At the beach!

Magoo and I went on vacation this weekend!! Bet you can't guess where.

The beach!!!

We had so much fun! Squawking at sea gulls, dumping sand on our laps, sticking toes and fingers in the lake, and eating cantaloupe. 

My sandy child!

It was a bit cloudy for the first half of the day, which was really nice because that meant it was nice and cool for the majority of the day. The sun came out for the last hour or two, and then we packed up and went back to town for a little frozen fruit kabob and a stroll through some downtown streets for an art show before heading home. 

We had so much fun playing and relaxing together!

I love my tiny gentleman! :)

Keep moving forward :)

I heard somewhere recently about a cartoonist who puts sticky notes of motivational sayings in random places on trains. "I am a superfly success machine," and the like.

Here's mine for the day!

Camp-a-lamping and VBS!

Magoo is officially a tent camper!

Just look at that ham and cheese!

He was so excited to sleep in a tent (which BY THE WAY, that "10 minute set up time" is a total farce!! Sheesh!!) with mama that he didn't actually get to sleep at bedtime..he was squawking and babbling well past the neighboring folks' bedtimes, but I didn't get any dirty looks the next morning, so he must not have bothered them. Whew! ;)

Speaking of the next morning...

So excited to wake up inside a tent! Oh, so much more fun than waking up behind crib railings! 

Now that he is a camper, N is basically a mountain man. Photo evidence:

Note the breakfast watermelon sans bib, sans high chair, sans tray and plate and fork. When a man has to eat his breakfast with his bare hands, sitting on the ground, breakfast dripping on his jammies, he's really roughing it! Level achieved: Expert mountaineer.

It was so much fun that I'm thinking of going again this week, just for one night in the middle of the week! Magoo's heart might pop though- that's a LOT of excitement that he may not be emotionally prepared for! ;)

Oh, we also celebrated the Polish Festival in a nearby town this week, with a fireworks display with friends and pierogies (just for me- N just had his little lunchbox food- watermelon and chicken and the like) and little booths and activities. It was a good couple days!

Hanging with one of his plethora of special lady friends..

So tonight was the kick-off for my church's VBS program, and I'm in charge of games again, along with my pal, K. Last year it was her sister and I, this year her sister is a brand new mama again (congrats), so K took over with me! We make a pretty good team!

So yeah, we have a weird animal theme this year, which means goofy animal games. Shrinking islands, and zoo crew tag.. Tonight was a lot of fun! Some of these kids are HI-larious! It is going to be a really long/busy next few days/weeks, but they will be great! 

Last week's book o' the week: Calm, Cool, and Adjusted, by Kristen Billerbeck, I believe! Chiropractic romance, oh, la!

Cardboard and duct tape and bubble wrap, oh my!

I really am almost officially done packing! *insert enormous sigh of relief* Wahoo!!! For the last week, I've only had a few things to pack and they've been buried behind remodeling materials. Tonight, I bit the bullet and moved everything out of the way so I could get to the last of my household items, which, thanks to some wobbly cardboard boxes and a lot of tape and bubble wrap, are now safe and secure in a giant stack of crap in the basement. For the next two and a half weeks, that is. And then they'll be in our new apartment!!! Oh em gee, I still can't be calm about this! So excited!

Anywho, so about my life list- I've scrapped the book list just for now. I've decided that I'd prefer to just read fun books of my choosing, at least for the rest of the summer. 

This week's book was called The American Heiress. I swiped it from my mom after she finished reading it, and I didn't put a whole lot of thought or research into it beforehand. It reminded me slightly of Downton Abbey (just noticed the cover actually mentions Downton Abbey), but only in that there were multiple protagonists, all in different stations, so things were written from the perspective of the gentry and the servants, alike. It made for a pretty fun read!

I've taken a (hopefully short) hiatus from running, what with all of the packing and family visiting, and I've also been feeling a bit crummy, probably from stress. Now that I'm done packing and all of my wonderful family has returned to their respective homes, hopefully I'll also be able to calm myself a bit and get rid of that stress. And then it's off to the races for me! Or, back to the turtle-speed laps around my country block. ;)

In the summertime

Sparta! Sparta! Sparta! Is that what they shout at MSU? Probably. But, who cares?! My Lansing move-in date is looming just a few short weeks away..EeEk!! I'm so excited and so nervous! I can't wait to start grad school, but oh em gee, I am scared to death that I'll fail out if I try to make it through as a single mom. I mean, I know I won't, but I'm the sort that is paranoid about failures, etc. So nerve-wracking!!

