catching up

i'm sitting here, eating the bing cherries my lovely downstairs neighbor gave me. mmm, mmm gooood. the apartment was pretty warm today. i have a fan blowing but it doesn't cool things down much. these cherries are the perfect cool, summer treat. in fact, i might as well make them my dinner. i don't feel like making anything - it's my night "off" (well, for an hour and a half, anyway). i have a gift card for red robin, but i want to save that for an extra special day. bing cherries, plain yogurt and a slice of homemade wheat bread. perfect.

i've taken tons of pictures lately, so i figured i'd post them the easiest way i know how: rockyou! i love that place. so...these first photos are from yesterday (my horrible, no-good, very bad day). of course, you can't tell that, from the pictures. good! a brief summary for ya: jasmine had a rough morning, so (after dropping jessica off at school), i took the kiddos to the park. i'd never been to this one before. it's nice! it's really close to my best friend's new casa. jasmine was much happier, just being outside to play. i think they all were. it made me feel badly for staying in the apartment all the time. it didn't take long for me to remember WHY we are always indoors - it's much easier! i tell ya, being at the park with two two year olds and two 15 month olds is EXHAUSTING (to say the very, very least). still, it was so worth it. i got a great work out and they had a ball. i can't believe i did that for a full hour. yes, a FULL hour!! *phew!* they were happy, so i was happy. it definitely was more exciting than being at home. later that night, i put jessica's pink camo tent up in their room and they camped out. jenna wasn't too thrilled about laying in there with them - not even for a quick snapshot. oh well....the kids went to bed all giggly and giddy over the fun camping adventure in their room, and jenna and i left to hang out in the living room. what a DAY, that was!!

today went much better than yesterday. MUUUCH better. jasmine did great this morning, and after dropping jessica off at school, i ran some errands. after that, i was heading home...but it was such a gorgeous day that i turned around and took the kids to the park again! yeah! I KNOW! i took them to a nearby park, across the street from an elementary school. when they saw the park come into view, they all squealed with delight. soooo funny. we didn't stay a full hour, but pretty darn close to that! i didn't have my camera on me this time, but i figured we took enough park pictures the day before. today was our final day with mckenna, until school starts up again in the fall. we'll miss her! it was an extra fun day today, with the children. anyway, about the photos... it begins with me waking up after having barely any sleep (yet again). i still believe that i am the kind of person that NEEDS makeup - i think i look tons better with the stuff on. i'd love to be one of those girls that rolls out of bed looking naturally beautiful...but i'm not. let's face the facts, people! so anyway, there was a point during the afternoon that only my children were up - all three of them! they were all sitting at the table, doing something. it was sweet. jenna was magna-doodling (more like magna-drooling), james was fishing with his magnetic puzzle, and jessica was using her hair-beader. she tried to put beads in my hair, but after seeing the big tangly mess she made of her own hair, i declined. LOL... after parents came and picked their little ones up, we got camera happy and just hung out being silly and enjoying one another until their dad came to pick them up. we were having a blast until i realized there was still a huge mess of toys in the sunroom - so mean mommy made everyone clean up. jessica thought it was funny to snap pictures as i ordered everyone around. hey, i'm not that bad...i helped them clean up. i try to make it fun by singing "clean up" songs. sometimes i even make up my own words: "everybody clean up cuz if you don't then mama's gonna sit on you and you're not gonna like that because i'm a lot heavier than youuuuu..." guess you had to be there. it was a lovely tune.



so, that's that. i have one hour til the kids are back. what to do...what to do... i'd tell you what i wish i was doing but then...no, no i wouldn't tell you. ha!