Thougts at Random: Part 4... I Think.

**This post was started mid-July. I just never got back to it. Until now.**

Somehow, I can go all winter with hardly a sniffle, but now I have a yucky head cold.

Since yesterday, all I've wanted to eat is soup. Thankfully, the temp today is down 30°+ and rainy, so soup is the perfect meal today.

My two oldest have really picked up the slack for me yesterday, and now today. They swept, vacuumed, and washed the floors yesterday. Even lifting up the rug in the front room to sweep under it.

They just finished vacuuming the entry hall. I'm speechless!

I still need to post about Trevor's chef party. He still talks about it, so I think it was a success.

Our van hit a milestone:


Robert and I have a date night Friday! Those are so very, very rare.

I still have not reflected much on the passing of my grandmother, but really, that's OK. I think of her often, and have been remembering sweet memories of her. There have been a few tears, but I'm realizing that I don't need to sit, dwell, and cry to deal with my grief. I feel I'm just fine with briefly entertaining the memories that pop up in my mind here and there.

Abby rolled herself into a sleeping bag like a burrito.

We wanted to do a lot of camping this summer, but haven't had the chance so far.

Just a few random photos:

Most of the cousins.

Daddy swings you HIGH!

My cousin & his bride.

Caitlin's not always a fan of the camera.

But she loves to dance!

Such a poser!

I've taken hundreds of photos to catch a lightning shot.

We seriously need to go grocery shopping. The kids are having tomato soup and peanut butter sandwiches (using hamburger buns) for dinner. I guess Sam's Club is on the agenda for our date tomorrow night.

Have I mentioned I have a head cold yet? It's really annoying to be stuffy. I am not a mouth breather. It's almost a phobia.

I'm not very thrilled with Netflix changing their packages. We're going to stick with the streaming option, considering I am horrible at sending the movies back.

I'm horrible at sending anything, really.

I know it's going to be a major undertaking, but I think I'm going to paint all the baseboards white. This old house needs to be freshened up a bit.

I say that, of course, but after living in our house over four years, I haven't painted a single room. Just complained about it and changed my mind on colors more times than I can count.

I've done a laundry load of jeans, greens, and two loads of reds today. I think I still have ten more loads to do. Plus blankets and towels. Oh, I think I did a load of darks, too. I have fallen so far behind that it looks like a laundromat threw up upstairs. I am normally extremely anal about how I do my laundry, but now I don't have that luxury without continuing to fall even farther behind. Sigh. I think I'll do another load of jeans tonight, then before I go to bed, throw in a load of blankets. With Purex crystals, they'll stay fresh all night, then in the morning, I can throw them over the banister to dry. Then my house will smell like clean laundry, which is one of my favorite smells.

Yes, I really do map out my laundry loads like that.

The other day, my phone's keyboard was set to Spanish. It was quite humorous.

Robert is finally home now, so I'm off!

~~~

I love thunderstorms. There's one going on right now that has some crazy loud thunder.

Our cat gets nervous during storms.

~~~

Fast forward a couple weeks...

Robert and I got out for our anniversary date. We didn't go to Sam's Club. We went to Texas Roadhouse and Transformers 3. The food was delish, and the movie was great. Though, I didn't enjoy the 3D. I had to remove the glasses a lot because they drove me nuts. They also made the movie seem very under-exposed. It might have helped if they brightened the screen to compensate for the glasses. Anyway, I think it's safe to say I won't be wasting my money on another 3D movie again. There was a bit of excitement on the way home, though.

At dinner, Robert said that one of his guys that work for him (who happens to be a cop) texted to say his store lights were left on, so we'd need to swing by the store on the way home to turn them off. Then, either during or right after the movie, Robert started to complain about his foot hurting. A few weeks ago, it had him in near agony to even walk, then the chiropractor worked his magic, and it's been fine since. Well, until that night, or so I thought. Anyway, about half way home, Robert said it was really hurting, and asked if I'd mind driving the rest of the way home.

Now, the movie didn't even get over until after 11pm, and we made a quick stop before heading on our over one hour drive home, so by the time we were on the road to go to his store, it was almost 1am. Then I see the lights in the rear view mirror. I hate getting pulled over. I've never gotten even a speeding ticket, but I have been pulled over for not using my blinker... Anyway, I pull over, get my license out, ask Robert to grab the insurance card and registration papers. My panic gets worse as I realize that we forgot to print the new insurance cards (the policy renewed in June). The officer comes up to the window, telling me I had a tail light out. I then start diarrhea of the mouth, explaining that we only had the van a couple of weeks, I can't believe the light is out, I really do have insurance, and here, let me pull up my policy on my phone to prove it. I promise I'm not lying. Then the cop starts asking what we were were doing. I told him we were on the way home from a movie, and he said he didn't know they showed movies that late. Oh my goodness, that got me totally flustered! I kept talking, but in my mind, I was telling myself to 'shut up, he's gonna think you're lying and drunk!' but I kept talking more. When I was about to get asked out of the car, Robert starts laughing. He said, "Don't you recognize him?" Duh. I.was.punk'd. Big time! The store lights weren't on. Robert's foot didn't hurt. And the tail light was just fine. Though, I'm still trying to convince myself I was completely sober and on my way home from a movie. ;)

Elise had a dream Saturday night, and was so excited (er, eskited), to tell me about it. She said she dreamed that she and Jesus were swimming together in a pink pool . He had black skin and brown hair. Her excitement that morning about brought me to tears. She's been wanting to meet Jesus for a while now, and even more so after the passing of my grandmother, and she was so happy to meet Him, let alone swim with Him! Kids are so precious, and it's the little things like her dream that seem to deepen my faith all the more.

We are in the midst of birthday season 'round here. Trevor just turned 9, Abby just turned 7, Sierra turned 12 yesterday, and Elise turns 5 tomorrow. I'm kinda sick of cake. My birthday is next week, but I'll pass on a cake, thank you.

I'm eating cotton candy. I took a picture, but it is so not attractive!

Leah is out here for a month, working for Robert. She is currently sleeping on the chair with a sweater over her head. The joys of jet lag. It's even worse when you're traveling out of the Herd time zone! (inside joke)

We've been beating the heat at the pool, but I haven't taken many pictures. I should. I love taking pictures of my kids playing. I did take more from our little hideaway. This one was my favorite:

And this one:

Abby got to put her new rain boots and umbrella to good use last week. Or was it the week before...?

And the kids set up the tent in our dining room.

I removed wallpaper in the front room to prep for painting...


And FINALLY painted Trevor's room with the help of the kids...

I need to post more pictures. Maybe I'll do a couple wordless posts, and just catch up on the pictures. I do plan to have this blah'g printed for my own journaling keepsake, and I have a lot of pictures I want to be included before I forget.

But for now, I need to get my kids to bed.