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Today I had lunch with my dad.
And we talked for over an hour.
About our weaknesses and frustrations and ultimately how to work on changing them.
It was 100 degrees out and we both had a simple bowl of soup to go with our great conversation.
I’m SO much like my dad we can drive each other crazy at times but ultimately, we also understand one another.
Thanks for lunch today dad.
It was perfect.
Kim sent me this in an email and I was DYING laughing so I started to forward it to a million people when I realized I might as well just blog it! So excuse the language but if you’ve been in St. Louis the last few weeks I bet you curse every time you walk out the door yourself anyway!
Hell yes we spent C’s 31st birthday sitting on the world’s largest rocking chair!
What else would we do to celebrate a 31st?
in photo: Uncle Matthew Allen, (Great) Aunt Peggy Allen, Jodie/Grayson, Bailey, Chris, Parker, Bubba, Uncle Jack Allen
Tomorrow is C’s 31st birthday! We are at his family’s lake house this weekend celebrating HIM and the fact that it’s our LAST weekend of true summer b/c he goes back to school this week and Bailey starts the following week!
Today we tubed, C water skied, dock jumped and just had a grand old time RELAXING! Of course it’s 11pm and I’ve been up editing so I did manage to toss in some work but whatever.
Bailey took this shot of him tonight and it’s actually not half bad!
Ok.
Uncle Jack just opened the back door and a SWARM of bugs is now in the living room so I’m calling it quits and going to bed. Where I will inevitably be eaten alive while I sleep.
Love the lake. Hate bugs.
Love Chris and can’t wait to celebrate his birthday tomorrow! If anyone has his email/cell please send him birthday wishes!!!
blogging every day, on two blogs, is hard! especially when i’m working about 16 hour days. so i’ll try harder tomorrow!
I woke up late this morning, after working for almost 17 hours straight yesterday, so I was rushing around trying to get out the door. Just before I left I went into the kitchen where Chris was making the kids breakfast (such a change from our normal school-year routine!) and I was telling him my schedule for the next few days, which is insane to say the least!
Whenever I have to tell Chris that he’s going to be on dad duty for lots of hours in a row I always feel like he’s going to show frustration or something and this summer has shown me a whole new side to him. I’ve mentioned it before but he is just teaching me so much about grace this summer in how he reacts to our life!
Anyway, so as I get to the end of my calendar I wait for a second to hear the complaints but instead he looks up, pauses, and then sings… “when ya comin’ home? son, I don’t know when. But we’ll get together then. I know we’ll have a good time then…”
And I think I fell in love with him all over again for making me laugh and reminding me how joyful our life really is!
It also stabbed a huge guilt knife in my heart which was maybe the best and worst part of it because although it made me feel guilty all morning (and laugh hysterically anytime I thought of it) it also caused me to take the afternoon off so we could drive an hour to give the kids their first experience in a Missouri river! Photos of that adventure to come tomorrow!
Thanks to Harry and Chris for adding laughter to my day today!
1. I am watching a rerun of Undercover Boss and although my dad’s company isn’t big enough, i wish he could do this… it’d be good for him.
2. My friend Sara had me literally laughing out loud at her description and PHOTO of Silver Dollar City HERE!
3. We posted some of our Christmas cards over at Fresh Art and it already has me stressing out about Christmas! Last year at this time I was 50% done with shopping for the holidays and this year I have NADA. A big FYI to our family and friends… we have a TEENY TINY budget this year so don’t expect much more than our love!
4. Sunday afternoon before our last softball game of the season we took the kids across the street to a parking lot+park to take Bailey’s training wheels off b/c she is determined to go to Kindergarten knowing how to ride her bike like a “big kid”! It was like we were COOKING on the asphalt and she was really nervous so we didn’t last long over there but I did grab a few snap shots!
Gray sleeps with that glove, a ball and a bat every night!
See how excited she was? HA! And look at how red her little face is… it was HOT!
5. My friend Katie rocked a parenting post today. She’s so awesome. Read it HERE.
6. Have you checked out my sister’s new blog yet? It is seriously rocking my world with its awesomeness! She’s inspiring me daily!
7. Have you ever seen the show “Sarah’s House” on HGTV? I am OBSESSED and watching all the reruns I missed this year! Watch it. She’s one of the best designer’s I’ve ever seen!
8. This mom is hands down the most creative crafter I’ve ever seen. I’ve read her blog for a long time and I wish I was half as creative with everyday crap as she is! But THIS POST is hands down the most amazing I’ve seen!
9. I’ve been struggling, seriously struggling, to balance two near full-time jobs. And I truly love both of them. For totally different reasons. We’ll see how this fall plays out when school is going and I’m trying to do it all. There just aren’t enough hours in the day!
10. That’s all folks! Check out those links! Seriously good blogging out there!
We have a co-ed softball game in a little while and although I LOVE being on the same team as C and have loved sharing this time together all summer, I really do hate playing softball!
Chris and I both have been having bad dreams about Parker lately. She’s been having bad dreams about who knows what. Her bad dreams lead her to our bed in the middle of the night more often than not. Our bad dreams allow us to welcome her to our bed and cuddle her non-stop. Wish I could get the bad dreams to stop all around!
My work life has me so busy. Trying to balance KCCI and Fresh Art and this big project I’m doing for our church leaves very little time for phone calls, emails, my children. And yet I feel so incredibly fulfilled because I’m using my BRAIN so much right now! It’s almost orgasmic to really have to THINK every day! And so, my mind is always torn between loving my work life and feeling guilty for being away from the kids so much! Ultimately we need the money so we don’t have a choice, but that doesn’t mean the guilt isn’t still there!
Blogging has become harder and I’m not sure why.
In August I’m going to try to blog once a day.
I’m also going to try to capture our EVERYDAY better. Even if that means taking a photo of me in front of my laptop!
Chris’s younger brother just bought a house and yesterday we went out to see it… it’s adorable and we couldn’t be happier for him! Funny though, it made C come home and “claim” a desk he shoved in our tiny bedroom b/c after seeing his brother having an entire house he can call his own he said he needed at least ONE space in our house to call his own! HA! I felt bad that he doesn’t feel like anything is “his” here and gladly gave him the table!
I am in search of a NEUTRAL+CHEAP couch. Anyone have one they want to get rid of?
I’m starting to dream, literally, about home projects which makes me yearn for a house of our own even more than usual. Kinda sad.
Today in Children’s Chapel the leader, my friend Amy, was talking about mom’s and she asked who did hair better at home, mom or dad? Parker said, very seriously, “My dad USED to have hair… but now he doesn’t have any at all.” HA! OMG when Amy whispered that to me at church I couldn’t stop laughing!
Yesterday was the funeral of a long time family friend and for the first time it made me realize I am at the age where my parent’s friends will start dying. And that totally freaked me out. So very soon I’m going to make my mom and dad (and inlaws if they will) sit down and at least talk about their wishes for their funerals b/c I know a lot of the planning will most likely fall in my lap (on either side of the family at this point!) and I don’t want to second guess my decisions! It is a SCARY thought to live without either of our parents but I’d rather be prepared! UGH! I hate even thinking about it!
Two weeks until Bailey starts Kindergarten and if I think too much about it I can start crying so easily! Two weeks until C goes back too and that just makes me depressed!
We’re going to the lake next weekend for C’s 31st birthday and I’m already excited! Not excited that it means I’ll be 31 soon also but whatever!
Ok. Enough free writing for today! Hope you all had a great weekend!
