Beth's Blog

I Gave Up Blogging for Lent...

2011-04-26T20:41:00.000-04:00

Not really, but it would've been a good excuse, huh?

I DID give up soda though & I am not a coffee drinker so I'm going to have to admit that the iced tea thing really didn't keep my caffeine levels quite high enough to meet the needs for my existence.

So now that I'm 2 days into the Easter season, I'm here to tell you....

Alleluia! He is Risen!
(and I am caffeinated!)

Catch up with you guys soon!

Today's the Day!

2011-02-17T03:00:00.001-05:00

Oh. My. Goodness!

I can't believe it!

You've GOT to be kidding!

Don't tease me, Young Lady!

Ah! Ha! I see you winking!

So, it can't possibly be true, right?!

Right?!

There is just NO WAY...

NO POSSIBLE WAY!

That my first born child...

My Beautiful Megan the Munchkin...

is 21 years old today!

Happy Birthday Meggie! I am so proud to be your mama!

I love you!

Now, be good! :)

Today's the Day!

2011-02-10T11:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to my very best friend.

I'm a lucky girl!

I love you Michael!

You Capture: Cold

2011-02-10T10:52:00.000-05:00

You may remember that last week I was wondering how I would possibly come up any good photos of "Cold" with a forecast like this:

All week I fretted. As I soaked in the sunshine. hahahahaha!

Actually, it's been pretty rainy and miserable all week, but the temps stayed pretty reasonable, so I guess I can't complain too much.

I was all set to give up & not participate this week, but at the last minute I decided to try this...

I got that one shot & then...

Obviously not a happy puppy.

Sigh.

Then I got out a bowl & filled it with ice to try to get some cool macro shots.

I won't even share them with you they were so UGH. But on the way back to the kitchen with the bowl, I wondered if Bentley would enjoy some ice...hmmm.

There you go! To find more COLD pics, hop on over to Beth's.

In the meantime, I'll be working on next week's challenge: Warmth. I think I can handle that.

Menu Plan Monday

2011-02-07T10:23:00.000-05:00

The shopping isn't done yet, but the list is. That's half the battle right?

Monday

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Salad

(this was on the list last week, but it got pushed back because Michael had an unexpected business trip)

Tuesday

Southwestern Taco Pot Pie (a family favorite)

Wednesday

Drum Lesson & Youth Group, Ben & I will grab something in between.

Thursday

PWs Chicken Spaghetti (YUM!)

Friday

Hamburgers on the grill

Tator Tots

Asian Noodle Salad

Saturday

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Sunday

Homemade Mac n Cheese

Stewed Tomatoes with Zucchini & Onion

To find more menu ideas, head on over to orgjunkie.com's link-up.

You Capture: Red

2011-02-03T11:18:00.000-05:00

When I found out this week's theme for You Capture was RED, I got even more excited than I already was about going to the Gasparilla Parade on Saturday. While there was tons of red there to go around & I got some good shots, I loved these red boas hanging off this vendor's cart.

These flags were in front of that house on Bayshore with the military gathering..

And of course my You Capture post would not be complete without any shots of Bentley...

here is Bentley & my caffeinated beverage of choice while we were out playing one morning.

and the pup looking over our neighbors fence, trying to make friends with those darn yippy dogs.

I'm not a fan of those yippy dogs, but I do enjoy their pretty tree, still looking like it's fall here on a February Florida morning.

Check out this week's other You Capture posts here. I love going through all the linked blogs every week & seeing everyone's shots. Such fun!

I just read that next week's theme is COLD. Here's my local forecast for the next 7 days:

Looks like some creativity may be in order.

Today's the Day

2011-02-02T17:17:00.000-05:00

These 2 kids got married 31 years ago today.

They blended their families & headed south for a fresh start to their lives.

Two harder working people, you'll never meet.

Two more generous people, you'll never meet.

When Michael & I were first married, we lived with them for 3.5 years! 3.5 years!

With our baby girl. Then our other baby girl.

3 and one half years!!!!

And they never complained (well, at least not to us)...

I love these two! And so do their 4 children & 6 grandchildren!

Happy Anniversary, Chris & Jim!

Love you!

AAAAARGH!!!!

2011-02-01T10:05:00.000-05:00

Back in the late 18th & 19th centuries, a legendary pirate, a "buccaneer" named Jose Gaspar & his crew invaded the shores of West Florida.

How does a community remember men who terrorized your citizens, stole your gold & took your women against their will?

You throw an annual festival & parade in their honor, of course.

And you call it Gasparilla, of course.

And you name your football team after them. Duh?!

B-U-C-C-A-N-E-E-R-S! Go Bucs!

Gaparilla is HUGE in Tampa! Many of the the prominent businessmen & women in the Tampa Bay area belong to clubs or "Krewes" who plan this event every year. They raise millions of dollars for charities.

Oh! Did I mention they dress like pirates and wenches while they do it? And there is plenty of beer & Captain Morgan to go around.

It's Tampa's answer to Mardi Gras.

Many Tampa residents (especially the wealthy ones) own at least one pirate outfit. It's how we roll in Tampa Bay.

Michael & I have lived in the Tampa area for 31 & 30 years respectively and NEITHER OF US HAVE EVER BEEN TO GASPARILLA!!!

Until last weekend.

All of you up North facing the Blizzard of the Century today may not want to read the next stanza.

It was a BEAUTIFUL DAY! Gorgeous sunshine & temps in the mid-70s.

We parked Ybor City & planned to take the trolley to the parade. But the trolleys were full so we hopped on a city bus with the group of pirates.

Standing room only.

Ben's first (and he says last) ride on a city bus.

We arrived at the Convention Center a little later than we hoped & couldn't see the invasion very well. If you look closely between the two palm trees closest to the camera you can see the pirate ship, Jose Gasparilla, belonging to the oldest Gasparilla Krewe, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla. This beautiful ship was built in 1954 & is the only fully rigged pirate ship to be built in modern times. She's a beauty & her cannons are LOUD!!! And smoky!

There was definitely a palpable excitement in the air!

And a pretty cute boy in the crowd.

Lots of pirates were roaming about. Here are some of the new friends we made on the bus getting their picture taken with some of them.

As we walked toward the parade route, we walked over a bridge & I was able to get a shot of some of the other boats that had gathered in the Bay for the occasion.

Here are my boys walking toward the parade route like cattle.

I normally do anything & everything I can do to avoid a crowd. But I have to admit I was sooooooo excited to be there.

Of course there were a lot of healthy food choices.

Oh look! There's that handsome kid again!

Walking along the parade route taking in the sights.

Some of the modestly clad parade goers.

Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa is lined with beautiful, historic homes. Many of which were all decked out for the occassion.

Bayshore Blvd. also boasts of having the longest contiguous sidewalk in the USA, in case you were wondering.

Some people will do anything not to be recognized.

Pirates & port-a-potties. A match made in heaven.

I have to tell you, this formal looking military type gathering looked a little out of place amongst the revelry going on around it. I have no idea what it was all about.

We decided this would be a good place to stop & people watch before the parade got underway.

Here's an unsuspecting girl who is about to be VERY angry.

And a rowdy group of pirates.

Green guy's pirate friend.

Here's a guy who likes to hang out at the gym. At the tattoo parlor. Maybe there is a gym with a tattoo parlor in the lobby?!

I don't know what to say about these guys.

But they wanted to show me the ~~cute~~ little dog attached to his leg.

Why?

Beverage consumption is obviously this gal's priority.

And it was probably his too.

This pretty woman was attracting quite the crowd.

At last the parade started! Our choice of seating was less than stellar. But honestly Gasparilla isn't about the parade. It's about the seeing & being seen. And beer.

And beads.

Here are two very different young ladies both hoping for some beads.

Beads. Beads. Beads. '

Everyone wants some beads.

We had heard that women at Gasparilla get beads in much the same way women at Mardi Gras get beads, we didn't see any of that.

Oh dear. It appears that out lady friend has been left all by her lonesome while all her friends are off acquiring their beads.

We did notice that the drunkeness level of the crowd was increasing rather quickly.

So we decided to start our trek back before the parade was through. Easier said than done.

Stay classy, Tampa.

On our way down Bayshore, we saw Megan's favorite pirate, Capt. Jack Sparrow, of course.

After what seemed like an eternity, we found ourselves in a quiet part of town. This is only about 2 blocks off the parade route but it seemed so peaceful by comparison.

Judging by the fact that there were probably an estimated 250,000 people at the parade & we saw not one person walking as we made our way to the trolley stop... I'm thinking we took the looooooonnnnggg way.

But it was kind of cool to seemingly have the city to ourselves, while we knew there were so many people so close by.

We finally got to our trolley stop just in time. And once again it was standing room only.

Ya gotta love a parade!

Ahoy Matey!

Menu Plan Monday

2011-01-31T13:24:00.000-05:00

Nothing better than starting off the week with my menus planned & my grocery shopping done! Since I'm so dang organized (hahaha!), I thought I'd link up to I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday. If you want some great menu ideas, click here to see who else is playing along this week.

