All in a day's work...

Here are some random pictures from yesterday. Crazy girls, a cool rainbow, an awesome colored sky and beautiful flowers. Enjoy :)

May you rest in peace

This morning started off like a regular morning. After taking Reese to the groomer, I made a quick stop at my mom's house to get my camera. We drove up to Richmond yesterday to meet my brother for lunch. He doesn't live there...he was just there for the day on business. I wound up leaving my camera in my mom's car, so I needed to get it. Anyway...I took a picture of Colby and Marisa with Brian yesterday, along with some silly pictures of Marisa holding the GIANT cucumbers and squash that came out of Brian's garden. Those were going to be my blog pictures for today...

At 11:00, Marisa had an appointment at her school to be evaluated for kindergarten. As soon as we turned in to the parking lot, there was a sea of police motorcycles. I immediately knew they were lining up for the funeral of Michael Phillips, a Virginia Beach police detective who was recently killed in the line of duty. Because I had just come from my mom's house, I tore out my camera and took a few pictures. There wasn't much time though, because I had to get Marisa to her testing. Plus, I didn't want them to think I was some strange papparazzi...

Fortunately, when we left the school, the motors were still there. I parked the car and took the opportunity to talk to the kids about the police family (units from all over the state were in attendance), the danger of drugs, good guys, bad guys and everything in between. We eventually got out of the car, sat on the sidewalk and just watched and listened. The man in charge was instructing the policemen on how to stop their bikes and dismount. It was a series of several actions, all which were done in perfect unison. They practiced and then eventually left, two by two.

It was all very touching, very meaningful. Especially since my brother is one of them. God bless the family and friends of Det. Phillips and all the other men and women who are out there protecting us.

Been there, done that, already scrapbooked it...

Well, not exactly! We returned from our cruise to Alaska on Sunday morning at about 1 a.m. and are still trying to adjust our bodies to east coast time. Marisa slept in until 11 this morning! Hopefully, we can get the kids in bed ON TIME tonight in hopes of getting them back on track. After all, school is just around the corner (woo hoooo!)!

We had a wonderful time, and, yes, Alaska is BEAUTIFUL! We saw whales, orca, american bald eagles, seals, huskies, salmon, snow covered mountains, glaciers, icebergs (just little ones called berggies), evergreen trees, beautiful sunsets, rain, cool weather (we did NOT miss this humidity!!) and lots, lots more. I have over 3000 photos to sort through over the next few days as I just couldn't stop taking pictures! Now, figuring out which ones to scrap will be a whole other subject...

Stressed!

Thanks so much to all the staff and volunteers at our church for putting on Vacation Bible School! They all do such a great job and my kids just love it. Colby was singing the songs at the top of his lungs last night in the shower!

Last Thursday through Sunday, mom and I were in Chicago for a big scrapbook trade show. We returned in the wee hours on Monday morning. It was a very busy weekend, but we got lots of great stuff for the store!

Now, we're trying to get ready for vacation. We're off to Alaska where the temperature is only in the 50s during the day and the 40s at night. And, of course, the kids need clothes b/c last year's pants are a little too short and their sneakers are a bit too snug. Do you know how hard it is to find long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts right now?!? We went to Target today and all my kids wanted were shoes. Have I mentioned that they both have serious shoe fetishes?? They both loved the Converse sneakers. She got pink, he got camo. A much cheaper solution than Vans! THAT is why I love Target so much :)

I still have so much to do before we leave. Finish up a laundry list of to-dos for the store...register for the cruise...wash...pack...find a pair of pants for me (I HATE shopping for me!)...locate a money tree...clean the house...take Reese to the doggy "spa"...find someone to feed my fish...pay bills...and prepare for the flight to Seattle by going out and buying one million snacks for the kids. They'll be so loaded up on sugar by the time we get there, they won't sleep for 2 days :)

So, the moral of this story is two fold. Thanks to all the VBS staff for taking my kids this week and gettin' a little Jesus in them! (And thanks to Tiffany who took the kids ALL afternoon yesterday so that I could get some work done....you are the BEST!) Second, check back in August. I should have some GREAT Alaska pictures posted by then.

Bye :)

Cub Scout Camp

Let me just say...the boys are LOVIN' camp! Despite the rain, we had a great day yesterday. We (the moms) were glad to have ponchos, but the boys could have cared less.

Ask them:

1. How to play Pokeen with their shuttlecocks
2. Why a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife
3. How they made their scout uniform organizer
4. Who was chanting the loudest
5. How they dug for gold
6. Can they tell you the name of a type of rock
7. Can they tell you something about campfire safety
8. What mom hit the target during Archery (oh yea baby, that's ME!)


Colby has already asked me to sign him up for next year!

Happy 4th of July!

Thanks to Doug and Tiffany, we had a great time today! Good friends, delicious food and awesome fireworks! The kids had a blast with water balloons, tattoos, water guns, glow sticks and sack races. Plus, they got to watch fireworks with 3D glasses...how very cool! The fireworks were incredible, despite the little fire. And, the shrimp...delightful!

Thanks again Doug and Tiffany - we're already looking forward to next year!

Another day at the beach...

Another day at the beach! Wow...we really are spoiled living on the coast. Today we went to Little Island with the Robinsons and the Gibsons. All 6 kids got along great...they dug, boogie boarded, swam, jumped waves and dug some more. At one point, the three boys got pulled out by a pretty strong undertow. A little scary for all involved, but thankfully all ended well. Colby was really freaked out by the whole situation and swears he's never going boogie boarding again. We'll see...

Even though the day started off very smokey (from the wildfires), it cleared up and we got to see dolphins!