July 2nd... because that's how we do it!

As I mentioned in my last post, our area moves Independence Day celebrations around according to the day of the week that they fall on. This year, because the 4th lands on a Sunday our city has moved the big celebrations to the 3rd, which put the little towns in the area in a bind because they usually have their celebrations on the 3rd. So this year they moved theirs to the 2nd.

So on Friday my little family went to my parents house for a BBQ, some personal fireworks, and then to watch their little towns fireworks from the back porch!

The BBQ was WAY good (Go Mom and Dad!) but because this post is going to be picture heavy anyways I will spare you the mouth watering goodness (because it would just make you jealous and hungry anyways) and get on to the family fun!

Dad and the kids danced around in the back yard for a while, while we waited for the sun to get to a point where fireworks would be fun... Then we went into the front yard for some firework fun... but we had to break the kids in slooooowly :) You know, since they had been asking since they woke up this morning when we were going to do fireworks!

With hand held fireworks and PopIt's!

But even with the slow "breaking in" we still scared a baby dear out of hiding! I don't know if you can see it in the middle of the road there... it was moving pretty quickly and my reaction time with the camera wasn't as fast as it needed to be! He was a lot closer when we first saw him!

Then we went back to doing the Roman Candles... the kids loved then and we all counted up to ten as each one used up it's 10 charges :)

And, yes! That is a rare picture of me! I know... your amazed... I actually remembered to hand my camera off! And then Goober decided he needed to get into the picture too...

Silly Kiddo!

He cracks me up! Ahhhh the firework glasses (they had a prismatic effect so they made the fireworks all that much more colorful!)

The kids were ecstatic as they each got to take turns with helping light the fireworks and running as fast as their legs would carry them! Sometimes bringing expired fireworks back to put in the trash pile :)

And then there is the never fail Sparklers! :) Those are always a hit! Turbo even got a little bit of freedom with his....

Goober was nervous about the ones shooting in the air falling on him, so he decided the safest place was in the back of grandpa's truck in the garage! lol

Guess we didn't start out slow enough! :D

"Flowers" are always fun to chuck in the water... nothing puts those suckers out once they get going!

After a few more fireworks we moved to the backyard to wait for the "big" fireworks! The kids each borrowed one of Gma and Gpa J's jackets because I forgot to gab theirs from home before we can up... then Gpa started the fire pit until the cities fireworks started.

It was a great night! Thanks Mom and Dad! Your the best and our whole family had a blast!

Hoping it will start to feel like summer...

before I have to start doing school shopping.

Last weekend I went to Boise for a Bloggersnacker with some of the FMH women... it was an all weekend long thing where you bring yourself and stuff to spend the night and of course some munchies. It was really fun and I really wished I could stay all weekend long, but alas I had to be home by Saturday night due to the Neighborhood Watch BBQ that I was in charge of. So I ended up leaving the delightfully hilarious FMH ladies with whom I wish I had gotten a chance to know better, really early in the morning (well, really early if you have stayed up till 2 the night before...) in order to get back to IF in time for the BBQ without konking out on the long (and might I say BORING) drive home alone from Boise.

The BBQ turned out okay I guess. At the moment I'm rather frustrated with my neighborhood. They say they will support you in something and then don't follow through. I'm having a bit of difficulty finding anyone willing to make it so that if I NEED to skip an event I can... and needless to say, donations toward the signage are going rather slow. Honestly there are a lot of houses in our neighborhood, and all it would take is 20 of them donating $5 to get the signs up... Ya, it's going slow, and I must say I'm rather underwhelmed. If I don't start seeing more support from my neighbors I think that I may just come to the conclusion that most of them aren't interested in having a neighborhood watch (some are interested in it mind you! just not many) and I will bag it. It's not worth the time and effort working on things that people aren't interested in or willing to support. Let alone the fact that I'm having everything translated into Spanish and not ONE Spanish speaker has shown up to either of the events. Why am I doing this if no one is benefiting? I regretted not staying at the Bloggersnacker in Boise.

Monday I went to the Chiropractor and got my back adjusted, then Wednesday I called and canceled further appointments until I can afford them. Started to seriously consider going back to school... and was going to start looking into it yesterday but got distracted somehow. Which happens often do to the kids asking to go do something like this:

 or this:

:) They are sweet and I love them to death....

Today is the last day of Goober's Summer School. He was behind in reading so they asked if he would do summer school, which actually I would prefer simply because me keeping a schedule for him and I reading to each other is a bit of a mess... and often doesn't happen. I know.... bad mom. Anywho, with summer school he was less likely to get any farther behind than he already was so I jumped for it.

Well, today is the last day, and I had a Dermatologist appointment to get to this morning. I didn't realize that Goober was likely to get out early today until he told me last night. So I let him skip out on school, because honestly, I was worried he would come home when I was gone to my appointment and totally freak out. My friend Erin watched them while I went to my appointment.

I love having friends that I trust with my kids and that I don't feel like I'm imposing on when I do. Plus, she has dogs... which Turbo HATES, but which are good for him because he really needs to learn to be okay with them. Erin is sweet and manages to keep him untraumatized. They are sweet dogs too, so he has absolutely no reason to be afraid....now I just wish he would internalize that!

The doctor froze off two spots on my skin so now I have ouchness, but I'd rather that than cancer... Thankyouverymuch. Fair skin can suck.

So anyways, June was nuts and I felt like I hardly had a moment to think let alone relax! Hopefully July will be better and I will find that the kids don't pick on each other to the point that my sanity goes out the window. I really need to look into when the Library does "reading time" and when the pools next session of lessons are even though I'm not terribly sure we can afford it this year. It's a safety thing though, so I really really WANT to afford it for them.

