ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!

This year is kinda weird feeling as far as birthdays go, its the first year where I had to sit down and figure out how old I am. You always hear other people count back to figure out how old they are, but I haven't had to do that, until now. I have been reiminding Chis about my birthday comming up for quite some time now (probably since christmas), but never gave a second thought as to how old I will be. It was kind of a strage feeling not knowing the asnwer to the question of how old I will be. So I did the math, and I hope to remeber it from now on.

26. That is the magical number.

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Saving Money/Time!!!

I wanted to take a second to give myself a pat on the back. Good job me!!! I am saving our family both time and money. How, you ask; I planted a garden (really Chris planted it, I just told him where and how, then provided the plants). Well anyway, "we" planted a garden with all the summer vegetables we love. I even saved us money in the planting aspect. I went to a plant sale hosted by the Michigan State Univ. "plant" department. I spent like $15 on the the whole thing. Pretty Freakin' Rad if ya ask me. Anyway we will end up with enough stuff that I can bottle salsa (with all the bottling supplies from freecycle). Now if anybody is reading this that knows me I can imagine you are asking yourself, "when did Deb learn to make and bottle salsa?" Well that is the one problem in my plan. I just figured I would look up some detailed instructions on the internet. Details, Details. I decided that planting a garden saves me time because I don't have to run to the store to get the fresh fruits and veggies. I just have to run out to the back yard.
Continuing on with the other way I am saving our family money. I line dry our clothes whenever possible. I know it is a bit hickish, but you do what ya gotta do. There are quite a few rainy days in Michigan, so I can't always do it, but when I can I feel a big sense of accomplishment. Also the clothes seem to dry so much faster, thus saving myself time.

This is the life!!

Last week was crazy busy, but in a good way. On Tuesday we went to the Michigan State Univ. Dairy Expo. Paiton LOVED it!! She was a little bit scared of the adult cows, but she loved the calves and wanted to play with them for a long time. She also was given a ton of free stuff; coloring books, a bag to put it all in, chocolate milk, ice cream sandwich, stickers, and crafts. I liked it because we spent the whole morning there and she was pooped by the time we got home. Needless to say there were no objections at nap time.


On Thursday we went to Lake Lansing with a bunch of ladies (and their kids) from church. Paiton had a good time playing in the water, and chasing the boys. I hope this isn't going to be her "thing"; she loves playing with the boys. There were little girls about her same age there that she could have played with, but she seems to be drawn to the rough and tumble type play of the boys. They usually are faster than her, so she just runs behind them and copies whatever they are doing. It is kinda funny to watch.
(This water pic isn't of the lake obviously, but I had forgotten the camera when we went. We did have a pool day one day last week, I just can't remember what the exact day was...they are all running together.)

I was being a responsible parent and lathered Paiton up with sunscreen 2 or 3 times in the 3 hours we were there, but somehow forgot about myself. She came home with a slight golden skin color, while I on the other hand had a very definite red skin color. It is hard to get anything but red on a pasty white body. It is kinda funny to see the bright red on bright white contrast. Oh well better luck next time.On Friday morning, Paiton and I drove 4 hours to visit my brother in Cleveland Ohio. Paiton played with her cousins, whom she LOVES!!! My brother and sister-in-law have 2 boys and a baby girl. Paiton was really funny with them; she would run and chase the boys, then all of a sudden out of nowhere she would spot "baby Hannah" and run over to give hugs and kisses. Then she would start chasing the boys again. This went on for quite a while. She is still talking about "Woan", "Andew", and "Baby Hannah".

On Saturday we drove form Cleavland to Sandusky Ohio and went to Cedar Point , a ginormous amusement park (one of the top five of the world's top-rated thrill parks rated by the Travel Channel). It was AWESOME!!! I loved watching Paiton ride the rides. I think her favorite were the cars with horns, and the carousal. She loved riding the horses that went up and down. She picked a horse one time that was stationary, and that didn't last very long. It was an exhausting day. We woke up around 7:30AM and didn't leave the park until 11:00PM. Then we sat in traffic for another hour and a half, just in time to make the 3 hour trip back home. Oh yeah did I mention I had to teach a relief society lesson the next morning. But I was prepared, because I had my lesson prepared from the week before. I am CRAZY, and had it in my head I was supposed to teach last week, but later realized my error. It worked out OK, so no harm done.

Anyway, we finally made it home around 4:30AM. We woke up around 9:30AM and ran around the house in a panic trying to be ready to leave the house by 10:30AM so we could be on time for church at 11:00AM. It didn't work, we were late. I did make it in time to teach though and I think...that it went okay.

All that and she is still happy as can be. I am glad kids are resilient!!