This only happened 2 Million Years Ago.

My hair. It's a strange creature. Ever since I started having kids, it's gotten more and more coarse. And more and more wavy kinky. My husband lovingly refers to it as my "polar bear hair" and avoids cuddling with the head part of me.

Also, I'm sorta growing it out. Sorta. I don't want LONG hair. But I'm ready for the commitment of "longer than boy hair." I know. It's been 11 years. It was longish, once upon a time. Like, in high school. Then, right before Matt and I started dating, I chopped it all off in a "I need to be my own person" angst. I've never looked back. And I have loved it. Truly. And when it starts to get longish, it looks terrible.

But I have an amazing stylist, Nancy. And if I'd just go see her more often my hair wouldn't be such the bane of my existence. On my most recent trip, she took me from awful semi-mullet to this:

And yes, my hair has some fabulous purple in it. It's making me feel younger. And less "almost 30ish." And everyone needs more of that in their life, don't they?

I feel just about as sassy as I look.

We're Cruel

Sometimes, you just can't help yourself.


And the tag that came on your most recent un-American purchase, sends you into fits of giggles. And so you do this:


Yes. We're cruel, but he doesn't know it yet.

We have a Cold Tub.

When we purchased this house, we inherited the previous owners' above-ground hot tub. We know nothing about it. Or how to run one. Or anything. Finally, someone told us to just fill it up with the hose, test the water at Pinch-A-Penny and do what they tell us. Seems simple enough, right?

We don't actually plan to use it as an actual HOT tub. We don't feel like paying to heat it, etc. But we figure the Florida whether should keep it warm enough to swim in most of the year, for the kids. So why not? So we filled it.

And we let the kids play in the freezing cold hose water while it filled.

It was some REALLY cold water. Did I say that yet?

Abbie agreed. Miles was in there too, but for whatever reason I don't have any pictures, probably because he was being wimpy. Also a wimp:

Mostly he just wanted to drink the water.

Anna was definitely the most adventurous.

Oh, and did I mention that she lost a tooth? I didn't? Oops.

Don't worry, Anna, I'd be hesitating getting back in, too.

The sad news is that there's a slow leak somewhere and we're having a beast of a time finding someone who will come out and service an above-ground spa. The good news is that after a week and a half, the water temperature is quite nice!

The Evolution of the Eating of Ramen.

Yes, we eat Ramen. It's one of my kids' favorite lunches. I do throw some peas or corn in there to pretend like it's healthy. Sometimes.

If you have children, then you know that eating spaghetti or any other noodle dish can be quite messy. This is where you thank me for not showing you how Lucas eats his Ramen.

Exhibit 1: Miles

Sorta uses his fork, but mostly just sucks it up as though he's a Hoover.

Exhibit 2: Anna

Very adept with her fork, but still must lean over the bowl so as not to have the "Ramen beard."

Exhibit 3: Abbie

Here you can see that we've moved on to impressing her peers. That's right! My girl can use chopsticks! Bravo, Abbie!

Me? I like Miles's method.

Lucas. The comedian.

This kid thinks he's the boss. The kids were eating on the floor, and he was just running between their plates and stealing food.

Yes, he had his own plate. Everyone would laugh at him. Then he would produce this face:


Also, he likes mayonnaise.

6 kids. 3 days. Not THAT bad.

Recently, we watched my friend Melinda's kids for her while she and her husband went on an uber romantic getaway for their 10th Wedding Anniversary. Well, we didn't watch ALL of her kids. Just 2. Porter and Elijah. And I will reiterate that we got the better end of that deal!

But it was certainly a real handful of kids. I couldn't even go anywhere during that time as my vehicle only seats 7 and not 8. It was just a matter of keeping them busy enough that they wouldn't start bugging each other.

There was some brain teaser worksheets:


and Clay:

And a lot of acting very silly:



We did take them to the beach which tried to give me a heart attack with the counting to 6 over and over. And then forgetting I was responsible for 2 extra kids.

And also, I didn't take my camera. Oops.

In the THICK of summer.

Just some evidence that summer is in full force round these parts.

Lucas wears just his rashguard for most of the day. Why change out of it, when you're just going back into the water?


Anna, well, these are her pajamas. Because despite the fact that we HAVE air conditioning, running it at 78 or higher will not actually keep you all that cool.

And Abbie, rotting her brain and all the knowledge that school has tried to ingrain... kidding, she's playing Brain Age 2. Take THAT Mario Kart!

Garden Update

If you go back here, you can be reminded about the small container garden I've got going on.

Well, I bring you new pictures. Growth and development. And success. Yahoo! I'm so excited for October's growing season!

My tomatoes, which grew quite well until we had about a week of record setting rain, which apparently tomatoes don't like and which invited a bunch of bugs to eat my plants. But! We still got (and are still getting) tomatoes off them. At least for a couple more weeks. Delish. We've had BLTs for dinner and it has felt awesome to know I'm eating something I made (sorta!).



And HERE are my grapefruits. Check em out! We've still got quite a while until they're actual edible fruit, but you know... progress!
NOW:

Fun with Friends.

Something I've learned. There are times in your life when you will just not have very many close friends. And you will get by.
But there will be times when you have so many close friends that you feel so blessed beyond measure and can't understand what you might have done right to deserve these people.

This post is about now. About my time of abundance.

I have the most amazing friends.

Friends I can scrapbook with.
Friends I can laugh with.
Friends I can cry with.
Friends I can share the most intimate details of my life with.
Friends I can share the most mundane details of my life with.
Friends who will watch my kids without a second thought.
Friends who I will do the same for.
Friends who I can call on the phone and talk to about absolutely nothing for so long that I go way over my cell minutes for the month and my husband threatens to take away my phone. Oops.
Friends who will come over for a BBQ with very short notice.
Friends who invite me to swim at their house.
Friends who live close. And sadly,
Friends who live far away too.
Friends who love me.
Friends who I love desperately.


I'm definitely experiencing a time of friendship gluttony. And I'm loving every minute of it.

Don't think that just because you're not in this picture, that you're not one of my friends mentioned above. You totally are. I just don't have a picture with you. Perhaps we should remedy that.