Tomorrow our family is going to my parents house for our annual fireworks! My parents get fireworks for the group, we have a BBQ then light them off, when they are done we move to the back yard and watch their little towns fireworks because the view is really good :) It's wonderful to be able to do that, if my kids get too droopy I can always go lay them down inside! As always the weekend of the 4th is always a bit insane, this year our city is moving the celebration from the 4th to the 3rd because the 4th is on a Sunday (don't ask me... I don't really get why celebrating our Independence is not Sabbath worthy... ) so because of that my parents little town moved theirs to the 2nd because they don't want to have to compete with the bigger city (now, I DO get that).

I don't know if we will be going to the parade or not... mainly because if the kids are up late the night before they may be a major handful the next morning, but we will see. I would really like to go.

Anyhow, that is that.... as they say. Oh! and I taught myself how to do a 4 strand braid. Yay me! lol

Mommy Rhapsody

Mommy Rhapsody from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

SOOOOOOO TRUE :)

Chiropractors

So I went to the Chiropractor this morning... which was nice in that now I feel much more comfortable in my own skin! The thing that frustrates me about Chiropractors though is this...

They are expensive... even with insurance that covers them, my co pay is $30.

They want you to come back... like 3 times a week at first... that co pay? Ya, for one week just went up to $90.

I know it may be hard for them to understand, but I'm not made of money. I can't afford that. In one paycheck that ends up being $180 out of pocket. And hate to say it... I have a mortgage to pay, a car payment, power, water, etc etc etc... that come first on the bills list. I also would like to, maybe? Hopefully? though probably not going to happen...put my kids in swim lessons this summer.

And while I know that what chiropractors do is good and it will prevent me from having more health issues in the future...

It just doesn't seen $180 a paycheck urgent... you know what I mean?

What is Modest?

Okay, so a little background.

Those of you that have been following my blog for a while know that I've been exploring what I feel I believe with regards to religion and other things.

Some would call what I have been doing lately "rebellious","careless", or just downright "confusing"... depending on where you are coming from personally. I call it "trying to find out if I am what I am because someone told me to be, or because I truly believe it."

Yes, I've been drinking Tea *gasp* and wearing tank tops when I work in the yard *oh the horror*... and then there is that purple in my hair.... :)

Because of all of my "exploring" I'm finding myself looking at things in a whole new light. A different light. One that doesn't see Tea as a grievous sin, but as a healthy drink that has less caffiene than most colas (we are talking Green Tea here... you know, the stuff that is full of anti-oxidants and helps to suppress appetite so that you can loose weight. Call it justifying or whatever you want, but with my Insulin Resistance I really shouldn't be drinking sugar choked Hot Chocolate every morning, and I like something warm to help wake me up). I also no longer see showing my shoulder as something that may cause other people ie men, to think "unclean thoughts" about me.

So night before last I went to a Parent Orientation for the Charter School that I have my kids enrolled in next year. It was very informative and makes me excited for the Fall and (hopefully) all the good this school will do for my kids.

One part of the meeting was on what the kids should wear. They have decided that the kids will wear solid color polo shirts (any color) and dark blue, black, or khaki colored pants. The pants can be jeans (Horrah!), but they need to be dark colored jeans. As they were discussing this they were talking about sleeve length on the shirts...

"Is it okay to have long sleeves in the winter?" asked on parent.

"Yes, that is fine. Short or Long sleeves... as long as it's a solid colored polo shirt and isn't sleeveless. We want to make sure the clothes are modest."

Now, I know most Mormons in this area would think nothing of this exchange... and I understand that. They have been taught since they were young that sleeveless is "immodest". But to someone who is a non member or disenfranchised with the Church this screams LDS.... and I will tell you why.... where else outside of church do you hear the word "modesty" or "modest"? I'd be willing to bet not many places.

"They gave us a modest estimate on the house"... mostly in reference to things that are not done to an extreme.

Hate to say it... tank tops are not extreme... I could see the argument that halter tops or tube tops are. Really I can... heck! One wrong move and the girls can come out the play! Yikes! But when you see a nice womens business suit and the top is sleeveless does it really make you immediately think the outfit is skanky? In the past it would make me immediately think "Op, can't wear that!" and then I would go on... but never that the outfit didn't look nice.

So, to some, by indicating that sleeveless shirts are immodest... it appears to be a religious issue, not a "modesty" issue. And by default it seems to say "People that wear sleeveless shirts are immodest" and can be offensive. And it can imply not so good things about the speaker... one of the synonyms of "modest" is, after all, "prudish"...

Now, just to be clear, I wasn't offended by the exchange, though I have to admit that I did cringe a little for the thought that many people that are vehemently opposed the the LDS viewpoint might have an adverse reaction.

Sometimes wording can say a whole lot more than you intend it to say...

Adventures in Braiding

So recently I've become ambitious with Missy's hair again. I decided that even though I don't know anyone personally (that I'm aware of) that know how to do 4 stranded or 5 stranded braids, that I was going to figure it out. This is my first attempt at a 5 strand braid, and no, I did not try it "non-french-braid-style" first. I probably should do that...

Anyways, Missy's hair is a little short for it... hence the mess near the bottom and the end in a messy bun. So since her hair is so short, today I tried it with two on her head instead of one... and with the "french" part being pulled into the top.

Much better! Basically, all braiding is, is weaving with hair.... if you put your mind to something... you CAN learn it! (BTW I originally learned this from my favorite hair blog)

Anonymous Comment Day

Okay, this one is going to be somewhat narcissistic... just a warning! lol

What is it you like most about my blog, and what is most annoying or the thing you disagree with most?

Just curious mostly :)