Anyway, I've still got a few weeks til the move and a few weeks more til classes start up. Best to focus on the present!

I've still got all of July to get through before even thinking about any of this. That means work, VBS, fairs and festivals, some major bike riding, family get togethers, wolf park, lots of fun stuff on the horizon! If there is one thing that makes me happy, it is the freedom to spend time with the people I love, STRESS-FREE. Oh, how I love it! 

I've already been at it (with a vengeance, I might add), with the visit of three different siblings and sister-out-law (that makes her seem criminal, but really I just mean my brother's really awesome, long-term girlfriend) so far this month, plus my grandma is back with us for another while.

Los bros

You can totally tell they're cool, right? Unkie Fonz and Unkie Slim enjoying the fireworks for the Fourth. My workplace put on a fireworks show this year and we all went out to see it. It would have been cool to watch them from on the lake, but there were too many trees blocking the view from the dock so we took a quick jaunt around the lake to get a better view.

There was a seriously incredible fireworks display on the fifth that I only happened across by accident this year. I ran a quick errand and was driving back home when they started going off on the other side of this giant field, so I just parked the car and sat there til they were over. They were breathtaking!

Anywho, so my brothers and a sister and an almost-in-law came this month so far, like I was saying. My brothers were just here to hang out, but my sister was here to get some serious home-organizing done, and that happened this past week. The entire house (including much of the basement) was sorted and a massive load went to goodwill, and even more yet was pitched. The best news though, is that I've got almost all of our stuff packed and stacked in one of the basement bedrooms! Yay!

The Sister and The Grandma. Aren't they so cute?

So thanks in part to me for being a box taping machine and in part to Auntie B being an all around BOSS, packing is almost done. I only need one more piece of furniture and kinda want a second piece, but it's not really necessary, so... I'm set! 

Now back to relishing my homework-free time with my magoo! We've been enjoying the summer weather with lots of outdoor activities and some air conditioning, too. ;)

Bubbles! Fun, albeit a bit confusing. Note the eyes squinched shut- you never know when a bubble might jump you!

We also did some gardening with Ah-na, as you can see:

Oh, and BIG NEWS!!! Magoo hit his half birthday this week, so we went out to celebrate!

Breakfast date at a cute little cafe. 

Magoo was flirting up a storm with the waitresses and the granny next to us who was out to breakfast with her grandsons. Fist bumps, all around! 

Juney June June

Isn't the point of summertime to relax and be lazy? Why hasn't that happened for me yet?!

I've just had the busiest summer ever! Work's picked up quite a bit what with summer programs beginning, which makes for more fun, but certainly takes up quite a time commitment. 

There's also been an increase in care taking for my grandmother so that's been a major change at home.

Story time with Granny!

N loves having great-grandma around to read him stories. He's also made some major improvements with walking since she's come up here; it helps that he is completely obsessed with her walker! Plus, he probably doesn't want her showing him up, either. :)

I've just finished a major project for church that I've been working on for months and months and mooooonths. I have never been happier to be done with a project in my life! (Excluding all those awful science fairs in junior and senior high school, of course..) So that's good news- one less thing for me to stress about!

My totes happening sister came for a visit before starting a new job- yay for sisters! 

She's doing something with the Muppets- I don't know what it is, but come on!! The Muppets!!! Yes, it is totally fine for you to be completely overcome with jealousy.

Anyway, she came over and looked totally glamorous for several days in her skinny jeans and movie star shades, and in between looking glamorous and being glamorous, she made me this shirt:

Oh, did I mention she's insanely talented at many things, sewing handmade clothes included in that list of many things? I went to lunch with my mama this week, and a random lady stoppe us to ask me if I was into paleontology. Ahahahahahaha!!! Yes, ma'am, in an entirely immature dinosaur coloring books, stickers, and Jurassic Park movie marathon way, as I thought was entirely obvious by my awesome shirt! She was so sincere though! Too funny!

N had tons of fun with Auntie S and was sad to see her go! He sure loves her!

There's been an increase in legal stuff for my divorce (yea for divorce, nay for more paperwork and meetings and people that make my skin crawl), but I've also made major headway in my moving checklist! Woohoo!

I signed a lease on an amazing place that I can't wait to make my and N's new home- yayayay!!! Hurry up August!! I've also found some great daycares in the area for the munchkin, but I haven't decided on one in particular yet. 