Monday
London Broil with Balsamic Sauce
PW's Crash Hot Potatoes
Asparagus

Tuesday
BBQ Chicken on the grill (gotta love winter in Florida!)
Stovetop
Salad

Wednesday
Ben has Drum Lessons & Youth Group...we will grab something in between

Thursday
PW's Quesadillas de Camerones
Mexican rice
Corn

Friday
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Salad

Saturday
Date Night!

Sunday
Super Bowl Cuban Sandwiches & other fixin's

You Capture: Happy

2011-01-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

I realize that if the current trend continues, I will have to rename this blog, "Bentley's Blog". I can't help it, although Mr. B is many times a pain in the rear, he is undoubtedly very photogenic.

This week's You Capture topic is "Happy". Now that I've (almost) forgiven Bentley for his little adventure on Saturday, I have to admit that in the midst of all the chaos, I really wished I had my camera with me, because let me tell you, that was one HAPPY dog!

But since I didn't have my camera with me on Saturday, I'll share with you some of the other Happy Puppy shots I captured this week:

Because of all of the wet weather we've had here in Florida this past week, we actually relaxed our usual "No Bentley Ball in the House" rule one morning.

He seemed to know that if he "spazzed" with the ball as he normally does, the ball would go back outside.

I'm so happy he was able to relax & enjoy his ball time.

Just before another storm rolled in, my Bens were able to spend some time outside together.

I love to see these two together!

What a cute puppy!

and what an even cuter boy!

To see more You Capture photos click here.

22 (or Bad Dog!)

2011-01-22T16:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, remember yesterday when I was feeling sorry for this guy?

Today? Notsomuch!

Now that our yard is a little drier, the pup & I got in some fun ball time this morning.

As we do every morning.

And noontime.

And afternoon.

And evening.

(this dog gets plenty of exercise & attention is what I'm getting at)

Later this morning, after Ben had left for the morning, ~~some dumbass~~ I left the front door open a few seconds too long & he went into escape mode.

I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but Bentley is a BIG dog... and a fast dog. His legs are long, his stride is quick & he has energy out the ying-yang. I'm short, chubby & my legs are pretty short.

And I have no energy.

Thankfully Michael was home.

Off we both go!

This is a GoogleMap of our street with our house marked with the A:

Here goes Bentley, stopping, of course to "mark" every few feet...

just long enough for us to almost get to him.

If we run, he runs.

If we call to him, he laughs.

Do you see where he ended up?! In our neighbors backyard.

Our neighbors who we've never met, btw. Thankfully Mr. Neighborman was friendly & invited us to "Come on back" to to catch our canine friend.

With 3 of us chasing him, he began to really get going...

See those red xes? Those would be the doors to Mr. Neighborman's pool enclosure.

Yep, you guessed it.

Perfect! I stand at one door, Michael stands at the other. He's trapped!

Notsomuch!

~~Bentley~~ Thatpainintheassdog runs right THROUGH THEIR SCREEN
ENCLOSURE and kept on going!!!!

AAAAARRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By this time Mr. Neighborman is obviously kind of sick of our Marley & Me Escapades & he proposes to open his OTHER gate. So Michael stands just outside that gate ready to go...

Unfortunately, ~~Bentley~~ Thatpainintheassdog snuck on by & continued his adventures. As we continue our chase, Mr. Neighborman waves at us & smiles, "Good luck!" he says.

Jerk!

After half an hour of calling, chasing, laughing & cursing, which at some

points involved Michael trying to cut Thatpainintheassdog off in his truck,

Thatpainintheassdog finally got tired.

He hung his head & surrendered to Michael of his own fruition.

I'm pretty sure it was the best morning of Thatpainintheassdog's life.

He will be dreaming of it for years to come.

I will start looking for a good obedience school on Monday.

21 (or Sad Dog)

2011-01-21T14:29:00.001-05:00

We've had a lot of rain here the past couple of days & our yard is nothing but mud & puddles, so we've had to take Bentley on long walks for exercise instead of letting him play with his ball outside.

So he sits and stares. For. hours.

Until he gives up. And lies down.

With a great big "Woah is me" sigh.

Poor puppy!

20 (or You Capture-Circles)

2011-01-20T09:28:00.001-05:00

This week's You Capture theme was Circles. I decided to photograph the "circle" I spend the most time with these days, Bentley's ball.

Bentley's gross, disgusting ball.

That we throw a billion times a day.

Here's the "ball graveyard" in the corner of our yard.

Bentley won't touch these balls anymore. I really need to throw them away.

He's "serially monogamous" with his balls.

Right now this orange one is his favorite.

To see more of this week's You Capture Challenge photos click here.

19 (or Not Fair!)

2011-01-19T21:02:00.000-05:00

My sister-in-law & nephew came into town this past weekend. While they were here, Megan was playing around with them & my camera. She captured these beautiful shots of the blue-eyed boys.

Gorgeous. Eyelashes.

Wasted on boys!

18 (or Say It Ain't So!)

2011-01-18T19:59:00.000-05:00

Regis is retiring.

I have watched Reege ever since college. I planned my college classes around getting to watch "Host Chat". I DVR it everyday, even though I usually catch it as it's aired. When our local station stopped airing it live this fall, it threw my whole lives schedule out of whack.

Sad, I know.

I will miss him.

17 (or As Heard Around Our House)

2011-01-17T21:03:00.001-05:00

While watching Arthur on Netflix with Ben:

Me: Recognize her?
Ben: No, should I?
Me: She's Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz's daughter.
Ben (not really caring): Oh, cool.
Me: And she's in that show...
Ben: What show?
Me: You know, that show we like. She plays the friend of the mother who dates the son.
Ben: Huh?
Me: You know, the show we like about the dysfunctional family.
Ben: Modern Family?
Me: No, it's an older show. You know that show they are going to make into a movie, then they aren't going to make a movie, then they are going to make the movie.
Ben: Mom, use words.
Me: You know, the show with Jason Bateman.
Ben: Who's Jason Bateman?
Me: You know the show! There's a mom with a name then this lady plays her friend who isn't really her friend who has the same name. And she dates the lady with the name's slow son...
Ben: Arrested Development?
Me: Yes! Arrested Develpment!

I would like to say this conversation is highly unusual. But unfortunately, it happens in some form or another every day. Why are words so hard?

16 (or Cats & Dogs)

2011-01-16T22:49:00.000-05:00

15 (or Bull!)

2011-01-15T21:08:00.000-05:00

Not trying to be difficult. But I'll always be a Taurus.

Just sayin'!

14 (or Funny Foto Friday)

2011-01-14T18:52:00.000-05:00

13 (or You Capture- Doorways)

2011-01-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

When I saw this week's You Capture Challenge, I had visions of myself walking the streets of South Tampa or Ybor City, camera in hand capturing awesome images of really cool architectural details.

But that didn't happen.

Instead, I ran around my house like a crazy woman this morning trying to find something interesting to share.

It may not be so interesting, but I'm sharing anyway.

When the girls were little, they would wake up on their birthdays with hundreds (well maybe 50 or so) construction paper numbers hanging from the ceiling all over our little apartment. When we moved to this house with higher ceilings I stopped doing it. But the girls took up the cause for their brother & they usually put up numbers on his behalf. This year Jordan was out of town, so Megan did it on her own. Ben's birthday was in November, and the 13s in other parts of the house have been removed, but they will probably remain on the doorway to his room until he turns 14.

What wonderful sisters that boy has!

This is taken from our front door this morning. I'm posting it in honor of the Seminole basketball beating #1 ranked Duke last night. (I don't usually watch basketball, but I watch because I knew Jordan was there What. An. Exciting. Game!!!)

And here's a shot out my back door this morning. We don't usually leave Bentley out by himself, but it was 29 degrees here in Florida this morning & after 20 minutes, I was too cold to stay out any longer, so I came inside & watched him through the door. I think he was looking for the yippie dogs next door, but they were smart enough to stay inside.

If you want to check out more pics from this week's You Capture Challenge, check them out here.

12 (or Fluffy Puppy)

2011-01-12T21:45:00.000-05:00

Look at my fluffy puppy!

Bentley went to the groomers today to get a bath & to have his toenails clipped.

I could have given him a bath my self, but I'm scared to death to clip his tonails. So off he went...

I think he looks really cute.

But Michael thinks he looks a little "girly" for a boy dog named Bentley.

Maybe we should lose the bow on his collar?! :)

11 (or I Want One!)

2011-01-11T16:20:00.001-05:00

My Blue's Clues days may be over (Heck! Just saying I once had Blue's Clues days is probably dating me), but I happen to ~~be watching The Suite Life on Deck~~ somehow catch this commercial the other day & I had another Dangnabit!Whydidn'tIthinkofthat? Moment! Brilliant!

10 (or 3 Favorite Things)

2011-01-10T20:36:00.000-05:00

Aside from my family, these are my current 3 favorite things....

