Saturday, June 30, 2012

What I love.....

1. I love summer because I can wear a t-shirt and shorts anywhere.

2. I love summer because it means no make-up. 

3. I love watching our kids get in such good shape swimming.

4.  Seeing our kids rewarded for their swimming by being in such good shape, being the ones in the head to head races, and bringing home blue and red ribbons. 

5. It is especially fun to see your child have a goal of making southeastern championship qualifying time.  And make that goal last night!  Whoop, whoop, Jake!

6. I love oreo balls.  Thank you, Sara Beth.

7.  I love that June 21 has come and gone.  That means the days are getting "shorter".  Closer to winter time. 

8.  Because I love good winter nights in front of a fire place.

9.  Today I love airconditioning.

10.  I love that I could laugh at the fact that we were so low on toilet paper that I was desperately praying no one got an upset stomach before I could get to the store.  And how I wished I had made everyone go to the bathroom before we left the Y.  You know, to conserve on our meager supply of toilet paper.  (Never fear- I have been to the store and we are now stocked. :) )

11.  I love how I am feeling led to pray for the woman who recently looked at our home.  Praying she makes the best decision for her.

12.  I love how hard my kids worked to get the house in order.  They worked super hard.

13.  I love the deep hard laughs my kids get when we are having fun.

14.   I love our free spirit, "flower-child" Katie, who leaves me sweet notes and treats.  Even though she tells me she did it just because she was bored.

15.  I love dog slobber covered van windows.  My kids call it dog art.

16.  Fresh tomato sandwiches.  Enough said.

17.  Saturdays.  I am off to enjoy it!!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

May was one very long month

For whatever reason this year, May seemed to go on and on.  With no relief in sight.  But, alas, it is over.   Here are a few of our highlights

Jake finally moved up to the church youth group the first weekend in May.  It was long anticipated.  On that day, after church, is usually lunch and some sort of fun activity.  This year it was a photo scavenger hunt.  One of the tasks was to actually buy a fish (you must have receipt as proof) and take a picture.  It was only one fish per group.  How did the Pritchards get lucky enough to bring home two fish?  Wow.  Here is one of them.  Make note that the 13 cent fish died sooner than the 25 cent fish.  You really do get what you pay for. :)


The Avengers movie was greatly anticipated in our house.  You see, we have a rule of no PG-13 movies until you are 13.  We make a few exceptions, especially when said child is almost 13.  Well, for this movie we made an exception, so the two big kids and us parents went to see the movie.  Sweet Katie gets to live vicariously through us for these movies and can talk about them like she has seen them.  I truly think, though, she makes an absolutely adorable Hulk. :)
            
For Mother's Day, my father-in-law, husband and sister-in-law treated all the girls - Moms, Nana, and the offspring- to manis, pedis, and lunch out.  It was a sweet (and colorful) treat for us girlies.




When we are downtown for either orthodontist appointments or eye visits, we try and make a point to go visit my dad at work. They call him Batz (that story is another post), but anyway, Batz happens to also be our optometrist. Jake needed a check-up, so I took these two for a visit. Here they are in their great sunglasses they got for getting their eyes dialated. The week after this we headed back down their for orthodontist appointments and afterwards swung by Batz's office to eat lunch and wreak havoc. It's always an adventure - raiding his candy stash, making a scene in the deli, and this time all three kids managed to get a ride in the elevator all by themselves. All the way up, then all the way back down. I guess they are kinda glad my dad is retiring soon??




Being the cool mom that I am, and having a cool hubby who also said yes,  Sara Beth dyed a stip of her hair pink.  It was a process- first bleach it, then add the pink.  So proud of her because she did it all by herself.  It's a good thing, because I wouldn't have known what I was doing either.  I would have just been the hovering mom.  

Due to the ever increasing social life of my older kids, Katie and I had alot of time together to do stuff just for us.  Movie watching, ice cream treats, and even a whole bakery's worth of play-doh creations.


Even we are multiple swim teams at this point, the kids still like to swim for fun.  After a long day of working on the house, we took the kids to a friends house to swim. 
                  

Bear is coming along.  He may end up a good dog yet.  If only my mom's dog could teach him to poop all in one spot, then that would be just awesome.  Anyway, the last weekend in May (Memorial Day weekend), I had the lovely chance to clean up dog vomit, not one but two mornings in a row.  That is a monumental occasion because I just don't do vomit. 
But, poor Bear just got sicker and sicker.  Sparing you the gory and gross and foul smelling details, we figured out he had swallowed a large piece of chewable bone, that he decided to gulp rather than chew.    He recovered, after a few calmer days.  Only then to welcome June with a two hour romp through our house while we were gone.  I somehow didn't close the kennel well.  He certainly enjoyed rearranging our items.  Lipstick doesn't look good on him, he doesn't like the Wheat Thins he tried,  the Starburst he loved, and for some reason he decided to rummage through Jake's swim bag and declare war on his goggles.  Bear won.  Well, maybe- we think that the second weekend of vomiting was due to his escapades.  Maybe the tube of lotion didn't settle well with him. 



Cute picture of two sets of sisters, playing Twister, giggling uncontrollably.

Our youth group, which David and I work in and Sara Beth and Jake both participate in, does fun stuff on Wednesday nights during the summer.  This was Jake's first "official" such event, as a true 7th grader.   One of the perks of us helping with the youth is that quite a few of the events can be family friendly, so our other kids can tag along.  They have for years, and now Jake is official, which leaves Katie as the tag along.  The first one was a sock-hop, which was a great one for Katie to tag along.   Doesn't she look adorable?

There was a photo booth, which was tons of fun.  Sorry about the sideways picture.  It happens.

Anyone with a tween or teenage girl is sure to be familiar with Naill, Harry, Zayne, etc from the great new boy band, One Direction.  It is pretty much all that is talked about around this house.  Considering I have a teenage girl, and soon to be tween.  Both David and I confess that their songs are really good and quite enjoyable to listen to.  It's a good thing, too.


For the rest of the days in May, we finished school and achievement tests.  This means that we now have a freshman in high school, a 7th grader, and a 3rd grader.   The kids have had swim practices, with two swim teams.   I have wiped sticky watermelon off the floor numerous times.  Oh, and we put the house on the market.  Yeah.  Maybe June or July's events will included moving?  Praying hard toward that end.