Monday Mumbles 12

1. A day off work must result in a dark and gloomy downpour day? Bah humbug.

2. To satisfy my own curiosity, I want to straighten Evelyn's hair. But for fear that she'll fall out of love with her curls, I can't bring myself to do it. Yet.

3. My brother is getting married in a little over a month and I still haven't purchased the kids' outfits. I need to get on the ball.

4. Speaking of purchases, I am about to finish up book 4 of the Game of Thrones series and apparently book 5 hasn't made its way to paperback yet. Hm.

5. As a family, we've taken to watching game shows. We're talking the old school games like $25,000 Pyramid and new age games like Minute to Win It. And I can't lie....when we watch Wheel of Fortune, I don't hesitate to kick their butts. I love that game.

6. Owen and Turner will be going to summer school. I.AM.EXCITED. And scared. Please, Owen, behave yourself.

7. My children quote Duck Dynasty. Especially Uncle Si. There are a lot of "Hey Jack"s around here.

8. Did I tell you that Owen gave me a dollar in my Mother's Day card? He did. And he said that because he receives money in cards, he wanted to be certain I also had money in my card. He took the dollar from his own wallet.

9. Now I feel bad for sneaking a dollar out of his wallet when I was cashless and in dire need of a mocha one morning.

10. The kids have been singing "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore for weeks now. Yesterday I took them to the local thrift store and they were amazed they could find a love seat for $10 and an organ for $8. Simply amazed.

Funny Face Friday 7

We had extra time on our hands in between Turner's tournament games one weekend. We were hanging out in the back of my car, and the kids let it be known who was in charge of my photo session.

We also visited a nearby park and we all got in the action. Even my mom. My brother's fiance looks a little frightened but she'll grow into us. Turner ended up with some sort of "back end" problem after going down the slide.

Thankful Thursday 6

1. Today I am thankful for time. While the unfathomable "time only speeds up as you get older" has truly hit home to me, it also provides something wonderful. A healing effect. I think recovery and healing, forgiveness and rejuvenation make themselves known to different people in different ways. For me, I have come to realize it is time more than any other possibility. Time brings me perspective, a deep breath (sometimes a years' long deep breath), and sensible words.

2. I am thankful the Royals are on tv almost every night of summer, that The Bachelorette starts up next week, and So You Think You Can Dance is back in business.

3. I am thankful my little brother has found a partner for life who is a beautiful person. She's sensible yet silly, intellectual yet fun-loving. I am excited to share in their love day coming up in July.

Tuesday Owenisms 7

This week, I want to share some sweet Owenisms that I came home to. Turner found my blog pictures and made a couple of his own. Just for me.

Monday Mumbles 11

1. Evelyn insists that she wants to go to bed and wake up a grown up. Of course, she also stated very loudly, "I WANT TO BE A BOY!!!!" the other day when her brothers were entertaining two neighbor boys.

2. We received mail confirmation this weekend that Owen and Turner will definitely be attending summer school during June. I can't WAIT to see how Owen does - he desperately needs to see what a full day in the classroom feels like.

3. I started these Sunday night and then the storms started rolling in. I decided to shut down the PC for the duration and never fired it back up.

4. Speaking of the storms, there were pretty strong thunderstorms and tornado activity. The kids were very in tune with the news and slightly apprehensive. Owen even found his lantern and had Hubs replace the batteries so he was prepared.

5. My boss made an observation about me and I had to reflect on it. He said, "Jess can't handle incompetence. As long as you don't bring that to the table, you're fine."

6. When I listened to that again in my head, I had to agree. That is the single most bothersome attribute to me, when working with others. I don't expect them to know everything or have all the answers whenever I ask, but I do expect them to be competent in their tasks, their follow ups, and-generally speaking-in their efforts at work.

7. My siblings and I are very fortunate in that we have 3 of our 4 grandparents still with us. One of my cousin's spouse just lost her father this past weekend and I cannot imagine what she's going through right now. With having grandparents still attending every family function, I don't even pretend to be prepared to handle losing an elder, let alone a parent.

8. Owen and Turner are arguing about who loves me more. If this is the fight I have to break up, given mumble #7, I'll take it.

9. Mom came up to the city Saturday and watched Turner's basketball games and then took the kids home for us. Hubs and I preceded to go out to dinner with a friend of his, and his wife. I hadn't met them (Officially. They were at our wedding but we didn't spend time getting to know one another.) and so we went out and had a nice adult dinner. It.was.lovely.

10. Last week we had Owen's frenectomy done. He was a serious champion in the dentist chair, from the oral numbing gel to the actual shot of numbing medicine to the knife scraping of his tongue-tied flesh. I was so proud of him.

Monday Mumbles 10

1. I'm late, but it's still Monday! Happy start to the week.

2. Combing Evelyn's hair is a trial. It's good thing her hair is thick enough I can do strange ponytail combinations so if I wanted to avoid combing it one day (theoretically speaking, I would never.....), I could. Just thinking through typing....

3. How out of touch am I if a show named "Dancing with the Stars" has "Stars" on it who I've never even heard of??? The tragedy of Pacific Coast Royals games is creating this manic TV watching.

4. Okay...it's now Tuesday. I honestly started these Monday evening and then...well.....I dunno....life.

5. BUT, because we delayed the posting and the completion, I get to announce Andrew Wiggins, the #1 college basketball recruit, chose to be a Kansas Jayhawk next fall. Yeehaw. That is all.

6. Evelyn is completely infatuated with babies. She tries to make me walk different directions in the grocery store, out shopping, at sporting events, all because she's spotted a baby in that vicinity. She's obsessed.

7. Owen is getting his tongue-tie snipped tomorrow. I'm nervous for him, for his reaction when he realizes they're going to numb his little mouth with a shot. :( I've got tactics for distraction, so I'm just hoping they work.

8. I need to go find Game of Thrones television series to rent or buy. I'm nearly through book 4 and need to buy book 5 and then...time to watch!

9. I can't believe Owen's going to school in the fall. I feel like crying.

10. I need to go. Sissy is saying "I wish you had another baby" and I might just need to vomit.

Funny Face Friday 6

Monday Mumbles 9

1. I promise I'm not trying to fall into the Neglecting Hole that I did last time. I just had a very busy week and previous weekend!

2. I really meant to get these started Sunday evening so I didn't have to rush to do them this morning, but we sat down as a family and watched Twister and then we watched Blind Side and by then it was 10pm and this  old lady had to go to bed.

3. Turner, by the way, could watch Blind Side and ESPN's "30 for 30: Bo Jackson" for the rest of his entire life and be content. He's watched both a hundred times easily.

4. I went to Boca Raton last Sunday for a work conference. I saw about 2% of the beautiful weather because we were booked from dawn to nearly dawn with exhibit hall, receptions, cocktail hours....my feet were killing me!

5. And FYI - being on a work trip with co-workers for that length of time is EYE opening. That is all.

6. I don't have time to discuss much else. I'd stay and finish but I have an 8am meeting I need to get to the office for. No being my usual 15-20 minutes late today!