Freshman orientation...

Yup... sassy kid is ready for freshie day!

She had a blast!  Today all the kiddos are gone.  The house is sooooo quiet!

Have a happy day!

40 continued...

I had a beautiful, sunny day for turning 40!  As evidenced by all the squinty-eyed photos...  Soooo... how does a sassy, goofy, dorky 40-year-old celebrate?  Ummm... about the same as any typical sunny, summer day!  Blueberry picking!  Oh!  My 15-year-old offered to chaperone me for my birthday.  She *swears* she meant chauffeur, but, hey!  Another year older, I'm sure I can get into a bit more trouble, too!  Actually... we got half-way to our intended picking spot & had to return for my purse.  Then, after all my triple-checking to make sure all the girls used the bathroom before we left, guess who had to pee in the woods?  Yup... maybe I need a chaperone more than a chauffeur...

Sooooo... when we finally got to the top of the mountain for a 2:00 picnic (ooops!), we discovered that the wild berries are gone.  Well... they're still hanging on the bushes.  But they have become "leather berries".  Or perhaps "blaisins".  Our dry summer seems to have hurried them through their life cycle.  Thank goodness for a beautiful view, nutty kids and a whole lot of laughter!  And a chaperone who liked the idea of another hour of driving curvy back roads.  (Hmmm... is there such a phenomenon as a 15-year-old kid who *doesn't* like the idea of extra driving time?)  Although, I wonder if she was having a little too much fun on some of those curves?  Maybe I should worry a little when we are headed down a steep, twisty hill and I hear "whoooooo!  Mom, this is like a roller coaster!"

By the time we arrived at blueberry fields #2, we had about 20 minutes of picking time.  And the kids wanted enough berries for pies.  Thank goodness they are old enough to actually *help* with the picking now.  We managed 5 lbs. of berries in that tiny window of time!

Then it was off to my parents' house for dinner with the family!  An evening full of laughter!  My favorite way to celebrate!  Oh!  Poor hubby kept trying to figure out what to do for my birthday.  He tried sending me to a quilt show.  Or to a fair.  Poor guy... foiled again!  I refused to go anywhere big and splashy.  I just wanted a sunny day filled with family and friends.  (Perhaps he put in the order for that gorgeous sunshine?  It was much appreciated!)

 

While we were playing a goofy card game (in which my brother-in-law and I completely whipped the competition), kiddo #3 decided that she was staying overnight and headed up the stairs for bed.  I love that the routines at Nana and Boppa's house are just as familiar as home!  My dad brushed her teeth, played the "over-jammie, peek-a-boo game", kissed Barney (the favorite toy) and the kiddo goodnight, and she settled right down for an impromptu overnight.  Which gave the rest of us a bit longer to visit.

And when we got home, this bright, happy sunflower was waiting on our porch!  I had no idea who it was from, until we found this little signature...

Yup... I've been Mickey-ed!  My buddy and I have a long history of swapping car decorations back and forth!  It's always such a silly surprise to find a new bit of humor on the side (or antenae) of the car!  This is the first time a plant has arrived wearing car decorations, though!  Oh, I laughed and laughed!

And to finish up a wonderful day, a teenaged buddy stopped in at 10:30 to say happy birthday.  (And to make sure his mom's Mickey arrived safely!)  The oldest two kiddos, teenage buddy and I sat around laughing and joking for nearly an hour!  And you know it is a good buddy when oldest kiddo comes downstairs in striped pajamas to visit! 

Oh!  It was a wonderful day!

Have a happy day! 

40 feels pretty darned good!

Really, I'm just an eight-year-old, five times over!

Lucie...

One of my best friends passed away last night.  She was my buddy and comrade in second trombone mischief.  I miss her...

A bit of randomness...

Youngest kiddo was thrilled to get home from Nana and Boppa's house and see her new backpack waiting for her!

My parents take the girls back-to-school shopping each year.  This is our families' pay-it-forward tradition.  When my sisters and I were small, my Nana took us back-to-school shopping.  Now my parents take our children.  Someday, I'll get to take grandchildren back-to-school shopping!  (Not anytime soon, by the way!)  I caught this photo of my dad walking with daughter #3 from JC Penneys to Fashion Bug.  You can't see it in the photo, but they were holding hands.  Big, tough, logger-guy out with his granddaughter headed into a totally girlie store... gotta love it!

The oldest two kiddos modeling matching outfits they found on our expedition!

This was a big year for Kiddo #3 (on the left).  She actually tried on clothes and had fun showing Nana and Boppa her "pretties".  She even joined in the imprompto runway show when we got home by modeling her new duds! 

And I have been *promising* to post a photo of our cute little house!  This is the view of our very favorite room... the front porch :o)

And, finally, oldest kiddo's favorite new shirt.  Hmmmm... what could she possible mean by that, I wonder???

Music, Random Mickeying, and Colorful Backpacks!

A two-concert weekend... gotta love it!  Saturday's concert was short and sweet.  Maybe because we went so fast?  A few of those pieces went maybe twice as fast as I could play them.  One of my comrades suggested that perhaps the writer of "Amparito Roca" thought that trombones were related to piccolos?  Let's just say "vivace" on that one means "don't take a breath, you'll miss 8 measures..."  But, hey!  Any concert followed by chicken barbeque on a beautiful day sounds like fun to me!  (Even if I am about half way through Amparito when the rest of the band finishes...)

Today's concert was an hour and a half of pure hilarity!  Our goofy crew went with "Thing 1," "Thing 2," and "Thing 3," for our WAY special shirts for this concert.  Our director referred to his baton as his "remote control" at the beginning of the concert.  Near the end of the concert, his remote control lost control and wound up nearly in the trombone section.  Did he slip?  Certainly he wouldn't intentionally throw things at the trombones, right?  Right????  Or maybe it was just our turn with the remote!  Darn it!  When I tried to snag the remote, the baritones gave it back to our conductor.  Foiled again!  (I do not have good luck wresting the remote away from anybody around here, either!)

Oh!  And oldest kiddo and I spent much of the afternoon on random acts of Mickeying!

If you see any victims driving around, just smile!

And then... home to finish a couple more backpacks!  Here is kiddo 1 holding her backpack and kiddo 4's backpack!

Have an awesome, very happy day!

Tigers and cheetahs and chains, oh my!

Kiddo #2 finished her backpack!!!  She's a wild one, alright!

K2 added lots of hardware to her creation... chains, charms, rings...

Oh, what a fun & sassy kid!