is a whole other post.

Anyway, after a few minutes lessons are officially cancelled. They couldn't do that when I had a small chance of making it back to my car seeing as I don't have an umbrella with me?!?

So I say to Jaclyn "Do you want to run in the rain to the car?" I am thinking here is our chance to kind of play in the rain. But even though she only has on her bathing suit and flip flops she says no because it is raining. I tell who cares because she has on her bathing suit (again pointing out the obvious). So we make a break for it. But I can't run in my flip flops since they are now really slippery and for fear of taking a very messy and potentially embarassing fall (not to mention the physical harm I would most likely due to myself), we walk sort of run through the rain.

We were so soaking wet our hair was dripping on our faces, our clothes (really my clothes) were sticking to our bodies, my mascara is running down my face, and we are laughing. We get in the car and drive the 2 minutes home. It was actually fun...

My husband says, "how did you get so wet". I look at him with a duh face and say it rained when we got to swimming lessons and then it was cancelled. He didn't think we were going.
I am glad we did just for the funny story.

Then this morning I go to work. When I get out of the car I can't figure out why the back of my clothes feel damp. Then I remember and hope that they are not so damp that people think that I either was so sweaty from the drive that my clothes are wet or that I wet my pants. Either way not good visual. So I pray I feel it more than people can see it and walk to work. *I work downtown so I have to park in a parking garage then walk a little ways to get to our building*

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

I realize it is only July. But I have officially started my shopping. Now I have to make my lists and check them twice (or really more often).

I LOVE Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. And I DO BELIEVE IN SANTA CLAUS!

It is such a chaotic time of year for us since between November 29th and January 11th we have at least 7 birthdays as well as Christmas. Two of those are my husband and daughter which are both the week before Christmas. But that is all ok.

I buy way too much stuff but I find such great deals I can't help it. The kids we buy for love it since I spend a set amount for each of the kids and they get as much as I can get for that amount of money. The younger ones really make out since their stuff is cheaper.

Oh. Yes. I am one of those crazy people who are waiting in line outside in the freezing cold, hopefully not raining or snowing, day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday. I search the net the weeks prior for the leaked lists of what the sale items will be. I carefully look through the ads and plan my attack. Oh the rush......

Ahhh. I love Christmas!

Now don't get me wrong. I am not all about the sensationalism but what I do love is the family (most of them anyway) getting together, church, and the excuse to do things or get things for others that you wouldn't normally. I love to bake cookies and stay home with my daughter.

She gets so excited to see Santa and do Santa related stuff. To go see Christmas lights. To turn on our lights. I decorate before Thanksgiving and have a strict rule that the lights do not get turned on until the day after Thanksgiving. The stay on until New Year's Day. Then they come down and I get sad about it. I love cutting down our tree and decorating the house. I love to see Jaclyn's face when we leave the cookies and milk out for Santa. And then when she wakes up Christmas morning. I take my camera to my room so that as soon as she wakes up it is at my finger tips. I video tape and take pictures of her sleepy head. Last year her and I even had matching Christmas nightgowns.

I think this love of the holiday started when I was little. My grandparents used to do a big Christmas thing. I spent a ton of time with them at their house throughout the year and I know I have several things I love that I can attribute to this. I miss my Grammy terribly since she passed away several years ago. I go through cycles that I miss her more than others. Right now I am really really really missing her. I will never bake anything without thinking of her. My grandfather, Poppy, is still alive and fairly well at age 92. But he is starting to really show signs of his age. He doesn't live near us so we don't get to see him too often. I will get to see him this Saturday for about an hour. I wish it was longer but I will take what I can get. I am trying to take all of his pictures and put them in a scrapbook to give back to him on Saturday. Most of it is very simple since I do not know the stories behind the photos but I am hoping he will write them down or have my aunt do it before he leaves us. He has great stories and it makes me sad if no one will be able to pass those on.

What's Up

Not much here.

Pretty boring day.

Hopefully stays that way.

At least as far as work is concerned.

I heard from my SIL that my daughter fell and hit her chin on the edge of the bed today. She thinks it will be black and blue by the time I get out of work. I hope it isn't too sore. Poor thing. She is lucky she didn't bite her tongue or break a tooth. See apparantly she was jumping on the bed and was told to stop. But you see jumping on a water bed is just too much fun and therefore she chose to continue with her reckless behavior and refused to believe you can get hurt doing such a task.

