Back-pack shopping sucked this year.

I have been totally on top of the back-to-school-basics this year.
We were done with clothes shopping in early August and school supplies and lunch boxes were bought a week later.
For some reason though, I have been putting off buying backpacks.
Only because it hasn't been a priority. No other reason really.
I wasn't dreading it or anything, I just figured we would go whenever and we would be able to find some with no problem. WRONG.
On Friday night I decided that we would run to Ross and pick them up after we stopped at Target.
Kaylee has been wanting a Roxy one, and they had some really nice ones for boys a few weeks earlier.
Um, They had nothing...but crap.
This irritated me for 2 reasons.
I wasn't in the mood to go elsewhere, and I only wanted to spend $20 each, which was totally do-able there.
If that wasn't bad enough, my 'never in the mood to shop for ANYTHING' husband was all fired up to go EVERYWHERE to find them one.
So, we did just that. We went everywhere, and everywhere we went was totally picked over.
We ended up at Sports Authority, and ended up spending a small fortune.
I was so grumpy at the end of the trip, I thought I might kill myself.
At least I learned a lesson though: NEVER wait until 2 weeks before school starts to buy a back-pack.
It's so not worth the migraine.

Gettin' in the game.

Layton had a football function in Corvallis today, and we spent almost the entire day there.
It was so fun watching him, and seeing how much he enjoys (and LOVES) the game already.
The high-light of the afternoon was when he scored his first TOUCHDOWN!
It was a pretty proud moment.
The person sitting beside me goes, "I take it that's your boy?" as he laughed.
Hmm, I wonder what gave it away?
The not-so-fun part of the event was when he took his first HARD hit that hurt him.
Layton is known to be pretty tough, but we were up against a team that had kids that were twice his size.
That mixed in with their 'over-agressive' attitudes only lead to hard hits for the kids, and frustration for us parents.
But, after a good cry, and some gatorade he was ready to go back in.
I noticed tonight that his arms are covered in bruises, and he was complaining of his jaw hurting.
(I'm pretty sure that has something to do with the constant head pounding he received today.)
But, he just popped an ibuprofin, and then asked when his next practice was.
Something tells me that he is going to do just fine this season.

The tree.

While in search for new locations to shoot at this week, I found (and fell in LOVE) with this GIGANTIC and beautiful tree at one of the parks.

I didn't plan on taking pictures of the kids that day, but after invisioning it's photographing potential?

I just couldn't resist.

Confusion.

Watching David Blaine may cause a kid to look a little like this:

Hilarious, if you ask me.

This is the 'oh crap, they caught me eating a flip-flop again' look.

Funny, how I'm not finding him nearly as cute as of lately.

I must admit, I felt pretty bad-ass.

At work I have a pad-a-lock for my locker, and the key hangs on my name tag.
Otherwise I would never be able to keep track of it.
It's just in my nature to constantly LOSE things.
Anyway, I clocked out for break-time today and realized that my name tag had broke off of the clip that hooks to my shirt.
After scouring the entire store, I finally found it near where I was working. But, the key was GONE.
I must say however, that I am actually proud of myself for not freaking out, because normally? I would have.
(It's also in my nature to FLIP OUT for no reason.)
I spent the next 3 hours of my shift re-tracing my steps trying my hardest to find it.
Mostly, because I knew that there was NO way for me to cut the lock off, since we didn't have the tools there.
I also knew that there was NO way to get ahold of Lee since my phone was IN my locker, and I haven't memorized ANY phone numbers of anyone in the family.
(Dumb, I know.)
After looking, and looking, and looking some more.
I came up key-less.
My new manager even tried to pound it off with a hammer. No luck.
So, as I was just standing there and staring at it ~ something hit me.
About a year ago, my SUPER-COOL hubby gave me a little lesson on how to pick a lock.
So, out came the bobby pin holding my hair up, and there you have it: SUCCESS.
A guy that I work with was in the back room at the time, and he was almost as impressed as I was.
'Wow, look at that. She picks a lock with her bobby pin and then it goes right back in her hair like she's done this before."
Yep. It was my Macgyver moment, and I have to admit - It DID  make feel pretty freaking AWESOME.

Just a few 'pet peeves' from my LONG list.

The last few days have made me realize just how easy it is for certain things to annoy the crap out of me.
At first, I thought that maybe I was just a little bit too uptight about things, but the more I think about it,
the more I feel justified, and I have a feeling that alot of people are probably totally with me on some of these:

1.) Fake people.
Save the 'overly nice' voice, and 'over the top' personality for someone that will buy it. I can tell when someone is not authentic, and its annoying.

2.) Rude people.
You are not better than me, so get over yourself.

3.) Parents who do not dicipline their children in a public place.
Okay, so some people may take offense to this one but, oh well.
I cannot STAND it when there is a child in the store screaming at the top of their lungs because they want something. They yell, and whine, and the parents just ignore them.
My advice? Take them outside and SPANK them.

4.) Drivers who STILL text while driving.
Okay, people. It's the law. Get off your phone and DRIVE! Oh, and next time you cut me off and almost kill me, because you are looking down? Depending on my mood, I might just run you off the road.

5.) Jealous people.
Jealousy is stupidity. Stop wanting what someone else has, and be happy for what's in your life.
Maybe I am being a little judgemental on this one, but jealousy is really something that I have never understood. People can make themselves miserable over it, and for what?

6.) People that don't wear bras in public.
Now, maybe this has something to do with my place of work, but I swear I see it everyday, and there is NOTHING okay about this.