OMG! These are seriously addicting!!! I first tried them in October when we went to Cape Cod to visit Michael's sister & her family. Since then, I've not had less than 2 containers of them in pantry at any given time. If I ran I out of them, I. would. cry.

Still streaming Monk on Netflix. We've slowed down now that the kids are back in school, but Ben, Michael & I try to get in at least one episode a day. So far my 3 favorite episodes are both in season 5... Mr. Monk & The Garbage Strike & Mr. Monk Gets a New Shrink. In the past week we've quoted both of these episodes pretty much constantly.

My parents gave both Michael & I Nooks for Christmas. I know some people really love the smell & feeling of a book in their hands, but I really just enjoy the content. I've just started reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. So far, so good. :)

9 (or My Friend Karin)

2011-01-09T22:36:00.000-05:00

A couple of years ago I became reconnected with my friend Karin through FB. We sat next to each other in the clarinet section in junior high band. Back then she was a nerdy looking thing... super skinny, all arms & legs, glasses & bright red curly hair... fast forward a few years & she became a real knockout! She ended up have a successful modeling career & through that developed a real love & talent for photography.

She usually lives in Cleveland with her husband, two beautiful children & their 2 labradoodles, but for the past 6 months, she & her family have been living half a world away in New Zealand. Their adventure is almost over, but she has been blogging about it throughout the whole trip. Her stories are fun & her photos are stunning. I am so so so so jealous!

Check it her blog if you get a chance, you'll enjoy it, I promise.

8 (or How 'Bout Dem Seahawks!)

2011-01-08T21:46:00.000-05:00

I admit it, I'm a fair-weather fan. Back in ~~the middle ages~~ 2003 when the Bucs won the Superbowl, I a HUGE fan! I decorated the house every Sunday morning with our Bucs flags, replica helmet, Chucky doll & assorted bobbleheads.

We dragged our young children to the stadium late one Sunday night to greet the team when they returned home after beating the Eagles, securing a spot in Superbowl XXXVII as NFC Champions.

We bought all the paraphernalia we could possibly afford

& actually either signed the kids out early or let them stay home (I don't remember which) to go watch the parade downtown after their victory. What a great day in Tampa Bay!!!

Fast forward to this past season. First of all, during college soccer season (which coincides with most of the NFL season), most Sundays are game days, so we spent about 9 hours on the road every other Sunday going to & from Tallahassee (not to mention the 90 minute games & taking Jordan to dinner after). Then even when we were home, the Bucs had the distinction of being the only NFL team to have ALL their home games were blacked out on local television this season. So basically, until the last few weeks when we were surprisingly in the play-off hunt, I hadn't paid too much attention to the team for ~~the past few~~ this season~~(s)~~. In fact, as far as the Bucs current lineup, off the top off my head, I know the quarterback is Josh Freeman & Ronde Barber is an aging defender left over from the good ole days & that's about it!

Regardless of whether or not I'm closely following the Bucs any given season, my dislike of 2 teams remains steadfast... the Philadelphia Eagles (their fans actually threw batteries at Ronde during that NFC Championship game!!!) & the New Orleans Saints. So, I was thrilled today when the Seahawks were able to eliminate the Saints' chances at repeating their Superbowl win! :) Hope those Packers can finish up those Eagles tomorrow.

7 (or Funny Foto Friday)

2011-01-07T21:50:00.000-05:00

6 (or You Capture-Top 10 of 2010)

2011-01-06T10:07:00.000-05:00

Another one of my New Year's Resolutions is to participate in I Should Be Folding Laundry's You Capture Challenge.

This week's "assignment" was to post your Favorite Photos from 2010. It was difficult to just pick 10, but these are some of my favorites (in no particular order)...

Here are my 2 favorite Bens.

And me with my 2 favorite Bens.

Megan & Jordan in the airport when Megan was coming home from her semester in Malaga, Spain.

Michael videotaping Ben's snare solo at an Open House at school.

Ben fishing Lake Talquin in Tallahassee. We spent a weekend there this past fall.

Jordan's club team celebrating their State Championship win in May.

Jordan & 2 of her teammates waiting to sign autographs after a game.

Our niece Ellie on Christmas morning.

The photo that went on the front of our Christmas card this year. Adding a dog to the mix sure did complicate the photo shoot!

Michael & Meg swimming in my parent's pool over Memorial Day weekend.

To check out more of this week's You Capture entries, click here.

5

2011-01-05T21:22:00.000-05:00

Don't have much today folks. Just spent the last 2 hours in my car with my Nook reading The Art of Racing in the Rain while Ben was at Youth Group.

Now, generally I'm a crier when I read a good book anyway, but I actually had to increase the font size so I could read it through the my tears. And I still have 100 pages to go.

4 (or Per Usual)

2011-01-04T16:29:00.000-05:00

As per usual, my New Year's Resolution is to get my act together & get my house organized. As per usual, I have many ~~half-assed~~ well thought out plans on how to get that done. Of course no New Year's Resolution actually starts on Jan. 1, mine always start on the day the kids go back to school.

Which was yesterday.

I did good yesterday. I de-decorated the Christmas decor & get everything boxed & ready to go in the attic. Yeah me!!!

And today my house is naked.

Very naked.

Today I had grandiose plans to get the house dressed for everyday use.

I had plans to rearrange some cabinet tops, mantles & armoires. ~~And maybe to dust too.~~

And as I stared at the decor ready find a new home,

and at the towels that needed to be folded,

And the laundry that needed to be wash, dried & put away,

Per usual, I decided that my priority should be to spend 3 hours putting all my Christmas card pictures up on the refrigerator.

And that, my friends, is why I have to change my Per Usual.

3 (or Today's the Day!)

2011-01-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe our Jordie-Girl is 19 today!!!

Two of her college teammates/suitemates flew in from Minnesota & North Carolina yesterday ~~for her birthday~~ to hitch a ride back to school.

We dragged this crew to Jordan's favorite restaurant (CPK) for dinner. I also lugged my big Nikon camera to take advantage of the photo opportunities that are sure to arise on such an occasion.

But... I left my SD card in my computer.

So I made them pose when we got home. Not nearly as fun.

13-19-20

How did that happen?

We love you Jordie-Girl!!! Happy Birthday & Good luck as you begin your 2nd semester of college!

Love,

Mom

2 (or Packin')

2011-01-02T19:41:00.000-05:00

The girls are heading back to college tomorrow. Megan is all packed and ready to go.

Jordan is still working on it!

With a little help from her friends, Kassey, Maddie & Bentley.

1 (or How I Spent the Week After Christmas)

2011-01-01T19:08:00.000-05:00

Hi Folks! Remember me? The neglectful blogger? I aim to to be better about that. In fact, I'm so confident that I will be a better blogger in 2011 that I won't even bother to give you a recap of the past (few) months. I will just progress from this day forward...

Actually, I lied. I'm going to backtrack a little. The day after Christmas I got a case of the crud that is going around & a bad case of laryngitis to go with it. Rather than frustrate my family with my constant clapping & snapping to get their attention, I retreated to my love seat & enjoyed the beauty that is Netflix's Watch Instantly feature.

The whole family is completely & totally in love with the Monk series, but when they were off doing their thing I watched MOVIES! Tons & tons of MOVIES! I love MOVIES! Especially old classics like these...

So fun! But alas, I am on the mend & real life must be resumed... tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

Today's the Day!

2010-10-28T05:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to my Darling Momma (left) & her twin sister, known 'round these parts as Aunt Karen!

LOVE YOU!!!

Today's the Day

2010-10-03T06:27:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law, Chris!

...and Goooooo Noles! Beat Duke!

Welcome Sweet Annabelle!

2010-09-29T15:14:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday I got to meet one of my best friend's sweet 6 day baby girl....

Welcome to the world Sweet Annabelle!

♥ ♥ ♥

Days of Childhood Past

2010-09-22T10:43:00.003-04:00

Throughout my kids' childhood, we spent thousands of dollars on toys...

but the expensive toys mostly sat gathering dust while they spent thousands of hours playing with these...

the girls called them "characters", Ben called them his "guys"

Whether they came from the toy store, a Happy Meal or a big bag from trips to "the Flea" with Gramma Tiss...

they were well-loved

and played with constantly

Through the years I've gotten rid of several of them...

But these that remain

Were the favorites.

And I will save them. Forever.

♥ ♥ ♥

Bentley!

2010-09-09T21:48:00.006-04:00

Meet our newest family member, Bentley Pants...

Several years ago, we promised Ben we would get him a dog when Jordan went to college.

After a very sad experience at the local pound (we fell in love with what turned out to be a very sick dog who had to be put down R.I.P. Lucy Pants), I put out the word on FB that we were looking for a dog to join our family. While we strongly believe in "saving" a dog, we were just too heartbroken to go back to the pound.

Debbie, the mom of one of Megan's old soccer teammates heard about Bentley, a one-year old labradoodle whose family had a change of circumstances that led to poor Bentley being stuck in a crate for 10 hrs. a day. Thankfully, they had the wisdom to know that was no life for such a sweet, loving pup, so selflessly they decided to find him a new home.