Well,,,,,

She got hurt. So hopefully no more jumping on the bed. Well at least until tomorrow. She has a short memory for things she was told not to do. She is strictly forbidden from bed jumping at home. And couch jumping. And really from anything fun. he he

She really isn't allowed to jump on the couch or bed but it is hard to stay mad (even though I put on my most serious mean mom face) because I know we have all done our share of bed jumping. It is a right of childhood to jump on a few beds. Because before you know it we are grown ups and can't have any fun at all. ;-)

Next is playing in the rain.....

If only it wouldn't thunder storm at the same time.

Gotta Love a Great Deal

I went to the Children's Place Outlet near-ish to my house on Saturday.

Let me just say "OH MY GOODNESS DID I CLEAN UP!!!"

I bought so much stuff and it cost so little. I usually figure out what I paid and what I should have paid if I bought if full price. I just haven't had a chance to do that yet. I will though.

I even got stuff for my neices and nephew for Christmas. I had to. I got their jeans for $3.99 or less. Of course they didn't have the cute sparkly and such jeans on sale. But who cares when kids go through clothes so quickly.

I had to buy the cutest girly dress for Lauri's daughter and it was so cheap I had to share the price with her.

I told my husband I would have to go back again since I didn't have enough time to truly figure out stuff for gifts.

I would like to say that was the highlight of my evening but that wouldn't be fair to all of the other stuff.

My husband and his partner came in 3rd place at his fishing tournament. That was awesome since that means he won some cash.

The BBQ we went to was fun. Jaclyn would have had more fun had I brought her bathing suit but such is life. I didn't know and she survived. She was happy enough having on a dress and her hair in pigtails.

Sunday was fairly uneventful. We just hung out mostly at home and had fun there.

So here it is Monday again and I can't wait for Saturday. That means no work and staying home. At least for the weekend. I am wishing away my days. Sad I know.

Just a Quickie

Not that kind.....

Anyway, only have a few minutes this morning. Sooo very many things to do and so little time. So far I have already washed 5 loads of laundry, vacummned the floor, use the floor cleaner to clean the carpet, and take a few minutes to do this.

As I type I am trying to not see the huge pile of scattered beads that are all over my spare bedroom floor. You see they were in a case about 10 minutes ago until my daughter tried to make a little more room on her table. Instead of putting her bead cases back on the shelf she just pushed them over and then off the table. And well picture little tiny beads of all sorts of colors and shapes piling up in a big mess. So as far as I am concerned, at least for another minute, there is no mess. She is trying to clean this up but I am afraid she is more playing with the mess than truly picking them up.

Anyway, we have some playing to do outside on the new swingset. It is such a beautiful day we may even blow up her little pool and play in the water for a bit.

Then it will be lunch and shower time as we will then need to head out to the Children's Place Outlet. One of my favorite stores. I am truly hoping they have their summer clearance going on.

Then to my husband's fishing tournament. Hopefully he has a boat load (well 5 really big ones as that is the limit) of great big bass in the boat and wins lots of money. We shall see.

Then hurry home to change, gather stuff and go to our friend's party. They recently adopted the cutest little girl and this is her coming out party/bbq/I believe shower. I just hope we make it there since this actually starts prior to us getting home.

Anyway, off until tomorrow. Or possibly Monday.

Things I Ponder

Here are some things I ponder.

1) At what age do we start becoming so self conscience about our bodies. My daughter likes to wear certain clothes. Or wear her hair a certain way. Usually all, some or none in a ponytail. But as for worrying about how her legs look in a pair of pants or how big her tummy may look doesn't cross her mind. I wish we could all keep that perspective about ourselves and others as we get older. Because who really cares that someone else is wearing something that maybe she or he really shouldn't. (Ok. Well provided it is too sleazy. I do have my limits.) But if that person likes it who really cares. Does it really affect how my day will be?

2) Why or why does the person in the high speed lane on the freeway feel the need to go so slow. Or even dare I say it slower than traffic wants to move. Nobody says they have to go faster than they are commfortable with. Just move over. Why do they care so much to feel they are making a statement. THEY ARE NOT! They are just causing accidents. I watched a car in front of me try to slam on their brakes (apparantly they thought the car length in between us wasn't enough) to mess with me then realize that the car that had been between us moved over to go around. So she then proceeded to speed up to block that car from getting in front of her. The slowpoke ended up doing a little skidding to avoid the collision with the passing car. If the slowpoke didn't want to drive that fast why does she care so much that others do. She almost killed herself.

3) Why have I been sick at least once every month of 2006. Doesn't my body get it that I am tired of blowing my nose, caughing up a lung, and just generally feely like crap?! This has been seriously hindering my workout attempts. It does help to breath while working out. Just in case anyone thought differently.

