COFFEE CHATTER 8.30.11

It's Tuesday and it is COFFEE TIME!  I know it has been ages, so I am hoping you all are still up for drinking some coffee and chatting this morning.    If you were here for coffee I would first off tell you to just ignore Dylan who is wandering around right now in shorts and his winter coat, zipped all the way up with the hood on.  He told me he wanted to wear his winter coat... just in case it started raining.   Hmmm.    And there really is no use arguing with him.  I figure when he starts roasting, he will take it off.



He is months away from four.  (DUN-DUN-DUN.)  And he is changing so much lately.  He is coming out of his shell, so to speak.  It's a good thing, don't get me wrong.... but it can also make things a little more trying.   Lately he was been extra willful and aggressive and inquisitive and chatty. 



The things he says, oh my gosh, he has us rolling.  He is so excitable and expressive when he talks.    And all that cute stuff certainly helps when in the next moment he is lashing out, hitting, yelling and throwing a whopper of a tantrum.  He's just in that phase right now. 



But, I am happy to report that we seem to be making major progress on the potty training.  He seems to be really getting the hang of it on both fronts (if you know what I'm saying!)   Which is good because preschool is starting soon and I signed him up for  the all day portion of preschool for 2 days a week.  I am picking up another day of work and we had to get him trained before they would take him all day at the preschool.  Yikes.  



So, I didn't mean to blather on and on about Dylan.  Sorry.

Here, let me also blather on and on about Chase too!  (You didn't think you were going to get a word or two in, did you!  ;D) The good news is that he is back at school.  (Here's where I bust out into the HAPPY DANCE!)  

We were all starting to climb the walls after last week being stuck inside.   And it nice to have him get back to having the school routine.  Even if it means I just had to sit with him on the couch while he did his 20 minutes of daily reading, whining and complaining the entire time.  Then it was time for medicine... more whining, complaining, griping, and acting as if the world it going to end because it "tastes sooooo icky!!!"    Is a little cooperation too much to ask.   Oy.    That kid is STRONG willed. 


See, here he is showing off his giant muscles. 

So,  how was your weekend?  Did you do anything fun?  Hopefully you didn't get hit with a hurricane or anything.   We had an absolutely beautiful weekend here in the Midwest.   Perfection, I tell you.  We had painters come and do the bulk of our house.  It looks great and they were done in 3 hours.  It would have taken us days.  So now the walls are freshly painted and blank... still.  I keep looking around and have no desire to put up all the same ol' stuff we had up before.  I am itching for something new and exciting.  I would love to come up with a cool collage wall.    Don't you just love those?  



Oh and on Sunday we traveled north to Wisconsin for a Family Gathering with my Husband's Father's family.  We had a great time! 


So, that about covers things on our end.  I hope you are having a wonderful day. 
I am off to do something productive.  Maybe come up with a game plan for these walls! 
See you next time.

Oh, and don't forget to check out more coffee chatter this way: 
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BLAZE OF GLORY

Don't you just love the end of August? 
*sigh*

I look around the yard and think, this is it.  The flower beds are bursting, all the flower pots are over flowing, the grass is so green and lush, the home grown veggies and fruits (although, not found in my yard) are perfectly ripe and juicy.  It's as if we are hoovering right at the tippy-top of that first ascent on a roller coaster ride.   At the peak.   Soon the temps will start dropping and Fall will be in full force.  Don't get me wrong, I love fall.  But right now I just want to savour this last blaze of glory that is Summer.

We are doing that by enjoying home grown treats like these guys!

Is there anything better than freshly picked tomatoes?  No?  How about if they were freshly picked by friends and neighbors and given to you to enjoy without having to do any of the work?   I am not much of a gardener.  So, I can't tell you how grateful I am for our wonderful friends who have shared with us the treasures out of their gardens.


And the flowers.  I am going to miss the color.


Something about looking out the window and seeing these beautiful bright purple guys are just good for the soul.

[Linked: Fabulous Friday]




Oh, and the produce.  We have been on a mission to visit every local farm in the area to find the very best place for sweet corn.  Seriously, my husband waits all year to sink his teeth into sweet corn, one of his favorite treats.   Our verdict, so far, is that this place has the most crunchy and sweet sweet corn around. 


Oh gosh, I just realized that I seem to keep posting these sappy, nostalgic end of summer posts.  I don't know why I am having such a hard time with the transition this year, but I guess I am.   Bear with me.   I just know that I need to enjoy these days.  Soon we will be dealing with cold and snow and white and dull.    