Now originally, the plan was to get a medium-sized dog. Michael grew up with a golden doodle (then commonly referred to as a mutt) & I grew up with minature dachshund. A medium sized dog seemed like the perfect compromise. Although I quickly found out that our idea of "medium sized" was completely different. I was thinking Lhasa Apso, he was thinking Golden Retriever.
But once we met Bentley, we all knew that medium-sized was right out the window.

There is nothing "medium-sized" about this dog. Just ask the cats (who, 10 days later are still not very happy with our decision)...

And althoug he LOVES to play in the mud, we think he's pretty awesome~

His favorite pastimes are playiing fetch with a tennis ball (for hours and hours and hours) & "eating" water right out of the hose.

Plus, if I do say so myself, he's pretty freaking adorable!

Even if he doesn't quite know what to make of my parents' pool.

Eventually, he decided to just hang out on the steps.

Until his boy was ready to get out & get dried off.

OMG, I was soooo not prepared to love a dog this much!

Hello again!

2010-09-08T09:07:00.011-04:00

Hello ~~Faithful Readers~~ Mom!

Wow! I really had no intention of taking so long of a blogging break, but now that my ~~amazing, astonishing, thrilling~~ summer is over, I thought I might take another try at this blogging business.

So, what's been going on with the Beth's Blog Bunch this summer? Let's see...

First of all, Jordan graduated from high school. Woohoo!

Shortly after graduation, Jordan & I took one last trip with her club soccer team to Baton Rouge as they competed in Southern Regionals. Now, we live in Florida & are pretty used to the heat, but MAN, OH MAN it was HOT in Baton Rouge! Her team did really well, advancing through to the semi-finals before losing to the eventual Regional Champions 1-0 in the second OT. Between the 6 games in 6 days against really tough competition & in really hot, hot, hot conditions & the long drive, that week in BR really took a lot out of ~~the girls~~ me! I'm still not sure that I'm fully recovered.

Also hindering my productivity this summer may be an early July night out spent with these people:

Five married couples who all graduated from the same high school. Aside from the lovely lady in the middle, we were all in the same graduating class & all of us are turning 40 this year. Most of us still live in town, but Jenn & Jeff now reside in Pennsylvania. Since they were in town for a quick visit, we all decided it was the perfect time to celebrate our collective birthdays. :)

I'm not at liberty to divulge too much of what went on that night but here are a few pictures to give you some idea...

Let's suffice it to say, a good time was had by all that night, although a few of us were not feeling so hot in the morning. Love this group!

Lots of summer afternoons were spent in my parent's pool, this particular day was spent with my neice & nephew too...

I think this is my favorite picture of my mom. Ever. She was in the process of filling up a water gun to shoot her darling grandchildren. I wasn't allowed to have water guns growing up. Just sayin'.

Megan spent most of the summer up in Gainesville working at a daycare center. While I don't have many pictures of her this summer (this is one I stole from her FB), you can read all about her exploits here. She's a much better blogger than her momma! :)

Due to lease timings/college soccer preseason, we spent much of the later part of July/first part of August on the interstate, moving the girls to and fro.

Week 1: We moved Megan's belongings to a storage unit in G'ville for the 2 weeks between her leases...

Week 2: It was time to move Jordan into her tempary dorm for pre-season (we stopped in G'villed on the way to pick up Meg & Patrick).

Week 3: We moved Megan into her new digs.

Week 4: FINALLY one more trip to Tallahassee to get Jordan moved in to her regular dorm! Whew!

All that moving was finished just in time to get this kid ready for his first day of 7th grade...

You may remember his lunch bag fiasco from last year. We double & triple checked his bag for leaks. He was good to go!

What we didn't anticipate was his homeroom teacher giving him taffy. Which caused a visit from the tooth fairy that evening.

Actually, I lied. The tooth fairy never came. Ben brought home the tooth & showed me a big wad of tissue which I guess had the tooth in it. But I never saw the tooth & I haven't seen or heard about the wad ever since. Hmm...

Now for the big news....

The BIG news...

The BIG news...

Looks who now lives at our house.

More to come...

Memorial Day Weekeend 2010

2010-05-31T14:13:00.000-04:00

Catching Up

2010-05-26T13:16:00.012-04:00

Whew! It's been a whirlwind around here for the past few weeks....and I don't see it letting up anytime soon. Crazy, crazy time of year!

2 weeks ago, Megan & I headed to Orlando for a special occasion...

Ree "The Pioneer Woman" Drummond was in town for a ~~vacation~~ book signing... we just love love love her!

It was an hour & 1/2 drive from our house & started at 6pm, so of course we left the house at 11. :) We stopped & had lunch, did a little shopping & grabbed a spot. We were about 20th in line, which afforded us not only a spot upstairs where her Q&A session took place, but a seat in the 4th row! Score! I'm not a good judge of crowd sizes but I do know that they ended up having a group upstairs, then rows & rows of people wrapped around downstairs. For once, my paranoia about being everywhere early paid off!

She brought her daughters... they are more beautiful in person . And she was super duper nice & gracious & self-deprecating. All the things you want "celebrities" to be when you meet them.

The ladies RIGHT in front of us in line to get our books signed snuck in a PUPPY!

A FREAKIN' PUPPY!

So, so cute! But, let's face it, a puppy right ahead of us, made us completely forgettable. :)

But she really liked Megan's shirt!

It wasn't a puppy, but it was something.

~*~*~*~*

The following week, was Ben's Principal's Honor Roll Breakfast

They did a little video of each of the kids who made straight As. Isn't he cute?

Too bad the sound wasn't working.

Michael's been out of town for the other Principal's Honor Roll Breakfasts, but Ben & I were glad he was able to make it to this one.

So, so proud of that boy! (Ben's pretty great too!)

The next morning was ANOTHER awards ceremony at Ben's school. Ben got a trophy for making Principal's Honor Roll for the first 3 quarters of the year (4th quarter grades aren't out yet)

He also got an award for winning The Battle of the Books. :)

Woo Hoo Ben!!!

~*~*~*~*~*

Last Friday was my dad's birthday. I was totally remiss in that he didn't get a "Today's the Day" post. Sorry Dad!!! But, how 'bout this?...

Last Friday was the Day!

not enough?

Here's a cute picture for you then.

Happy Birthday Dad! We're celebrating this Sunday.

~*~*~*~*~*

This past weekend, it was time to enjoy the Florida Sunshine... and 95 degree heat!

State Cup Weekend had arrived! Jordan's team won the Semi Final after 2 double overtimes & 7 PKs, so it was time for the BIG SHOW... The State Cup Finals!!!

Jordan REALLY wants a State Cup Championship!

The year before she joined her team, they won State Cup.

When she was 16, she was 2 minutes away from winning a State Championship, but the other team tied it up & her team ended up losing in PKs.

Tragic.

Her high school team lost 1-0 in OT in the Regional Semi Finals to the eventual State Champions.

Tragic.

This is her one LAST chance at a State Championship.

The girls were down 2-1 with 10 minutes left. It was looking kind of grim, and then...

JORDAN SCORED!!!!

and about 5 minutes later, her teammate Zoe scored again!

And then...

the whistle blew!!!

2010 U-18 FLORIDA STATE CUP CHAMPS, BABY!!!!

Jordan had quite the cheering section at the game. Of course Megan came to cheer her sister on...

And Michael's parents were there. Michael's brother & his girlfriend came & braved the heat. Heck! Michael's sister, Amy even flew in from Cape Cod to cheer J on!

Here are Jordan & her teammate, Kara with their ~~old~~ former coaches, Andy & Vickie, who are some of our closest friends. Jordan & Kara have played together since they were 11 years old.

Oh yeah! Ben was there somewhere too... trying to read his book in peace. But, I have a feeling Brachy wasn't letting that happen.

Because of this State Cup win, we will now be travelling to Baton Rouge in a few weeks to cheer the girls on in Regionals...

Woohoo!

~*~*~*

Last night was Ben's first Middle School band concert. Look at my little drummer boy!

It was a great show. Full of all the usual squeaking & squawking that middle school bands are known for. :) But, thankfully, drummers don't squawk.

~*~*~*~*~*

Megan got a job! Unfortunately, that means she'll be living in Gainesville this summer, but summer jobs are hard to come by these days, so she was fortuate to get one. Plus, I get the feeling sleeping on our couch was getting kind of old. She'll be off weekends though, so I'm sure we'll see plenty of her.

~*~*~*~*~*

As if that is enough, today is Jordan's last day of high school...

*sigh*

It goes by so fast. I swear, I just dropped her off in Mrs. Foley's kindergarten class.

The next few weeks are going to be even more crazy with college orientation, graduation, graduation parties, Regionals & the World Cup (not that we're going, it will just occupy a lot of conversations among the Beth's Blog Bunch). And then we'll throw Father's Day in there for good measure. :)

See ya soon!

Mother's Day Weekend...

