As I was sitting here this morning and thinking about how this summer has gone I found myself satisfied. I feel that most of the credit should go to Wyatt's boy scouts. The group has gotten together every other Saturday this summer. We have done a baseball game, planetarium, water park and last Saturday we went horseback riding.
Wyatt, Kelly and Chelsea have made new friends with Dominic and Macie from scouts and Rob and Marty (D+M's dad) are buddies and working a side job together. Treasure, the kids' stepmom, and I have become good friends too so this has been a busy summer shuttling between houses, cookouts and just hanging out.
Actually this picture was taken at Marty's house one evening.
Marty likes to tease me endlessly about taking pictures and scrapbooking.
One of the first times I was at their house Treasure was showing me a new room they had added on. We had been talking about scrapbooking and using the cricut and when we walked in and looked around I asked her if this room was going to be her scrap room. She later laughed at me but she told me no, this was going to be the new master bedroom.
When she told Rob and Marty what I had said they all laughed at me. Hey a girl can dream for her friend right?
Yes this summer has been satisfying but it has also come with some major medical issues and changes for me.
Sigh... In May I hurt my right arm when I was swinging a pick to help Rob dig up our garden, figured I pulled a muscle.
In June I was diagnosed with kidney and gall stones I also ended up getting an emergency root canal.
In July I finally made an appointment with a new PCP who is also the husband of my gyno. I went in with a list of things wrong with me.
The Dr. let me know that I have tennis elbow in my right arm and need to wear a brace for the next 8 weeks and to ice my arm. We'll treat the kidney and gall stones when they flare up. I was diagnosed with high cholesterol and the doctor made it official that I am now a type 2 diabetic. I'm not on insulin yet. I have been put on two medications that I will probably take for the rest of my life. One is for the cholesterol and the other is metaformin for the diabetes.
It's time I take control of my eating.
I overeat and most of the time it's with all the bad stuff that tastes so yummy. I have also come to realize that I'm eating too fast.
I have already started making steps in eating healthier. I'm not going gung ho because like my doctor suggested if I do I'm setting myself up for failure. I AM being more aware of what I eat and how much.
I also need to start walking but this has come to be a bit of a problem because my kids are not old enough to left alone for an hour and with Rob working this extra job he leaves about 20 minutes after getting off of his regular work and gets home at about 8pm. I could try walking at 5:30 am, that's when Rob gets home from his bike ride and is showering and getting ready for work. Right now I think that is going to be my only option.
I could go on and on about exercise and healthy changes but for me this is enough for now. I'm already feeling a bit overwhelmed and my natural defense is to run away and pig out.
Lots of changes I'm going to make. (that sounds a bit Yoda-ish)
May the force be with me. :)


*Carrie*

Happy 7th Birthday Wyatt!

 Oh my goodness, this boy! I swear he can be the easiest to please.

This year Wyatt wanted another Toy Story birthday party, it would be his third in fact but Nina was out shopping and spied some Cars 2 party ware on clearance and she picked them up. I asked Wyatt if this was OK and he said sure.

For the last month he has informed us what he wanted for his birthday and thankfully we were able to comply.

Wyatt wanted a watch but mostly he wanted a Super Mario Bros game.

As I later stated on Facebook we have officially entered the video game years, Lord have some mercy on us.

We had a small party with cupcakes and ice cream, Wyatt tore thru his presents lickety split and then him and all the boys ran into his room to start to put the various Lego sets together. It was a nice, relaxed party and one where even us adults had some time to talk.

It has been a busy summer this year and for one I am very thankful. This past Saturday we went with the boy scouts to a horse ranch to earn their segment and belt loop, even Kelly has earned a girl scout patch.

Anyway, I forgot my camera. I know shoot me! I used Rob's phone to take all the pictures but we haven't had time to take them off his phone and put them on the computer.

I am so proud of my kids. I'll post more on the horseback riding later. Today is all about my little guy.

So here is 7 things for Wyatt's 7th Birthday

1. He is very compassionate

2. He can be very dramatic
3. He has started to try foods that he always refused before
4. He loves cub scouts
5. He is not a fan of his little sister, right now, there is always hope :)
6. He is helpful
7. My boy loves chocolate!

