truly epic fail. (August)

ok. time to come clean. 

on one of our very hectic days back in August, just a week into the new adventure of home

schooling, we were expecting Annicka's teacher.  I decided to do something I had maybe done once 

before, hide all my dirty dishes in the oven.  I just had SO many, especially because I found

some that hadn't managed to be unpacked while I was cleaning the garage.  so I knew I wouldn't get

to all of them before her 10am arrival.  but since she was coming at that time, I also knew

I wouldn't need to cook before she had come and gone ... so I figured it would be fine!

well, 10am came and went ... and she called to say she had been delayed and would have to

come later.  no problem, I'll just keep working on other stuff around the house - and this

great task of schooling a sixth grader (man, the beginning was super duper rough - I'm talking like

12 hours of schooling a day ... it took a bit for us to get into a good routine and figure it all

out and such).  so, we're trying to get school done and I'm trying to other things at the same time (I

can no longer remember what those other things were, aside from taking care of three other

children) and I decide to make "oven dogs" for the kids for lunch - a favorite of theirs.

you can see where this is going already, can't you?!

yes, in my hurried state - with all the chaos going on ... I turned on the oven to preheat.

epic. fail.

 about five minutes later I walked back in to the kitchen and Annicka said (from her

school desk) ... "what's that smell?"

I stood there for a minute, it was a smell I knew.

I looked at the stove, I think I thought 'why would it be the stove?'.

I looked at my open and thought 'it must be coming in from outside'.

then I looked at the stove again - something told me from the first second that it

was my stove, but my mind just wasn't registering it.

then it suddenly did.

"OH NO"

I cried.

I leaped over and turned the oven off, I quickly opened the door and began removing the

dishes that filled the oven.  they were a little warm, but nothing that would truly hurt

me.  I quickly put some oven mits on for the last pieces, but it was too late for some ...

namely the tupperware lids on the bottom of the stove.

they were a puddle. literally, a puddle of plastic.

I had a tupperware lid holder that also didn't make it out in it's original state.

thankfully, those were my only items that were ruined ...

and more thankfully, I didn't start a fire!

but I had a major problem ... I didn't know how I was gonna get those lids off

the bottom of the oven!  I was actually crying at this point - yes, it's true.

so, I had to call housing and tell them what I had done.

thankfully (again) they'd seen it before and were totally nice and not

worried about it at all.  a guy came over and checked it out and said to let it cool and

then scrape it off.  I tried, but I all I managed to do was break my spatula.

he happened to stop back by later to see if I had gotten it off, 

and since I hadn't - he took the bottom of the oven outside and got it off for me!

so, my friends, I will give you this piece of advice ...

do not, I repeat, DO NOT use this trick.

for the love of dirty dishes, just let your company see them!!!

the great garage project (August)

I may as well just say it right off: the great garage project FAIL! 

but, I'll save the whole story for after you see how well I was doing ...

these first pics (above) were actually taken during the process ... I think this was at 

the start of day two, so I had already worked a solid day out there!  and believe me when

I tell you that I had made an enormous amount of progress, I really wish I had 

taken a true "before" pic ... but I didn't, so you'll have to take my word for it!

by the end of the third day of working out there I had managed to get a lot of stuff

organized and then I moved on to the tedious work and getting ready for my yard sale!

and no, I didn't have babysitters ... I did this while still fulfilling the role of "mom"!!!

this was when daddy was in Florida for his class ... so I just had the kids playing in the front yard,

or in the house (Zoey in her play yard with Annicka playing with her), and of course I was

sure to utilize Zoey's nap time the most!!!  they also enjoyed having picnic lunches while

I slaved away sweeping, sorting, moving, loading, pricing ... good times!!!

the randoms (July)

and, we'll finish up our July pics with these randoms!!!

we bought some fun stuff for outdoor play!!!

Annicka tidied up the boys room -spontaneously- for me/them and even put a bunch of their figure

toys on display ... she was so proud and wanted me to take pics!

and - Liam slept in strange positions on a toy filled bed ... nothing new there!!!

and now we can move onto August - yippee!!!

hair cuts (July)

 yes, in July I finally decided my hair was "too long" (I'd been fighting

that thought for months!) and got it cut!  it did sure feel good and I got some good layers again!

 and, Zoey got her first hair cut!

really it was more of a trim ... and I'm still sad that Yaya wasn't the one to be able to do it!

if only we could have flown up to Oregon for a hair cut!

she did pretty good for it and it looked a lot better with those "stragglies" gone!

Jericho finally got his mow-hawk! 

except, I asked for a "faux hawk" (ok, I chickened a bit at the last minute - but I never

intended to let him have fully shaven sides, I'm not a fan of any sort of buzzed look) and what

he got was a little weird!  the same lady cut my hair hair that day and she wasn't my fave -

in fact, the hair cut (of mine) you see above was not her work, I went back the next

day and got the layers I had asked for - that she felt I shouldn't have!!!

... anyway, as you can see, he was thrilled!!!

swimming! (July)

 

look at little Liam - all ready to go swimming with his new "floatie"!

(I can't think of what to call his life-jacket thing)

 so much fun with our friends that day!  

and whoa - Liam completely surprised me by being totally independent in the water ...

guess that swim thing I've wanted for like three years now was definitely worth it!!!

 the boys!!!

and yes, I got in on the fun that day too!

gotta say - I really loved getting to have a swim!

and I had fun playing with my kiddos too!!!

thanks again to our friends for inviting us to visit them at their hotel!!!

have mercy (July)

Annicka has always had a flair for the dramatics!  if I was so concerned about my time, I'd search through my old blog and find the post about her coming into my room late one night and dramatically ripping a paper heart in half as she said something like "and that just break (rip) my heart"!!!  true story.

anyway, one of her more recent ways of showing her creative/dramatic side is by issuing, what I call, "fishing notes".  what happens is that when she is sent to her room, after a while we will see a note (often with something like a stuffed animal too) dangling in the stair well - where we can see it from downstairs!  I haven't photo documented each time this has happened ... and at this point I can't even remember if I blogged about this before?  but here's one from July that was pretty entertaining!

July - BEACH DAY!

 back in July we took a little trip to a beach not too far away - it was awesome!  my friend told me about it and we met for lunch and then headed to the beach to have some fun all together!  the kids had a blast!  I may have posted some of these pics back them, I can't remember?  anyway, here's our fun at the beach ...

 she loved the sand!  I was happy to see she had no reservations about

walking, sitting in, or playing with sand!

 the boys!!!

 see that tub Annicka is carrying ... you'll see why in a bit!

 Liam loved it too!

 oh how my little LOVED splashing in the water!

I had to hold them tight when the waves came in!

(oh yah and I mislabeled some of these pics - oops - obviously if I'm in them they're by my friend)

 the four big kids - doin their thing - being independent!

 and there's why the tub!!!

she was catching these little creatures!!!

 there's my friend and my littles!!!

 see - she loved the sand so much she even laid down in it!!!

that day it was confirmed - she's definitely a Cali girl!!!