So I am drinking it all in now; filling up my tank, to get me through to next year!

Have a great weekend.

PS - we are still down for the count. 
Chase went back to the Dr. yesterday and has pneumonia. 
We are certainly starting the school year off with a flop!

DOWN BUT NOT OUT

So Chase attended a whooping THREE days of school last week and managed to bring home some sort of bug in that short time.   Oy.  He has had a cough and a low grade fever that has been hanging around since Friday night.  



So we're going on three days of R&R in our house.  Its hard on the little guy to be down (look at that sad little face up there as he watched all the kids playing outside.)   But, I have to tell you, it is nice to have an excuse to just VEG around the house. 

So far this during our "grounding," we have:

1.  Missed a Birthday party and had to cancel a BBQ at our house.  The boys were heartbroken about both.

2.  Taken the pull-ups away from Dylan and forced him into big boy undies.


3.  Done a LOT of laundry.  (See item #2.  Lots of accidents!)

4.  Repeatedly cleaned the toilets (see item #2 again) and vacuumed the house.  Man, this house gets much dirtier when we don't leave it.

5.  Watched an exorbitant amount of T.V.

6.  Snuggled.  (See item #5.)

7.  Organized and filed the giant pile of paperwork in our office.  That pile was actually starting to teeter, my friends.

8.   Watched the Phineas and Ferb movie about 15 times.    (Yeah, I could have lumped this into #5, but it really deserves it's own bullet point here.)

9.  Ran around in undies all day.  Okay, that one pertains only to the pee-wees.  I did stay in Yoga pants and a t-shirt, which is kindof rebellious for me. 


10.  Discovered a new iPad addiction, Fruit Ninja.   Chase keeps beating me.  That kid is one good Ninja!

11.  Taken the sickie guy's temperature about 200 times.  So glad we just bought this guy.

12.  Scrubbed my car, inside and out.  Wow did it need it!

That's what I call a HAND wash!



He doesn't look very sick, does he?

13.  Opps, and I think we may be destroying any progress we made last week to getting him back into the school groove.  I just called to report one more absence.  And he said, "I don't care, Mom.  I like staying home with you!" 

So,  hopefully tomorrow things will be back to normal.  Keep your fingers crossed!!!

IT'S MY BLOG AND I WILL POST 2,435 PHOTOS IN ONE POST IF I WANT TO!

Okay, that is an exaggeration.  Hopefully, you won't actually count though, because there are a lot of photos in here. 

The sadness of summer ending is settling in around here.  It just seems like it went SOOO fast this year.  The days, the weeks, the months... whizzed by with the accelerator pressed to the floor board.   

I think it was a good one, I hope it was anyway. 

You know what, it was!  I was going back through the photos (trying desperately to figure out where it went) and I realized that 1.We were BUSY  2.The boys had a BALL and 3.There are many, many photos that got missed somehow. 

So, here are a few summer favs that slipped through the cracks.... until now! 


Strawberry picking.

T-Ball games.  (Chase is the one in the glasses, glancing my way.)

Boat Rides

Sour-puss faces. 

Flowers bursting to life.


Catch of the day.  (I figured out that we spent a good chunk of our summer fishing!)

Vacationing.

Bonding with Grandparents.


Mountain climbing (in a gondola!)

Overcoming fears.  (This guy is F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. getting in the water!)

That is one VERY happy SUMMER face! 

More boat rides!


Sk8ing!


More fishing.

Looking at the tops of these sky scrappers - yikes!

Jellies! 

A visit from a Bloggy Friend.  (See Colleen, I did have a good photo of the two of us!  Julia is a fantastic photographer.  Click HERE for Colleen's Chicago post!  And lots more fun photos.  Except for the one on that scary Ledge where I look like I am going to pee my pants and Chase looks a little devilish!)


More flowery goodness.


Looks like we aren't the only ones enjoying these flowers.

And a little tubing. 

Phew, it feels good to get these pictures posted.   Like a weight being lifted.   And speaking of weight being lifted, I wanted to assure you that while I am certainly still doing my 365 project (click here to go to my flickr set) I don't know if I will continue with the posts.    I am taking a break from the link-ups.  I feel a little burnt out on them.... for now. 

Anyway, just wanted to send summer off in style. 
We'll miss you!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

A FIRST GRADER

So, my big guy, Chase, he started school today.  (Although by the time this post hits the air, it will be yesterday.)
As a Mom, I like to act all tough and have been whooping and hooraying about the fact that school is finally already finally already starting.  When it comes right down too it, though, it is really hard to send your first born off into the big, bad world of Elementary School. 