2010-05-12T23:45:00.008-04:00

After driving 2 hours Friday night, we got up in our hotel at o'dark thirty to watch Jordan's team play in what could have possibly been her LAST CLUB game... in the Sweet Sixteen round of State Cup.

they played hard!

and ended up winning the game 3-0!

(Jordan's scored the 3rd goal, but unfortunately I was texting my friend about the game & missed it.) Lesson learned: NEVER TEXT AND SPECTATE, MY FRIENDS, it could be dangerous to your relationships... Jordan wasn't too happy that not only did I not SEE her goal, but I also did not get any pictures of it. The good news is that her soon-to-be college coaches DID see the goal, and really aren't they the IMPORTANT ones these days?

Once the game was over, these two athletes had to rush home...

and a few hours later they were transformed into these beauties...

All I asked of Jordan that day (the day before MOTHER'S DAY, I might add) was that she & Kara get a picture together during the dance. But because she left her camera in the car, you'll have to settle for a PS creation taken with a photo of Kara that I had to "borrow" from FB.

Now, if I had one day, one hour even of my life where I looked like this, I think I'd be taking pictures of myself constantly...

Soccer girls!

The girls... I swear the parents must have spent 10 minutes taking pics of the girls in this pose...

While toe poor boys were lurking. Don't worry, we eventually threw them in there too...

The clock struck midnight, the carriage (Hummer Limo) turned in a pumpkin (4Runner) & it was time to get some sleep & drive 2 hours AGAIN to play in the Elite 8 of State Cup. Again, it's single elimination so 1 loss & they're out. Club career over.

Sunday they played a serious rival. A really good team. A team that once beat the first team Jordan played on 7-0 (or maybe it was 7-1, only Michael, Jordan & Andy, her coach at the time, can remember).

GOOOOALLLLL! (I saw it this time, but alas, it wan't Jordan)

And again... after 90 minutes in the hot, Florida sunshine,

Game over! Final 4 in 2 weeks, baby! Woohoo!

and THAT was Mother's Day in my neck of the woods.

2010-05-12T16:15:00.001-04:00

I'm about 20th in line right now to meet PW in Orlando!!!

They're at it again...

2010-05-07T15:54:00.002-04:00

While we're off State Cup-ping & Prom-ming, enjoy this new Lipdub...

This time it's the administration/teachers at Jordan's school. So fun!

div>

The Box

2010-05-03T22:00:00.003-04:00

I had a very nice, low-key birthday with the family. I got to hang out in my jammies all morning, eat sushi for breakfast & watch episode after episode of "Moving Up" on TLC & we went to PF Changs for dinner. Since their wasn't a soccer game, this was the next best thing, IMO. (Later this summer, I'll be celebrating with some of my BFFs from high school & their husbands, since we all turn the big 4-0 this year...that one might not be quite so low-key)

Michael got me some yummy foot balm/salt scrub & PHOTOSHOP CS4! Woohoo! I've been using Elements & I love it but I'm so excited to play around with CS4... I already have all of my PW Actions downloaded :)

Late last week a box arrived for me from the sister-in-law, you know, the highly organized one. Ellie-Baby was so excited! A box, just for her.

She set up shop & was not too happy when it was time for me to find out what was inside.

For the record, I probably would have just waited to open it until she got up on her own, because I'm co-dependent like that, but inquiring minds (Ben) wanted to know, so he shooed her off. She wasn't too happy.

But I was! Inside were all sorts of cooking goodies & some flavored EVOO & blueberry Balsamic Vinegar from a specialty shop on the Cape...and a recipe for this...

Delish! YUMMO!

Seriously delish! Thanks Gary, Amy & Jack!

Today's the Day

2010-05-02T08:58:00.001-04:00

The Big 4-0 for me!

Today's the Day

2010-04-30T20:22:00.002-04:00

So, have I ever told you that Megan is a Cougar?! No? Well, it's true. She's 72 days older than her boyfriend, Patrick.

Happy Birthday PDubbs!

Isn't this a great picture? I love it!

p.s. I am NOT a cougar. Michael is 81 days older than me. (I just figured that out) Megan is exactly 20 years & 1 week younger than Michael, PDubbs is 19 years, 363 days younger than me. Weird, huh?

Gots Nothing...

2010-04-29T21:08:00.002-04:00

I'm been home all day with my sick boy... so I gots nothing... but I'm thinking 'bout somethin'. Some of you may remember how much I love me some Hanson. Here's a new video, I want to learn this dance...

Thinking 'Bout Somethin'

HANSON | MySpace Music Videosdiv>

April

2010-04-28T21:09:00.003-04:00

So, the County School Board decided that our kids should go to school on Good Friday. Most of the county's parents (us included) decided to keep our kids home.

The following week was school as usual, with the exception of Friday, which was Relay for Life, for every $5 the ~~kids raised~~ parents stroked a check for, the kids could skip class & hang out at the track on campus. Ben has 7 classes, surpringly ~~he raised~~ we wrote a check for $35.

The week after that was Spring Break.

The week after Spring Break, Ben had 2 field trips.

This week, the kids are off Friday for Conference Day. Today, Ben was supposed to stay after school for band rehearsal for 2 hours, instead he called me to pick him up at the regular time. And promptly did this...
He has a fever, poor kid. Looks like it'll be a 4 day weekend for my little guy.

Apparently, Ben was not meant to be educated this month.

At least he went to a museum over Spring Break. Right?! :)

11 Days & Counting...

2010-04-27T20:13:00.002-04:00

'til Prom 2010! Jordan doesn't usually wear makeup, but she thought she might wear some for prom, so we experimented a little bit tonight. Here she just has on a little eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara & lipgloss. I liked it a lot.

Her? Not so much!

Nicholas Flamel- Alchemist

2010-04-26T16:35:00.007-04:00

So with my vow of blogging every day in April, I have to say I'm a little stressed out about having something to blog about every day... today wasn't very exciting and unless you wanted to see pictures of my laundry, I just had nothing.

Until after I picked Ben up & was helping him prepare for his "History of Science Wax Museum" project. Tomorrow he has to dress up as Nicholas Flamel-Alchemist & present himself as Mr. Flamel to various members of the community who will be guests at the "museum". He even has to have business cards to hand out.

When it comes to school projects, I try to be as "hands off" as I can. Ben has done all the research & designed the business cards. Megan helped with the beard, Michael supplied the trench coat, I supplied the posterboard for the hat, bought him a cane (the kid has an absolute obsession with canes, seriously!) & cut out the business cards for him with my paper cutter.

As I was cutting the business cards & watching him glue the cotton balls on his beard, I had an "AH HA! Blog fodder!" moment. Woohoo! So I got out my camera & had Ben try on his costume, you know, "just to see how it looks".

And then my darling, beautiful, blue-eyed boy decided, that Nick F. WOULD NOT be a willing participant on "Beth's Blog" after all.

Jerk!!!

But then...

My beautiful, darling green-eyed boy...

Made my day!

Oh! How I love this man!

The Backyard

2010-04-25T20:36:00.006-04:00

Here are some sights seen in our backyard this weekend...

Pass It On

2010-04-24T09:25:00.003-04:00

Another LIPDUB from Jordan's high school. Look close at 2:07 & you might see her. (plaid shirt)

Sigh... makes me realize how much I'll miss having a kid in high school. At least I'll get to experience it all again in 2 years, when Ben is a freshman.

Yipes!

New Team to Cheer For...

2010-04-23T09:29:00.002-04:00

I'll always love the Bucs, but since they've had a few lackluster seasons in a row, I've been shopping around for a new favorite pro football team...

Last night I picked one...

Go Timmy Go!!!

(and yes, I Photoshopped that all by myself... don't blame a professional)

Ben didn't go to school today...

2010-04-22T21:48:00.000-04:00

...because he left his binder on the floor & Ellie Baby decided it was the perfect place to hang out.

No seriously, it was "Take Your Child to Work Day". So, Ben spent the day down the hall with Michael in his home office. Isn't this how you show up to work every day?!

OMG! Is he going to kill me or what?!

I love my guys!

Easily Sidetracked.

2010-04-21T21:20:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, I bought some 8x10 I.KEA frames with 5x7 mats & made a nice photo arrangement in the hall. Unfortunately, the frames were too chunky & everyone in the family kept banging into them & knocking them off the wall. I replaced several of them when they broke apart, but eventually I just stopped replacing them as they fell & I was left with a sad, sad little wall.

We're supposed to have some visitors tomorrow. The sad, sad little wall needed some fixin'. Yesterday, I bought some thinner profile 8x10 frames at T.arget & today my plan was to spend about 5 minutes popping the old pictures out of the broken frames, putting them in the new frames & sticking them back on the wall. No biggie.

'Cept when I went to go pop them in the mats wouldn't fit in my new frames! Hello?! Okay. So I remembered I recently bought some really cute scrapbook paper I could use as "mats" for my pictures. Cool!

'Cept the paper was covered with really loud, vivid prints. And the photos were in color. They looked horrible together. Ugh. Okay, so I'll use Photoshop to make the photos B&W. Yeah!