I'm starting to organize and pack for the move now. Oh man. Just thinking about all that lifting and moving and exercise makes me want to eat a chocolate cake. I'll probably be spending all of my spare time packing and stacking boxes from now until move in day. Never have I ever imagined I would say this, but thank goodness for all of the diapers I've bought over the last 18 months! All of those boxes are coming in reeeeeeally handy right now! :)

Speaking of moving/exercise, I fell off the exercise bandwagon at the beginning of the month. Not to worry though, I climbed back onto it this week! I've got all kinds of workouts in lately- long bicycle ride with friends over the weekend, pulling my massive child behind me in a kiddie bike trailer. That was quite a bit of fun! We ended that night with some shaved ice at a tiny little summer shop. Yum! I've you've never had shaved ice, YOU ARE MISSING OUT.

Fun fact about my current job: I can kayak to and from work! You just have to factor in the extra time that it takes for a weenie like me to drag myself across the lake AND hope that no one is bothered by the lake water smell if you have to jump into the water and pull the kayak up onto the shore. Oh, and really cross your fingers and try not to look aggressive when you paddle into the lagoon and have to navigate to shore in a small space between a family of swans and a family of geese. For those of you that don't know, those birds, swans especially, are mean. I think I stopped breathing for the full five minutes it took me to float carefully between the two groups, pull the kayak out of the water, and get the shiz outta there!!

Today I went swimming out on the lake with my young gentleman friend. It feels really nice, but man, is that water gross! I'm a snob when it comes to lake water- I don't like immersing myself in bodies of water that I can't see the bottom of. I'll do it though. There are SOME that WON'T! Not to mention any names, but cough, cough, this kid I know, cough, cough, won't touch the water this year! 

Last year, swimming was SO MUCH FUN, but this year, he didn't even want me touching the water. God forbid it touch him! Not even the sand was all that fun..there was a lot of squealing and sand throwing and then he just demanded that I take him to the deck swing. (Everyone knows those are the most fun, anyway.) 

So anyway, back to the exercise nonsense, since that's what I started out talking about, I've also done a ton of manual labor this week, helping a friend clean up his yard. And when I say "yard," I'm really using that term loosely! It was more like a jungle. I'm talking chainsaws and trees and weeds above my head and as thick around as my wrist. I thought for sure I would be really sore by the end of the week, but nope, I'm feeling great, so that's good news!

This coming weekend is going to be another fun one! I love summertime! Sunshine and birthdays and weddings and bonfires and the loveliest of friends! :)

It's June!

It's finally really summer! The last couple weeks have been pretty warm, but now that it's June (the best time of the year!), it's official! 

Memorial Day weekend was pretty great- I was on call at work all weekend, but I made it home Saturday for a few hours when some old family friends who moved out of state years ago stopped by! Sunday night my family and I went to a cookout/jam session which is always really fun! My aunt and cousin drove up for a few hours on Monday, just in time for lunch (steak and barbecue ribs).

My totally rockin' cousin with the Magoo.

Like I said, it was a pretty great weekend!  I didn't get much accomplished for myself since it was a pretty busy week and a half (work, visitors, wrapping up a giant project I've been working on for months, Tim's leave was ending, etc), but I did keep up with my book a week. 

I read Maine, by J. Courtney Sullivan, while I was at work over Memorial Day weekend, in between guest groups. 

It reminded me a bit of Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood. Similar theme, anyway.

And this week, I read Sisterhood Everlasting, by Ann Brashares. I know, I know! Enough of the sisterhood stuff, right? Well, since I only had 14 books to go on the BBC's Top list, I searched the intranets for other recommended book lists, and I found a list for chickies in their 20s, and I thought, "well, hey! I'm in my 20s!" So after dropping by the library with that list in hand, I checked out all three of the only books they had available at the time. Apparently, sisterhoody books are popular! (Along with How to Win Friends and Influence People, so I guess the Midwest public library system is all about making and having friends? P.S. That little winner is next on the list..) And so back to the last book I finished, Sisterhood Everlasting is apparently the last book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series? I didn't even know there was a series! And I don't really feel the need to read the others now that I know how it all ends..

In other news...guess what baby was dedicated at church this weekend?? This one!!

We look pretty dapper, don't we? Please excuse N's crabby face- this was approximately three hours past naptime!

Hope you all have a fabulous week! I'm starting back up with running tomorrow since I have fewer excuses not to, so I'll be back soon with that nonsense.