4) Why can't I just win enough money in the lottery to quit my job and stay at home with my beautiful angel? I would find a way to give back. I promise.

5) Why must my MIL rearrange things in my house when she babysits my daughter. I know she is just trying to help but leave things where they are. I really do have good reasons why they are there.

6) Who decided in the "rule" book that women are the ones who have to cook and clean. Somewhere in history when women started working they should have revised the "rule" book.

7) How am I able to love my daughter so much. Truly more than words can describe. I can't imagine being able to do that so fully and devote so much to more than one child. I don't know that I could handle the stress of worrying about more than one child. I do not plan to have another because of this.

There are others but this is all I can think of at the moment.

CATCH UP

Sometimes I feel that is all I do.

So let me catch up on this blog. I think I fall behind since I don't think anyone would notice. So please if you are out there and reading this let me know. Maybe that will help me stay on track.

In the past week and a half we have been busy busy busy.

I picked up the swingset I had in layaway at Walmart much to my husband's dismay. He was thoroughly against this swingset but I pushed forward and got it. You see he likes the grass just so. A swingset disrupts this process ruining the grass and making it much more difficult to cut. While I say a backyard is to be enjoyed. She will only be a kid once and what does it hurt to allow her to play in our backyard since we don't often make it to the park.

So I picked it up on a Saturday evening and then the trouble started. It is a wooden swingset and needs to be built. I get home after they load up the two boxes in the back of my van (that doesn't have stow and go seating and therefore requiring me to take out the 2 seats and then lift and put them back in). The one box seems to be sealed and the other.... Well let's just say it wasn't sealed. In fact when he pulled it out you could see the slide was cracked. UGH. So I called right and told them about the slide but that I wouldn't be able to open everything and check it out for a couple of days possibly. I got up early the next morning (Sunday) and decided to start to lay everything out to see. Well we have a new undamaged slide as well as the broken one. Also a bunch of other duplicates but NO wood.

So I call Walmart again and speak to a manager and explain everything. She said she would see if they have anything else there. They didn't. She said I can return it. I asked what about getting them to ship me one from the website. They said I would have to do that on my own. I said I wouldn't do that since then I would have to pay an extra $150 in shipping. I asked what about any other stores. She called me back and said she could get another one from another store near her house (on the other side of town) and would bring it to her store (near me). So it was a plan. On Monday I take the seats out of the van again and head back up to the store. The manager loads only 1 of the boxes as her vehicle wasn't large enough to bring them both at the same time. She said she will bring it on Wednesday. OK.

I call her on Wednesday since I only had a small window to go to the store that day(so to be pro active I removed the seats in the van before work after dropping off my daughter). She says she had a flat tire and wasn't sure when she could bring it. Bummer. But she is helping me so I tell her to let me know when she does since I probably can't start working on it until the weekend anyway. She calls me on Thursday and says she brought it to the store and I can pick it up from layaway as she is leaving for the day. So I hurry up and take the seats out of the van again and rush up there since I don't want this box to get lost. Luckily there was no lines at layaway and this gets put in my van pretty quickly. I go home and add this to the growing mound of boxes in my driveway. They don't want any of the broken parts/extras back since they will just have to throw them away. So I had said I would just trash them at home to save everyone some extra time and trouble.

Along comes Saturday and we didn't have time to try to start this project.

On Sunday the fun begins. Now my husband is not the best when trying to do a "project". Especially one he didn't want in the first place. Next thing we know our neighbors from across the street come over and say they went and got one also from another farther store and are going to be building theirs at the same time. They came over to compare notes since our directions were a little bit different.

We were off to a good start when the sky decided it was time for us to take a break and thunderstorm for a couple of hours. That did not help us. So I started making the chocolate chip cookies I needed to bring for the 4th and of course the rain stopped. I put the baking on hold and we went back out to build some more. We got the entire fort piece built by 7pm and decided to call it a day. All that was left was the actual swing area with jungle gym bars.

Monday we had to work so we tried to finish but my precious little girl decided to tell her daddy a lie about knowing how to use the brakes on her bicycle so he stopped working on the swingset. Much to her dismay. Let's hope she learns her lesson about lying.

Tuesday was a full day and another post about the 4th. We got home around 6pm and finished the job. So now we have a fully functional fort/swingset with rock climbing wall and slide in our backyard. YEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Jaclyn is sooooooo excited. Even in her sleepy head one of the first things she asked was if she could play on it when we get home after work. Poor thing. I had to tell her maybe since we have to go to swimming lessons first. But she can after that.

Here is to fun in the backyard and no injuries....