'Cept I decided that since I was going to print out all new photos ANYWAY, I might as well swap some of them out, since there were a couple I wasn't too thrilled with in the first place & I knew I had at least one new one I wanted to include. Oh! and my in-laws just brought over a bunch of old family pictures for me to scan, when I'm done scanning my grandmother's old photos. Maybe I'll just peruse those really quickly to see if there's a photo I should include on my new wall!

'Cept 2 hours later, Michael & I were knee deep in his old family photos, I had nothing in the house for lunch & it was almost time for me to meet Jordan at the mall... I knew I was barely going to have time to edit & print any photos, much less scan any new ones. So... I quickly went through the photos I already had on my external hard drive & here's what I came up with...

This is one of my favorite photos of Ben & his cousin Jack on vacation in Georgia a few years ago.

Here's an oldie. I'm the baby here with my folks. One of my favorite picture of my mom especially.

Here are my in-laws on their property before their new house was built.

Michael with his siblings.

My kiddos with their other cousins, Chase & Bonnie.

Viola! 5 hours later, my 5 minute project was complete!!!

Now it was time to go shopping!!!

A little different from her usual footwear, huh?!

Let's try that again, shall we?

2010-04-21T05:58:00.001-04:00

Let's see if the video will work this time...

Gray...

2010-04-20T19:16:00.000-04:00

So today I "washed" that gray right outta my hair. Not much else to report. Didn't want to leave you hanging so here's the Senior portion of the video I made for Jordan's soccer team...

object id="BLOG_video-4c601b5066fef718" class="BLOG_video_class" width="320" height="266" contentid="4c601b5066fef718">

Monday Morning...

2010-04-19T08:12:00.001-04:00

What did your family leave out when they went to school/work this morning?

Sentences

2010-04-18T21:53:00.000-04:00

Spring Break '10 is over.

My boy was a rock star on the electric drum kit at B.est B.uy.

My boy had his first groupies while being a rock star at B.est B.uy.

14 year old rocker chicks dug my little rock star.

Duh?!

It rained today.

No Inaugural Swim 2010 at the my parents' today.

But ipads are cool.

And my mom now has her own FB account.

I love dinner at O.utback.

Especially when someone else treats.

Thanks Mom & Dad.

Back to the grind tomorrow.

I have to set my alarm clock again.

Jordan only has 30 days left of high school.

Wow!

I have to set my alarm again.

'Night.

Shopping Schmopping

2010-04-17T22:28:00.001-04:00

...and just like that she's gone again! We dropped Megan off in G'ville last night so she could spend some time with her boy, look for a job & go to her fraternity's Spring banquet. She'll be back again next Friday. (2 hrs away for a week is MUCH preferable to across the Atlantic for 2.5 months, in my opinion).

After much back & forth, Jordan decided last night that she'd go to her prom after all. Prom coincides with her next round of State Cup, which is on the east coast, about 2 hrs. away. Thankfully this round is only 2 games & she won't have to miss a minute of game time. She'll play at 8a Saturday, we'll drive home after the game, do the prom thing & as long as they win Saturday, we'll drive back over for her 10:30a game Sunday. Piece of cake, huh? Oh! Did I mention that this is also Mother's Day Weekend? Easy Peasy!

Anyway, if you've ever met my middle child, you would know that the thought of prom dress shopping with her is frightening. I'm sure my sister-in-law is still wishing she had the 2 hours of her life back that we spent at a teeny tiny book store on Cape Cod when Jordan was 4 & Amy told her she could pick out any book. I KNOW I want the 4 hours back that we spent at Toys R Us on her 5th birthday when my mother-in-law thought it would be a good idea to let her pick out her own present. Oy vey!

Even Megan, my easy shopper, took about 2 weeks to find the perfect prom dress... but Jordan surprised me. We got to the mall at 10:40 & we were back in the car by noon!!! Dress in hand!!! (I need to confess here that she had tried on some dresses yesterday when she went to the mall with her friend & she already had one in mind, but she did try on others). Eventually, it came down to 2 choices and after about a 10 minute deliberation, she was able to pull the trigger. She picked out the dress she originally came for, without ANY tears, I might add. Which is more than I can say for the Toys R Us Excursion of 1997. SCORE!!!

Of course, we haven't even started looking for shoes...

2010-04-16T20:31:00.001-04:00

Dear Internet, it was nice while it lasted. Hopefully you will be up & running tomorrow. Mobile bloggy just doesn't work for me.

She's hooooome!

2010-04-15T21:44:00.001-04:00

What a day! We woke up so excited to see our Meggie-Poo! I couldn't even let the fact that our router completely died that morning ruin my day...

Or the fact that our air-conditioner also decided to go on the fritz that afternoon... (we're in Florida people, even in April, A/C is a necessity).

Thankfully, by the time we went to the airport the A/C was fixed & the new router was on its' way via overnight shipping.

Can you read the excitement on Ben's face? He's bursting at the seams! ( I tried zooming in on Jordan's text, but no luck reading it, don't even bother)

And here she is! Wearing her hat from Portobello Road in London!

And so happy to have her mom's camera in her face after 16 hours of travel.

Here's where Ben starts telling her every detail of his life since Jan 27. :)

Welcome Home Megs! We've missed you!!!

2010-04-14T20:17:00.001-04:00

Megan home. :) Modem broken. :( Be back tomorrow...

No Sunburns Even!

2010-04-13T22:35:00.000-04:00

Betcha can't guess where we went today...

and tried to steal our football too... sneaky little thing! :)

I'm a lucky girl! Be jealous.

Great day with my boys! Tomorrow will be even better... stay tuned.

Veni, Vidi, DaVinci

2010-04-12T20:23:00.001-04:00

Today Ben & I went our local Museum of Science & Industry to see the touring DaVinci exhibition. The exhibit is copyrighted, so no photos allowed, but it was a great time. I enjoyed the Mona Lisa exhibit the most, I really hope I make it to the Louvre one day to see her in person.

After 4 hours of exploring the DaVinci exhibit, we spent an hour or so taking in the rest of the museum...

Ben tried to pinch his fingers off making a "storm system" in this exhibit...

He showed some "empathy" for his old mama...

Aced some quizzes...

Showed me what he'll look like when he is in between Megan & Jordan's ages...

And what he'll look like when he's 2 years older than his oldest grandparent is now...

And how he'll look when he's Michael's age... (I'm still 19 days, 2 hours, 36 minutes away from that milestone, thankyouverymuch).

He consulted with Zoltar...

And found out he has a healthy BMI, at least by this scale...

I mean who doesn't love a scale that starts out at -3 lbs. (of course, I STILL didn't get on it!)

He tried to build an earthquake resistant building (unsuccessfully)...

And withstood Hurricane strength winds...

When we were done exploring the museum, we went to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It was cute! Especially for a middle schooler & a mom of a middle schooler.

We went to theater close to the museum, rather than our regular theater. Ya know the slide show before the previews? The fun quotes & quizzes? When we got there this slide was on the screen. Then this slide came up...

Then this one...
I think I've mentioned before how early I insist on getting to the theater.... So we got to enjoy this entertaining slideshow for half an hour. (Thank Goodness for internet on my phone).

Before we stopped at the grocery store on the way home we had one more stop to make...

Yeah!!! I can see his eyes again! :)

Al Fresco

2010-04-11T20:53:00.000-04:00

Tonight was such a beautiful night that we couldn't let the little fact that we don't have patio furniture stop us from a wonderful dinner al fresco.

Hope ya'll had a lovely Sunday!

Another Gorgeous Day in the Sunshine State

2010-04-10T17:22:00.000-04:00

81* & beautiful sunshine! Love it! Today we went to the University of Tampa to watch one of Jordan's former teammates play in a college game...

Then we went to the baseball field next door to watch her high school's baseball team play in a tournament.
The only thing that could have made the day better is if one of these games took place at sunset. Sunset over Tampa from UT is a beautiful thing. Instead, we'll watch the sunset over our ~~retention pond~~ lake while we grill some burgers. That's a beautiful thing too.

Email from Mom...

2010-04-09T10:30:00.001-04:00

So, I got this email from my mom today...

Our I-Pads just arrived. Yes I-Pads. I have my own. The grandkids will really love me now.

Mom

Um, yeah. The kids' Spring Break starts today. I'm thinking Ben will want to spend the whole week at "Camp Ownie".

TAO

2010-04-08T16:26:00.000-04:00

Great lunch today with an old friend. It really is sad how quickly you can loose touch with friends that you don't "have to" see often. Especially when they don't have a FB (nudge, nudge).

Anyway, got done with lunch & ran some errands. It was still too early to leave to get Ben, but I really didn't have time to go home & get anything accomplished. Then I remembered that I have Jane Eyre in the car that I'm supposed to be reading for book club. I've had a hard time getting into it, so I thought a forced hour of reading might do me some good. So, I make the 30 minute drive up to the school, park the car (first spot in the car line...SCORE!) & read for about 45 minutes or so. When my eyes started burning, I set the alarm on my phone & closed my them for a few minutes. (Oh! How I loooooove car naps!) So, I zonk out (seriously, I think there may have been drool involved) & wake up in time to hear the afternoon announcements over the intercom.