7.) People that post EVERYTHING on their Facebook.
Um, there are some things that I (and probably everyone else on your 'friends' list) just doesn't want to hear about. So, please stop torturing us.

8.) People that don't text me back or take FOREVER to do so.
I don't know why but this one is a BIG one for me. Maybe because it takes you 2 seconds to reply? Yeah, it's just RUDE.

9.) The fact that my KIDS cannot sort laundry.
It's pretty easy. We have 2 laundry baskets in the laundry room. one for 'darks' and one for 'whites.' Kaylee and Layton have hampers in their rooms and every two days, it is their responsibility to empty them. But, no matter how many times I go over it, they still mess it up. Drives me NUTS.

10.) Skinny jeans.
C'mon, do I really need to explain this one?

A day in the park.

We spent Thursday of this week at Oaks Park. AGAIN.
We enjoyed it so much last time, we just had to go back once more before this summer was over.
The Rose family came with us, and the kids had a blast.
I think they probably enjoyed it even more, since they each had a friend to go on rides with.
Layton and Benjamin rode the rock-o-planes over, and over.
So, many times that not only did I lose count, but the operator even stopped having them get off each time.
We packed a picnik lunch, and stayed the whole day.
I even got brave and went on a couple rides that I normally wouldn't.
Pete and I spent most the day just 'people watching' (which was HILARIOUS by the way) while everyone else went on unlimited rides.
Oh, I could go on for FOREVER with what we witnessed... but I won't.
All-in-all, it was just a fun day, with great friends.
Already, looking forward to going back next summer.

Let the SEASON begin.

Layton is playing tackle football this year, and he had his first practice tonight.

With the amount of running, warm-ups, and drills that the boys were doing for 2 hours straight, I am pretty confident that this kid will sleep pretty good tonight.

Looking forward to the season, and all it will bring.

Go SEAHAWKS! :)

Me? Cheap? Um... YEAH.

I am a little addicted to bargain shopping, as most of you know.
[Okay, so that might be an under-statement.]
I'm more like OBSESSED.
Anyway, I have been on a roll with back-to-school shopping this year and miss Kaylee has been dying for a pair of grey converse all-stars.
We have looked EVERYWHERE, with no luck.
I have found this quite odd, considering that the come in every stinkin' color of the rainbow, but whatever.
I planned on taking a trip to the outlet mall in Woodburn next week to find her a pair.
I figured out of all the places the Converse store SHOULD have them.
Tonight however, we ran into Fred Meyer real quick to browse the clearence racks.
Becca has a neighbor who works there, so I had a 'friends & family' discount card and wanted to take advantage.
First stop? The shoe department, and guess what??
A GREY pair of converse in HER size ONLY.
Oh, and it gets better. Not only where they on CLEARANCE, they had an ADDITIONAL 50% Off, PLUS the coupon I had, which made them a WHOPPING $9 dollars.
I seriously could barely contain my excitement.
So, not only did I have a daughter that was EXCITED out of her mind, she had a Mom that felt the EXACT same way.
In moments like these, there is just one word that comes to mind:
SCORE! :]

FINALLY. We figured it out.

For the past month or more, we have been going crazy trying to figure out why the dog had hives.
After trying everything possible to 'narrow it down,' the other morning it became surprisingly clear.
Lee has been on a kick lately with getting the yard in order, and with that he was kind enough to 'organize' my recycling bins out back for me.
He did this for 2 reasons,
ONE: to make it easier for me, and TWO: to keep Bentlee from dragging it out, chewing it up, and strewing it all over the back yard.
After doing so, Bentlee went an entire 36 hours without breaking out.
The next morning when we woke up, he was covered. AGAIN.
About an hour later, I went out back to throw a can in the bin, and discovered he had dumped one over, chewed, and INGESTED half of a milk carton, and a TON of cardboard.
After that, a dog beating followed, and a realization:
He was allergic to that crap.
Why it took us so long to figure it out? Who knows.
But the good news? We no longer have to keep him on steroids, and we no longer have a dog that embarasses us when we walk him down the street.

A man that cooks, is a HOT man in my eyes.

Ever since Lee and I have been together, I have been the cook in the house.
He can make top ramen, mac & cheese, and PB&J, but the rest?
The rest is left for me.
A lot of people have asked me if that drives me crazy, and honestly? No.
It's just how it is, and how it's always been, and besides I LOVE to cook, so I prefer it.
In the summer though, the dynamic changes a bit.
This man is KING of the grill.
He can BBQ like no one else, so I get a HUGE break in the summer months.
I always tease him and tell him how 'hot' it is when he cooks dinner and cleans the kitchen.
What he doesn't get, is that: I'm SERIOUS.
If I can get out of it for a night, I love him even more.
I have recently caught him watching the food network, and he told me this week that he was 'doing dinner' on Thursday.
As you can guess, I didn't argue.
I don't think he has EVER attempted to cook a meal IN THE KITCHEN by himself.
But, HOLY COW. It was amazing.
He made cheese-crusted chicken cutlets, with a tomato raw sauce, and homemade rice pilaf.

Um, yeah.

DELICIOUS.

Losing the battle.

This dog of ours continues to test my patience.
He has recently decided that he belongs on the bed whenever he chooses.
Normally, it's not very hard to break him of his bad habits.
Usually, after a few times of him getting into trouble for something.
He gets the point.
This time? He could really care less.
All the spanking, and punishment in the world couldn't stop him from 'sneeking in a snooze' on the bed whenever he wants, and even though he looks absolutely adorable and innocent half the time that we catch him? There is nothing CUTE about a 60 lb growing 'puppy' squeezing himself in between us at 3 o'clock in the morning.