In a couple of weeks he'll be starting second grade. As a parent it really boggles my mind to watch my kids grow and change. It really does go by so fast.
Last week Wyatt floored me when he asked to take a bite of my bowl of cottage cheese. After his first bite I thought that would be it, instead he went ahead and finished my bowl.
Happy Birthday Wy, I pray that this will be a great year for you!
Love you,
mom and dad

*Carrie*

I remember lamenting that the kids might have another boring summer.
Yeah well, I changed my mind.
In the last few weeks they have swam in three different people's pools, gone to a water park and went bowling. We have another pool party to go to this month for Kelly and the girls scouts and maybe horseback riding for Wyatt and the boy scouts.
This past weekend was a family picnic for the boy scouts at Brandi Fenton Park.
My kids had a great time except Chelsea. Chels

wasn't too sure about all the water and kept going in and out of the area. Thankfully there was a playground right beside the water park and she played there on and off.
Afterward we picked up lunch and then we had a bowling date for Kelly and scouts.
Rob, Wyatt and Chelsea bowled beside us.
I know this isn't the most flattering picture but this is what I saw.
Chelsea quickly lost interest in the bowling so Rob finished out her game for her.
Kelly had a nice time hanging with the girls and even got a cute patch for it.
Me, I just hung out. I pulled a muscle a few months ago when I was helping Rob dig up our garden. I still can't pick up heavy items with my right arm and I knew there was no way I could swing a ball.

To recap more of our summer we've been watching netflix and finding all these great TV shows that we don't have time to watch during the season or we don't get the channel with just an antenna. We have caught season 1 of Glee, Drop Dead Diva, Hot in Cleveland and Ghost Adventures. Awesome, funny and terrific shows. Since we no longer have cable this has been great and I love the fact that there are no commercials.

Sometimes during the day, like now, I will have the Pandora radio playing on the computer as I surf the net. I love the ability to pick an artist and get a variety channel with all my similarly favorite songs and artists.

I'm getting ready to have some photos printed and I'm excited to get some scrappin done. I really need to get some PAGES done. I have started a list of must get done pages like almost all the kids' birthdays and holidays. That should keep me busy for a while and would help in the theme paper and embellishment shopping. Heck, I've already been thinking about making Christmas cards. I just need to make the time and buckle down. Since I no longer have a room I make it more complicated because then I have to dig to find some of my stuff because it could be in about four different places in our house.
Last week I finally started on the kids school albums but now I need to order more page protectors. I will have the books ready up to fifth grade and then I plan to switch the paper theme to something more grown up looking.
*Carrie*

 I will be honest and say that this last week has been a rough week.
Last Wednesday I ended up getting a emergency root canal, since then, for some reason, I keep getting migraines.
I haven't had a migraine in years, lots of years. I've had 3 since last week. It has been horrible and almost ruined my 4th of July.
I feel like my head is on a hair trigger and I don't like it.

 We did up having a nice 4th though.
 We headed up to the foothills to hang out with Rob's friend Marty and all his family.
The Amplo family compound is perfect for parties. They have a view of the city from the driveway, an acre of land that butts up against the Catalina Mt's, a pool, BBQ grill and sidewalk chalk.
Yes, chalk. I'll get to it later
The 4th in Tucson was a bit muted this year. Most fireworks were banned and several venues cancelled their firework celebrations. To top it off we got one heck of a storm here on the east side
that knocked down trees and ripped off roofs.
The only fireworks allowed in the city were smoke bombs and sparklers.
It was an old fashioned fourth and the kids loved it.

We showed up shortly before the storm hit and we brought along some macaroni salad and Rob's near famous ribs.
I love Rob's ribs,  I was really hoping to have a couple left over to bring home but there was nothing left, but we had some great grilled corn and for dessert Marty's brother made some awesome chocolate dipped cream puffs.

Anyway, the kids got to go swimming before and after the storm they also took the side walk chalk and drew on the block walls. Since the walls were damp the chalk colors came out super bright. On part of the wall Marty traced each kid that was there, lets just say there were a lot of kids. The kids had a ton of fun and all got along and no one got hurt. Yep, it was good.
We had great conversation and a great time.


*Carrie*