After about 5 minutes, Ben comes out & we get on on merry way, discussing his day & the Relay for Life event his school is having tomorrow. About 5 minutes into the drive home... I see it...

The Antennaed One! Staring at me with his antennae twitching. In the car! With me! For AT LEAST and hour & 1/2! While I was sleeping! With my mouth open! OMG!!!

I wasn't in a place where I could let him out & he was too big to squish, so I drove the rest of the way home, keeping one eye on the road & another on him & yet another on Ben who, in his bravery, was practically falling out the passenger door in an effort to get as far away from TAO as possible. Gotta love the chilvary of a 12 year old!

Anyway, we made it home safely & without any contact with TAO. I then set him free to live another day amongst the pollen.

He fared a lot better that this little flying friend I encountered while waiting for Ben at drum lessons last week.

I was able to capture one of this little guy's last living moments on my camera phone, just before I indavertantly squished him while trying to let him out my car window. R.I.P. Ladybug, R.I.P.

Oh Spring!

2010-04-07T18:34:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so remember yesterday when I was all "Spring!" "It's great!" "I love to be outside!"?! Well, today I'm keepin' it real.

We have a lovely (in this photo at least) oak tree in our front yard.

And tons of pollen on the ground.

And, for some reason, Spring in Florida brings lots of dead leaves.
Without the benefit of the beautiful hues of a northern Fall.

Every morning (& afternoon & evening) I see how my car & pollen have

really formed a tight bond.

And every time someone comes into the house, I get to sweep the foyer.

Good times. Good times.

*that being said, I AM MOST GRATEFUL that no one in my family has a pollen allergy. I know many people who are absolutely miserable this time of year, I'm just a little annoyed.

Outside

2010-04-06T22:02:00.000-04:00

I love love love this time of year! We were out at a high school baseball game tonight & although the Bulls lost, it was such a beautiful night that I really enjoyed the evening anyway.

When the girls were younger, I was out at the field every night... but once they started driving themselves, I'm always home cooking dinner while they are out & about. I hadn't realized until tonight how much I miss it. This is the perfect time of year here in Florida... right in between the cold (for FL) weather & the super humid, mosquito-laden summer. I'm sure you won't be able to drag me out of my air conditioned abode come July or August, but tonight I was really happy to be a Floridian.

Very cute!

2010-04-05T18:11:00.000-04:00

Hallelujah! Jesus Christ is Risen Today!

2010-04-04T10:37:00.001-04:00

My favorite hymn of all time! Even though we aren't regular church goers anymore (heck, we're barely even Chr-Easters anymore), I do try to remember The Reason for the season. Every time I hear the bells ring during an Easter service, I cry. What a joyous noise!

Every Easter morning of my childhood, my dad sang this song VERY LOUDLY while we were getting ready for church. Let's just say that while God gave our family many gifts, the gift of a beautiful voice wasn't among them. But I loved it anyway. :)

When I was a kid, the Easter bunny didn't come while we were sleeping, he hopped on over while we were at church, so as not to distract from The Reason.

We would all get in the car ready to make the 7 minute drive to church, when my mom would say that she probably should use the bathroom before we left & she'd run back into the house & set out our baskets. Funny thing is, even though it was only a 7 minute drive, & we always had plenty of time to use the bathroom once we got to church, this wasn't unusual behavior for Mom. We never even batted an eye. :)

Hmmm... Maybe she did it all year long, just so we wouldn't be suspicious on Easter?! Clever. Clever. Clever. Maybe she STILL does that just in case she's ever called upon to make us Easter baskets again.

Mom, the gig is up.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Falls, Fouls & Funny

2010-04-03T16:59:00.000-04:00

Need I say more? Jordan's section starts around the 4:00 mark. She's #5.

One Month

2010-04-02T15:31:00.000-04:00

One month from today is my birthday. One of THE BIG ones. One month from today, I'll have to change my header. Crazy.

Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.

Today I ran into an old friend I grew up with. She's a year older than me & she was carrying her newborn son. Crazy. My best childhood friend is pregnant with her 2nd child. Crazy. Another wonderful friend of mine from school is going through infertility treatments & desperately wants a baby. Crazy.

Today I Skyped with my darling 20 year old as she's studying abroad in Spain. Today I took my 18 year old daughter to have her nose pierced. Today I listened to my 12 year old son bang away on his drums, imagining himself to be Niel Pert.

This decade will bring these friends of mine pacifiers & playdates. I'm thrilled for them, I loved that time in my life, but I've been there & done that. Suddenly, my birthday doesn't seem quite so ominous.

Bring it!

April, already?!

2010-04-01T10:11:00.000-04:00

Where the heck does the time go? I keep thinking I'm just a couple of days out of this blogging thing & then I realize it's been 16 days! WTH?! I'm going to attempt to blog every day in April. Really. That's not an April Fool's joke. I seriously gotta jump back on the bloggy-wagon.

So, what's up around these here parts?

First of all, the banquet was a huge success! Everyone had a great time & the video was a hit!!! I'm so grateful that it's over, but mostly I'm grateful that Jordan had a chance to play with such a wonderful group of girls. Oh! How I love them!!! And Coach!!! Jordan has been blessed to have these people in her life for the past 4 years.

The day after the banquet, Jordan's got an email with a link from FSU. When I clicked on it (she was at school, I had her permisson), I saw this...

Woohoo!!! Although we know she was in, as she qualified to have an "official visit" with the soccer team, it was still good to see something offical from the school!

The month before Megan got accecpted to UF, I hedged my bets that she would get in & spent hours & hours making signs to hang all over the house to celebrate (I think there were hundreds of Gators hanging from our ceiling, but I can't find any of the pictures, darn it!). I was so busy with the banquet that I completely forgot about the FSU acceptance date, so I ran to the mall to buy a banner & then spent about 1/2 hour & made little "ornaments" to hang on a little tree outside our front door. These have since disintegrated with rain, but it was fun while it lasted.

In a couple of weeks, we'll have to replace the banner with one of these...

Because...

this girl will be home from Spain in 14 days!!! And I KNOW my Gator Girl won't tolerate a Seminole hanging on the house all by it's lonesome. We've missed Megan so much, but she has had an awesome time & I have to say that the time has flown by, I can't believe it's been 2 1/2 months already. Crazy!!! Here she is during Semana Santa in Gibraltar with one of her new friends. :) She hasn't blogged about this excursion yet, so I hope she doesn't mind me stealing her picture from FB (LOVE YOU MEG!)

We're all excited about her return, especially Jordan. She wants to put their bunk beds back together & have a sleep over every night. We've definitely got some organizing/cleaning to do to make that happen! Isn't that the story of my life?!

See ya tomorrow!

Tomorrow!

2010-03-15T17:48:00.000-04:00

The banquet is TOMORROW! Here's song#2 from the video for your viewing pleasure...

Attention Target cashier...

2010-03-14T14:58:00.000-04:00

If, on THE most beautiful Sunday afternoon, an obviously unshowered woman comes into Target wearing sweats & buying only ginger ale, Popsicles, Jell-o & a vacuum cleaner, no need to say "Have a nice day."

That ship has sailed, sweetie.

Just sayin'.

I hope my boy is feeling better soon!

The Home Stretch

2010-03-13T08:04:00.000-05:00

So, this coming Tuesday is Jordan's high school soccer banquet. The official end to her high school soccer career. The official end to MY high school soccer career. I'll admit, I have gotten WAAAY too involved in this team this season.

Normally, the freshmen parents are responsible for the banquet, but somehow this year the banquet committee ended up consisting of 2 senior parents & 2 freshmen parents, with, of course, one of the senior parents being me.

Here's what we've been up to...

The bears are for the seniors. I made them for the seniors when Jordan was a freshmen & everyone thought they were so cute, I made them for Megan's senior class & now for Jordan's class too. This is the iron-on I put on the front of the bear's t-shirt...then I also ironed on each girls names & number to the back of the t-shirts. Each bear is holding a soccer ball in one hand & another t-shirt with the logo of the college they are going to rolled up like a diploma in the other. They are freakin' adorable! (if I do say so myself)

Then centerpieces were a group effort. Another mom painted the flower pots black & glued on the ribbon, I wrote the names & took the pictures & yet another mom attached the pictures to the sticks & covered the lollipops with cellophane. I think they came out really cute.

Without a doubt, the thing I'm most excited about is the season highlight video I spent the last few months putting together... here's a sneak peek at the first part of the video.

Today's the Day!!!

2010-02-17T03:01:00.000-05:00

I can't believe my first-born is 20 today!!! Time sure does fly when you're having fun & I really have had a blast being her mom!

Welcome to your 20's, Meggie Poo! I hope they are everything you dream them to be & more!

