joshua tree

*Last Sunday my parents treated us to lunch to celebrate Chris' birthday. My mom had made the cutest crossword puzzle for Chris. She even researched his FB baseball posts and made a few of the questions about certain players/facts. 

Here is Kendall helping him complete it. 

*Cameron came home early from school not feeling well on Thursday. Luckily with him, whenever this happens, he typically just requires a good night's sleep and then he's ready to go the next day. :)

*Ever since I began working, I've always struggled somewhat with soreness in my shoulders, due to typing/sitting so much. For some reason, something has changed in the last week to where it is almost unbearable for me to sit and type at work. Rather than pain, my entire left shoulder burns...horribly. Here I am at home attempting to type while standing up, with an ice pack (which I've luckily found relieves it...so I sit with an ice pack now sandwiched between my back and my chair all day). Ugh. :(

*This morning Kendall had a birthday party to attend, which was art themed.

*While we were at the party, Chris and Cam took a trip out to Joshua Tree. Chris has been wanting to visit for a long time. They scoped out a spot that hopefully we can all go to sometime in the future for a picnic/boulder climbing afternoon.

7:00 a.m.

*This past week I texted Susan a picture of my skirt I wore to work. I had bought her the identical skirt about 17 years ago. I thought she would get a kick out of the fact that I, just like her, still wear it ALL the time. :)

*Cameron's black belt testing is in December. A lot is involved including essays, several extra classes, and a LOT of money Yikes. Black belt testing is expensive. In order to give him some ownership of the money we are spending, we've decided to give him extra chores between now and testing. Here is he cleaning all the baseboards in the house. :)

 

*We took the kids to John's Incredible Pizza recently for a special treat. 

 

*Chris went golfing yesterday morning and I texted him a picture of the clock because Cameron WAS STILL SLEEPING!! I don't think he has slept this late...um...ever. Well, maybe at some point he has, but I sure don't remember!! :)

*Yesterday morning we finished the fourth Harry Potter book. The kids were soo excited as (as was I!) to watch the movie. These books will always hold such a special place in my heart. The kids and I are creating such sweet memories that I just love.

birthday

Yesterday morning started with a nice long bike ride with Cam and my dad. We took the same route as our last ride, except made it to our goal...the end of the road. On our return, it was CRAZY windy, which was a bit of a bummer as it was so bad that we actually had to pedal while going downhill!!!

While we were gone, Chris took Kendall and the quad girls out for breakfast. When they got home, they proceeded to play upstairs for the next six hours. Good golly can those girls play!!

*Today is Chris' birthday. Last night we celebrated, just the four of us. Initially we had planned to go out, but baseball playoffs were on and relaxing and ordering pizza sounded better to the birthday boy. So that is what we did! For his present, I took the kids to the 99 Cent Store and had them pick out three things that reminded them of Chris or represented something about him. It was really sweet to see what they came up with. Here are a few things:

--Kendall chose whoppers because it is one of Chris' favorite candies

--Cam chose the goblet with hearts to represent how caring Chris is

--Kendall chose the candle because Chris often burns candles in the house (and is always buying new Glade plug-ins, car fresheners, etc.)

--Cameron chose silly putty to represent how funny Chris is

*This morning I made a special birthday breakfast for Chris, in the form of a homemade breakfast burrito. I made the kids waffles and I couldn't resist snapping this picture as Kendall licked her plate (a usual thing for her whenever syrup is involved). :)

chiropractor

*Chris' birthday is coming up next week. To celebrate, I booked a hotel in the desert for one night and the kids went to stay with my parents. However, in true "us" form, we talked about it and decided we couldn't justify spending money on a hotel room when we had the house to ourselves here for free. :) So we've stayed put, relaxed, and gone out to eat and to a movie....and saved money!

We went to see American Made.

I got a kick out of Chris. He was excited that we were there thirty minutes early so that he could watch the game before the movie started. His hat carefully balanced on his knee made the perfect stand for his screen. :)

It's been a while since I had a good cry, so I guess it's a good thing season two of This Is Us started. Holy cow!!

My dad took Cam on a short hike yesterday. They were able to use his walkie-talkies and actually communicate with Kendall and my mom, who were at my parents' house.

*I went to the chiropractor today. I went a long time ago, but failed to go consistently, which I've heard you  need to do in order to feel improvements. My back/shoulder has been killing me every single work day (weekends are great since I'm not at a computer). I already have next week's appointment scheduled, so hopefully this will make a difference.

swinging on a tree

*If you want/need something funny to watch, THIS IS HILARIOUS.

*Wednesday evening, as I was getting home after picking up Cam from Taekwando, I saw Kendall laying on the grass with Chris beside her. She was crying. Hard. Long story short, swinging like a monkey on a tree branch + your friend pushing you = Urgent care visit and a fractured wrist. The doc doesn't think she'll need to get a cast, but we will head to the Orthopedist next week just to make sure.

Waiting room.

Dinner later that night with her "brace cushion" we made out of some towels.

*I was able to go out to lunch with my mom yesterday since I had an extended lunch at work (thanks to an inservice day). Such fun.

*I'm very eager to try the new Maple Pecan Latte from Starbucks. I'm very particular about when I get a hot drink, so the weather will have to cool down a bit before I partake. :)

*Before working full time came into the picture, I used to draw/write little notes for the kids' lunch boxes each day. Enter work. I no longer had the time to draw pictures every night, but I wanted something fun for them to have each time they opened their box. I decided to print out various pictures from over the years. It was a big hit and much easier. Walgreens usually has a deal to where you get pictures super cheap when you buy them in quantities of 100. The kids love them.

*Chris belongs to a mens' group at a local golf course. He typically wins money every time he plays, but the "money" comes in the form of scrip, which he can only use at the course. We've used this fund to go out to dinner multiple times. It has been such a fun treat not only to go out ourselves, but to invite my parents sometimes...knowing it's all money Chris won! This morning Chris took the kids there for breakfast. 

*Soon after the kids get back, we'll head out to the desert. It's been a long time since we've done our usual: Barnes and Noble/Costco.

Happy Weekend!

good witch

*Yesterday the kids asked if we could ride bikes down to the ice cream shop. My two kids turned into seven kids! Other than ushering them across a couple busy streets and one minor fall (luckily I had a band-aid in my backpack!), it was surprisingly easy!

*This morning Kendall got to work decorating our house for Halloween.

 

*Right now Kendall and I are watching her new favorite show, "The Good Witch" (Hallmark via Netflix). I actually really enjoy watching it with her. I like that A) It's clean B) It takes place in a small town (I love small town shows) C) It has a lot of good little life lessons spouted by the main character (the good witch)  D) She has a teenage daughter whom she shares a good relationship with and who isn't bratty and disrespectful.

Kendall and I are watching right now as we wait to go to church. Chris and Cam went to an earlier service. We have started going to separate services as Cam loves 2nd and Kendall loves 3rd. Is it ideal to split up? No. But right now it's what works and is worth it to make sure both kids are going to the class they really feel comfortable in.

*I secretly used to think people who complained of allergies were overacting a bit. Not anymore. Man are they annoying.