Yes, he was there last year for Kindergarten, but honestly, that didn't really count..... much.  He was only there for 2 1/2 hours a day, and he didn't have lunch there, or recess, and most importantly he wasn't gone for the ENTIRE day.  This year it seems like the real deal.  I guess, because it IS the real deal.    And although the fighting and whining and attitude and bickering have nearly sent me straight over the edge for the past two days, I really am going to miss the little guy.   Just look at that cute little face.



So, we made it through.  I have to tell you, he wasn't all that eager to get back to the school gig.  He asked me Tuesday morning what the plan was for the day and the next day (he is always eager to find out ALL the details for the days ahead)  I told him that he had one more day of summer and then it was back to school on Wednesday. 
"You mean I have to stay THERE?!?! ALL DAY?!?!" 
In a bit of denial, maybe? 


But I think as he prepared for his first day, he grew more and more excited about it.  If nothing else, he loves getting to bust out all the new clothes and supplies we bought him.



We all took him to school for his first day.  He was calm, cool and collected.  And so was I.  Until I saw him take a deep breath and gulp.  The kind of gulp that says he's nervous and anxious and trying to keep a brave face.  And when I saw him gulp, I gulped.  The kind of gulp that shows I'm struggling (REALLY struggling) with letting go of my little guy.  And also struggling to hold off tears as we watched him march down the hall to his classroom. 


Bring on the reading, the writing, the homework, the lunch packing, the whole schebang!

One kid down, one to go!

Oh dear, my baby is starting preschool in a couple weeks. 
I'm warning you know, I am going to be a wreck. 

NO ONE EVER THINKS IT WILL HAPPEN TO THEM

We've all been at this blogging thing awhile now, right? 
Me, I have been blogging for almost three years. 
In that time frame, I have seen countless bloggers pop on the horizon.  Bloggers probably similar to me when I first started out:  all full of enthusiasm, bursting with thoughts and ideas to share.  Eager to post and blog-hop and comment, to share themselves and "meet" other bloggers.  Somewhere along the way, words dry up, ideas run out, comments become repetitive and it all starts to seem like a lot of WORK.   

I'm here to tell you, blogging is hard work.  It is tedious and draining and CONSUMING.    But, oddly enough, I still did it..... and I loved it.   But a lot of bloggers out there don't make it.  Doesn't it seem like so many fizzle out?    (Cue up:  Another One Bites the Dust.)

I really thought I had crossed the hurdle though, that I was in it for the long haul.  I just didn't think my enthusiasm for this particular hobby would wean.  Yet, here I sit for almost a whole week and I can't get myself here to post... something.... anything.   It's getting dull, I have lost my MoJo (if I ever even had it!)  I am lacking some serious focus and creativity.... and probably a whole lot of other stuff, but let's not turn this into a therapy session!   

Don't worry, (or I'm sorry) I don't intend to let this space fizzle out.... I'm sure I will be back to my regular blogging self again.....soon.....when the mood strikes back up.   Until then, I didn't want you to worry.  We are doing great.... just enjoying these last few days of summer and getting caught up on life.

A DOUBLE DOSE

Hello Scavenger Hunters!
I missed last week, but I am back today and ready to share my finds. 

1.  SEEING DOUBLE

Two little stinkers ready to ambush me. 

2.  WHATEVER


3.  SWEET


4.  SPACE

A couple more from our Ledge experience on Friday.  This is from the top of the Sear's Tower.  I realize that they changed the name to the "Willis Tower" but since no one calls it that, I am sticking with Sear's!    Anyway, is anyone else's heart palpitating right now?  These pictures even freak me out.  That is Chase over there laughing at what a big baby I was being. 


Anyone recognize this cute family? 
If you read my 365 post yesterday, you know it is one of my favorite fellow bloggers, Colleen from As Is Proper.


There is a LOT of space between my feet and the ground.  SCARY!


5.  BRIGHT

Some old fashioned street signs in Wallace, ID.

And just to ease my guilty conscience, I will share some pics for last week's set. 

1. WALKING EMPTY STREETS

How about empty train tracks? 

2.  REPEATING PATTERNS


3.  FLOOR


4.  THEN & NOW

This was taken last summer during our trip and I tried to recreate the same shot this summer......

The little guys were hot on their heels this time, but you get the idea.

5.  FINGERTIPS



Okay, I finally feel like I am getting somewhat caught up again.  Have a wonderful Sunday, All. 
And be sure to check out Ashley's blog for more Scavenger Hunt finds.