I love you all ways, always!

Mom

Yesterday was THE Day!

2010-02-11T09:31:00.000-05:00

Yes folks, it's true. I may have become the world's worst blogger... not only have I neglected to update with anything exciting, I also neglected to publicly acknowledge my awesome husband's 40TH BIRTHDAY yesterday!!!

Happy Belated Birthday, Honey! You know I love you & I while I didn't update my blog, I DID make THE most delicious dinner. Right?! Right?

I'll be back to updating soon, folks. This soccer video is kicking my butt, but it's nearly done! Woohoo!

Check. Him. Out.

2010-02-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

Gotta love the new hat, too!

Picture of the Day

2010-02-02T06:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary to the In-Laws!

p.s. Here's hoping Punxsutawney Phil doesn't see his shadow!

Picture of the Day

2010-02-01T06:38:00.000-05:00

My Malaga girl at a soccer tournament when she was a HS Freshman. :)

We're missing here around these parts.

Adios mi hija!

2010-01-27T15:37:00.000-05:00

Being a mother means your heart no longer belongs to you; it wanders where ever your children do. ~Unknown

One-third of my heart is heading to Spain right now.

You can follow her adventures along with me by clicking here.

Another...

2010-01-22T18:00:00.000-05:00

4-eyed girl in our family! :) Isn't she cute? She looks happy doesn't she? She actually got them Tuesday, but I couldn't post a picture until her boyfriend got to see them in person. T-5 days until she leaves for Spain...

M.I.A.

2010-01-17T05:27:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!! Happy New Year?! I can't believe that aside from Jordan's birthday post, I haven't posted on here at all this year. I hope ~~all~~ both of you are recovering from the holidays & are enjoying the normality that January brings. Things around here at the Beth's Blog Bungalow have been pretty busy...

Let's see, since we last met:

Megan came home from college for the break & since her old room is now Michael's office, the poor thing has been sleeping on the couch for a month now. (More on that later...)

Jordan's HS team was in a tournament. First game was a muddy disaster & didn't resemble soccer, more like kick ball with puddles. Made for some great pictures, but ended in a 1-0 loss. Although they played great the rest of the weekend, ultimately that loss kept them out of the finals.

Michael's sister (you know, the organized one) & her family came & stayed with the in-laws over Christmas. We had them over for dinner, so I had a massive cleaning spree... too bad the results don't last very long. As usual, Ben had a great time hanging out with his cousin, Jack!

Christmas Eve/Day spent with Michael's family. Lots of yummy food & loads of laughs with the White Elephant gift exchange & the usual games my MIL organizes. Of course, I took a bazillion pictures, but I feel the time for sharing Christmas pictures has passed...

We finally got the Big Screen TV that Michael's been wanting forever. Of course, the BSTV didn't fit in the 4,000 ton Beautiful Entertainment Center we had our Small Flat Screen TV in in the living room, so we had to move the SFSTV & the BEC into the family room to replace the Heavy Old Fashioned TV & the UEC (Ugly Entertainment Center, for those not in the know), move the HOFTV & the UEC to the garage & get the SFSTV, BEC , DVD, DVR & PS hooked up correctly. Then Michael went to pick out the PEC (Perfect Entertainment Console) & ended up bringing home some SSS (Surround Sound Speakers) too. So, after a 3 day ordeal, a trip to Target for some HDMI cable & a little help from Megan's BF, all of the TVs, ECs, DVDs, DVRs & SSSs, are all in their rightful homes were they will live forever & ever... (just in time to watch Tim Tebow's last Gator game and, just for the record, I think he looks even better in HD!) :)

In the middle of TV Upheaval 2009, we celebrated Christmas with my parents. Had a great time, ate a killer bbq brisket, played Scattergories & watched The Beatles "Hard Day's Night" (Ben's latest obsession is with The Beatles & The Who). Several pictures were taken... alas, too late to share...

Megan scored a pet sitting gig over the break & acquiesced her brother to help her... for a cut in her profits, of course. That Ben has become quite the little entrepreneur... since Santa didn't bring him ipod touch he wanted, he began to raise funds... between his birthday money, some Christmas cash & gift cards, the pet sitting gig & charging his dad by the minute for back rubs, he was finally able to buy his own (just 2 days before we bought Jordan one for her birthday, much to his chagrin). He's now saving for either an electric drumset or a record player,

depending on the day. This is new to us, having a kid who wants to earn/save money. He realizes that his birthday & Christmas are both passed, so no cash gifts for awhile. He's even trying to talk us into firing our lawn guy so he can mow the lawn (too bad for him, we got rid of our lawnmower). Thankfully, car washing & weed pulling are still available & his dad is ALWAYS up for a backrub!

Jordan's club team was in a tournament at D.isney over the New Years' holiday. They played really well & won their group, defeating a fierce local rival in the finals 4-0. (or was it 5-0? I forget, but I DO know it was a pounding & a wonderful way for Jordan to spend her birthday). again.. lots of pictures... so, so, long ago.

On New Year's Day that cold front came through & us Florida folk were COLD COLD COLD until the middle of last week. Comparatively, I know it wasn't that bad, but we are just not prepared for the cold. I live in flip flops & cropped pants or shorts... I had to wear jeans, socks & tennis shoes for 2. weeks. in. a. row! Tragic, I know. I had to wear my ugly (but warm) red coat & gloves to 3 high school soccer games... Ugh. Thankfully, NO pictures of that frightfulness! :)

We got to see Bonnie & Chase, my niece & nephew, for a few hours last week. Chase is almost 11 & is oh so sweet & quiet...unless, you get him started on Star Wars. That kid LOVES Star Wars!!! Bonnie just turned 9 & is a little spitfire! We laughed so hard at her stories when we were with her & then laughed some more retelling them when we got home.

Jordan's high school senior night was this past Friday. We were grateful for the warmer weather & were hoping for a win against our local rival, but we had to settle for a 1-1 tie. It was a fun night though with a big crowd to cheer our girls on. Districts start Wednesday... it's hard to believe that after 6 years (Megan started HS 2 years before Jordan) of high school soccer, it's almost over! The firsts of the "lasts" with our Jordie-Girl, as her senior year marches on.

In my ~~infinite wisdom~~ burgeoning stupidity, I have decided to try to put together a "highlight" video for Jordan's HS team. Another mom used to video tape all the games for the coach a few years back & she put together awesome videos for the girls, but she has moved on. Last year, I was ~~recruited~~ volunteered by my ~~dear~~ husband, to video tape the games for the coach, BUT I knew better than to try to put together a video. While I'm still taping for the coach, another dad was also taping & was going to do a video, but then he got ticked at the coach & we never saw his camera again. So... because it's Jordan's senior year & because this has been such a special team this year...all the girls are really great kids & they get along better than any team I've ever known, I decided to give it a whirl... Now, if I would have known sooner, I could have been

pulling clips the whole season as we went along, I'm now trying to do them all at once. I spent 11 hrs. doing 2 games yesterday. Ugh. Needless to say, you might not see a whole lot of me around these parts, especially since I have NO idea what I'm doing!

Now, the big news!!! The reason Megan is still on our couch rather than back in Gainesville... Our Gator Girl will be Chica de Universidad de Malaga for a semester! Yep. My little girl is leaving in 10 days to study in Malaga, Spain for the spring semester. She will be living in a homestay with Spanish family (and another American girl from North Dakota) in an apartment a block from the beach with a view of the ocean. She will be eating tapas, taking siestas, touring Madrid, Sevilla & Cordoba and (oh yeah!) taking classes en espanol. Tough life, huh? She is so excited & nervous, as I am FOR her!

She'll be celebrating her 20th birthday over there, so I guess it's time to realize she really is an adult. She's done all the leg-work (and loan-work) for this on her own & I'm so proud of her independent spirit for making it happen! I'm sure she will miss her family, her friends & her boyfriend (but most of all her Mommy! haha), but she will undoubtedly have a great time! And of course, I will be stalking her blog & Facebook & calling her multiple times a day on Skype. :) I'm sure she'll have nothing better to do...

Well, I think that about catches me up... I'm realizing that blogging is like exercise, if you do a little every day, it doesn't hurt as badly. I need to do more of both... See you soon (I hope!)

Today is THE Day!

2010-01-03T07:36:00.002-05:00

Happy

18th (!!!)

Birthday

Favorite

Jordie-Girl!!!You rock! We love you so much!!!And we're always so proud of you!!!

We will, of course, be spending the day at the soccer field. Her team will be playing in the finals at Disney today.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T08:39:00.001-05:00

I hope you all have a wonderful & very merry Christmas!

The countdown begins...

2009-12-10T16:26:00.000-05:00

Wow! Most years, if it was December 10 & my dining room table looked like this...

...I would be ecstatic. However, these are beautifully wrapped EMPTY boxes. Decorations for a holiday party my mom is chairing.

The gifts for my family are still at the store. *Sigh*

T-minus 5.5 school days left. I want to be done with everything but the baking by then. Think I can get it done? Bring it!